Seeing the dreaded Minecraft End of Stream error when trying to play multiplayer Minecraft? You’re not alone. Now updated for Minecraft 1.0.0 and the “The Server Responded With An Invalid Server Key” error!
It’s a bit of a nightmare to fix – we can’t promise anything – but here are some ideas on how to stop it from causing you any more problems.
Update – The EoS error can be caused by Minecraft.net being down – which is what’s causing the error for everyone today, September 25th 2012. Not a lot we can do to fix it aside from wait for the server to come back up!
End Of Stream – Minecraft and the data stream
It’s not entirely clear what’s happening when a Minecraft “Connection Lost: End of Stream” error crops up, but it’s connected to network settings. In short, the continuous flow of network data (the “stream”) has been interrupted for some reason, causing Minecraft to have a funny and fall over.
Except, of course, when it’s not. There’s a well-known bug in Minecraft multiplayer that can cause this error – if you stay dead for more than about 30 seconds, the program will get confused, and crash out with an “End of Stream” error. In this case, you can just reconnect – it’s a weird bug in the code, and is nothing to worry about.
If you’re getting “End of Stream” at any other time, though, then something’s gone south. Let’s take a closer look.
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Solutions
Invalid Server Key
Minecraft 1.0.0 has a bug where sometimes, when you attempt to connect to a 1.0.0 server, you’ll get a “The Server Responded With An Invalid Server Key” error the first time, and End of Stream errors subsequently.
There are both temporary and permanent fixes for this problem if you’re encountering it:
- Temporary – restart your Minecraft client. You may need to try several times to get this to work. Alternatively, restarting the server also works.
- Permanent – If you’re the Minecraft server admin, you can install this patch to fix the problem (although it’s a user patch not an official one – use at your own risk).
Other solutions
First up, the bad news: there is no solid solution for this error. It’s weird, confusing, and can be caused by anything including incompatibilities in your network hardware. The best advice from everyone on all the Minecraft forum threads I’ve read is “keep trying”.
First job – if you get this error, try again. Then try re-copying the IP address by hand. Then try restarting Minecraft. Then try restarting your computer.
It’s worth taking a five minute break at this point, then trying again. Minecraft has DOS (Denial of Service) defences that may stop you logging on to the server if you repeatedly try – and again, these can cause “End of Stream” errors.
If none of that lot works, it’s time for slightly bigger steps. If you’re still playing an old version of Minecraft, it may well be time to upgrade – some versions of 1.5 had chronic problems with “End of Stream” errors. If the server you’re on is running 1.5, it might well be a problem on their end – try and persuade them to upgrade.
(There’s a long thread about this problem on the Bukkit server program forums – read it here. Sadly, they don’t have any good solutions either, but trying to run the server with fewer plugins may be another way to attempt a fix.)
Another REALLY obscure thing that might have happened – if you’re suddenly unable to log onto a server, have someone check if the Message of the Day has changed. There are reports that using special characters in the MOTD can cause End of Stream errors – have someone change it back to something simple, and try reconnecting again.
Of course, you should probably also ping the IP address of the server (using the “ping” command on the command line in Windows and Terminal on a Mac) to check if it’s still up. If the ping doesn’t come back, the server’s down.
Still not working? It’s time to refresh your Minecraft installation, then. Navigate to your Minecraft folder (there’s a great guide to finding your Minecraft folder here) and delete your /bin folder – remember, this will delete all mods, and you should back up all your saves first. Then try starting Minecraft from the .exe file or .app file again.
If you’re still getting End of Stream errors after this lot, it’s time to check your firewall settings. See if you can connect to any other Minecraft servers – if not, it may be that your firewall doesn’t let you connect out. The simple test for this is to disable your firewall, then try to connect to Minecraft. If that succeeds, it’s your firewall that’s the problem – google for the make of your firewall and “Minecraft” for more useful information?
STILL not working? Aargh. At this point, you’re into the hideous maze that can be the End of Stream error. There are a huge number of possible fixes at this point – try a different PC if you can, try reinstalling the Java Runtime Environment on your machine, try re-downloading Minecraft from scratch, and if all else fails, try posting on the official Minecraft forums at Minecraftforums.net.
Any suggestions we didn’t come up with? Anything that worked for you? Post it below, no matter how weird!
{ 48 comments… read them below or add one }
Your spelling of the word weird is the only weird thing around here
@Hi – You’re right, that was somewhat… unusual. Corrected.
Ok, Im wondering if you can help me
I run a server with the basic public server plugins for the past week the server has been lagging loading chunks slowly and Says “end of stream” I allicated 1/2 a gig of ram more now 1.5 GB of ram but still when i go to my mom (server is hosted at my dads) it Says end of stream to me my friend playing hasnt experienced from when i got it back online and was actually playable any thing but before it did End of stream to my other friend and the lag dosent occur on a other server I can decide if plz reply to email… joeywilliams319@hotmail.com
its server side or client side
Download the latest version of the Server, and ensure that in your server.properties config it says server-ip= make sure that equals the servers internal IP address, and it will work.
Great answer!
For some reason, this happens to me as well.
1. I am NOT an admin in any server.
2. I never got killed
3. Well, my cursor looks corrupt on windows 7 for some reason >.<
4. This keeps happening to me no matter what
5. The server thinks I'm crazy every time my chat messages somehow reach the server.
Looks like 1.2.3 has seen a resurgence in these problems. We’re looking into it!
I’ve been observing this as well. It seems to happen most frequently around the 1st hour your Minecraft Client has been connected. Suddenly without warning the client not the server will go into a lock leading me to believe MC is struggling to grab memory. This lock or hang is so long the server no longer receives the connection packets and ultimately cuts your stream.
I’ve watched MC do this at least 10 times and of each time it does it. The task manager reveals that MC no longer has CPU Activity and the memory starts to slowly drop. When the connection is finally cut. It immediately returns to normal as if something was never wrong. But when connecting back to the server, in about 10 minutes it happens again. This leads me to believe the update to MC has corrupted something in the code for memory management when in multiplayer mode.
I can not log on to my friends minecraft server however i used to be able to and he and his friends still can. it says connection lost and end of stream unable to connect etc…i have been on this server before and the server has been fixed and resolved and stuff so its not the server. also my single player is being very slow and laggy and it wasnt before. this all started happening when minecraft came out with the 1.2.3 update which included iron golems smarter A.I for mobs, bugs at max height and new max height. Please respond to this and please help me figure out why i cant log on to this serverwhen my friends can. it may be my computer im not sure. please let me know so i can enjoy the world of minecraft once again! Thanks Guys!
Hmm, that’s interesting – and must suck for you, I’m sure! I’m updating our guides over the next few days, so I’m going to look into whether there are new End of Stream errors cropping up with the latest patch.
Are you sure that the server is updated to 1.2.3?
the same exact thing has been happening to me! have u fixed it? if yes please send me a message!
This is very annoying. The majority of the plugins we use aren’t yet compatible with the latest version of the game so updating the server is a little bit problematic.
As a long-time Bukkit user, I feel your pain.
Unfortunately your best solution may be asking your players to roll back to an earlier MC version. Minecraft has many virtues, but backward-compatibility has never really been one of them.
Well, I made the jump last night and now minecraft.splitanatom.com is running on 1.2, there were a few plugins that didn’t work, but I found better alternatives. The game looks and runs better, there may have been a slight graphical update in 1.2, very pleased.
I have this issue as well, on a side not ive noticed that in single player, alot of the items are distorted and the textures are out of whack :/
Does the same thing happen in single player or only on certain servers? Try other servers.
Actually, new news. It can also be that the server is lagging to bad. My example stated above was actually a destroyed server that had too many pick up items on it due to a tnt blast of 1570 units. Te server lagged so bad trying to load all those pick up dirt blocks that I kept getting a End of Stream error because I was in the middle of all those items. Simply deleting the character.dat for me gets rid of my current spot, and loads me at spawn
CaptainRob, you made my day, it worked and i would like to thank you, sincerly, gilbert
(btw my server ip is :91.121.172.185:15806)
On this one server (creative) there is a “wand” like you click one block then click another and you can set whatever you want. I did this on the server and filled TNT into my whole building space (15752 Blocks) and blew it up! I crashed the server and got everyone banned because they didn’t know who did it
. Also what server did you play on?
Did you Lose You data and stuff?
Im having this problem and when i try to connect, it says i have 5 bars and there are usually people on. It started when i got the new snapshot with writable books so im guessing thats the problem, im gonna make a copy of the snapshot and and the original minecraft.jar and switch them out whether i want to play multiplayer, or singleplayer. Try this if your in the same position.
i know exactly what the problem is and how to fix it.!!!! somewhere between the server and the client you have an item or anything with two different ID numebers, how to fix it, mine was happening everytime i tried to make a mining well, so i knew it had something to do with that i deleted the world, put the mining well with the same id for both client and server. problem fixed…. hopefully i dont encounter this again but if i do i now know how to fix it.
My problem was I had the server on the current minecraft version and my computer was on the pre release. Hope this helps!
I’ve been having a problem with my server as well.
1. it’s 1.2.5
2. I am the admin
3. I’ve never played on it once
4. I sent it through a port on my router
5. Other people can’t get on my server
It has to do with my /home.. Its on a Tekkit server and its only at my /home where I can log on and play for a bit before getting End of Stream. It gets progressively worse if I don’t let it cool down. I also get another error which says..
‘Internal exception: java.net.SocketException: Software caused connection abort: recv f’ The message gets cut off there because it is a screen shot but I believe that last word is failed. Have you any fixes? The server is up and I can log in and play in all other areas without interruption.
To the last guy, end of stream error and that error are typical on a tekkit server. There are usually alot of plugins. More plugins can add to the lag. What you are seeing is a lag problem. Is there any machinery spitting out items all over the ground? Things like that can add up and prevent you from logging in, especially if the items are near you.
To the last guy, end of stream error and that error are typical on a tekkit server. There are usually alot of plugins. More plugins can add to the lag. What you are seeing is a lag problem. Is there any machinery spitting out items all over the ground? Things like that can add up and prevent you from logging in, especially if the items are near you. Find someone to scout the area for you.
Thats not it, it was spitting out items, but I fixed it 7 seconds at a time. Although, I had a friend yesterday go there and he got End of Stream’ed too. The server has a plugin to delete all entities every minute or so. It started whenever I used an Energy Condensor to make tin that goes into a filter which pumps out into tubes, into a chest, which goes out in wood pipes to a AutoMatic Crafting Table which makes empty cells and pumps out in wood pipes which pumps into a deployer. The deployer then makes water cells which are taken out by a filter. This then goes into a Centrifuge Extractor which then turns the water cells into coolant cells and puts them into a chest.
I downloaded a minecraft server and I have set it up. I have not even gotten to log on because it says End of Stream. The only problem that occured while installing the server was that the server settings document could (and still cannot) be opened up by Java 7 for some weird reason. Is that my problem? How can I fix this?
Sounds like a permissions error, yeah. What Operating System are you running?
I upgraded to Minecraft 1.3.1 this morning and I am getting the End of Stream error when trying to connect to our home server on the local network. I am running OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion on my laptop, 10.6.8 Snow Leopard on the server Mac.
I have been able to connect successfully with Mountain Lion up until this morning, so it seems related to the 1.3.1 update somehow. Any suggestions are much appreciated, thank you.
I seem to have fixed it by upgrading the minecraft_server.jar to the latest build. Once I did that the error has not happened again.
That makes sense. Glad you were able to fix it!
I am running Windows 7 on PC
ok so listen up, i had the minecraft version 1.2.5,and have been on a cracked server, well it updated to 1.3 and well i like the 1.3 but i really want to be able to use the cracked 1.2.5 server as well, any help would be appreiciative
HELP!
I recently updated my Minecraft to 1.3.1 and every server I try to join says “end of stream” or “outdated server”, but 1 of the servers I have added it says 3/20 players online and every time I try to join, it says “outdated server”. So far I’ve restarted my computer, deleted minecraft re-downloaded it and nothing has worked. Any help would be appreciated. FYI im on a Mac. Thanks! B-)
That same thing has happened to me too, and I really need to get on to the server as I am a faction admin and I don’t want the other factions to attack us when we are weak (the server has been updated)
Any advice would be a big help
Do you know if the server has also been updated to the latest build?
Yes, its been updated to the latest build
Hmm. Has anyone else you know had the same problem with that server?
about half the people that daily access the server are having the same problem
Hm. Sounds like it’s a server-side configuration problem – are you or do you know the admin of the server? If not, I’m not sure what you’ll be able to do about it.
this happens to most servers i try to join. i cant log in to any of them! but the ones that are local, I guess, can connect to. PLEASE HELP ME. GETTING SICK OF SINGLEPLAYER.
Have you taken the steps listed above? That would (obviously) be my first suggestion.
I’m not experienced with Mc Servers so this question can sound a little bit… Noobish. Anyway. You mentioned you had to update Mc, because maybe you could have an old version. Is it possible that not a player but the host has a too old mc version? Or are the servers automaticly updated? In advance, thanks for your help.
Hyradd
Yes, it’s definitely possible that the server’s running an old version too. You’ll need to ask the guy or girl running the server what version they’re on to be sure.
Your article did not mention that the EoS can be caused by minecraft.net being down, as it is now.
Good point! You’re absolutely right.