Shareaza

If Shareaza keeps dropping the same source chances are that source is sending a "404 File not found" to the request.
Check in the system window when this is happening as you re-ad the source & it gets dropped again.
That can be caused by that source removing the file from the library or unsharing it within the library.
It might be still showing in results from that source because it hasn't updated the shared list with the Hubs.
Once that happens that source should no longer be shown for that file when a new search is performed for the file, well I think that's sort of how it works anyway.
It could also be as you mentioned a firewall or uploading problem by that particular source.

Couple of things to try, search by SHA1 for the file, right click it in the downloads window > advanced > copy URI.
Open a new search window, paste the Sha1 in the search box & click search.

Changing some of the Advanced Settings may or may not help.
Downloads.MaxAllowedFailures - increase
Downloads.MinSources - change to 5
Downloads.NeverDrop - change to True
Downloads.StarveGiveUp - increase
Downloads.StarveTimeout - increase

You are mistaken on what some of these settings actually do. Have a look at our Wiki for detailed information on the topic.

mfg,
Old

I'll try these changes. Thanks.

How come the last two posts, by olddeath and sshanu, appear out of sequence?

That's the thing, olddeath's post appears to refer to a post of yours that appears after it.

Maybe he felt a tremor in the force that allowed a glimpse of the future

No, I was referring to the thoughts/information about some of the advanced settings in this post. Although... I'm not quite sure but I felt a strange power around me when I typed these lines... who knows what mighty power influenced me that moment...

That can't be right. That link is to one of my posts, and I certainly never said anything wrong! In fact all I did was note which ones sounded like they might be useful.

No. It means that if a download falls below that number of Sources, Shareaza uses more aggressive techniques of searching for more sources than it would do if the file were above that limit.

So a better name would be Downloads.AggressiveSearchMaxSources or AggressiveSearchThreshold or something? I don't see a point in messing with it then. The downloads I have problems with mostly only have one source, which is below 5.

One source is not less than the 1 this setting defaults to. So if you have even one source, no "aggressive" searching. I used to have this at 2, but now I just do a manual search every few days for stuck downloads. Same result, with presumably less network load. If Shareaza can't find more than one source, searching more often won't help that much.

Earlier in the thread, someone said it was 5.

I think he said you should change it to 5, 1 is the default. Corresponding to "search if the file has no sources."