cross-posted from: https://leminal.space/post/41927223

I’m noob at Linux (it just works), so I have no idea how to start troubleshooting this weird issue, any help appreciated!

The setup: stock EndeavourOS, ProtonVPN, qBitTorrent bound to the VPN interface (and Transmission);

the issue: if qBit is running, no matter the load or the server (I have access to P2P-enabled servers), it kills my VPN connection in a matter of minutes, Transmission does not. It is reproducible, launching qBit means getting disconnected, without fail;

the timeline: no issues since I installed EndeavourOS (a year and a half or so), it started happening five to seven days ago, though since a few months ago I would get the same disconnection while qBitting, but only once a day and only while I was away and the system was locked, after I came back to it and reconnect, stable until shutdown. In the months between I haven’t made any changes to my system, just got a new GPU a year ago;

what I tried: I initially though it was a VPN app problem, so I tried reinstalling it, both native and flatpak, after deleting all of its data of course.

Transmission works but I prefer qBit so I’d love to go back to using it.

Where do I start troubleshooting?

I currently can’t be at my PC, so I can’t troubleshoot “live”, but I figured posting this early means more people seeing it and getting more input.

Thanks in advance!

ip link (VPN, no qBit): https://pastebin.com/RtwDqiEN

ip link (VPN, qBit): same identical output (verified with Kate, EndeavourOS text file reader)

journalctl qbit: https://pastebin.com/e2XCgGKy

journalctl PVPN: https://pastebin.com/DiPBvP5W

dmesg: empty for both “torrent” and “proton”

sudo dmesg -l err: virt/tdx: TDX not supported by the host platform

FINGERS CROSSED but it seems that lowering max connections DID fix it, though I’m currently on >20/10/5/4 and it’s limiting. I’ll try upping and see where it lands on, and hopefully that’ll be it.

As per this comment

https://leminal.space/post/41934365/26536143

Proton must have changed something on their end since I used to run qBit with 500 max connections up >until the problem started

  • Chronographs@lemmy.zipEnglish
    5·
    6 hours ago

    I had a similar issue and reached out to proton support,though I didn’t try transmission to see if it was isolated to qbt. They said their anti-ddos protections were being triggered and the issue has mostly went away after setting qbt to start paused and limiting the maximum amount of connections.

    • crow@leminal.spaceOPEnglish
      1·
      6 hours ago

      Thanks for the info! I did try lowering connections, I went from 500 max to currently 150, and I still get booted. I’ll try lowering even more and see if that makes any difference! edit: I get booted even with 20 max global connections

      • Chronographs@lemmy.zipEnglish
        4·
        6 hours ago

        I mentioned the starting paused thing because it lets you set the port before it starts talking to all the trackers, I think changing it shortly after starting it normally might trigger it reconnecting to all of them which also causes a lot of traffic. Currently I have it capped at 85 global connections

        • crow@leminal.spaceOPEnglish
          4·
          5 hours ago

          I’ve been on 20 max connections for the past 20-25 minutes and you were right, that seems to have fixed it! They must have done something on the backend because I used to run qBit with 500 max connections up until a few days ago with no issues. I’ll try upping max connections a bit and see where I land on. Thanks! No idea why it didn’t work on the first try

          • Chronographs@lemmy.zipEnglish
            3·
            5 hours ago

            It’s been like this for quite some time for me, I want to say over a year, could be a policy that’s not applied everywhere or something though.

            • crow@leminal.spaceOPEnglish
              2·
              5 hours ago

              Damn. I mean, I still almost saturate my upload with just 20 connections, but I only seed one thing at a time. I’d rather seed more stuff, at lower speeds, but if this is it, then this is it. Thanks again, though, qBit works again!

              • Chronographs@lemmy.zipEnglish
                2·
                5 hours ago

                I have gigabit upload but can’t really saturate it normally due to these policies unfortunately.

                • crow@leminal.spaceOPEnglish
                  1·
                  5 hours ago

                  That sucks, no surprise you can’t with just 85 max connections. I have bottom-of-the-barrel upload so I don’t really need more at the moment, but if things get worse I’ll consider switching

  • frongt@lemmy.zipEnglish
    2·
    5 hours ago

    What do you mean “kills”? A see a timeout exception, which is weird, but shouldn’t crash the whole VPN client.

    I’m not sure how running in a flatpak would affect a VPN, so I would try it with a regular client.

    • crow@leminal.spaceOPEnglish
      1·
      5 hours ago

      I get a “connection timeout”. The VPN client still works, I just need to reconnect manually. I tried both flatpak and native install and the result is the same, unfortunately. Thanks!

      • frongt@lemmy.zipEnglish
        2·
        3 hours ago

        So it’s the VPN connection itself that times out? Are you saturating the connection somehow?

        • crow@leminal.spaceOPEnglish
          2·
          2 hours ago

          Yes, I updated the OP, but it basically has got something to do with Proton’s anti-DDOS that for some reason started applying to me too only a few days ago whereas the other user said it’s been around for much longer; too many connections trigger it and you get booted

  • Moonrise2473@feddit.itEnglish
    2·
    6 hours ago

    Proton VPN free or paid?

    Proton VPN free detects torrenting and throttles connection to halt

    Otherwise it could be too many connections? 20 years ago my router crashed when I opened eMule, It was because I didn’t limit connections