New build...All downloads are corrupt

I have just finished building my first computer. It's an AMD64 3500+ 939pin using an ASUS A8N-SLI motherboard(mb). I run XP Pro as an OS. All has been a flawless operation as the machine runs perfectly. The mb has a built in firewall.
My problem comes from my downloads. ie; flash player, java script, updates and even normal dls like browsers or utilities. The dl's finish and are on my HD but every one of them gives me an error saying the file is corrupt when I go to open them.
Anyone care to venture a guess. I would appreciate any feed back.
BooMan

 

Hi Boo and welcome to MajorGeeks.

Only time I've ever heard of this is from line noise or other problem with your ISP connection.

What is it, dial up, cable, DSL, WiFi?

 

Hello Mate,
Major Geeks is a God send. I have referenced this site over the years and it has always been most useful. I am using Earthlink DSL 3.0 connection. Getting ready to switch to Comcast cable tho.
I am suspicious of my on board firewall as to the root of my problem.
Thanx for hittin' me back.
Boo

 

Using the lastest nforce drivers for your motherboard ?
Using some 3rd party disk controller ?
Tried to use different web-browsers ?
Does the same thing happen when you copy files around on your Harddisk ?
Checked for virus/malware/spyware/trojans ?

 

Just an FYI- If you are having probs with ASUS Mobo's then you must join thier forum. I got all the info I needed from their forum. Seems that my problem was not unusual and easily fixed with the input from other folks w/ same problem.
Major Geeks absolutely rocks tho no info from this forum was helpful. If you are having the same difficulty with your DL's then I will be glad to help you.
Peace...BMan

 

Well Booman why dont you share the solution across, may be some one else would be gain out of this ????

 

Good idea, tell us what it is instead of saying join another forum.


Personally, I think it's the nVidia hardware firewall, part of the nForce chipset.

I just helped a mate fix a similar problem, and apparently it's very common.

 

I am humbled by your reply. I wish I had the knowledge that you guys do. That is why I use this forum.
I will be happy to give my input to ANYONE who requires it. It seems to be a SW prob. where there are bugs supplied to ASUS from NVIDIA. So in my eyes ASUS is not the problem here. Perhaps the 64bit processors have not been corraled by some SW manufacturers but throw out( with guarantees) to these folks that their BS works just fine. Well it seems that some don't.
Just don't install the supplied firewall software supplied on the drivers disk that is supplied with the A8N SLI mobo. Use another Firewall. I am using Symantec INet Security now and it works just fine. Also I have heard that ZA and Trend Micro are also trouble free.
Peace...BMan

 

From my understanding, the latest nForce chipset drivers rectify this problem. (which is another reason to always update your motherboard drivers)


Say what you like about nVidia, but they usually fix driver bugs pretty quick.

 

Man, you guys are relentless. As of Dec. 2005 I have the latest chipset drivers from nVidia. Are you suggesting I check for another upgrade?

 

OK Here goes. I am not attacking nor am I dissing Major Geeks or nVidia or ASUS. I am only saying that I got my answer from the OEM forum. IT WAS HELPFUL! My problems are now solved. This is the BEST forum I have ever used. I am not trying to direct people to join another forum or even suggesting it(ok maybe). But in my time of need and believe me it was desparate, I HAD to find an answer and I did.
MG is my go to forum first and foremost. Then I seek elsewhere when needed. Feel my love.

 

You are taking this personally, and it's not a contest between forums.

You said you found the solution which aroused my curiousity.

To me, substituting one product for another (or not using it at all) isn't a solution, it's a workaround.


I was curious what you did, as it might help others, and I also just last week fixed my mates computer with the same problem.

Except in his case, I updated his motherboard/chipset drivers which fixed it.

All we asked for was for more information, that's all.

 

You could try a 3rd forum, Nvidias. I think you get whole story of their firewall mess. Some fixes through updates but certainly not all. Ive had it working 99% with latest of everything. For at least a day I thought problems were solved but still both download and generel browsing "corruption". Older versions simply give blue screen. The normal solution is to disable "Active Armor" but then you wont see any of the claimed cpu offloading - what you have is a software firewall. The more apps/ports you put into AA the more problems you are likely to get. Not clear user must manually use AA to get "hardware" firewall features. Even with no entries disable AA is still best shot at success.

All this have been known since for ever so Asus, MSI etc. are also to blaim. A bit optimistic to expect firewall to work for everyone and they must do that to put it on driver-cd. Sometimes you need to update driver in order to update bios correctly (they also recommend that) so ok to demand user get new chipset driver - wont necessarily help with firewall though. See Asus webforums on their support site, search "firewall" = 16 pages all about the same. Go to MSI or any tech/motherboard forum, more of the same.

 

The latest drivers don't always help. I still had a problem with random downloads. My guess is he went into the ActiveArmor settings for the firewall and disabled offloading. Fixed me right up.

 

I'm just a random case. But, I have had NO issues with the downloaded version of Nvidia's firewall, which is basically a hardware/software firewall....btw.

Besides I NEVER use the driver CDs with any motherboards that I work with.

 

Yes, many times better success-rate without Active Armor. Just too bad it defeats the purpose of "hardware firewall" and lower cpu hogging. From what I understood only apps/ports listed as being Active Armored! make use of hardware fw. So not good solution. May be still a good software firewall but dissapointing.

Very well documented though, huge pdf-file for setup. Actually for experts, Zonealarm would never be dressed up like that. In case you are annoyed by the Apache server thingy and general high ram-use try this:

Disable ntrayFW.
Set "Forceware Web Interface" service to manual
Use a batchfile when you want to edit settings, like this

net start ForcewareWebInterface
START "" "http://localhost:3476/cgi-bin/ncgir.exe?menu/index.html"
pause
net stop ForcewareWebInterface

If you dont have same url see correct one in \NetworkAccessManager\frontend\home.url

Dumb as a door but worked for me.

If I remember correctly default setup cant even pass Shields up! so best to make a custom.