tyler, You need to post the times you have problems here and see if other people have the same problem. There are hundreds of IB traders on this site and if it is an IB problem then you won't be the only one. Having said that I have seem large numbers of similar complaints over the last four years and its almost always your internet connection. Just being able to browse other sites and do your mail doesn't disprove that their is a link problem to IBs server from your ISP ... you might consider pinging the server with something like ping plotter freeware to test it. The other question people here will ask is "how much cpu utilization are you seeing on javaw.exe when the problem occurs"? FWIW Oz - HK server has been 100% good all week.
What's needed then is to start the poll on IB connectivity issues. As for cpu utilization by Java in my opinion the Java implementation is too heavy to use it in a trading application.
To answer the questions The java process doesn't take up anymore than maybe 25% of a CPU (I have never seen it max out ever and I keep my taskmgr running all the time) and I'm not where close to maxing out my ram. My computer setup itself I know is rock solid so like you said, it might be an IB problem or a a problem with connecting to the IB servers. That brings me to my next question - what addresses should i be pinging? I didn't see an option in TWS that allowed me to select different servers. I basically gave up on contacting IB support a couple of weeks ago because their tech team basically treats you as an idiot. It was the first time I ever swore at a customer rep just because it was so frustrating. I had problems logging into TWS and basically the support staff who was helping me told me "you must have been typing your password wrong" and basically was unwilling to do anything to help the situation which gave me a loss in a position I wanted to get out of, but couldn't because neither TWS nor webtrader worked. To date, my webtrader account doesn't work and I'd like to think I'm more than capable of typing in the login, password and safeword passcode properly into fields. Account management and TWS works fine .. sometimes. Webtrader HAS worked in the past with the same login/password so I know the issue is with IB. Of course, the customer rep I was talking to on the phone at the time was completely unwilling to look into the problem and just kept blaming me. Ah well, you get what you pay for. Poor IB customer support seems to be a pretty common complaint around so I dont think I'm the only one.
The support can be very good ... it depends (better IMO than United Airlines). If you're saying your using webtrader rather than TWS standalone or browser based I'd be a bit concerned. Definitely 2nd level in terms of IB's platforms. 25% sounds a lot to me but shouldn't be causing problems --- but historically the internet is responsible for a lot more issues than under powered cpus. Get something like prio from http://www.prnwatch.com/ which will show you whats happening with your ip traffic.
There have been some real problems in TWS recently - perhaps triggered by server issues. This extract from TWS log looks to me to be a real problem with deadlocked threads: Code: 02:06:42:438 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: Deadlocked Thread[ 3157]:JTS-EWriter21 02:06:42:438 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: - waiting to lock 02:06:42:438 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jclient.yh.a(yh.java:71) 02:06:42:439 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jclient.hf.nf(hf.java:4568) 02:06:42:439 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.k.c(k.java:338) 02:06:42:439 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.bd.z(bd.java:582) 02:06:42:439 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.bd.y(bd.java:531) 02:06:42:439 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.dd.e(dd.java:721) 02:06:42:439 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.dd.I(dd.java:680) 02:06:42:440 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.ud.run(ud.java:60) 02:06:42:440 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: Deadlocked Thread[ 3156]:JTS-EServerSocket-2 968 02:06:42:440 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: - locked 02:06:42:440 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.dd.a(dd.java) 02:06:42:440 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.bd.a(bd.java:294) 02:06:42:440 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.bd.a(bd.java:274) 02:06:42:440 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.r.a(r.java:911) 02:06:42:441 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.bd.b(bd.java:938) 02:06:42:441 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.dd.b(dd.java:1809) 02:06:42:441 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.v.b(v.java:172) 02:06:42:441 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.v.e(v.java:146) 02:06:42:441 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.u.i(u.java:214) 02:06:42:441 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.dd.G(dd.java:648) 02:06:42:441 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.dd.run(dd.java:519) 02:06:42:441 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:595) 02:06:42:441 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: Deadlocked Thread[ 3156]:JTS-EServerSocket-2 968 02:06:42:442 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: - waiting to lock 02:06:42:442 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.dd.a(dd.java) 02:06:42:442 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.bd.a(bd.java:294) 02:06:42:442 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.bd.a(bd.java:274) 02:06:42:442 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.r.a(r.java:911) 02:06:42:442 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.bd.b(bd.java:938) 02:06:42:442 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.dd.b(dd.java:1809) 02:06:42:442 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.v.b(v.java:172) 02:06:42:443 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.v.e(v.java:146) 02:06:42:443 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.u.i(u.java:214) 02:06:42:443 JTS-DeadlockMonitor-1: jextend.dd.G(dd.java:648) It is accompanied by complete TWS freeze.
I run two copies of the TWS on a dedicated computer to manage two accounts. I also trade via the API, so I have logs going back to the start of the problem. I get a brief disconnect on one of the accounts (always the same one) at about the same time (9-9:30am ET) most (but not all) days. The other account is unaffected, so this is neither an Internet connectivity, hardware, TWS, nor API issue. The disconnects have been happening for well over a month now. In the distant past, tech support has sometimes been rude. Lately, they have been prompt, courteous, and knowledgeable. I believe that being abusive is not helpful, though I understand the frustration. We tried a couple things including downgrading my Java installation from version 6 to 5. The latest recommendation is to change gateways. The problem account is on gw1, and the one that never has disconnects is on gw4. I submitted a request, but cancelled it after 3 weeks of no action. I plan to re-submit it. I also sent a PM to an IB staffer who responded to a similar problem on another ET thread. This is the other thread: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=108785 [rwk]
Webtrader is only a last ditch resort for me when logging into TWS doesnt work and of course.. it doesnt. I checked the logs and i'm having the same problems dcraig is having with deadlocked threads. It also looks like I am using gw1 for my IB connection whether good or bad.
This looks like a bug we already resolved in 879 (I can't tell for sure without looking at the full log). Please give it a try and let me know if it comes back. FYI your java version seems suspicious.