mysterious trouble downloading

[absurdio]

Lately I've been having trouble downloading things. This came up when I wanted to download this alarm clock from versiontracker: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/12211
It didn't work.
That didn't bother me too much; after all, people have had trouble with versiontracker before.
However, then I tried downloading it from the developer's site:
http://www.sugarcubesoftware.com/sw/index.php?alarm
I get nothing. The "Downloads" window doesn't open. Nothing seems to happen. There doesn't seem to be much for me to do differently...and I'm more than a bit bothered that this doesn't work.

Has anyone encountered this before? What can I do?
I ran Disk Utility's First Aid, but that didn't do it. I tried the ol' Windows standby of restarting. Neither was successful.

Anyway, I could use the help anyone has to offer. Thanks.

 

[sethypoo]

Which browser are you using?

Try using a different browser first, then:

Go into your Library and delete the preferences list (plist) of whatever browser is giving you trouble. That should clear things up.

 

[absurdio]

Hm. that sounds promising. I'm just using Safari (1.0.1). I went to Library/Preferences, but didn't see anything that seemed to belong to Safari (though I am encouraged by there being other plist files there). Am I looking in the right place?
Does the file have any name in particular I should be looking for?

While I'm at it, I'm running OS X 10.2.8.
(Though I hope to fix that this weekend. heh.) I guess I'll try that download in Explorer *shudder*.

[edit: yep. it worked fine in Explorer. But I still hate Explorer. And it should still work in Safari. At least that means it's a problem with Safari and not with some other part of my system. I think.]

 

[neutrino23]

com.apple.safari.plist

You could also try to reset Safari. Go under the File menu and select "reset safari".

Backup your bookmarks first. If you are a .mac user then use iSync. Otherwise backup the bookmarks file in home/library/safari.

 

[absurdio]

Bah!

I did find that com.apple.Safari.plist file (thank you for that). I got rid of that and the com.apple.quicktime.plugin.preferences.plist file that I've been told is somehow related.

Then I restarted.

The good news is that it did, in fact, reset my preferences. The home page is Google.com again, clicking on links opens a new window rather than a new tab...all the default preferencces are back in place.

However, still no luck at versiontracker OR the developer's site. Sigh.

Any more ideas? Or did I do something wrong?


[edit: here's an interesting development: just to see if i could download things from anywhere else, I tried downloading HotelMagritte ( http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/icons_screensavers/hotelmagritte.html ) from the OS X / downloads section of apple's site. Just like with versiontracker, clicking on the download link accomplished nothing. However, unlike at versiontracker, right-clicking and selecting "Download Link to Disk" DID start the download (at versiontracker, it literally downloads the link, which it callse dlpage.html). Encouraged by this, I also tried the sugarcube site...and again, right clicking and selecting "Download Link to Disk" works...and clicking normally does not. This at least suggests to me that Safari is CAPABLE of downloading properly...it'd just be nice if it did it the way it's SUPPOSED to. I hope that sheds some light...]

 

[absurdio]

This is a pretty big problem, i guess. I've tinkered around a lot, but had no luck.

I created a new user account and tried using safari there. It works fine. I tried deleting and reinstalling safari in my primary account. Still no luck.
So i suspect it has to be something outside of safari...but hell if i know what...

I'm pretty stumped. I could really use some advice if anyone's got any.

 

[sahnert]

have you ever used another download manager like Speed Download? That happened to me once. After I deleted the program I forgot to get rid of the plist for it so it was still taking over the download but not downloading anything because the program wasn't there. just a thought.

 

[absurdio]

You, fine sir/madam, got it exactly right.
I just figured this out myself. I HAD, in fact, used Speed Download once upon a time...but i'd run the uninstaller, deleted it, and forgotten about it. For whatever reason, I thought I'd give uninstalling it another shot...so i stuck in the demo disc and uninstalled immediately without installing again. Sure enough it got rid of a few more files it hadn't found the first time around. I couldn't empty my trash at first because it kept saying that one of them was in use, so i just logged out, logged back in, and emptied my trash.
Sure enough, everything works now, and i am a very, very happy boy.

Thanks, everyone.