# help with a downloading problem



## X (Aug 4, 2009)

alright, regardless of the web browser, nothing will download.

when i use IE, it doesnt show up after downloading.
with firefox, the file shows up but contains no data (0 bytes.)

any ideas on what could cause this? any quick fixes?

using vista home premium 32 bit, and firefox 3.5.2


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## Runefox (Aug 4, 2009)

Are you using any firewall software that might be interfering with your downloads?


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## CryoScales (Aug 4, 2009)

Yeah check your connection. Or maybe try restarting your computer.


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## X (Aug 5, 2009)

Runefox said:


> Are you using any firewall software that might be interfering with your downloads?



according to the firewall software, its letting firefox and IE through ok.



CryoScales said:


> Yeah check your connection. Or maybe try restarting your computer.



the connection works fine with everything else, and i restarted my computer, nothing changed.


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## Runefox (Aug 5, 2009)

X said:


> according to the firewall software, its letting firefox and IE through ok.



What firewall/antivirus/other protection do you currently have running? There are some cases where some firewalls can intercept certain behaviours of programs, and while I'm not sure about aborting downloads, anything is possible when you have something scrubbing your network traffic.

What file are you trying to download? Does this happen with every download, or just a certain site?


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## ToeClaws (Aug 5, 2009)

Aye - Runefox is likely onto something.  Most new firewall applications are layer-7 aware and thus sniff into the packet, making a block or allow decision based on payload.  Besides taking considerably more CPU resources, this also has the occasional issue of blocking things incorrectly (basically false positives or rules that are too strict).  

An interesting and quick way to tell if it's related to your OS is just to use a LiveCD to boot your system and then try downloading something via whatever browser is on the LiveCD.  If it works, then it's extremely likely to be the firewall or some other memory-resident scanner system on your normal OS.


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## X (Aug 5, 2009)

Runefox said:


> What firewall/antivirus/other protection do you currently have running? There are some cases where some firewalls can intercept certain behaviours of programs, and while I'm not sure about aborting downloads, anything is possible when you have something scrubbing your network traffic.
> 
> What file are you trying to download? Does this happen with every download, or just a certain site?



windows firewall is running. Norton 2009 and thats about it i think, avg broke on me earlier.

downloads work fine on all the other computers in the house, just not on my computer. it does that with all download files, pictures, apps, etc.

should i try re-installing my browser?


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## X (Aug 5, 2009)

ToeClaws said:


> An interesting and quick way to tell if it's related to your OS is just to use a LiveCD to boot your system and then try downloading something via whatever browser is on the LiveCD.  If it works, then it's extremely likely to be the firewall or some other memory-resident scanner system on your normal OS.



any suggestions on what os will run on a live cd?


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## Hir (Aug 5, 2009)

Turn off your firewall altogether and try a random download.

Where are you downloading your file to?


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## X (Aug 5, 2009)

Where Darkness Lies said:


> Turn off your firewall altogether and try a random download.
> 
> Where are you downloading your file to?



the pictures folder, i have also tried the documents folder and the desktop directory; all had the same results.

edit: just turned off firewall and tried to download a pic. same result, 0 byte file.


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## ToeClaws (Aug 5, 2009)

X said:


> any suggestions on what os will run on a live cd?



Just about any Linux-based LiveCD should do the trick.  Ones that automatically detect the NIC and get an address are easiest - Ubuntu or Mint are both excellent for that.  Puppy Linux is smaller and faster to boot, but you'll have to go into the menu under setup and use the Network Wizard to activate the NIC.  None of them will install or change anything on your system (they run entirely from the CD).

If you can download a test file with any one of those, then your issue definitely rests with something on your normal OS, be it a security app. or the browsers themselves.  If you can't download anything off the LiveCD, then you got a physical issue of some sort with the system itself.


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## X (Aug 5, 2009)

ToeClaws said:


> If you can download a test file with any one of those, then your issue definitely rests with something on your normal OS, be it a security app. or the browsers themselves.  If you can't download anything off the LiveCD, then you got a physical issue of some sort with the system itself.



can i burn it to a dvd-rw as well? or does it have to be a cd?


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## Runefox (Aug 5, 2009)

X said:


> windows firewall is running. Norton 2009 and thats about it i think


NAV 2009 is pretty good, but are you running just Norton Antivirus, or Norton Internet Security? Internet Security is a firewall itself, and has been known to cause hell on a number of machines. I haven't played around with the 2009 version, but I'm guessing that as a firewall, it's still the same-old-same-old. And with that said, if Windows Firewall (or any other firewall like ZoneAlarm, Comodo, McAfee, etc) is running alongside it, then there'll definitely be trouble.



> avg broke on me earlier.


Broke? In what way? This could be related if it turns out you got nuked with a virus or something that took out AVG.


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## X (Aug 5, 2009)

Runefox said:


> NAV 2009 is pretty good, but are you running just Norton Antivirus, or Norton Internet Security? Internet Security is a firewall itself, and has been known to cause hell on a number of machines. I haven't played around with the 2009 version, but I'm guessing that as a firewall, it's still the same-old-same-old. And with that said, if Windows Firewall (or any other firewall like ZoneAlarm, Comodo, McAfee, etc) is running alongside it, then there'll definitely be trouble.



its just plain Norton. i don't think i have ever had the internet security edition.



Runefox said:


> Broke? In what way? This could be related if it turns out you got nuked with a virus or something that took out AVG.



it just comes up with an error message saying that its "side-by-side configuration is incorrect".


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## X (Aug 5, 2009)

(sorry for the double post.)

ok, ran ubuntu live cd, the image downloaded just fine.


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## ToeClaws (Aug 5, 2009)

X said:


> (sorry for the double post.)
> 
> ok, ran ubuntu live cd, the image downloaded just fine.



Okay - so if you can download it on Ubuntu, then it'd definitely configuration related on your normal Windows install.  The trick now is trying to isolate what and where.  The first thing you can try is something RuneFox suggested earlier, which is disabling your security software.  Rather than use the program's little system try apps to do this, you should try doing it via the Windows services.  Just click on start, then run and type "services.msc" - scroll down the list of windows services here and you'll see all the added ones from Norton, Adware, AVG or any other applications you installed.  You can try shutting them all down and see if things start working again.  If they do, turn them on one at a time to see which one is the culprit.

If things still don't work, the problem might be a bit more deep-seated.  Try rebooting in "Safe Mode with Networking".  That will allow you to still use general Net connectivity, but won't load extra non-windows related software.  If you can get the file in safe mode, then it's application based, but not so deeply ingrained that you can't get rid of it.  If you can't do it from within Safe Mode, then there's a possibility that something has comprised Windows' networking at a much lower level, and you might consider a reinstall.


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## Raithah (Aug 5, 2009)

Odd question, but from where are you posting this - another computer, or the one which is having technical difficulties? It's a silly question, but hey .


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## SnowFox (Aug 5, 2009)

I managed to cause this problem on my work computer _I think_ by setting my IE security settings too high, it's the only thing I can think of that coincided with it. My way around it was to just use wget for downloading stuff.... In a way I think it's better like this.

Have you tried adding the site you're downloading from to the "Trusted sites" list to see if it makes any difference?


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## Runefox (Aug 5, 2009)

SnowFox said:


> I managed to cause this problem on my work computer _I think_ by setting my IE security settings too high, it's the only thing I can think of that coincided with it. My way around it was to just use wget for downloading stuff.... In a way I think it's better like this.


I wouldn't think the IE security settings would really have any impact on Firefox, especially if you were able to use wget.

Overall, I'm fairly sure this is a firewall problem, or perhaps a _permissions problem_. Are you able to copy files to the folder you're trying to download to?


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## ArielMT (Aug 5, 2009)

If you'll pardon a stupid question...  How full is the disk you're having problems downloading to?


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## X (Aug 5, 2009)

ArielMT said:


> If you'll pardon a stupid question... How full is the disk you're having problems downloading to?


its only 50% full.
________________________________________________________


alright, its fixed, I uninstalled AVG and everything downloads fine now.

thanks for the help guys.


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## SnowFox (Aug 6, 2009)

Runefox said:


> I wouldn't think the IE security settings would really have any impact on Firefox, especially if you were able to use wget.
> 
> Overall, I'm fairly sure this is a firewall problem, or perhaps a _permissions problem_. Are you able to copy files to the folder you're trying to download to?



Probably not, I just thought it might be a possibility since IE is sort of tied into windows and I noticed it happening after I'd been messing about with the settings. (on another topic: does anyone know how to block external images/content in outlook other than disabling images in internet explorer?)



X said:


> alright, its fixed, I uninstalled AVG and everything downloads fine now



I'll try that tomorrow.


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