Hi all,

Thought I'd try you guys on here with a recurring problem downloading files etc on the internet.

I'm on Virgin Media (for my sins!) and when trying to download files, nothing happens..... the modem lights stay unlit. My PC has just been rebuilt in effect by a friend of mine who does PC maintenance and it worked fine retrieving updates over the net on his connection (he uses NTL) and at my brothers (BT). Even phoned Virgin Technical help (at extortionate cost!) where they gave me an address of a file to download, and it damn well did with no problems!! Grrrrrr They said the line checked out OK as did the PC check on installation.

The missus is giving me grief over this 'cos she wants to be downloading music and its not happening!

Anyone any ideas? Any help much appreciated.

Cheers,

Clive

I would guess you have some sort of pop up blocker unless it's not working on right click "save as"
What browser are you using? Or are you talking about bittorent?

Many, many ISP's are now blocking P2P users, TalkTalk do not alow it but do not publish it, I wonder why? Sounds like you may have a similar problem...

Have you tried downloading legitimately or is that what you are referring to?

Seems they are throttling speed but not blocking it - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/08/vigin_nationwide_throttling/

This information isn't necessarily upto date so it may be worth checking with your ISP Helpline... FWIW not all large providers are rolling out the new 8Mb speed for a few more weeks (4-6)

Steve

One instance is on the Nokia website to download a software update for a phone, so should work somewhere like there?!

I've also had problems downloading e-mail attachments from Yahoo mail too.

I click on an icon to download whatever and the dialogue box will pop up as it should, but its at that point that the modem "stops working"?? The animation on the download box works, theres just no downloading! A couple of times it has started to download the file, but then stops after a short time.

Clive

Hi Clive - you haven't stated whether by saying 'downloading' you are using P2P software like Bitorrent, Azuerus etc etc or downloading legitimate files say video from our website for instance. If you can view video streaming then it's your ISP blocking/restricting certain sources somehow, if not try resetting your modem by switching it off. Unplug all cables allow it to stand for 30 seconds then connect them all back up and start again... if no joy you will have to contact Customer Services as you may have a dodgy Modem.

Steve

[Edited on 12-9-07 by Hellfire]

Sounds like the MTU setting is too high

Steve,

It happens when trying to download legitimate files. I did try rebooting the modem but no joy from that. My brother is up this weekend and bringing his laptop to see if the problem occurs then. I'm pretty confident its not the PC.

Clive

britishtrident, what is the MTU setting? Is this something I'm able to update myself?

Clive

MTU = max transfer unit

If set too large the pc will try grab the file in chunks too large for the network to handle and the file transfer falls over and times out.

How you change it depends on the version of windows.

Do a google on adjusting windows MTU or just click this link.

http://help.expedient.net/temp/broadband/mtu.shtml