Need help to solve TLCV broadcast connection problem

[Sven]

On 15-oct-2017 the world was divided into two unequal parts for reasons that are unknown yet:

- group A consisting of all people who can connect to any of Graham's engine tourney broadcasts (or any other similar broadcast) via TLCV (or any other similar client), watch games and chat with all other members of group A, and

- group B consisting of just me.

Neither the root cause for that split nor any solution has been found so far

I tried a lot of approaches to analyze and solve that annoying problem (see more details below), nothing helped so far. So now I think I need some external help, so who would be willing to assist? Here are the facts.

Symptom:
Start TLCV client (or any other similar client), host GrahamCCRL.dyndns.org, port 16002 (or any other valid port), click "Connect", wait some seconds => message box appears (example for TLCV):

Timeout

Connection failed. No response from server.

OK

Environment:
a) Windows 7 laptop at home via Fritz!Box 7490 with recent OS version
b) Windows 10 laptop at home via same Fritz!Box
c) same Windows 7 laptop at work (I did not try the Windows 10 laptop at work but I expect the same error)

Wireshark analysis on Win7 laptop:

(Filter is set to "ip.addr == 222.154.252.101")

Code: Select all

188	26.250630	primus.fritz.box	222.154.252.101	UDP	55	16002 → 16002 Len=13
208	29.262465	primus.fritz.box	222-154-252-101.adsl.xtra.co.nz	UDP	55	16002 → 16002 Len=13
219	32.273341	primus.fritz.box	222-154-252-101.adsl.xtra.co.nz	UDP	55	16002 → 16002 Len=13
251	35.284379	primus.fritz.box	222-154-252-101.adsl.xtra.co.nz	UDP	55	16002 → 16002 Len=13

(... last package expanded, mac addresses removed ...)

Frame 251: 55 bytes on wire (440 bits), 55 bytes captured (440 bits) on interface 0
Ethernet II, Src: primus.fritz.box (xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx), Dst: fritz.box (xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx)
    Destination: fritz.box (xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx)
    Source: primus.fritz.box (xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx)
    Type: IPv4 (0x0800)
Internet Protocol Version 4, Src: primus.fritz.box (192.168.178.20), Dst: 222-154-252-101.adsl.xtra.co.nz (222.154.252.101)
User Datagram Protocol, Src Port: 16002, Dst Port: 16002
Data (13 bytes)
    Data: 4c4f474f4e7631353a5376656e
    [Length: 13]

Traceroute output on Win7 laptop:

Code: Select all

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

C:\Users\sven>tracert grahamccrl.dyndns.org

Routenverfolgung zu grahamccrl.dyndns.org [222.154.252.101] über maximal 30 Abschnitte:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  fritz.box &#91;192.168.178.1&#93;
  2    19 ms    19 ms    19 ms  192.0.0.1
  3    19 ms    19 ms    19 ms  62.214.37.241
  4    19 ms    19 ms    19 ms  62.214.37.126
  5    20 ms    20 ms    19 ms  bei-b1-link.telia.net &#91;213.155.129.190&#93;
  6   193 ms   193 ms   193 ms  hbg-bb1-link.telia.net &#91;62.115.142.182&#93;
  7   197 ms   197 ms   197 ms  ldn-bb3-link.telia.net &#91;80.91.249.10&#93;
  8   119 ms   119 ms   119 ms  ash-bb3-link.telia.net &#91;80.91.246.68&#93;
  9   187 ms   186 ms   186 ms  las-b21-link.telia.net &#91;62.115.137.37&#93;
 10   185 ms   185 ms   186 ms  tnzusa-ic-316539-las-b21.c.telia.net &#91;62.115.145.207&#93;
 11     *        *        *     Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
 12     *        *        *     Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
 13     *        *        *     Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
 14     *      304 ms   304 ms  tkh-ip24-int.msc.global-gateway.net.nz &#91;122.56.116.14&#93;
 15   308 ms   309 ms   309 ms  222-154-224-9.adsl.xtra.co.nz &#91;222.154.224.9&#93;
 16     *        *        *     Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
 17     *        *        *     Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
...

Firewall entries (as created by a fresh TLCV installation):

Code: Select all

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\FirewallRules

TCP Query User{617A0692-0A5B-418C-84B0-7E8A65F8088C}C:\Program Files (x86)\Tom's Live Chess Viewer\chess_viewer.exe
v2.10|Action=Allow|Active=TRUE|Dir=In|Protocol=6|Profile=Private|App=C:\program files (x86)\Tom's Live Chess Viewer\chess_viewer.exe|Name=chess_viewer.exe|Desc=chess_viewer.exe|Defer=User|

TCP Query User{ECE68DF0-1650-4B0D-BB9D-E88701FA1664}C:\Program Files (x86)\Tom's Live Chess Viewer\chess_viewer.exe
v2.10|Action=Allow|Active=TRUE|Dir=In|Protocol=6|Profile=Public|App=C:\program files (x86)\Tom's Live Chess Viewer\chess_viewer.exe|Name=chess_viewer.exe|Desc=chess_viewer.exe|Defer=User|

UDP Query User{7481287A-D0B7-425D-AB52-44D317999126}C:\Program Files (x86)\Tom's Live Chess Viewer\chess_viewer.exe
v2.10|Action=Allow|Active=TRUE|Dir=In|Protocol=17|Profile=Public|App=C:\program files (x86)\Tom's Live Chess Viewer\chess_viewer.exe|Name=chess_viewer.exe|Desc=chess_viewer.exe|Defer=User|

UDP Query User{EE96593B-D074-4E79-9F76-FEBEE51E9737}C:\Program Files (x86)\Tom's Live Chess Viewer\chess_viewer.exe
v2.10|Action=Allow|Active=TRUE|Dir=In|Protocol=17|Profile=Private|App=C:\program files (x86)\Tom's Live Chess Viewer\chess_viewer.exe|Name=chess_viewer.exe|Desc=chess_viewer.exe|Defer=User|

History:
Using TLCV worked perfectly for me for a long time on both computers! On 15-oct-2017 I suddenly observed the failure on my Win7 laptop (without remembering any changed I might have made), and when I tried to connect from the Win10 laptop it now failed there as well even though I had not used the Win10 laptop for several days back then, so no configuration change was done there by intent.

Typical attempts that did not help so far:
- rebooted/switched off all PCs every day since then ...
- uninstalled/reinstalled TLCV
- uninstalled TLCV, manually cleaned old registry entries of TLCV, then reinstalled TLCV
- updated Fritz!Box firmware
- tried various Fritz!Box settings, e.g. used different DNS servers, ...
- tried uppercase/lowercase issues of path names in firewall registry entries
- disabled Windows firewall
- disabled Virus scanner (currently Avira on both PCs)
- used different broadcast client (same behaviour)

I get the impression that I pretty much excluded "everything" already, but that is not a logical explanation. The occurrence of the same problem with one of my PCs in a totally different network seems to prove that it is something only on my PCs, but surprisingly on both PCs at once.

So what the hell is it? I think I would need someone who shows me where else to look, and who can also show me how his own working system looks like.

[Andres Valverde]

I get the impression that I pretty much excluded "everything" already, but that is not a logical explanation. The occurrence of the same problem with one of my PCs in a totally different network seems to prove that it is something only on my PCs, but surprisingly on both PCs at once.

Have you checked your router? (just in case...)

[Guenther]

I get the impression that I pretty much excluded "everything" already, but that is not a logical explanation. The occurrence of the same problem with one of my PCs in a totally different network seems to prove that it is something only on my PCs, but surprisingly on both PCs at once.

Have you checked your router? (just in case...)

I wanted to say something similar about the ports setting in the router.
Never had a router before May 2017, because I did not need it for my ADSL connection.

Since then I had to open a range of UDP ports here (German):

[Sven]

Thanks Andres and Günther. Yes, I checked the router (Fritz!Box). I think I already did what Günther proposed some time ago but just in case I missed something back then I have done it again. I added ports 16001-16255 (sufficient for GrahamCCRL - Fritz!Box requires a maximum size of 255 ports in one range setting) and clicked OK/Apply/... whenever that was necessary. All seems to be valid, active, green lights, settings look fine. I did it for both machines.

Just that the error remained as before, though, on both machines ...

[Sven]

I have a new theory. It may be related to IPv6. My FritzBox appears not to have a public IPv4 address anymore, it is using something called "DS Lite Tunnel". I am not familiar with it but it may be the explanation why releasing those ports does not help at all.

So now I tried the Livius client which (I thought so at least) already supports IPv6 connections. No success so far ...

[Ras]

I get the same here. Traceroute resolves Graham's host to 222.154.252.101, and the trace gets lost at 222.154.224.9, same as in your test.

Graham's server doesn't answer to pings from here, and not to pings from other places: https://check-host.net/check-ping?host=222.154.252.101 .

Either the TLCV server doesn't answer to pings because it is configured to ignore them, or the server is down, or the server's IP has changed without DynDNS taking notice.

[Ras]

I have a new theory. It may be related to IPv6.

I don't have TLCV installed (won't change with that UDP mess), but the tracert and ping are strictly IPv4 since I don't have a v6 connection plus that I've disabled v6 in my router.

[Graham Banks]

Sven - sent you a message.

[Sven]

I have a new theory. It may be related to IPv6.

I don't have TLCV installed (won't change with that UDP mess), but the tracert and ping are strictly IPv4 since I don't have a v6 connection plus that I've disabled v6 in my router.

Thanks. I haven't found a way yet to disable IPv6 in my router, and I'm afraid I won't be able to do so ...

Would you mind to try a connection to Graham's site (use e.g. port 16001) with Livius which does not require any installation, just unpacking the zip file somewhere and start the exe? Would be interesting for me to see whether it works in your IPv4-only config.

[Sven]

I have a new theory. It may be related to IPv6.

I don't have TLCV installed (won't change with that UDP mess), but the tracert and ping are strictly IPv4 since I don't have a v6 connection plus that I've disabled v6 in my router.

Thanks. I haven't found a way yet to disable IPv6 in my router, and I'm afraid I won't be able to do so ...

And yes, indeed I can disable IPv6, or the use of a DS Lite Tunnel for IPv4, in my router. (Although that is not what other people in my house want when they are watching TV ...)

And no, that does not help either.