Help with Acquisition for Mac

**Kimberley** · 10-19-2010, 07:16 AM

Sorry if this is posted in the wrong place but I am struggling with Acquisition. For many years this app worked fine for me but over the last couple it's been rather useless. Emails to the developer, searches for an Acquisition-dedicated forum have all failed. Maybe you guys can help or point me in the right direction. I paid for this app and it's now a lemon. I am having the following problem:

When Acquisition is opened it loads fine and starts downloading. After a short while which can vary from a few seconds to minutes, it simply loses all connections at once (or almost at once). It doesn't reconnect any new connections. If I then try to quit it says it's still downloading and checks if I really want to do so. Download items are shown as active but obviously nothing is being downloaded. Basically, the app is only useful if I want to sit there and restart the app every few minutes.

I am using the default ports.

Despite my router (Netgear DG834N) using UPnP (which is on), I don't see the Gnutella and BitTorrent ports being opened in the UPnP table (while other ports are opened by other apps). I have manually opened these ports. Doesn't help.

I would be thankful for any help.

**Miranda and James S** · 10-19-2010, 05:42 PM

Anyone? This is driving me Gnuts. (I have reinstalled OS-X and no change. I've even upgraded my router to a Netgear 3300 and no change.)

If ports were blocked I wouldn't be getting any traffic.

The weird thing is, Acquisition can be "stimulated" into continuing to run properly by continually refreshing the searches. Stop doing that and eventually all the connections are dumped together...

**TriiZxx** · 10-19-2010, 08:06 PM

I'd have thought Netgear would be reliable. Are you using it in wireless mode or via ethernet cable or via usb? Wireless can be highly reliable, USB slower compared to ethernet.

You are using Acquisition for torrents? I presume it has same abilities as LW for torrents which is not too much. lol Since the code is basically LW's code with some of the Acquisition dev's own changes. And yes, it's been known for many years that dev is not overly friendly. Plus he closed his code.

I used the basic Acquisition for a short period a couple years ago, and also around 6 years back. I didn't like it.

It's my guess you are getting too many connections from your torrent files. Torrents tend to have many connections & a lot of traffic between each host & the program, thus in some cases flooding the user's program/router, etc. Unfortunately Acquisition most likely does not have an advanced setting where you can limit connections to torrents. We always advise people to use a proper torrent program. Best ones for mac are Azureus (Vuse) & Transmission. Though I've heard uTorrent now has an OSX version, & there are a couple others around for OSX but I'd recommend either of first two which will also get acceptance at all private torrent sites (LW & Acquisition will not.)

Other alternative would be to reduce number of torrents you are downloading at one time. Some popular torrents may have 500+ hosts & that many messages going to & from all those hosts is a lot of traffic. What type of messages? Too many to mention. Such things as what bits one host has & you do or don't, if they have available bandwidth, a request for a downloading a piece of the file, etc. etc. Torrents are traffic heavy with messages.

**Sexy Bastard** · 10-20-2010, 06:50 PM

THIS IS THE ENTIRE REASON WHY I JOINED THIS FORUM JUST NOW

Glad you posted this.

Things were just fine for years & years using a PowerPC G4. Now I bought an Intel Macbook it was doing this. Acquisition runs when you start it and then find extra items, then gives up minutes later. Quit and restart the app, and it works for a little while, then gives up again very soon. As well as losing all connections, I've noticed just as much, all the speeds, which usually all change a bit all the time freeze up and I don't notice it at all, but once I see it, it's obvious it's going nowhere and you might as well quit and try again... I reckon the actual broadband ISP has maybe notched onto it rather than sending the red letters, it's found a way to stop P2P?

I sold my MacBook cos I didn't need it. Now I have a Mac Pro. Same problem. Same router - not Netgear, but works fine. Wi-fi for MacBook. All ethernet for Mac Pro and G4. G4 is fine for Acquisition. Haven't watched a movie for a bit now with problems getting them these days.

Intel Macs do achieve 1.0Mbit/sec and more. The G4 was a lot slower but never did the annoying packing up trick. Always reliable. Don't we just need a new version of Acquisition newer that 2.1 ? To fix this, or is it the ISP getting smart?

**Marie-Lise** · 10-21-2010, 05:23 PM

I hope this is how I post my question pertaining to Acquisition; I've not used a forum before. I bought Acquisition 2 Pro in May 2008, haven't used it in awhile, and now when I want to use it, I'm told I have to buy it again! I cant find a "contact us" link to e-mail them to verify that I do have an activation code from my purchase. I'm using a MacBook Pro version 10.6.2. Any suggestions how I can solve this?

Tottieirene