Too Many Connections

[Ron]

I have been using my IE6 newsreader today with no problems. Suddenly, any
group I click on from my Cox.net server says "An error occurred - Too many
Connections". I have done a Alt-Ctl-Del and no applications are running.
When I hard-boot I can see a msg flash on the screen for about 1 sec
(something about ending a program). I have deleted the account and
reestablished it but to no avail. Have turned computer off and restarted -
no luck. It seems to think more than one copy of OE6 is running but they
aren't that I can find. Any suggestions?

 

[PA Bear]

And have you asked cox.net about this?

 

[Jon Kennedy]

I agree with Robear - sounds like a server-side error you're getting.

 

[Vanguard]

I have been using my IE6 newsreader today with no problems. Suddenly,
any group I click on from my Cox.net server says "An error occurred -
Too many Connections". I have done a Alt-Ctl-Del and no applications
are running. When I hard-boot I can see a msg flash on the screen for
about 1 sec (something about ending a program). I have deleted the
account and reestablished it but to no avail. Have turned computer off
and restarted - no luck. It seems to think more than one copy of OE6 is
running but they aren't that I can find. Any suggestions?

Too many connections means the *server* has too many connections to
handle. It is too busy. What happens when you call someone whose phone
line is inuse? You get a busy signal. You got a busy signal from the
NNTP server to which you connect. Could be they have a huge load of
customers and not enough resources allocated to handle all those
customers. Could be it is a temporary influx of a huge number of users.
Could be some a-holes have configured their NNTP to make more than 2 to
4 concurrent connections to the NNTP server (i.e., they are pigs
consuming more resources than they should) and the provider hasn't
implemented a restriction on the number of concurrent connects
originating from the same IP address. Could be their server is
undergoing maintenance (so everyone gets the busy signal). Call your
newsgroups provider as they might know (but if it is a load problem then
they probably don't unless you can escalate your support call to a
3rd-level tech that can actually administer the server).

You say "suddenly" the problem cropped up. Okay, so just how long have
you waited for the problem to subside? There are certain hours when a
larger number of users will be hitting the NNTP server so that is when
it is more likely that the server will be too busy to accept any further
connects. How long did you wait before trying again? After retrying
for, say, 10 minutes, did you then wait 1 to 4 hours to try again?

 

[PA Bear]

Ron decided to multipost to OE General instead of returning here. <sigh>