Downloadable products fail to download

[lib32]

Version V1.5.0

Zencart was originally installed by Mad Dog Domains but we had problems with the CURL settings, we decided to cut our losses and had our site transfered to Arvixe. We sorted the CURL problem and its working as it should, well almost!

I am selling video clips which are downloadable and we have run into a problem. I set up a free clip to test the cart, everything is working as it should but the download stops at 29.8MB (the clip is 65.8MB). I have tried downloading with Safari, Firefox, IE, and Google Chrome and each time the download stops at 29.8MB, I have tried it on Snow Leopard, Windows 7, XP pro, and Vista.

I made another video, a screen cast of the download stopping, and uploaded 2 versions the first under 29.8MB and the second just over. I set them as a free download, the first downloads no problem and the second stops at 29.8MB.

I contacted Arvixe Live Chat and the person we chatted with had the same problem, he put me us onto support. The support person (probably in another country) was able to download the file without a problem! He suggested I contact my ISP here in New Zealand. My ISP is Telecom Xtra, the biggest provider in NZ, and Im reluctant to contact them just yet.

I had a friend in another town in NZ try to download the file and he had exactly the same problem, 29.8MB!

Arvixe has suggested I update my OS and browser, both are kept up to date anyway apart from still running Snow Leopard on my mac! If it is that critical I will loose a big percentage of my clients anyway.

Arvixe are basically saying its not their problem as they are able to download the file and I'm left scratching my head!

Could there be a setting in Zen Cart causing this problem?

Please help!!

[DrByte]

Given that your host is timing out prematurely when attempting to rely on it for serving files in the more secure and efficient "redirect" mode, you'll probably have to choose one of the lesser choices:
http://www.zen-cart.com/content.php?...hods-explained

[lib32]

I have already looked at that page and tried all of the download settings. Download with redirect gave us the "connection was reset" page, Download without redirect stopped at 19.8 MB, and download by streaming stopped at 16.0 MB.

We got an email from Arvixe and they said they tried downloading the file on many computers in diffrent locations. This is an extract from the email we got from them;

***** and I are both outside of the internal network. The test I ran was from about 1000 miles away. The problem seems to be arising through your network path somehow. I am not sure where/how to fix that but the orgin does not seem to be with the server or it would affect everyone the same. I would try searching on the zencart forums, maybe there is a tweak or plugin of some kind that can help with poor latency.

Is there a tweek or plugin of some kind that would help with poor latency on the network?

We have now tested the download on three internet service providers in New Zealand and they all failed at 19.8 MB.

Our ISP (Telecom NZ) sent this;

As per conversation I am able to confirm that I have tried to download the video clip from your website and it is failing. I have tried it on 2 different types of connections that we have and it will not fully download for me. As you have also asked someone who is with another isp provider and the same thing is happening it is looking like is something to do with the server the website is hosted from.

I hope this information helps

Real head scratcher , can anyone help?

PS. We are using a Windows server.

[DrByte]

Here's how it works:

1. Download by Redirect. This hands the file off to the webserver to serve on its own. It simply points the customer's browser to the new link and lets the browser download the file directly, ENTIRELY INDEPENDENT OF ZEN CART. It has nothing to do with Zen Cart once the file starts downloading.
The file is served from the /pub/.xxxxxxx/ folder directly.

2. Download by Streaming. This asks Zen Cart to read each byte of the file and pass it thru to the browser, making Zen Cart act as the webserver to deliver the file. The risk of this method is that it requires that a PHP script run continuously and last long enough to serve the entire file before the webserver says PHP has run longer than it's allowed to. max_execution_time is the determiner here.

3. Download by turning off BOTH redirect and streaming. This works the same as Redirect, but points to the original file that you uploaded to the server. Serves it from the /download/ folder, directly. Again Zen Cart has zero involvement once the download starts.

So if either (1) or (3) are failing, then your hosting company's webserver engine is to blame.
It could very well be a Windoze issue. Linux hosting is always less trouble-prone.

[lib32]

We have tried all options the streaming option is stopping at 16.0 MB. As we are on a shared server we have been told that the timeout issue cannot be solved on the server side. They have suggested altering the values on the local PHP.ini file but there is no local PHP.ini file present in the Zen Cart folder. Is there a recommended PHP.ini configuration for Zen Cart?

This is the email we got from Arvixe:

Each shared account we provide can set a local php.ini. That sounds like the next place you need to investigate, you cant set every option, but timeouts are certainly something you can adjust. Just place a local php.ini file in the folder where zencart is installed, and tweak some settings. I would not be surprised if there is already one there.

How do people sell large files in zen cart? Is this not possible on a shared server?

Can anyone give us some advice?

[noahatarvixe]

Hi lib32,

I just wanted to follow up with you as our techs have also contacted you through your ticket with Arvixe Support. If there is anything you need please let us know. We do want to get your site up and running. If you choose to go with the Linux servers (as they run Apache and our ASP servers do not) you should have a smoother time with Zen-cart.

Regards,

Noah at Arvixe

[lib32]

Between the Arvixe technical support people and ourselves we have tried everything we could possibly think of to fix this problem. In the end Arvixe set up a test account on a Linux server and transfered ZenCart to it, the problem was solved straight away.

I can't recommend using a Windows Server but I can recommend Arvixe as a hosting provider the support they have given us with this problem has been exceptional!!!

lib32