Question Files won't download from Chrome 70% of the time

[mr. fireworkguy]

Please watch the video of this happening for more context (video here). I have a windows pc (built by myself 6 years ago) that is now acting up.
Whenever i try to download something from google chrome, this happens:
If i am lucky, downloading works when i click a "download" link (like the one in the video: "save image as"). However, 70% of the time when i want to download something from google, my pc does what is shown in the video. The "save as" pop-up appears, but doesn't respond nor show the text and files that usually appear when you save something. Usually have to wait around 3-5 minutes before the "save as" window suddenly becomes normal. Sometimes it helps to force-close the window, and press download again as i do in the video.. Does anyone have any idea how to fix this? I am a video editor, so being able to download things from google is crucial.
I suspect is has something to do with my hard drive (2tb kingston - not OS - only for extra storage). When i ex. try to play a video from that HDD, windows tries to load the video for up to 10 minutes, but then says "server execution failed". But when i for ex. import a 10gb video into a premiere pro project (from that same HDD), it plays back 100% perfect without any issues. Windows, where Google Chrome is stored, is on a separate 500gb SSD.

 

[Aeacus]

I suspect is has something to do with my hard drive (2tb kingston - not OS - only for extra storage).

I did not know Kingston made HDDs.

Does anyone have any idea how to fix this?

Have you tried:
1. PC restart
2. Update Chrome to latest version
3. Uninstall Chrome, restart PC, reinstall Chrome
4. Different browser (e.g Firefox)

When i ex. try to play a video from that HDD, windows tries to load the video for up to 10 minutes, but then says "server execution failed".

How full is the "HDD" you have?

Have you tried:
1. Any other video playback software other than Windows Media Player (e.g VLC player)
2. Validate the video file not being corrupt

But when i for ex. import a 10gb video into a premiere pro project (from that same HDD), it plays back 100% perfect without any issues.

Same video file you tried to play directly or different one?

 

[4745454b]

When you save as to your windows drive it always works? If so it sounds like a failing drive.

 

[mr. fireworkguy]

I did not know Kingston made HDDs.

Thanks for the reply 🙏Yes, i got the HDD manufacturer mixed up in my head haha - it's a Seagate 2TB Barracuda ST2000DM008 HDD - 7200RPM HDD

1. PC restart

I've restarted my pc countless times. The issue happens no matter what.But thank you for the tip - i'll definitely try un- and reinstalling Chrome to see if that makes any difference.

How full is the "HDD" you have?

Neither of my drives are very full actually. They look like this:
C: (SSD w. windows) = 464 gb total - 98gb free
D: (250gb nvme ssd) = 237gb total - 135gb free
M: (2tb Seagate HDD) = 1.81TB total - 510gb free.

2. Validate the video file not being corrupt

I have validated that the video files i try to open are 100% fine and not corrupt.

Have you tried:
1. Any other video playback software other than Windows Media Player (e.g VLC player)

I just now tested opening some 10 videos respectively with windows media player, and then vlc. Here’s what i found:

HDD & SSD Videos - comparing time-to-open-video - VLC versus Windows Media Player

VLC (not open beforehand. time from “Open with → VLC” click, to VLC open & video plays) : 18 seconds
VLC (When VLC already open) = 0 seconds

Windows Media Player: 2 minutes, 5 seconds (125 seconds) consistently across 6 videos sized 100-500mb each. 3 were from my 500gb c: Windows SSD, and 3 were from the 2TB seagate HDD.

For some reason, opening & watching videos is no problem, once Windows Media Player is open. When its open, opening new videos is pretty much instantaneous. However when WMP isn’t already open, i have to wait 2 minutes and 5 seconds before the video “loads”. After i double tap a video, the Windows Media Player window opens, but only displays a white screen with the WMP Logo in the center. After 2 minutes and 5 seconds, the video finally appears and plays. It is somewhat the same for VLC. VLC is lightning fast at opening and playing video (from both HDD and SSD) when the program is already open. However when VLC is not already running, it takes around 18 seconds for it to load up my videos. Still faster than Windows Media player for some reason though.

Both applications are installed on my c: drive (500gb ssd where windows is also stored).

Now, in regards to this

4. Different browser (e.g Firefox)

I made a little experiment. I recorded how much time it took from CLICK on Download button, to the “Save As” window being fully open, and interactable - meaning i could actually click the “save” button. The window i’m talking about is also the one i show in the video.

The problem is not the download time in itself. After the f****ng window has finally loaded, and i click “save”, the download of the file itself is usually really quick (this goes for both my HDD and SSD).

When you save as to your windows drive it always works? If so it sounds like a failing drive.

So yeah, the problem actually occurs before i can choose which drive to download to. I can download to all my drives with no problem. It's only the "save as" window part that for some reason takes ages to load.

Oh well, here's the recorded time for both Google Chrome and Brave Browser to compare the two and see if Google Chrome maybe is exclusively at fault. Here’s what i found:

Google Chrome
file 1: 0 seconds
file 2: 2:04:66 (2 minutes, 4 seconds, 66 milliseconds)
file 3: 2:04:45
file 4: 2:05:09
file 5: 2:04:26

Brave Browser:
file 1: 2:04:10
file 2: 2:04:34
file 3: 2:04:19
file 4: 2:04.80
file 5: 2:04:37

I’m lost. What is my computers obsession with 2 minutes and 4-5 seconds? It seems as if it has something to do with windows opening new applications? (since both windows media player and google's "Save As" window take the same amount of time to load? (or freeze the same amount of time lol)).

 

[Aeacus]

I’m lost. What is my computers obsession with 2 minutes and 4-5 seconds? It seems as if it has something to do with windows opening new applications? (since both windows media player and google's "Save As" window take the same amount of time to load? (or freeze the same amount of time lol)).

Could be RAM issue. But since VLC player opens up videos far faster than the obsolete Windows Media Player, i'm inclined towards software issue.

Easiest and fastest fix: format your C:/ drive and make a clean Win installation.

This will get rid of all software issues, including all bloatware and almost all malware (except rootkits).
Though, do disconnect your other two drives before making clean Win installation since Win has tendency to put boot manager on another drive, other than where OS itself is installed.

Clean Win install should fix your issue. However, if issue still remains even after clean Win install, it is time to look towards hardware. Either tweaks within BIOS or complete replacement of a component. Hardware wise, my main suspect would be RAM. But since clean Win install is free and removes software as a culprit, do that beforehand.