Login Server Down?

[TetsuoK]

well, i did everything in that faq/guide described. It made a noticeable difference in speed on my computer, and I was analyzing packets with wiseroot. I didn't have any spyware doing anything rude to my system, but I did have alot of registry that was obsolete.

I disabled QoS and that made a world of difference for sustaining connection and eliminating lag death.

weebroot however did not have a working link.

Maybe look that one up again when you have some freetime.

Thanks for the advice, but i'm still noticing connection problems to the login server.

[Aena]

I had problems like this once, everyone else was connecting but I couldnt and what it came down to was my DNS cache was fucked up some how so I fixed the issue by flushing DNS cache.

Dunno what system you using but here is a guide for both.

Windows
````````
at command prompt type:

c:/ipconfig /flushdns

you should get a message like:

successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache

Linux
````````
In Linux the nscd daemon handles DNS Cache so to flush you need to restart the nscd daemon.

at console type:

/etc/init.d/nscd restart


Also
``````````
On both Windows or Linux take a look at your HOSTS file and make sure eqemulators loginserver address isnt stuck in there with 127.0.0.1 infront of it. Heh, ya sounds stupid but happened to a friend of mine and we couldnt figure out what was stopping him from connecting to loginserver turns out localhost was infront of the loginserver address in his HOSTS file.

Hope the DNS Cache Flush helps you. Take care.

[TetsuoK]

I'll try te flushdns tonight, and i'll recheck the hosts.

I just had a thought though.

What ports are necessary for the login server, and my preferred EQEmu server?

I am plugged into a router (wireless, but it is a rangemax, so it runs everything else wonderfully).

How can I configure the router for port forwarding? I used to plug right into the gateway, but now I do not. I have a static IP on my LAN, so port forwarding should work as a beautiful alternative, so long as I get the right port configuration.

Does anyone have this information?

THank you, again.

[Aena]

Just to clarify.. when I say HOSTS file I dont mean eqhost.txt.. I mean the HOSTS file. I dont remember the actual path on windows or linux but you can easily find it by doing a file search and it shouldnt have any extension, should just be called HOSTS.

Also, something to look into if you are running a firewall is to make sure your firewall isnt blocking the loginserver address or the loginserver port. A friend of mine was running his eqemu server on Vista Business Edition and windows firewall was treating eqemulator as suspicious software and was blocking it, my friend had to open up windows firewall and set it to allow the connection.

theres actually a ton of ways that your pc can stop you from connecting to the loginserver. I suggest you make a list of all suggestions youve tried and start checking them off as you try them, soon or later you'll get it solved through trial and error heh.

hope you get it working, take care.

[Aena]

made a small error on my part concerning flush dns was typing fast and didnt check my typing.. command for windows should be

at c:\

type:

ipconfig /flushdns

if using Vista you will have to run as administrator. you can do so by clicking start menu then type cmd in search box. right click on cmd icon and click run as administrator, then cd.. until you get to the c:\ prompt. now type the ipconfig /flushdns command. dont use vista much sorry about my inaccuracy lol.

[TetsuoK]

I took the final plunge.

After numerous work arounds. reconfigurations of the router, or the gateway, linetests, speed tests, variations between my vista machine and my xp machine, I have reformatted my XP (problem) machine.

I was due for one for the past year; its been 3 reinstalls of XP, 2 years, and 1 memory and harddrive upgrade since I've done it last.

So far, i'm installing all drivers from the bottom up, and we will see where it goes from there. I'll post a final update the moment after i press "login."

[TetsuoK]

It worked. the format helped the zone death/etc.

I also plugged my computer directly into my router as opposed to using wireless, and the problems are now virtually 0.

Kind of a shame, because i hate wires going around the apartment. but oh well. It fixed the problem entirely.

[Nyrod]

i went through and tried everything that was posted here and a few other threads (specifically http://www.eqemulator.net/forums/showthread.php?t=25327) and still not allowing me to login to server select.

i just got a new computer and have everything setup and i get as far as the login. my other computer is not having any problems.

disable firewall, changed exceptions for which programs allowed etc.

i also use WinEQ2 and have tried it with and without this (just using the shortcut with "patchme" and setting compatability) and changing affinity on eqgame.exe to cpu0. boooooo :(

my only stab in the dark guess is it might have to do with my computer sending/recieving information from the login server (duh?) but im using same connection as i was on prior computer and was not having this issue (except when others were aswell when login server was down/bad)

my computer:

Time of this report: 1/6/2009, 21:22:44
Machine name: HOME
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_gdr.080425-1930)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: HP-Pavilion
System Model: FK791AAR-ABA a6650f
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) 9550 Quad-Core Processor (4 CPUs), ~2.2GHz
Memory: 6142MB RAM
Page File: 1507MB used, 10892MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 6.00.6001.18000 32bit Unicode

[Nyrod]

lol, so i reinstalled and it worked!!!

when i first installed i hit the shortcut and computer is so fast it updated too many files before i canceled i am assuming, so if you forget and it DLs from EQ live make sure you reinstall. OMG YAY! hahaha

[Arcaan]

My thing was that it seams that the people runing the LS are being gracious enough to run it but they are not supporting it as much. There is this torn state between keeping comunity together and letting someone else in on what could be a "security risk" situation. What I am trying to say is that it is very frustrating when stuff goes down and nobody is really around to contact because people in charge are not as involved anymore. A community this big needs at least one person that is on top of the LS and heavily still involved if we are going to all depend on it. To have all these server admins and devs frustrated because they are unable to do anything for their community when the LS goes down because whoever is running it is unreachable is really a bummer for everyone. I really ask that the EQEmu people look into this cause it is getting worse and worse. If you want to keep the community together then it needs to be a fully supported community.

[Yeormom]

Report when it is having problems on irc in #eqemu and Doodman or Rogean will reboot it.

[Fifflefluff]

Whoops. Double post; see below.

[Fifflefluff]

For what it's worth, I've never once been able to ping eqemulator.net or complete a tracert -- every time I've tried, it times out after the hop to ge2-edge.mia.infolink.com [64.251.0.71]. That said, I can still access the site, although sometimes it acts like it's loading but doesn't actually load anything at all, and sometimes I'm able to log into the login server. So it's a bit of a mystery to me.

Also, I've had problems with my Linksys Wireless Range Expander, which seems to interfere somehow with my ability to connect to the actual servers.

[Yeormom]

You can't complete a trace route to my servers either because I drop requests that are not needed, like ICMP for ping/tracert. It's a security/performance issue more than anything.

It isn't bandwidth/network problems with the server. If it we're, you would get 404 errors when hitting the forums. If your browser is running stateless, you can hit the web page when the server is acting up and two hours later, it will actually do whatever you told it to. It seems to be a process running on the box that starves everything else, imo.

[trevius]

The Login Server issues lately have really been getting out of hand. It was one thing 6 months ago when it would only happen for a few days a month, but now it is a regular occurrence that is happening weekly or even multiple times per week.

I think the problems are probably related to what I think is an increase in popularity and population on the emulator. It has increased the number of MySQL connections and I assume that is the cause of the failures. It is good that the project may be growing in popularity, but I am sure it would be much more popular if it wasn't for these Login Server issues. It is to a point where the Login Server issues aren't just an annoyance anymore, they are taking a toll on the entire project.

Just to guess as to the cause of the problem, I think that either the max connection setting or the idle connection timeout setting for MySQL are probably set wrong for the population that the emulator has now. Here is a post that describes a problem that appears to be the same thing that eqemulator.net is experiencing:

http://forum.siteground.com/showthread.php?t=2096

I am not saying that the settings listed in that post are the solution to the LS issues, but at least that is an idea of what might need to be looked into or adjusted to see if it makes improvements.

We need to see if we can get more support from Rogean or doodman to see if we can get this problem resolved. If they can't/won't do it themselves, maybe they could finally allow someone else access (KLS or Cavedude maybe) to the server host so they can play around with it. At least having access to someone that will be able to actively work on this, I am confident that the problem could be resolved for good or at least, improved greatly. Really, I don't see why they wouldn't want to spend the few hours it would take to work on this issue in trade for not having to deal with restarting MySQL multiple times per week.

The thing is that I don't remember Login Server issues like this ever happening on the old hosting. Even if they did, it wasn't nearly as often as they do since the hosting changed. So, the old host must have had better settings to handle the number of connections that it needs to. That being the case should mean that this should definitely be a resolvable issue and I don't see why a little time can't be spent on it. This is affecting thousands of members and the entire project as a whole. It is definitely one of the biggest factors holding back the emulator for a long time now.