Can't download from FTP sites

[dentarthurdent]

I recently installed an ethernet ADSL modem (Aztech) onto my system and set it up for pppoa under windows 98. My PC is getting it's IP from the modem/router using DHCP. Everything works fine ie. email, browsing etc, but when I attempt a download from an ftp site the browser locks up, needing a ctrl-alt-del to shut it down. I'm not aware of my router/modem having any firewall capabilities and I've uninstalled zonealarm to make sure it wasn't stopping me.
I've read that the MTU size in windows can cause download problems but I'm not sure this is my problem as I've no problem with http,smtp or pop.
Can anyone help ?

 

[TheOldMan346]

dentarthurdent,

Are you using IE for FTP? What version? Try configuring it to use Passive mode?

Are you sure ZoneAlarm was fully uninstalled? There are many cases where it does not fully uninstall and causes problems of this sort.

PASV mode is essentially the same as Active mode. The real difference between PASV and Active mode is in who makes the connection.

In Active mode:

client establishes connection ---> FTP server
server responds <--- on same connection
server transfers <--- to client on port 20

In PASV mode:

client establishes connection ---> FTP server
server responds <--- on same connection
client initiates transfer ---> from server on random port

If PASV mode works, I'd suspect ZA was still monkeying around in your system.

Hope that helps.
The Old Man

 

[dentarthurdent]

Sorry for not getting back smartly. I did nothing (that I'm aware of) and the ftp downloads started working again. The only thing that puzzles me a bit is that when I download from an ftp site in IE 5.5 under windows I get considerably slower download speeds (around 50% slower) than when I download from the same site under Linux. I don't know why this is but as I have started to use Linux most of the time I'm not too fussed. Thanks for the ftp info.