What makes a download 'freeze'?

[pooksahib]

Far too often, I find myself with a download which 'freezes' towards the end – it just stops at, say, 90% completion. Today, I had one which stopped at 99%. Most annoying. The files I'm downloading are from the usual hosters – rapidshare, depositfiles – and I'm using Firefox's built-in downloader.


Can anyone tell me what causes the download to 'freeze' and whether I can do anything about it?


Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[richc46]

Welcome
Try in a different user account, make a new one for tests if necesary.

You might also try running CHKDSK to clear temp folders.

 

[pooksahib]

Thanks for that, rich.

 

[richc46]

Your welcome
If the above does not work, you may want to look for conflict with clean boot
How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7

As an edit to my above post you may want to download and use, Ccleaner to really clean up those temp files and other files that are not needed.

 

[SnarkyTwit]

If it is freezing at 99%, I'd wager it is an anti-virus program that is scanning the download before moving the file to your download directory. You may want to look at the anti-virus program you are using to see if that's the culprit.

Snarks

 

[Greg S]

If it is freezing at 99%, I'd wager it is an anti-virus program that is scanning the download before moving the file to your download directory. You may want to look at the anti-virus program you are using to see if that's the culprit.

Snarks

I agree. MSE is notorious for this especially if Group Policy is set to notify AV

 

[Trucidation]

Odd. Having lived with a flaky ISP for years this "freezing" problem for me means the connection gave out (though it happens at any point during the download, not the "always freeze at 99%" thing). Which is why I've had to rely on download managers. This is one of the main pet peeves I have with browsers, especially IE. When a connection times out can't they just retry or something, instead of simply hanging forever? That really sucks, to put it bluntly. It's 2010. You'd think pause-retry-resume would be part of the damn TCP/IP protocol or something by now. Or that the download box would have any other button instead of just "cancel". Jeez.

Back to the OP... pooksahib, other than the suggestions the others gave about checking your a/v, have you tried using any download managers and seeing if you can get a complete download?

 

[SledgeDG]

I wouldn't automatically assume the error/fault is with my computer.
Especially Rapidshare is extremely popular and due to speed break for free users it has a big fluctuation in transfer speed (on top of that no more resume for free users that's why I try to stay away from RS)
Depositfiles always was pretty unreliable for me.

Try Jdownloader for those hosters
even with reliable hosters you just add the links and the program does the rest.

-DG

 

[madtownidiot]

Run a speed test. If your upload speed is much slower than your download, there's your problem. During a download, your computer has to send out a packet to verify receipt of a packet or series of packets, usually contaning an MD5 checksum.. a relatively small piece of information, but this accounts for upload traffic averaging about 8% of the rate of the download. If these packets don't get out, the download freezes. This usually isn't a problem except in heavily populated areas, but anytime the UL/DL ratio is less than 1:5, chances are during peak internet usage, chances are the ISP can't provide all the bandwidth it has sold to it's customers, and upload speeds get reduced. Reduce outgoing traffic too much and nothing comes in either.

 

[Greg S]

Seeing this 99 percent stall on a daily basis, I feel confident that it is the AV. Next time you download something, have Task Manager open and on top with your AV highlighted. When you get the stall, notice what your AV is doing in Task Manager. It is scanning the file before it is written to the final location.

 

[richc46]

If not the AV try a clean boot as suggested

 

[roncerr]

I agree. MSE is notorious for this especially if Group Policy is set to notify AV

Then I expect that Group Policy setting is not the default since I've been downloading many podcasts (mp3 files) using IE for years and did not notice any additional delay after installing MSE.

 

[richc46]

Almost every member who uses MSE is very satisfied, including yours truly.

 

[Greg S]

I agree. MSE is notorious for this especially if Group Policy is set to notify AV

Then I expect that Group Policy setting is not the default since I've been downloading many podcasts (mp3 files) using IE for years and did not notice any additional delay after installing MSE.

No, it is not the default but for some it makes no difference. It is more noticeable if the policy is applied, hence the word especially. For those who it makes no difference, they get the lag and it is MSE, specifically MsMpEng.exe. Just as you have had great success with it in your downloading, I personally have the lag at 99 percent.

Almost every member who uses MSE is very satisfied, including yours truly.

Hey, I'm not knocking it. After many, many attempts to use it only having to uninstall, I now finally have it working fairly well. Lol, probably the last five times I tried to run it, I said I would never attmept to install it again but I refused to give up.

 

[pooksahib]

A lot of good stuff has been contributed, thanks for all suggestions. I've given up on one particular file though. I've tried many combinations of browsers, download managers, disabling antivirus but I never get beyond 77% with it. I reckon it's just because the file comes from a very slow hoster (depositfiles) and is quite big. Never mind, I can live without it.

As for upload/download speeds, I usually see myself uploading at 40-45 whereas the fastest I ever see a download is 520.

If jdownloader is particularly good with depositfiles as SledgeDG suggests, I may give it one last go.

Thanks again