SABnzbd Forums

If I have the Check Before Download option enabled it appears that the check is carried out but nothing is registered in SAB even in the log at level 2 (apart from just initiating connection and finished connections on the pre check) and all the items in the queue just stall and nothing happens. Nothing else gets added to the log and the queued items do not move onto the download stage.

If I disable the Check Before Download option the queue is processed as normal.

Doing a search a few other people mention the Check Before Download option causing issues with the queue but it is mentioned that 0.7.5 fixes those problems - I am using 0.7.5.

Any suggestions?

Do you have "retries" enabled in Config->Switches, without "only for optional servers"?

I have maximum reties set to 3 (can't see an enable and disable for retries) and only for optional servers set to yes.

I have two servers defined but only one is enabled with optional and backup both set to no.

Thanks

Disable "only for optional servers".

Thanks that worked.

It does mean that one of your servers refuses to respond to a request for a missing article.
Or possibly one of your servers is off-line.
The "retry" and "optional" are primarily useful when dealing with a bunch
of free but unreliable servers.

Sorry but I spoke too soon - I had forgot to enable the Check Before Download option after disabling it.

If I enable it it still does not work.

I only have one server if I disable Check Before Download it works fine so the articles are available.

Which Usenet provider are you using?

Usenetnow/Blocknews family I think.

How many times does it retry if you do not have Only For Optional Servers enabled? (just one server defined, not a backup and not optional)

It retries for the amount set in "Retries" or infinite when no value is set.

Any reason found why the check before download has stopped working? I think it is provider specific.

Could a check be added to at least stop it hanging everything - perhaps just send to history with a error and you can click retry without a completion check.

sab12397 wrote:Any reason found why the check before download has stopped working?

It didn't stop working.
What you have been describing is just the behaviour that SABnzbd has always had with off-line servers
until the implementation of limited retries.
Because pre-check tests all articles and the actual download will skip the par2 files which not needed,
there's more chance of pre-check stalling.
But the root cause is still non-responding servers, which can be "defeated" by setting a maximum on retries.
Of course there could be other reasons for stalling, but that would be another bug independent of providers.
Please try again with release 0.7.6.
Should it hang again, please report and we can look further into the matter.

It use to work fine until a few weeks ago (I generally keep up with SAB releases and betas) but the provider must have changed something at their end or this code has been changed in SAB.

I have a maximum of 3 retries, only one server, not optional, not backup and not only for optional servers to see if that helped the problem but still no success.

Currently running 0.7.6. Closely monitored what it does this time around.

Added item to queue
Precheck is started and I can see the first set of connections appearing in Status but it only appears to show the first initial set of connections - it is not going through all the items
Then changes to "Server: timed out" on the Status page.
It then waits a period of time (I guess the server time out seconds)
Retries with initial connections appearing in Status again and then displaying "Server: timed out"
This repeats forever - regardless of what has been set as the maximum number of retries

If I disable Pre Check the queue processes normally.

What could have changed is indeed the server.
Pre-check relies on the server handling the STAT command properly.
I know some older Usenet server software doesn't handle that.
Since I don't have access to a provider that doesn't know STAT and
don't know how it would react, SABnzbd's recovery might not be great.
In release 0.8.0, pre-check will be implemented in a different way.
You'll have to forgo pre-check until that time (or change Usenet provider).

Thanks for the reply.

Is there anything that could be done about it retry forever do you think?

Does the Pre Check take into account the maximum number of retries setting?

If there is anything you want me to try let me know.