Minecraft recv failed error... fixed!

OK. A lot of people seem to have this problem. Finally, I managed to fix it for myself!

This problem is quite common with Minecraft Survival Multiplayer.


Basically, the problem goes like this: you connect to a server, maybe manage to do something for some minutes, and then you eventually hang up with the message:
Internal exception: java.netSocketException: Software caused connection abort: recv failed

For some, this comes instantly. Some fall straight into the void and cannot communicate through the chat, although they see the others talk. Some even get to mine something for a while. But then it all ends with this message.

It seems that this problem is due to two things: certain integrated network adapters and their old / buggy drivers, and the current buggy state of Minecraft multiplayer mode.

Also, some people report that the problem may occur due to incorrect port forwarding. With me, this was not the case.

Solutions that work for some people (but didn't work for me)...

The first thing to do is to try shutting down your firewall program. That didn't help for me.

Second, try this: (this is for XP, should be similar in Windows 7 or other versions)
1) Open Control Panel, click on System, click on hardware tab, click "Device Manager"
2) Find your network adapter and go to it's properties
3) Go to Advanced and change property "Transmit Buffers" from 256 to 512.
For me, this didn't work - I did not have such a property in there.

But finally, I figured out a third fix that finally worked for me!

The fix

The fix was actually very simple. You need to update your ethernet adapter's drivers. The hardest part was finding the updated drivers.


1) Find out the make of your ethernet adapter.
2) Get a new driver for the adapter.

If the adapter is not integrated, and is on a separate card you can look for the model on the ethernet card, or by looking at the device manager for model name (see above).

If the adapter is integrated onto the motherboard, you need to find out the make of your motherboard.

That task is very easy with a nice free program called CPU-Z. You can download the software from CPUID webpage for free.

Here's CPU-Z showing info about my crappy old motherboard.


From the above screenshot you can see how the CPU-Z interface looks like.

So, I found out that my motherboard is a K8N made by ASUS. So, I went to the ASUS support site and searched for drivers. Unfortunately, the drivers on the site hadn't been updated at all! They were the same shitty old drivers from 2004 that I had already!

What then, I thought. I was already thinking of getting some new ethernet card...

Then I noticed NVIDIA was the maker of the chipset and the ethernet adapter. Maybe they had newer drivers? By googling "nforce3 drivers" I found a link to a NVIDIA support page with a bit newer drivers (2005 I recall). After installing the newer drivers from NVIDIA, it finally worked!!!

I logged onto a server and just wandered around for ages looking at giant buildings.

I have to be careful I don't waste too much time playing this.

That's it for now! Thanks for reading and I hope this helps you!

PS. If you have any problems, ask away!

Comments

  1. none of those worked =( thanks for writing this though!

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  2. I've updated my drivers to the latest i found (2010 12 12) and i still get the recv failed error (Gigabyte 770T USB3 with amd770 chipset with win7 x64) any suggestions? tried all of the methods

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  3. Dammit, i have a wireless card and this problem has been bothering me since ever i bought the game this summer... My integrated card doesn't even wanna start so... I'm fucked it seems, do I have to buy a uber wireless card? The router is totally on the other side of the house so the signal have to travel trough quite a few walls, it's a good router tho so i still get 3-4 out of 5 in signal strength. Minecraft smp must be very poorly coded if it can't tolerate a few lost packages, gawd, all other multiplayer games runs fine, completely lag free, and most importantly doesn't "kick" me every 5 minutes.

    If anyone have this same problem as me, I have come over some things that help a little. Increasing receive buffer on the wireless card fixed the insta recv error after joining, but I still get errors after a few minutes. Decreasing fog (and minimap zoom) will make it take longer for errors to occur, and make it somewhat playable, i always have to do this when i travel. It's a poor workaround tho, decreases the quality of your gaming experience... Notch better look into this problem soon, the game has been like this at least since summer, this is a major bug, minecraft shouldn't require you to buy a new wireless card or stretch a cable all trough your house.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah! I think I'm the same, I'm not exactly the computer genius but I think I have wireless card and I use my laptop to run the game.

      I don't have any problems with my minecraft not being able to allocate enough memory (mostly like 30% used) but my MC has never been good at running either, I don't have a very good gaming laptop although I could manage playing MC smp until the new launcher came out

      :( really dissapointing,

      could you guys possibly give some tips and solutions on how you can solve this problem on laptop? I have a Acer Aspire, and it's Windows 7 home prem. 64 bit, Thanks!

      Delete
  4. Yes, in the end, it's Minecraft that's buggy. But this bug can in some cases be solved with tampering with your ethernet adapter settings... And sometimes by updating your network card drivers... Annoying, isn't it?

    It's a very old bug I agree.

    Don't get a new card (unless you get it very cheap or borrow). I'm sure you'll get this problem fixed in a way or another if you try.

    One positive thing about the bug is that you won't be throwing that much time into the trashcan called Minecraft! You could be building something in real life too, you know! ;D

    I haven't been playing lately and I'm kinda proud, since when I start playing, I can't bring myself to stop... It's scary how addictive it is!

    But addictions aside, if anyone knows any other ways to get around this problem, please leave a comment!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know bout you but I don't enjoy punching o axing to death a tree but id like to try!

      Delete
    2. how dare u call minecraft a trashcan you fat bald excuse for a human

      Delete
  5. i can connect to my server but my friend cant where is the problem

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  6. Do you both have the same version (as the server?) Do you get the "recv failed" error? Have you tried updating your friend's network adapter drivers?

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  7. ok, I never had this problem until today it I played about 30 minutes with my sister and I couldn't destroy nothing and then got kicked. I don't understand why it's happening now we've been playing on the server since it updated to 1.6.6 which was over a week ago. also she has the same problem connecting to my server and my pc isnt even 2 years old.

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  8. Do you have any idea what could have changed with your setting? Do you have a firewall program? Try shutting it off. Also, try to change the network adapter settigns like described in the post above, and try to update to the newest ethernet drivers.

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  9. well i think the problem is on her end cause she restarted her pc and it worked for about a day and then it messed up again plus i tryed it on both my pcs and the problem is still there. I can log onto my server which i run off of a different pc than the one I play on and it works fine.

    Note: I didnt restart my pc, she restarted her pc and it worked for a day, so thats the reason it has to be on her end. also her power went out the day the server messed up which could have changed something.

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  10. Also I should note the server that I keep getting kicked from is hers, she hosts it on the same pc that she plays MC on, and whenever she trys to connect to my server it says the same thing, Timed Out or recv failed, it could be her internet that could be crapping out on her, she has a 1.5mbps dsl connetion and I have a Fios 25mbps

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  11. You can also try setting the graphics rendering distance to less or even "tiny". That way there is less data transfer between the server and the player.

    The minecraft connection code seems to be really buggy, and it's strange how easily little things can mess it up!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I tried rendering distance to small, I cant play on tiny, and it still does it.

    I did connect to a different server and it worked, so atleast its not on my end. I do have a question though would changing view distance in the server properties to a lower number like 5 or 6 help.

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  13. It might help, because it reduces the amount of data the machines need to exchange. So it's worth a try.

    Have you tried to turn both of your firewalls off?

    This problem has also been solved by setting up a VPN (a virtual private network). That's a bit hardcore solution, but might be worth a try, if you know how to do it.

    Someone also recommended to limit the frame rate...

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  14. Im not gonna wary about it since I can connect to different servers, I'm just not gonna be able to play with her till craftbukkit updates, we did turn off both our firewalls and it didn't work. We go through Hamachi to log onto the servers and still no fix. She doesn't want to update anything on her pc if she doesn't have to. I just don't understand how could have this happen? She didn't change anything on her pc, it just started happening after she lost power.

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  15. I never had this problem before only when 1.8.1 came up and it started :/

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  16. changing the buffer size worked for me, thanks!!!

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  17. It worked for me. Have a msi motherboard and they got a porgram called live update. I had some old drivers and when they updated this never happened again

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  18. Didn't work, thanks anyways. Pisses me off. Worked fine up until about a week ago

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  19. So my brother and I were both on a pretty popular Hunger Games server and his chat stopped working. Then he logged off to see if he could fix it, and tried to log back on but got the recv message. I tried and got the same. Can this be fixed maybe by only one of us being on? Does this sometimes fix itself after a few days?

    ReplyDelete
  20. If the above doesnt work the solution is simple and is a server side issue with the chunk that your character is in. I have tested this over and over and over with multiple players. That chuck your on is over congested usually due to some kind of redstone timer on a factory or something. The fact that the game uses TCP is horrible there is just wayyy to much traffic to send if you using alot of redstone timers and condensers ect. Basically your being disconnected due to packet loss that is obvious. First even tho you will be disconnect alot set a home point wherever your being disconnected and keep reconnect and attempting to run outside of that chunk. If you no longer disconnect then you know that this chunk is overloaded. I had used a redstone timer on a solar panel factory and left it running for a good hour or so at .5 secs. Every person that came near my house disconnected. Removed the timer that was causing backlog and correct itself. I tried all the above troubleshooting steps and nothing worked until i realized it was an issue with the chunk.

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    Replies
    1. Not to be overly rude, but you are way off. The game would not work at all without TCP. UDP is meant for streaming or logging where it doesn't matter if the other side receives the packet or not. You would not be able to interact with the game in the way you do without TCP. For instance VoIP or YouTube are UDP. If packets are lost along the way, or come in out of order, the packet is dropped. Otherwise, you would see sections of video from previous points or hear artifacts on calls that are already past their point in time.

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    2. lolrofl i dont have time 2 do or read theese ill try another way i just made up! wish me luck.

      Delete
  21. When I download the program it doesn't give me any information, am I missing a step?

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  22. gosh nope didn't work....

    ReplyDelete

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