Forums Bug Reports Disconnect after returning from AFK

I think I may have discovered a small bug.

After being AFK for about 10-15 mins, then returning, typing in a message, then hitting Enter, it suddenly disconnects from a server. This has happened to me several times since using mIRC v7.1 with Windows 7.

Currently, I'm trying to narrow down the cause by implementing a compatibility mode (Win XP - SP3). I will try different things until I get a fairly good idea of what conditions it's happening under.

This little problem never happened to me while I used Win XP and mIRC. If I get anymore information I will post it as I observe it.

Edit:
Win XP SP3 Compatibility mode doesn't make any difference. I will try something else. I'm going to try using the Windows 2000 compatibility mode advice from "Mentality".

Edit (again):
Windows 2000 Compatibility mode has zero help as well. I'm starting to think it's my router or something. I had another machine get disconnected at the same moment. Very odd, this almost never happens.

That usually means you timed out awhile ago and mIRC doesn't realize it until you try sending something (text) to the server. There are a variety of ways to avoid timing depending on the cause of your timeout that have been posted here. There are some in the software caused disconnect sticky. One example being to use a timer to send a ping every minute or so.

I'll try that timer, it's easy enough. Thanks.

I did find out that it's not my router since only mIRC is being affected by this disconnect issue. My Skype client and web browser aren't affected at all.

Usually, there's no need for using a script to ping the server. Just make sure "Check connection time out" is checked under Connect Options. (Did you have this checked?) If your router's TCP timeout is abnormally short, a timer with a short interval could help, or you could see if you can change the TCP timeout on your router's configuration page.

Heh. I was looking through options for that option when I posted and didn't see it, so I didn't mention it. Now I see it just fine.

The "Check connection time out" was already checked. The short ping seems to help. I will check my router next though.

Right now I just set up a CTCP Ping from my client to another client I have running but on a different machine. I run a bot client for a channel I help moderate, so the ping I have setup isn't bothering anyone.

Without the ping though, it still will disconnect me if it's let sit for too long. It's kind of odd to me though.

From what I'm guessing here your router has a very small TTL (Time To Live) for NAT (Network Address Translation), too short for the "Check connection time out" to be effective. NAT connections are set up by your router and will eventually be dropped if no data goes forth or back.

Increasing the TTL (if possible) or forwarding the IRC port to your computer specifically might do the trick. Note that if you decide to forward, you need to make sure that your computer and the computer running your bot use different ports.