Unable to download files larger than 180-200 MB

[maiki]

Here's what happens: no matter which software or server, when I try to download a file that's more than 180-200 MB in size, when the download is almost complete (99%) the system suddently starts to swap from HDD (HDD activity LED is full) and after some 30-60 seconds the download is being interrupted.

In fact, when I download a 100 MB file it also happens (HDD at full activity), but it manages to copy (or whatever) in time so the download is succesfull.

Yeasterday I tried to download straight onto USB flash stick. During the whole download the USB flash was flashing but again, 99% (meaning all the bits are there), the HDD started to swap, USB flash did not flash anymore... and the whole download was interrupted. The same as if I used HDD as a destination.

I'm using 2 HDDs but there is enough space on both of them 2 GBs + 30 GBs.

I have a feeling this has to do either with some TIMEOUT settings somewhere in TCPIP or HTTP or whatever. Or it is a problem with cache or virtual memory....

Also I have discovered this setting in my USB wifi adapter... there is a text box labeled TIMEOUT, and it was set to 60 seconds... but I have no clue what it means and if it has to do with my downloading troubles...





Anyway, the result is, I am not able to download anything bigger than 180-200 MB since the system will always start to swap the HDD after 99% and then reject the download.....

As I said it is not software or server dependent, I tried programs like Free Download Manager, downloaded directly from IE, Chrome; from Rapidshare, Megaupload... it's always the same - the only thing that matters is the size of the file I try to download...



Any comments are very appreciated... Thanks.

 

[aldoenviro]

It seems that the connection to the resource you are downloading is stable, I wouldn't look towards connectivity problems at first. If the connection was unstable or timing out, it would probably occur throughout the download process. However, have you tried downloading both 100-200MB files as well as 500-700MB files? Do they all get to 99%? If so, this is most likely an internal system issue, not TCP/IP connectivity.

This seems to be an issue that occurs after the HTTP stream completes and the HTTP application tries to write the cached data to its final destination.

Have you tried using a different protocol? Instead of HTTP, try downloading using FTP. Many larger downloads may have multiple mirrors and one may use the FTP protocol. This is more for testing purposes, and not a solution. From what I gather, when an HTTP data transfer occurs, the stream is cached as the file is downloaded. I believe this is normally a function of the HTTP application. Most HTTP apps will probably do it similarly. This may be why multiple HTTP apps produce the same problem. I read the list of apps you tried, but am not sure if any of those are a download manager such as "Down Them All." That is a neat little plugin for Firefox. If you change the way the HTTP stream is cached, it may shed some light on the issue. Try using a downloader like that.

It seems you have used each of your drives as the file save path at least once. Is that the case? If not, try to download the files to each of your drives. You could be experiencing some internal IDE/SATA controller hiccups which are causing the cached data on one drive to fail when being transferred to a second drive. Can you easily copy large files back and forth from drive to drive?

What are your system specs? How much memory? What OS? How large is your page file?

 

[maiki]

This seems to be an issue that occurs after the HTTP stream completes and the HTTP application tries to write the cached data to its final destination.
That is a neat little plugin for Firefox. If you change the way the HTTP stream is cached, it may shed some light on the issue. Try using a downloader like that.
Can you easily copy large files back and forth from drive to drive?
What are your system specs? How much memory? What OS? How large is your page file?

The boot drive is quite slow, it's 10 GB from Xbox. CPU is Celeron D 356, RAM is 512 MB, OS is Win XP SP3. Do you think it will improve if I install Firefox then? The system is quite "heavily swapping" to be honest. What I am going to try now, is to change the virtual memory setting according to this page:

http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/simple-ways-to-increase-your-computers-performace-configuring-the-paging-file/


I will try to move it to the faster drive (80 GB) and increase it.

 

[maiki]

OK. I succesfully downloaded a 300 MB file. I moved the pagefile from boot disk to another drive and increased its size to fixed value. Then I did a defrag. Hope this solved the troubles.

 

[montyuk]

id suggest you consider upgrading your ram, maybe another 1gb stick....