AMule problems

F.A.Q on aMule problems

by Jacobo221

I get an "aMule already running: exiting" message on the terminal when starting aMule. Will I be able to start it in any way?

This message is very clear: aMule is already running. But this doesn't refer to the entire system, but that you (your user account) is running aMule already.
You might, anyway, think there's no aMule running, since it crashed. But it sometimes happens that some processes aren't completly closed, instead they keep in a status known as zombie or defunct. To know if this is your problem, run ps u | grep amule and if it shows any output, then there's some other aMule process running with your account. To kill it, either close it normally (if you can) or kill it with kill -9 <aMule-PID> or killall -9 amule or logoff and log in again (which, in most cases should also kill aMule processes, except if you executed aMule with nohup or something alike).
If non of the above suits you, then you can run another aMule as another user (if you can log in with another account, of course). Read Can I run two aMule instances at the same time?.

aMule starts but is never shown, allthough it's working fine. What's goin on?

This may happen if you set the incorrect type of SysTray in Preferences -> General -> "Systray Integration" and you set aMule to minimize to tray and you set aMule to start minimized. So you really took some time to brake it, didn't you?
To be able to recover aMule's GUI, edit ~/.eMule and search for StartupMinimized=1 and once you find it, change that line to StartupMinimized=0. The following script will do that for you:
sed s/StartupMinimized=0/StartupMinimized=1/ ~/.eMule > ~/.eMule.temp && mv -f ~/.eMule.temp ~/.eMule
When you next start aMule set the correct SysTray integration in Preferences so that you can enable "Start minimized" without having aMule being hidden.
If for soem reason the above didn't work, try changing manually the Systray integration in your to the default "No systray integration" option. To do so, set the DesktopMode= value in ~/.eMule to 1. The following script will do that for you:
sed s/DesktopMode=[0-9]/DesktopMode=1/ ~/.eMule > ~/.eMule.temp && mv -f ~/.eMule.temp ~/.eMule

aMule starts but is never connecting/behaving very weird/crashing almost every few seconds/etc...?

aMule versions up to 2.0.0-rc3 shouldn't be linked against wxWidgets 2.5.x neither GTK2 although some Linux distributions tend to do so. Please make sure your aMule isn't the case. If unsure, paste you backtrace at aMule's Backtraces forum or join aMule's IRC channel #amule at irc.freenode.net

Where are my downloaded files?

By default, aMule stores completed files in ~/.aMule/Incoming but, since ~/.aMule directory is a hidden directory, your file manager might not show it. Make sure you have enabled your file manager to show hidden files.
By default, files being downloaded are placed in ~/.aMule/Temp, so again, this is a hidden directory and the file managed must be configured to show hidden files.

So now aMule starts, but why is it displaying this message: "No valid servers to connect in serverlist found"?

That's because you enabled the option "Auto connect to servers the static list only". So, disable it or add some server to the static list.
To disable that option, go to Preferences -> Servers -> "Auto connect to servers the static list only"
To add a server to the static list, go to the Servers window and right-click on the server you want to add to the static list. Then select "Add to static" and do this exact process wit all the servers you want to add to the static list.

I just lost a download. Is there anyway I can recover it?

This is strage to happen, but it might, allthough in most cases it is the result of some non-aMule-related stuff going weird (or user's fault).
Two things may have happened. Either *.part.met files were deleted, or *.part files were deleted.
If *.part files have dissapeared, the only solution is to reastart the downloads from the beggining (if *.part.met files are still there, aMule will restart the downloads on next start). However this should never happen unless the user directly deleted them.
If *.part.met files have dissapeared but *.part files are still in the Temp directory, then search if *.part.met.bak are also in the Temp directory. If they are, then just rename *.part.met.bak files to *.part.met just by running:
for file in *.part.met.bak; do mv -f "$file" "${file%.bak}; done
Still, it could happen that, although you have the *.part files, neither *.part.met nor *.part.met.bak files exist any longer. In this case, you would have two ways ways to work out of this:
Either, use MetFileRegenerator (Java needed) to reconstruct the *.part.met files.
Or, search again on aMule for the files you were downloading and rename their part number in the *.part.met files to the ones it used to have. For example, if you ware down loading aMule_1.2.6.tar.gz and that was being downloaded in Temp directory as 008.part, then that file used to have it's corresponding 008.part.met file and, probably, it's 008.part.met.bak file. But this two latter files have misteriously dissapeared. Then search again on aMule for aMule_1.2.6.tar.gz and start downloading it. Close aMule and you'll have this new download as, for example, 011.part file in the Temp directory. Of course, this download will have it's 011.part.met file. Well, rename 011.part.met to 008.part.met and then delete 011.part (and 011.part.met.bak if it existed). Now start aMule and you will have recovered the download from the point it was before the *.part.met files disapeared.

Why does aMule suddendly become unresponsive to the mouse allthough it's downloading perfectly well?

It sometimes happens that you left a dialog window somewhere hidden in the desktop. aMule is waiting for that window to be closed, so it becomes unresponsive untill you click OK, Cancel, or whatever you have to click.
So, make sure there's no aMule dialog left around in any workspace.

Why are some files in my shared folders not shown in the Shared Folders window?

This could happen if you added this files after aMule has been started. Press the "Reload" button on Shared Folders window and it should find the new files and hash them (this may take some CPU time).
However, on some releases it has happened that after restarting aMule, some files dissapear from the Shared Folders window alllthough they are in the shared folders. In such cases, the only way to have them back is to delete ~/.aMule/known.met but, of course, on next aMule start, all shared files will have to be rehashed, and that'll take some time most probably.

I always get a message about addresses.met when I start aMule. What's wrong?

This happens when you enable the option Preferences -> Servers -> "Auto-update serverlist at startup" and you have no serverlists' urls in addresses.dat. You can either add some to addresses.dat by adding them at Preferences -> Servers -> List or just disable Preferences -> Servers -> "Auto-update serverlist at startup" if you don't really need it.

Why is Upload/Download limit always back to 0 after every restart?

This happened on aMule versions previous to 2.0.0-rc4 when you trying to set a Upload or Download limit value higher than the Upload or Download Capacity value. However, since version 2.0.0-rc4 this is fixed (read What is the real point on setting up Line Capacities in Preferences? Shouldn't aMule only care for the Bandwidth Limits? to understand why) and shouldn't happen anymore.

Why is aMule ignoring the bandwith I set per slot?

The bandwidth set to each slot can be set in Preferences, but it will be ignored if the bandwidth set per slot doesn't allow at least three connections at the same time.
So, the maximum speed allowed per slot is BandwidthLimit/3.
Please do NOT confuse Bandwidth limit with Bandwith Capacity. Read [[FAQ_aMule#What_is_the_real_point_on_setting_up_Line_Capacities_in_Preferences?_Should n't_aMule_only_care_for_the_Bandwidth_Limits?|What is the real point on setting up Line Capacities in Preferences? Shouldn't aMule only care for the Bandwidth Limits?]] since the meaning of the Bandwidth Capacity setting is not intuitive. since the meaning of the Bandwidth Capacity setting is not intuitive.

Why can't I set aMule's download limit to more than X?

To keep the ED2K network alive, all ED2K clients have an upload/download limits ratio hardcoded which, depending on the upload limit set, is:

From 0KBps to 3KBps:
DownloadLimit can't be more than UploadLimit*3
From 4KBps to 9KBps:
DownloadLimit can't be more than UploadLimit*4
UploadLimit values over 9KBps:
There's no DownloadLimit limitation.

Be carefull when setting 0KBps as Upload Limit . It might not mean what you think it is. Read I set Upload Limit to 0KBps, but aMule is still transfering. What did I do wrong? to make sure you understand it's meaning.

I set Upload Limit to 0KBps, but aMule is still transfering. What did I do wrong?

Setting Upload limit to 0KBps will not stop transfers, instead, 0 value means unlimited, so, it's right the opossite of you're trying to do. There's no way to stop aMule from uploading files, and that's the same on all ED2K clients (eMule, eDonkey, etc). Allowing people not to upload would bring the ED2K network to it's end.
Even if you don't share any directory, the Temp directory will always be shared, so that files that you are downloading are shared with other clients.

All my downloads suddenly paused and I can't resume them. What's going on?

Check if there's any free space in the filesystem where the Temp directory is placed. If there is any at all, check if there's more free space than the minimum free space set at Preferences -> Files -> "Min disk space".

Why isn't Preview working at all?

Since aMule 2.0.0-rc4 Preview command isn't being run in the same terminal as aMule. As a result, your Preview program may fail to start. This is the case of MPlayer. If you need a terminal to run your Preview player, use some command like xterm -e <preview-app> i.e.:
xterm -iconic -e mplayer -idx

After exitting MPlayer on Preview, my aMule keeps locked?

Preview used to lock aMule on purpose until aMule reached version 2.0.0-rc4. As a result of this, people using MPlayer suffered from a bug on MPlayer which remains the main process in background when closing the main MPlayer window. The way to walk around this MPlayer bug on aMule versions previous to 2.0.0-rc4 is to exit MPlayer by pressing the Q key. Any way, it'd be better if you could possibly upgrade aMule to the latest versions.

Why is Transfered a smaller number than Completed?

It's a common mistake to think it should be bigger or, at least, equal.
Please read What is the difference between Transfered and Completed in the Tranfers window? to know more about this.

Is there any way to recursively select a whole directory and it's contents?

Yes, there is. And it's simple: While clicking on the directory, hold the CTRL key.
And that's it.