Downloads often stop at 50KB.

R

Robbie Hatley

(I asked the following question in one of these groups several days ago,
but no one knew the answer, so I'm trying again, and also posting to two
different groups. (I don't normally cross-post, but in this case it seems a
good idea, because this issue seems related both to Win2K and to IE6.))

I've been having a problem recently on no less than two different
computers, both running Win2K and IE6: when downloading files from
the Internet, the download often stops at 50KB, with Windows thinking that
the download is complete, even if the actual file size was 1.38MB or 11.85MB
or whatever. Once this happens once, it can take many further attempts to
get the download to actually complete.

I did find a partial work-around, by accident: if I empty the temporary
Internet files, the next attempt to download the file usually succeeds.
It's as if Windows sees a 50KB file named "Fred.zip" in it's cache, says
"ah-ha, the user is attempting to download "Fred.zip", and I've already
cached that file, so I'll just give the user the cached version!" Windows
doesn't bother to check that the cached version is COMPLETE.

So, what would cause Windows to keep offering-up the same 50KB fragment
as being a complete 11MB file? (In other words, what triggers this bug?)

Are there any workarounds for this bug, other than emptying the cache and
trying again? That is, is there some way to keep downloads from cutting off
at the 50KB mark (it's always almost exactly 50KB) in the first place?

And why 50KB? If downloads are going to fail, why not at 11.7KB, or 1.53MB,
or whatever?

(And no, I most certainly do *not* have my temporary-internet-files cache size
set to 50KB, as one prior respondant hinted. It's set to 2GB, thank you very much,
and I see no reason to believe that setting it higher than that would help 10MB file
downloads to not abort at the 50KB mark.)
 
N

nesredep egrob

(I asked the following question in one of these groups several days ago,
but no one knew the answer, so I'm trying again, and also posting to two
different groups. (I don't normally cross-post, but in this case it seems a
good idea, because this issue seems related both to Win2K and to IE6.))

I've been having a problem recently on no less than two different
computers, both running Win2K and IE6: when downloading files from
the Internet, the download often stops at 50KB, with Windows thinking that
the download is complete, even if the actual file size was 1.38MB or 11.85MB
or whatever. Once this happens once, it can take many further attempts to
get the download to actually complete.

I did find a partial work-around, by accident: if I empty the temporary
Internet files, the next attempt to download the file usually succeeds.
It's as if Windows sees a 50KB file named "Fred.zip" in it's cache, says
"ah-ha, the user is attempting to download "Fred.zip", and I've already
cached that file, so I'll just give the user the cached version!" Windows
doesn't bother to check that the cached version is COMPLETE.

So, what would cause Windows to keep offering-up the same 50KB fragment
as being a complete 11MB file? (In other words, what triggers this bug?)

Are there any workarounds for this bug, other than emptying the cache and
trying again? That is, is there some way to keep downloads from cutting off
at the 50KB mark (it's always almost exactly 50KB) in the first place?

And why 50KB? If downloads are going to fail, why not at 11.7KB, or 1.53MB,
or whatever?
I come to remember downloading Roxio at 700 MB. Not a chance on my W2K Pro with
1 GB memory however I eventually landed the program on my wife's computer which
is a XP Pro.
I tested the memory with some program, I think it was called Memtest80. Caused
me to change the memory and after that I had no further use for my wifes
computer.

Borge in sunny Perth, Australia
 
E

Enkidu

In reply to the OP: It may not be your local cache, but some other cache
between you and the source. If you could download it via ftp it might
work. But it migt be a flakey cache external to your computer.

Cheers,

Cliff
 

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