Chrome/Mozilla Not Completing Downloads But Appear To.

gary palmer · 10 Dec 2015

Problem is intermittent and happens with both Chrome & Firefox and across multiple download locations. Have just done a fresh install of W7-64bit and use paid version Avast Pro Antivirus.

How it occurs is when I look at Chrome or Firefox Download window I can see the download happening with usual for example '25MB of 50MB downloaded at say 300Kilobytes/sec'. As the download is not completed it will appear greyed out. However it will get to what 'appears' to be finished saying for example '50MB of 50MB downloaded at 300Kilobytes/sec. The downloads window entry remains greyed out and does not complete at which point it should change to full colour rather than a greyed out appearance.

If I go to my Downloads Folder location or destination folder the download itself in this folder also remains greyed out as if download is not completed. Attached is Pic showing what I mean by greyed out...note this is an example pic only of download information and not an example where problem occurred.

I have gone to Internet Options in Control Panel and deleted all browsing history under the General tab and this did not fix the problem. Also uninstalled and reinstalled Chrome. Done a System File Check via Command Prompt which indicated everything is OK.

Secondary problem with this is that if I try to clear the download within chromes download window I cannot delete it as it remains greyed out. If I try to delete the greyed out item in my downloads folder Windows Explorer cannot delete it and goes into some sort of loop. I guess because the file is not completely there though appearing to be.

Something that also started happening at same time as all this is if I click and drag from the far left side of the address bar within chrome so as to create a shortcut say on desktop I get a whited out Chrome shortcut icon. Attached is an image showing that next to a normal Chrome icon as it should look. The whited out icon does not function and does not want to be deleted much like greyed out file in my Downloads folder. Same situation with Mozilla. Pic attached showing this.

Also a Restart of PC solves these problems until it next happens again.

Any help appreciated...Gary

paul1149 · 10 Dec 2015

gary palmer said:

Problem is intermittent and happens with both Chrome & Firefox and across multiple download locations. Have just done a fresh install of W7-64bit and use paid version Avast Pro Antivirus...

The first thing I would do is turn off Avast, Win Defender, and any other AM.

I have gone to Internet Options in Control Panel and deleted all browsing history under the General tab and this did not fix the problem. Also uninstalled and reinstalled Chrome. Done a System File Check via Command Prompt which indicated everything is OK.

None of these will touch your chrome or firefox cache. You need to do that from within the browser, or using a cleaner such as CCleaner with those targets enabled. The fact that two different browsers are doing this points to a system problem, but I would try this anyway. In fact, I would create a new clean user profile in the browsers and test it.

Secondary problem with this is that if I try to clear the download within chromes download window I cannot delete it as it remains greyed out. If I try to delete the greyed out item in my downloads folder Windows Explorer cannot delete it and goes into some sort of loop. I guess because the file is not completely there though appearing to be.

I think it's more likely that the file is in "use". If the file is unlocked, Windows shouldn't care whether it's complete. This would explain why a reboot frees them up.

Something that also started happening at same time as all this is if I click and drag from the far left side of the address bar within chrome so as to create a shortcut say on desktop I get a whited out Chrome shortcut icon. Attached is an image showing that next to a normal Chrome icon as it should look. The whited out icon does not function and does not want to be deleted much like greyed out file in my Downloads folder. Same situation with Mozilla.

This points to a Permissions problem. The most likely culprit is an AM, but it could be that actual File Permissions got messed up. A quick test of this is to create a new Windows User account and try there.

gary palmer · 10 Dec 2015

Thanks Paul1149...I will explore those suggestions of yours over next few days. Seems this is more likely a system problem. Your help has given me more insight into issues I am having. Will get back to you down track if find a fix. gary

UsernameIssues · 10 Dec 2015

One thing that I'll add to paul1149's good info:
You can use a tool like Unlocker to see what app has the download file "in use".

See this old post for warnings about the install process for Unlocker. You no longer need to look for/use the "Direct Download" link on the Filehippo website. You can use the green rectangle shown in the screenshot. Also, you don't need to use Unlocker to delete the partial download, you will just be using Unlocker to see what app is locking the file. I concur with paul1149; it is probably some security app (e.g. Avast) blocking the completion of the downloads.

gary palmer · 05 Jan 2016

The cause of this problem was that certain Microsoft Visual C++ updates were required to allow Avast to run properly. Avast Webshield was the program intermittently interupting/blocking downloads finishing and Click and Drag off address bar of Mozilla/Chrome address bar to create a shortcut link not working properly.

I did a fresh install of W7 on 5Dec15. This was a problem from 5Dec15 until 22Dec15 and seemed to disappear after a Windows Update that occurred on 22nd of December. The updates that Windows did are as per picture attached. Once these were installed the problem has gone. These Microsoft Visual C redistributables are relevant to Avast as Avasts instructions/code uses C++. I have had similar problems before in past just after fresh install of Windows 7 where software installed will not function fully or properly until Windows Update has caught up with relevant software on PC.

The problem is solved so thought I should mention solution for anyone else with a similar problem. Not much on the net about this problem. Thanks to all who helped me narrow down the problem to Antivirus as that was a step in direction of solution....Gary