Troubleshooting Seeding Issues

A torrent "seeds" when it uploads data to other peers after the download finishes. If your torrents are not seeding, the cause is usually one of a few things: the torrent client stopped running, the disk is full, the tracker is reporting an error, or there are simply no peers downloading.

This guide covers diagnosis on a Pulsed Media seedbox, but most of the logic applies to any torrent setup.

Check the basics first

Before digging into logs, check three things:

1. Is the torrent client running?

Log in to your seedbox web interface (ruTorrent, Deluge Web, or qBittorrent Web). If the page loads and shows your torrent list, the client is running.

If the web interface does not load or shows an error, the client may have crashed. Connect via SSH and check:

For rTorrent

ps aux | grep rtorrent

For Deluge

ps aux | grep deluged

For qBittorrent

ps aux | grep qbittorrent-nox </syntaxhighlight>

If the process is not listed, it needs to be restarted. See Restarting rTorrent for instructions. Deluge and qBittorrent can be restarted the same way through the web panel or SSH.

2. Is the disk full?

When your storage quota is used up, the torrent client stops writing and may stop seeding. Check your usage:

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash"> quota -s </syntaxhighlight>

If you are at or near your limit, delete some data to free space. See Checking disk usage and Storage quota: how it works for details.

3. Does the torrent have any leechers?

Look at the peer count in your torrent client. If a torrent shows 0 leechers, nobody is downloading it right now. You cannot upload to peers that do not exist.

This is normal for old or unpopular torrents. The torrent will seed again when someone starts downloading it.

Tracker errors

The tracker is the server that coordinates peers. If the tracker is not working, your client cannot find peers to upload to. Check the tracker status in your torrent client — it is usually shown per-torrent in the details or tracker tab.

Common tracker error messages:

Error	Meaning	What to do
Unregistered torrent	The torrent was removed from the tracker	Nothing you can do. The tracker no longer tracks this torrent.
Passkey invalid	Your tracker account passkey changed or was revoked	Re-download the .torrent file from the tracker website
Connection timed out	Tracker server is temporarily unreachable	Wait and retry. Most clients retry automatically every few minutes.
Tracker returned error	Generic tracker-side problem	Check if the tracker website is online. Try again later.

On a PM seedbox, the network and firewall configuration is handled for you. If the tracker works for other users but not from your seedbox, contact support.

Slow upload speed

If the torrent is seeding but upload speed is low:

Few leechers means each seeder gets a small share of the demand. With 50 seeders and 2 leechers, each seeder uploads very little.
The leecher's download speed limits how fast you can upload to them. You cannot push data faster than the peer can receive it.
Geographic distance matters. A peer in the same country downloads faster from your Finland-based seedbox than a peer on another continent.
Some private trackers throttle connections or limit the number of simultaneous peers per user.

There is no fix for "too many seeders, too few leechers." That is basic supply and demand. Your ratio on private trackers depends on swarm composition more than your seedbox bandwidth.

Hash checking after crash

If the torrent client crashes or the seedbox reboots, the client may run a hash check on all torrents when it starts back up. During hash checking, the torrent shows as "Checking" and does not seed.

This is normal. Wait for the hash check to complete. On large torrents or many torrents, this can take minutes to hours depending on disk speed.

If hash checking happens frequently, the client may be crashing repeatedly. Check for disk errors or memory issues via SSH:

Check system logs for errors

dmesg | tail -50 </syntaxhighlight>

Super seeding (initial seed mode)

Super seeding is a BitTorrent client feature for initial seeders — the first person to upload a torrent. In super seed mode, the client sends each piece to only one peer at a time and waits for that piece to appear in the swarm before sending the next. This forces faster piece distribution across the swarm compared to normal seeding, which may send the same piece to multiple peers.

In rTorrent, this is called "initial seeding." In Deluge and qBittorrent, it is in the torrent's right-click menu.

Super seeding is only useful when you are the sole seeder. If there are already other seeders, normal seeding works the same or better.

Private tracker ratio tips

If you are using a seedbox primarily for private tracker ratio, a few things help:

Grab new torrents early. The first hours after upload have the most leechers and the least seeders. This is where most ratio is earned.
Seed a large number of torrents simultaneously. Each one contributes a little upload over time.
Look for freeleech torrents. Downloads do not count against your ratio, but uploads still count.
Keep torrents seeding long-term. Some trackers award bonus points based on total seed time.

See Private tracker for more on how ratio systems work.

When to contact support

If you have checked everything above and torrents still are not seeding:

The torrent client is running
You have disk space available
The tracker is not reporting errors
Other seedbox users on the same tracker can seed the same torrent

Then something else may be wrong. Open a support ticket with the torrent name (not the passkey or .torrent file), the tracker error message if any, and what you have already tried.