Download disabled in Netscape 7.1 - sometimes ...

Running Netscape 7.1 on a Win 2k platform for a long time. Usually doing a lot of downloads from the Netscape Navigator and using the standard downloadmanager to do this. This works fine - when it works. Most of the time one clicks at a download button or at a "save this file, picture, whatever" line - the dialogue box to select directory and file name to save opens and then one eagerly hits the "save" button and - nothing happens!

Not with the downloadmanager, nor with the other two options available! I tried everything which came to my mind - increased cache, cleared cache, deleted or renamed files, you name it - to no avail. The only thing which helped - reinstalling Netscape 7.1. After this I got back the ability to download in Navigator - at least for a while ...

After installing a couple of times I gave up, surfed the net with Navigator, downloaded with MS IE - which definitely is a clumsy procedure.

By accident I attempted to download in Navigator again one day and to my big surprise - it worked again. Downloadmanager came up as if nothing had happened, worked happily, at least for the rest of the day. Next startup of windows - download was gone again ...

Well, now before I start downloading the first attempt is with Navigator. If it works - fine, if it doesn't it is MS IE. In all this time I've downloaded more files - and more reliably - with MS IE because the download function in Navigator goes away not for days, but for weeks and returns to my machine for a day or two to give me some happiness (and to keep me on the tip of my toes) and goes away again!

Inspite of all this I could not persuade myself to use MS IE all the time, but this behaviour of the Navigator download function is a source of constant nuisance to me and I'd be very grateful if somebody could point me to a fix or something which gives back the download function permanently.

Thanks a lot in advance!

e.g.g.

 

Welcome to the Forum, e.g. gru!

Hi e.g. gru,

What you are experiencing is a bug in Netscape 7.1, which causes the compreg.dat file to become corrupt. When you find that you can no longer download, delete that file. It is located here:

C:\Program Files\Netscape\Netscape\components\compreg.dat

The reason reinstalling fixed the problem temporarily is that a new compreg.dat was also installed each time. Deleting the compreg.dat file is a temporary fix, due to the bug, so you may need to do so from time to time.

I've found 7 Bug Reports on this issue, and if you're interested, I'll be glad to list the links.

Also, don't let too many files accumulate in the Download Manager.
Click on: Tools | Download Manager
Press Ctrl+A
Click on: Remove from list
Do this on a frequent basis

You might also consider moving to Mozilla 1.6, which not only does not have the download bug, it also is free from the "Installer Bug ", and the "Resource Leak" which effects all OS'.

Or you might prefer to wait until early summer, as AOL has announced it will be releasing a new Netscape based on Mozilla 1.7.

Let us know if you continue to have problems, or if you have further questions.

Ramona

 

Hi Ramona!

Thank you very (VERY) much for the speedy reply! It is really appreciated! However, deleting the "compreg.dat" did not fix my problem! I found a reference to the problem with this file some weeks ago, tried it and it did not work out for me. As I told in my previous append I do have this problem already some time and yesterday I decided to try again to fix it ...

Well, it appears as if I finally found a solution.

Just after I found this (very useful) bulletin board, I found a document - I guess it is from you -

"home.att.net/~cherokee67/ns71cantdownload.html" -

and there are mentioned a couple of files to be deleted to bypass this problem. I deleted all of them and - got back the download manager!!

The best thing however will be to install Mozilla 1.6 to get rid of this error for good! Which I will do as soon as my time allows!

Thank you very (VERY) much again!

Yours,
e.g.gru