Wierd download problem - or is it ?

solidcode · 08-26-2004, 06:54 AM

Hi All,
I have just changed to a new ISP who provides Internet connection using Ethernet card in the computer.
The problem I am facing is that when I try to download files that are not zip or tar.gz, the download stops after a few bytes. This happens on exes, mpegs and mp3s that I have tested from various sites. I have tried IE on Win2000 one one machine and Navigator on Linux (RH9) on a different machine. The download window just sits there even after 10 minutes and there is no data transfer. There is no error reported. This happens on small files also.
Uploading is not a problem as I am able to upload exe files without any problems. But downloding these same files gives the above problem.
The ISP reports that there is no problem at his end and that other customers are not facing this problem.
I am unable to find the reason for this behaviour.
Any pointers in finding a solution would be much appreciated.

batty_professor · 08-26-2004, 07:07 PM

Hi, and welcome to the Tech Support Forum. Is it just you, and your computer with ethernet card, or do you have a router or switch in line and two or more computers? Do you have a cable modem?, workgroup bridge?, can you identify for us the ethernet card and what else makes up this connection?

solidcode · 08-26-2004, 10:48 PM

Hi,
I have an old Compaq Server with Win2k on Pentium 166 with 128 MB RAM. I have tried an SMC 8416 and a Digi Link Digi 5700TX card on this computer.
I have a Asus MB machine with 2.4G P4 and Linux on it with 256MB RAM. This computer has an onboard Network Card that is reported by Linux as RealTek RTL-8139 SMC card.
I am connecting each of these separately to the cable that is comming into my home. The ISP is providing with me a CAT5 cable for plugging directly into the computer.
Any hints on how to go about tracing the possible cause would be most appreciated.

batty_professor · 08-27-2004, 09:41 PM

Which Linux version?

solidcode · 08-28-2004, 12:49 AM

Linux version is RH9 as mentioned in my first post

batty_professor · 08-28-2004, 11:12 AM

Sorry, should have went back and read 1st. This is sounding like perhaps a security issue. Especially if you have this with the cat 5 hooked directly to the RH9 system. I believe if you pop up the menu box from the hat select, system, configuration, security, you can adjust or disable the firewall. See if this makes a difference. It sounds to me like there is a firewall somewhere if the zipped files are coming through ok. Is this intended to be cat 5 to the windows server and then the RH9 to the server?

solidcode · 08-29-2004, 09:49 PM

Hi,
I tried it with windows OS too. I tried it with Win2000 as well as Win98. Fresh install of both. There would have been no firewall for Win98 fresh install. Even that was not downloading the complete exe.
Remember this happens with mpeg and mp3 files also. So it should not be a specific issue of the firewall preventing exes.
The ISP says files are downloading without any problems at this end as well as some customers he has tried out after my report. He claims I am the only one with this problem.
Could it be a repeater problem or some thing like that ?

solidcode · 08-29-2004, 10:14 PM

Perhaps this will help in understanding the problem further
I have started the download for the NAV update on a Win2000 machine. The download is using DAP 7.2
The file being downloaded is named 20040829-022-i32.exe and is 5.15 MB in size. DAP 7.2 broke this file into 4 segments of 1.29MB each.
When the download started, the first segment download was very slow. Whereas the other three segments proceeded with speed apropriate to the ISP advertised speed. After 10 minutes, the segments nos 2,3,4 are complete at 1.29 MB each where as segment 1 is at 163.9 KB. Since this donwload does not timeout, perhaps it is received data but at a very slow speed like maybe even a few bytes within the timeout frame to prevent it from timing out but not sufficient to keep the progress bar moving.
I have noticed that it is usually the first segment that has this problem. Almost allways, the 2,3,4 segments compelte in resonable time.

solidcode · 08-29-2004, 10:42 PM

Hi
Further to my earlier message, I find that when I use another ISP with dial-up, I am able to compete the download without any problem.

batty_professor · 08-29-2004, 11:54 PM

Your RH-9 should have a utility called traceroute. using this may tell us something

solidcode · 08-30-2004, 01:22 AM

What kind of info are you looking for ? I would like to emphasis here that I have downloaded zip files from the same site without any problems. However, the exe files are a different story all together.
What is especially frustrating is that no amount of attempting to resume these downloads helps. The download just does not proceed beyond the point where it stopped.

elf · 08-30-2004, 07:30 AM

have you tried not using DAP?

I know it has given me problems in the past

solidcode · 08-30-2004, 10:33 PM

Hi,
I have tried DAP 5.3 and 7.2. I have tried FreshDownload. I have tried IE4, IE5, IE6SP1 on windows and Naviagtor on RH9.
Another issue is that yesterday I started downloading NAV update using freshdownload. It segmented the file into 4. Segments 2, 3,4 completed without any problem. Segment 1 stopped after dowmloading ~152 KB. When I tried resuming the download this morning after the computer being off the whole night, it download a few byted and then stopped at 153.11 KB. That is where it stands right now after 30 minutes. FreshDownload does say "timed out".

08-26-2004, 06:54 AM	#1 (permalink)
solidcode Registered User Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 8 OS: Windows XP	Wierd download problem - or is it ? Hi All, I have just changed to a new ISP who provides Internet connection using Ethernet card in the computer. The problem I am facing is that when I try to download files that are not zip or tar.gz, the download stops after a few bytes. This happens on exes, mpegs and mp3s that I have tested from various sites. I have tried IE on Win2000 one one machine and Navigator on Linux (RH9) on a different machine. The download window just sits there even after 10 minutes and there is no data transfer. There is no error reported. This happens on small files also. Uploading is not a problem as I am able to upload exe files without any problems. But downloding these same files gives the above problem. The ISP reports that there is no problem at his end and that other customers are not facing this problem. I am unable to find the reason for this behaviour. Any pointers in finding a solution would be much appreciated.

08-26-2004, 07:07 PM	#2 (permalink)
batty_professor Asst. Manager, Alternative Computing Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Hooterville Il 45 mi. east of St. Louis mo Posts: 2,608 OS: Fedora Core 5 for now	Hi, and welcome to the Tech Support Forum. Is it just you, and your computer with ethernet card, or do you have a router or switch in line and two or more computers? Do you have a cable modem?, workgroup bridge?, can you identify for us the ethernet card and what else makes up this connection? __________________ It's better to know me and not need me than to need me and not know me. B. While users are never under any obligation, if you feel the urge please feel free to visit our donation page. Every little bit helps. And we thank you for your support. Microsoft free Registered Linux user 397458

08-26-2004, 10:48 PM	#3 (permalink)
solidcode Registered User Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 8 OS: Windows XP	Setup Hi, I have an old Compaq Server with Win2k on Pentium 166 with 128 MB RAM. I have tried an SMC 8416 and a Digi Link Digi 5700TX card on this computer. I have a Asus MB machine with 2.4G P4 and Linux on it with 256MB RAM. This computer has an onboard Network Card that is reported by Linux as RealTek RTL-8139 SMC card. I am connecting each of these separately to the cable that is comming into my home. The ISP is providing with me a CAT5 cable for plugging directly into the computer. Any hints on how to go about tracing the possible cause would be most appreciated.

08-27-2004, 09:41 PM	#4 (permalink)
batty_professor Asst. Manager, Alternative Computing Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Hooterville Il 45 mi. east of St. Louis mo Posts: 2,608 OS: Fedora Core 5 for now	Which Linux version? __________________ It's better to know me and not need me than to need me and not know me. B. While users are never under any obligation, if you feel the urge please feel free to visit our donation page. Every little bit helps. And we thank you for your support. Microsoft free Registered Linux user 397458

08-28-2004, 11:12 AM	#6 (permalink)
batty_professor Asst. Manager, Alternative Computing Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Hooterville Il 45 mi. east of St. Louis mo Posts: 2,608 OS: Fedora Core 5 for now	Sorry, should have went back and read 1st. This is sounding like perhaps a security issue. Especially if you have this with the cat 5 hooked directly to the RH9 system. I believe if you pop up the menu box from the hat select, system, configuration, security, you can adjust or disable the firewall. See if this makes a difference. It sounds to me like there is a firewall somewhere if the zipped files are coming through ok. Is this intended to be cat 5 to the windows server and then the RH9 to the server? __________________ It's better to know me and not need me than to need me and not know me. B. While users are never under any obligation, if you feel the urge please feel free to visit our donation page. Every little bit helps. And we thank you for your support. Microsoft free Registered Linux user 397458

08-28-2004, 12:49 AM	#5 (permalink)
solidcode Registered User Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 8 OS: Windows XP	Linux version is RH9 as mentioned in my first post

08-29-2004, 09:49 PM	#7 (permalink)
solidcode Registered User Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 8 OS: Windows XP	Hi, I tried it with windows OS too. I tried it with Win2000 as well as Win98. Fresh install of both. There would have been no firewall for Win98 fresh install. Even that was not downloading the complete exe. Remember this happens with mpeg and mp3 files also. So it should not be a specific issue of the firewall preventing exes. The ISP says files are downloading without any problems at this end as well as some customers he has tried out after my report. He claims I am the only one with this problem. Could it be a repeater problem or some thing like that ?

08-29-2004, 10:14 PM	#8 (permalink)
solidcode Registered User Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 8 OS: Windows XP	More information Perhaps this will help in understanding the problem further I have started the download for the NAV update on a Win2000 machine. The download is using DAP 7.2 The file being downloaded is named 20040829-022-i32.exe and is 5.15 MB in size. DAP 7.2 broke this file into 4 segments of 1.29MB each. When the download started, the first segment download was very slow. Whereas the other three segments proceeded with speed apropriate to the ISP advertised speed. After 10 minutes, the segments nos 2,3,4 are complete at 1.29 MB each where as segment 1 is at 163.9 KB. Since this donwload does not timeout, perhaps it is received data but at a very slow speed like maybe even a few bytes within the timeout frame to prevent it from timing out but not sufficient to keep the progress bar moving. I have noticed that it is usually the first segment that has this problem. Almost allways, the 2,3,4 segments compelte in resonable time.

08-29-2004, 10:42 PM	#9 (permalink)
solidcode Registered User Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 8 OS: Windows XP	Can complete download using dial-up Hi Further to my earlier message, I find that when I use another ISP with dial-up, I am able to compete the download without any problem.

08-29-2004, 11:54 PM	#10 (permalink)
batty_professor Asst. Manager, Alternative Computing Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Hooterville Il 45 mi. east of St. Louis mo Posts: 2,608 OS: Fedora Core 5 for now	Your RH-9 should have a utility called traceroute. using this may tell us something __________________ It's better to know me and not need me than to need me and not know me. B. While users are never under any obligation, if you feel the urge please feel free to visit our donation page. Every little bit helps. And we thank you for your support. Microsoft free Registered Linux user 397458

08-30-2004, 01:22 AM	#11 (permalink)
solidcode Registered User Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 8 OS: Windows XP	What kind of info are you looking for ? I would like to emphasis here that I have downloaded zip files from the same site without any problems. However, the exe files are a different story all together. What is especially frustrating is that no amount of attempting to resume these downloads helps. The download just does not proceed beyond the point where it stopped.

08-30-2004, 07:30 AM	#12 (permalink)
elf Manager, Microsoft Support Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Knoxville, TN or Austin, TX depending Posts: 7,038 OS: WinXP Pro SP3 and Windows 7 My System	have you tried not using DAP? I know it has given me problems in the past __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! I do not subscribe to threads, so if I stop replying, PM me with a link to your thread so I can find it again.

08-30-2004, 10:33 PM	#13 (permalink)
solidcode Registered User Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 8 OS: Windows XP	Hi, I have tried DAP 5.3 and 7.2. I have tried FreshDownload. I have tried IE4, IE5, IE6SP1 on windows and Naviagtor on RH9. Another issue is that yesterday I started downloading NAV update using freshdownload. It segmented the file into 4. Segments 2, 3,4 completed without any problem. Segment 1 stopped after dowmloading ~152 KB. When I tried resuming the download this morning after the computer being off the whole night, it download a few byted and then stopped at 153.11 KB. That is where it stands right now after 30 minutes. FreshDownload does say "timed out".