Downloads corrupted

I've been downloading quite a few applications due to having to reinstall
Windows, but when the applications decompress the downloaded files, some of
the files are corrupted.

Could anybody shed any light on where the corruption is most likely to be
occurring?

If an IP packet is corrupted will this be caught with a CRC and an automatic
repeat request be issued? If so, should that mean that the data transmission
over the net should be error-free and the errors must be caused on my system
(or the sending server)?

My ISP is Virgin Broadband. I've also signed up for their 2 - 8 Mbps package
in the last couple of days and they mentioned that they will be testing the
line over the next week or so or something like that. Might that be the
cause?

TIA.

Steve

> I've been downloading quite a few applications due to having to reinstall
> Windows, but when the applications decompress the downloaded files, some of
> the files are corrupted.

How are they compressed, and what program are you trying to access them
with (the default install app itself ?)

I had something like this several years ago, and remember it was
baffling at the time, having run a BBS since 1993 and being well versed
in compression utils - unfortunately it was probably around 2000 I had
the problem and i`ve forgotten what actually caused it :-}

I`m pretty sure I was using 98SE at the time - what OS are you on ?

"Colin Wilson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) t...
> > I've been downloading quite a few applications due to having to
reinstall
> > Windows, but when the applications decompress the downloaded files, some
of
> > the files are corrupted.
>
> How are they compressed, and what program are you trying to access them
> with (the default install app itself ?)


One example is Nero, which when it's finished downloading it starts
decompressing .cab files and it shows the files in red when the file is
corrupted. But you get similar messages when I've downloaded a large Zip
file and it starts decompressing the files.


> I had something like this several years ago, and remember it was
> baffling at the time, having run a BBS since 1993 and being well versed
> in compression utils - unfortunately it was probably around 2000 I had
> the problem and i`ve forgotten what actually caused it :-}


Fair enough.


> I`m pretty sure I was using 98SE at the time - what OS are you on ?


XP.


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

Find the cheapest Freeview & DAB prices:
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/fr..._receivers.php
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> One example is Nero, which when it's finished downloading it starts
> decompressing .cab files and it shows the files in red when the file is
> corrupted. But you get similar messages when I've downloaded a large Zip
> file and it starts decompressing the files.

Just a thought, can`t remember whether i`m on the right track here, but
I fear I might be... run memtest86 on your machine - I think it was
flaky RAM causing my problems at the time...

http://www.memtest.org/

IIRC I ended up trying to reinstall a short while later, and had my
worst weekend with Windows ever - I tried over 26 times and it would
fail with random errors at different stages of the install...

The fuzziness clears somewhat, and I remember I was also on an older K7
AMD processor at the time - it was possible (but rare) to damage part of
the FPU on it, yet it would still appear to work correctly. Certain
operations would cause this behaviour - particularly archive handling...

> The fuzziness clears somewhat, and I remember I was also on an older K7
> AMD processor at the time

Oops, it was a K6-2

DAB sounds worse than FM wrote:
> I've been downloading quite a few applications due to having to reinstall
> Windows, but when the applications decompress the downloaded files, some of
> the files are corrupted.

I'd suggest using a download manager, rather than Internet Explorer or
Firefox's hotch-potch downloading agent.

Free Download Manager (www.freedownloadmanager.org) isn't bad.

"DAB sounds worse than FM" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:lLv3g.11343$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I've been downloading quite a few applications due to having to reinstall
> Windows, but when the applications decompress the downloaded files, some
> of
> the files are corrupted.
>
> Could anybody shed any light on where the corruption is most likely to be
> occurring?
>
> If an IP packet is corrupted will this be caught with a CRC and an
> automatic
> repeat request be issued? If so, should that mean that the data
> transmission
> over the net should be error-free and the errors must be caused on my
> system
> (or the sending server)?
>
> My ISP is Virgin Broadband. I've also signed up for their 2 - 8 Mbps
> package
> in the last couple of days and they mentioned that they will be testing
> the
> line over the next week or so or something like that. Might that be the
> cause?
>
> TIA.
>
> Steve
>
>

I've seen similar and faulty memory was the cause, confirmed by using
MemTest

On Tue, 25 Apr 2006 20:36:33 GMT, in uk.telecom.broadband , "DAB
sounds worse than FM" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I've been downloading quite a few applications due to having to reinstall
>Windows, but when the applications decompress the downloaded files, some of
>the files are corrupted.
>
>Could anybody shed any light on where the corruption is most likely to be
>occurring?

Most likely that either the source file is corrupt, or the xfer is
being interrupted and not completed. Alternatively you're using the
wrong tool to unzip or it requires a newer version of the
uncompression tool.

>If an IP packet is corrupted will this be caught with a CRC and an automatic
>repeat request be issued? If so, should that mean that the data transmission
>over the net should be error-free and the errors must be caused on my system
>(or the sending server)?

Mostly.
--
Mark McIntyre

"Colin Wilson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) t...
> > One example is Nero, which when it's finished downloading it starts
> > decompressing .cab files and it shows the files in red when the file is
> > corrupted. But you get similar messages when I've downloaded a large Zip
> > file and it starts decompressing the files.
>
> Just a thought, can`t remember whether i`m on the right track here, but
> I fear I might be... run memtest86 on your machine - I think it was
> flaky RAM causing my problems at the time...
>
> http://www.memtest.org/


I'll try that, thanks. Upgrading RAM would be convenient anyway, cos I want
to change from 512MB to 1GB.


> IIRC I ended up trying to reinstall a short while later, and had my
> worst weekend with Windows ever - I tried over 26 times and it would
> fail with random errors at different stages of the install...


After I'd first re-installed Windows yesterday my PC was acting extremely
randomly, which led me to reformat my hard drive and re-install Windows
again. But loading Windows itself and loading the first few applications
this morning there didn't seem to be a problem. Maybe it only occurs on
certain bootups?


> The fuzziness clears somewhat, and I remember I was also on an older K7
> AMD processor at the time - it was possible (but rare) to damage part of
> the FPU on it, yet it would still appear to work correctly. Certain
> operations would cause this behaviour - particularly archive handling...


Okay, thanks.


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

Find the cheapest Freeview & DAB prices:
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/fr..._receivers.php
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/dab/dab_radios.php

"Nicola Redwood" <nicolaexternal-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "DAB sounds worse than FM" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:lLv3g.11343$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > I've been downloading quite a few applications due to having to
reinstall
> > Windows, but when the applications decompress the downloaded files, some
> > of
> > the files are corrupted.
> >
> > Could anybody shed any light on where the corruption is most likely to
be
> > occurring?
> >
> > If an IP packet is corrupted will this be caught with a CRC and an
> > automatic
> > repeat request be issued? If so, should that mean that the data
> > transmission
> > over the net should be error-free and the errors must be caused on my
> > system
> > (or the sending server)?
> >
> > My ISP is Virgin Broadband. I've also signed up for their 2 - 8 Mbps
> > package
> > in the last couple of days and they mentioned that they will be testing
> > the
> > line over the next week or so or something like that. Might that be the
> > cause?
> >
> > TIA.
> >
> > Steve
> >
> >
>
> I've seen similar and faulty memory was the cause, confirmed by using
> MemTest


Thanks.


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

Find the cheapest Freeview & DAB prices:
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/fr..._receivers.php
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/dab/dab_radios.php