How do I open port 8080 on my Mac?
September 17, 2013 6:29 AM Subscribe
I want to try the game Card Hunters. It requires port 8080 to run. No matter what I do, I cannot get it to run on my Macbook Pro running Mountain Lion.
At first I thought it was a router issue, but port forwarding did not help, and my Windows machine which is also attached to the router can run the game just fine. That's my work computer, however, so I don't want to game on it.
This leads me to believe that port 8080 is blocked on my Mac somewhere. I'm at the limits of my technical know-how. Anyone out there know if this port is blocked by Mountain Lion (possibly the Notifications Center?) and how to unblock it?
Conversely, you could also tell me if you've played Card Hunters, and if it's worth all this trouble :-)
At first I thought it was a router issue, but port forwarding did not help, and my Windows machine which is also attached to the router can run the game just fine. That's my work computer, however, so I don't want to game on it.
This leads me to believe that port 8080 is blocked on my Mac somewhere. I'm at the limits of my technical know-how. Anyone out there know if this port is blocked by Mountain Lion (possibly the Notifications Center?) and how to unblock it?
Conversely, you could also tell me if you've played Card Hunters, and if it's worth all this trouble :-)
What exactly happens when you try to run it? Have you tried different browsers?
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:43 AM on September 17, 2013
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:43 AM on September 17, 2013
Response by poster: They gave me the address for the actual maintenance script, which specifically references port 8080, and my Mac was unable to connect to it with any browser. When I hit the game URL, all I get is a maintenance down message, but the game is no longer down for maintenance.
When I hit the game URL with my PC, it loads properly.
posted by starvingartist at 6:46 AM on September 17, 2013
When I hit the game URL with my PC, it loads properly.
posted by starvingartist at 6:46 AM on September 17, 2013
Is the URL something like "www.gamepublisher.com:8080/morestuff"?
If so that has nothing at all to do with port 8080 on your Mac and is referencing port 8080 on their server.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 6:57 AM on September 17, 2013
If so that has nothing at all to do with port 8080 on your Mac and is referencing port 8080 on their server.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 6:57 AM on September 17, 2013
Response by poster: live-server.cardhunter.com:8080
Why can I connect to it on my PC and not my Mac, if it's not something to do with my Mac? I am not running a firewall.
posted by starvingartist at 7:02 AM on September 17, 2013
Why can I connect to it on my PC and not my Mac, if it's not something to do with my Mac? I am not running a firewall.
posted by starvingartist at 7:02 AM on September 17, 2013
live-server.cardhunter.com:8080 doesn't work for me either (Firefox on Win 7). The URL they gave me when I signed up was http://game.cardhunter.com/ (which works fine for me). What happens when you try http://game.cardhunter.com/ ?
posted by EndsOfInvention at 7:06 AM on September 17, 2013
posted by EndsOfInvention at 7:06 AM on September 17, 2013
Response by poster: I just get a "game is down for maintenance" message every single time on my Mac. On my PC, like I have said, the game loads correctly.
posted by starvingartist at 7:07 AM on September 17, 2013
posted by starvingartist at 7:07 AM on September 17, 2013
Things to check:
- Try different browsers on your Mac.
- Is your Flash install up to date?
- Are there any other browser extensions that might be blocking it from running? (FlashBlock etc). Try disabling all extensions/add-ons and seeing if it runs then.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 7:08 AM on September 17, 2013
- Try different browsers on your Mac.
- Is your Flash install up to date?
- Are there any other browser extensions that might be blocking it from running? (FlashBlock etc). Try disabling all extensions/add-ons and seeing if it runs then.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 7:08 AM on September 17, 2013
What happens when you try another web browser? What happens when you clear the cache for the web browser you're currently using?
posted by oceanjesse at 7:08 AM on September 17, 2013
posted by oceanjesse at 7:08 AM on September 17, 2013
Response by poster: Sorry, I mistyped the maintenance script.
live-server.cardhunter.com:8080/check_maintenance.jsp
posted by starvingartist at 7:08 AM on September 17, 2013
live-server.cardhunter.com:8080/check_maintenance.jsp
posted by starvingartist at 7:08 AM on September 17, 2013
Response by poster: I tried Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. I reinstalled Flash. I cleared my browser cache and my Flash cache. I am not running FlashBlock or AdBlock.
posted by starvingartist at 7:09 AM on September 17, 2013
posted by starvingartist at 7:09 AM on September 17, 2013
Check this to see if you're actually blocked: http://portquiz.positon.org:8080
I have the same issue with my PC, and went through a round of tech support with changing browsers, disabling every security measure I had, etc. We ended up just figuring that my service provider blocks 8080 for some reason.
posted by LionIndex at 7:12 AM on September 17, 2013
I have the same issue with my PC, and went through a round of tech support with changing browsers, disabling every security measure I had, etc. We ended up just figuring that my service provider blocks 8080 for some reason.
posted by LionIndex at 7:12 AM on September 17, 2013
If you are getting a message, even game down, when connecting to that URL, then it seems less likely a firewall issue and more likely a stale DNS lookup or a caching issue.
posted by zippy at 7:12 AM on September 17, 2013
posted by zippy at 7:12 AM on September 17, 2013
Response by poster: OK, that port quiz link works. So now I'm even more baffled.
posted by starvingartist at 7:29 AM on September 17, 2013
posted by starvingartist at 7:29 AM on September 17, 2013
Maybe they are pricks. Have you tried spoofing user agent settings so that it looks like you are a windows user?
posted by oceanjesse at 7:37 AM on September 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by oceanjesse at 7:37 AM on September 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: No. But I think they would have said if it was a Windows-only game.
posted by starvingartist at 7:42 AM on September 17, 2013
posted by starvingartist at 7:42 AM on September 17, 2013
I assume you're keeping an eye on their Support forum but just in case here's the thread for people with a similar issue with a few suggestions for possible fixes.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 7:56 AM on September 17, 2013
posted by EndsOfInvention at 7:56 AM on September 17, 2013
The link works for me coming from Windows 7 and OS X Lion.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 8:06 AM on September 17, 2013
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 8:06 AM on September 17, 2013
It's very unlikely that port 8080 is blocked on your computer / network. You really shouldn't mess with tunneling or forwarding TCP port 8080 in your router, and in fact setting up rules like that may be why it's not working.
If you are seeing a game specific message like "server is down for maintenance", that means the network port is fine and the game is really down. But if the game is working that's puzzling. Is it possible something is caching the web response? There's nothing on the Mac by default that would do that, but maybe you've got something uncommon on your computer or network.
Here's what I see when I fetch the URL from a terminal prompt. it's an XML response saying "active: 1", basically.
posted by Nelson at 9:56 AM on September 17, 2013
If you are seeing a game specific message like "server is down for maintenance", that means the network port is fine and the game is really down. But if the game is working that's puzzling. Is it possible something is caching the web response? There's nothing on the Mac by default that would do that, but maybe you've got something uncommon on your computer or network.
Here's what I see when I fetch the URL from a terminal prompt. it's an XML response saying "active: 1", basically.
$ wget -q -O /dev/stdout -S http://live-server.cardhunter.com:8080/check_maintenance.jsp
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 16:54:47 GMT
Content-Type: text/xml; charset=iso-8859-1
Expires: Thu, 01-Jan-1970 00:00:00 GMT
Set-Cookie: JSESSIONID=97zv57ti0qtf1vibzvcpphgvn;Path=/
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
Content-Length: 63
Server: Jetty(6.1.26)
<serverstatus>
<active>1</active>
</serverstatus>
Card Hunter works fine for me on my Mac (running Chrome). The servers have been overloaded but they're pretty good at catching errors / login queues / etc. Fun game btw, enjoy!posted by Nelson at 9:56 AM on September 17, 2013
Ooops, forgot that wget isn't installed on Macs by default. If you want to do a low level test of "is my network working", open Terminal.app and try this command: curl -i http://live-server.cardhunter.com:8080/check_maintenance.jsp. If it works you should see a response like the one I pasted above. Any response at all that includes an HTTP header indicates the network is working and you're getting replies from their server correctly.
posted by Nelson at 10:08 AM on September 17, 2013
posted by Nelson at 10:08 AM on September 17, 2013
Response by poster: Trying that command yields "Connection refused".
I don't get it at all. I know for a fact that the game is not currently down for maintenance. I simply cannot access it on my Mac.
When I signed up for an account it was last Thursday, and it was just when the server was starting to get hammered. The site was down for several hours for maintenance while they increased capacity. And now I can't load the game on this computer. It's frustrating and no one seems to be able to tell me why.
posted by starvingartist at 10:11 AM on September 17, 2013
I don't get it at all. I know for a fact that the game is not currently down for maintenance. I simply cannot access it on my Mac.
When I signed up for an account it was last Thursday, and it was just when the server was starting to get hammered. The site was down for several hours for maintenance while they increased capacity. And now I can't load the game on this computer. It's frustrating and no one seems to be able to tell me why.
posted by starvingartist at 10:11 AM on September 17, 2013
Huh, wow, Connection Refused? OK I was wrong and maybe something is messing with your port 8080. Does telnet live-server.cardhunter.com 8080 also give you a Connection Refused? Here's what I see on my working Mac
posted by Nelson at 10:16 AM on September 17, 2013
$ telnet live-server.cardhunter.com 8080 Trying 54.235.71.82... Connected to ec2-54-235-71-82.compute-1.amazonaws.com. Escape character is '^]'. ^] telnet> quit Connection closed.If the telnet doesn't work either, I'd start by removing any router rules you created for port 8080 or other port forwarding you're sure isn't a problem. One possible explanation is that your router is forwarding all port 8080 traffic to the Windows box you played on first, so your Mac doesn't get anything. There should be no need to forward port 8080 manually, the NAT router should be doing that for you on a per-connection basis.
posted by Nelson at 10:16 AM on September 17, 2013
Response by poster:
I removed the port forwarding rule yesterday because it wasn't working. There are no rules regarding port 8080 on my router.
posted by starvingartist at 10:18 AM on September 17, 2013
Trying 54.235.71.82...
telnet: connect to address 54.235.71.82: Connection refused
telnet: Unable to connect to remote hostI removed the port forwarding rule yesterday because it wasn't working. There are no rules regarding port 8080 on my router.
posted by starvingartist at 10:18 AM on September 17, 2013
OK, well, we've established port 8080 is really blocked. Sorry about my mistaken assumption before. Not really sure how to debug this. Some things I'd consider trying... Reboot the router and the Mac. Try the Mac on another network, or plugged directly in to the DSL/cable modem. Fire up WireShark and sniff packets on port 8080 and see where the connection refusal is coming from. You definitely have a mystery.
I suggest using my curl command as the way to test whether any changes you make had an impact. Doing it that way bypasses the Web browser and Flash entirely, more of a low level test.
Is the Connection Refused coming immediately? Or is it only after a 10+ second timeout?
posted by Nelson at 10:27 AM on September 17, 2013
I suggest using my curl command as the way to test whether any changes you make had an impact. Doing it that way bypasses the Web browser and Flash entirely, more of a low level test.
Is the Connection Refused coming immediately? Or is it only after a 10+ second timeout?
posted by Nelson at 10:27 AM on September 17, 2013
Response by poster: The router and the Mac have both been restarted several times in the last couple of days. I have no idea what WireShark is or how to use it. Thanks for your help. I think I'm just going to have to give up on this one.
posted by starvingartist at 10:39 AM on September 17, 2013
posted by starvingartist at 10:39 AM on September 17, 2013
game.cardhunter.com works for me on my Mac (10.6.8). I get the login screen. I could try to login as you to see if it's somehow your account, but, of course, I don't have your credentials...
posted by Thorzdad at 12:19 PM on September 17, 2013
posted by Thorzdad at 12:19 PM on September 17, 2013
Ok, fun experiment time. Since you can hit port 8080 on Portquiz, I wonder if "non-standard" ports are being blocked for you getting to AWS stuff. Are you able to access http://ec2-54-200-54-31.us-west-2.compute.amazonaws.com:8080/? (It's an empty webserver I set up to respond to port 8080)
If you can't load it, what does
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 12:42 PM on September 17, 2013
If you can't load it, what does
telnet ec2-54-200-54-31.us-west-2.compute.amazonaws.com 8080 in the terminal come back with?posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 12:42 PM on September 17, 2013
Response by poster: Website response:
Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at ec2-54-200-54-31.us-west-2.compute.amazonaws.com:8080.
Telnet response:
posted by starvingartist at 1:17 PM on September 17, 2013
Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at ec2-54-200-54-31.us-west-2.compute.amazonaws.com:8080.
Telnet response:
Trying 54.200.54.31...
telnet: connect to address 54.200.54.31: Connection refused
telnet: Unable to connect to remote hostposted by starvingartist at 1:17 PM on September 17, 2013
Ooh. Now we're getting somewhere. Is the Windows computer on the same network able to load that link?
If so, since you say it's "attached to the router", is it a wired connection? Is the MacBook connecting over WiFi? If they are connected differently and Windows can load the page, I'd recommend trying to connect the MacBook in the same manner as the Windows pc. That should help track down what link in the chain is causing the problem.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 1:25 PM on September 17, 2013
If so, since you say it's "attached to the router", is it a wired connection? Is the MacBook connecting over WiFi? If they are connected differently and Windows can load the page, I'd recommend trying to connect the MacBook in the same manner as the Windows pc. That should help track down what link in the chain is causing the problem.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 1:25 PM on September 17, 2013
Response by poster: The Windows PC can connect to that URL. Both the Mac and the PC are connected via ethernet cable to my router.
posted by starvingartist at 1:30 PM on September 17, 2013
posted by starvingartist at 1:30 PM on September 17, 2013
Best answer: Ok, great. Well, great in that this narrows things down.
First off, just to cover our bases, do you have any security/monitoring software on your MacBook like Little Snitch or Hands Off?
I'm otherwise not as familiar with OS X, but I know it runs the pf firewall. If you run
Do you have any other entries besides those two? If any extra lines show up with an IP address, do they match anything found in this list of of EC2 addresses?
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 1:55 PM on September 17, 2013
First off, just to cover our bases, do you have any security/monitoring software on your MacBook like Little Snitch or Hands Off?
I'm otherwise not as familiar with OS X, but I know it runs the pf firewall. If you run
sudo pfctl -vvss in the terminal, you can see the current rule set. (Anyone else playing along at home: Is there a better way to check OS X firewalls?) On my MacBook, it shows two lines about "com.apple". Do you have any other entries besides those two? If any extra lines show up with an IP address, do they match anything found in this list of of EC2 addresses?
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 1:55 PM on September 17, 2013
Response by poster: sonofabitch
I had PeerGuardian running in the background and I had completely forgotten about it
Thanks, everyone. I'm really sorry for the trouble. It's working now, and I'm an asshole. If I ever see any of you at a meetup, I owe you a beer or five.
posted by starvingartist at 2:01 PM on September 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
I had PeerGuardian running in the background and I had completely forgotten about it
Thanks, everyone. I'm really sorry for the trouble. It's working now, and I'm an asshole. If I ever see any of you at a meetup, I owe you a beer or five.
posted by starvingartist at 2:01 PM on September 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
Ahh. Glad you figured it out!
And now I've finally played with EC2, so thanks for that!
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 2:07 PM on September 17, 2013
And now I've finally played with EC2, so thanks for that!
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 2:07 PM on September 17, 2013
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posted by tylerkaraszewski at 6:42 AM on September 17, 2013