if download says failed...?

[TJF364]

If you are downloading a file and it fails,
is that because of the downloaded file?
your computer? of some other factor?

and what might we be able to do to stop that pattern?

[Gwynd]

Congratulations, you have answered your own question, it could indeed be any one of those things.

Downloads fail for a myriad of reasons, and due to the recent disappointing failure of my psychic powers, some more information on what's going on would help me/us.

1:'If you are downloading a file and it fails' - fails to what?
Finish downloading?
Extract?
Something else?

2: OS? - I hope you have one, if so what is it?

3: Browser (if so, have you tried a different one) or Download manager (if so contact them).

4: Is it only happening with specific hosters?
If so are you hitting their 'free download' limits?

5: Have you a dodgy internet connection, wifi, other.

6: Anti-virus software? Have you got one, have you checked it's not responsible?

7: What are you using to extract it, assuming you get that far?

[Lonewolf]

Gwynd pretty much covered all the reasons, but let's approach this from another other direction...

1. When you say "failed", is it a message popping up to that effect, or does the download just stop?

Message - should tell you exactly what happened.
No message - something else... I would suspect wonky internet connection

2. Is there a physical file that downloaded, and is the size identical to what it's supposed to be?

Yes - could be any one of a number of issues, depending upon the file extension. Could be decompression software, malfunctioning Windows Explorer, etc.
No - incomplete download... could be iffy connection, download manager issue, file hoster issue, etc.

All that being said, we would need you to elaborate and explain further, regarding exactly what is happening, before trying to narrow down the possibilities...

[TJF364]

I am downloading a file from this site, a file of 70 pics or so, and thats all in the file, and with 3 minutes, 20 seconds left, it just stops. An hour ago, i did the same thing and it worked perfectly.

What could have happened?
and how might I prevent it from happening again?

[Gwynd]

Well, on the basis of what little you've told us - the hoster's probably the issue.

What hoster?

Is this something that happens regularly on this hoster to you?

Premium or Free member?

This file, how big is it, not '70 pics big,' in Mb or Gb, how big is it?

What download speed are you getting from the hoster?

Have you checked the 'File Hosts' discussion section to see if the hoster has issues?

[alexora]

If a file host is allowed here, this should be an automatic guarantee of good service.

If this host isn't working, there is a dedicated discussion thread for talking about file host issues:

http://veterperementour.ru/f173-file-...age-hosts.html

[S.B.]

It's not uncommon for a download to stop due to a connection glitch, which gives a "failed" message.
Usually if this happens to me, I press CTRL + J to go to the downloads page and find the file on the list and press the "RESUME" button and the download starts again from where it left off.