Why wont bittorrent download files?

I just downloaded Bittorrent 5.0.2 (for the first time, not an upgrade) and Ive downloaded the .torrent file from the web site, but when I try to download the file it doesnt connect to the user/start the download, I just have the red bar and a 0% download rate.


It says 'Online may be firewalled', my firewall is off and Im not sure how to access my modem options. What do I need to do to get Bittorrent to connect and download the way its supposed to?

Why wont bittorrent download files?
do you have CABLE or do you have ADSL?





########### if you have ADSL ###########


rather then disabling the firewall on your PC (which you can usually configure easily enough) you should disable the FW on your (ADSL) MoDem; configuring your (broadband) MoDem is possible but usually not an easy task.


you still will need to find out how to disable the MoDem FW;


look @ the MoDem and type the names and numbers you can see on it into a search engine (http://search.yahoo.com or so)


once you got an clear idea of what the brand and model, add "disable firewall" (between quotes) to it; your preferred choice should be the manufacturer's site (something like www.BRAND.com or so) but the manufacturer may not give out that kind of information and you will have to look for an alternate site.


you can leave the FW on your PC disabled as well (@ least while you are downloading bittorrent files) as your ADSL MoDem will still protect you (you will have a 192.x.x.x IP address, which is not reachable from the I-net)





########### if you have cable ###########


you provider is most likely blocking the ports used by the bittorrent network (by default 6881); open bittorrent, go to Settings (Ctrl + S) go to Network and change the value next to «starting at port:» to something like 10000


you will be able to download files, but other bittorent users may not be able to reach you (they will try to connect to port 6881) so your download speed will be lower.
Reply:First of all, make sure someone is actually seeding the torrent. If there are seeds and you still can't download, then you may need to forward ports on your router. See http://www.portforward.com/ for info on how to forward ports on your router.