P2P

sorry my misunderstanding peter.

from what your saying i'd say your pc's are fine and the problem is with the settings in your modem/router device.

at a guess i'd say the medium setting is also blocking ftp instead of allowing it through.

ftp usually uses ports 20/21 so i'd say the medium setting is blocking port 20 at least which is the data transfer port.

i think i'd get in touch with your supplier and see if there is a working solution without actually having to keep lowering the security settings for every ftp download or actually having to set the port to always open.(not recommended.)

personally i'd just be using the low default setting which doesn't block any out going traffic, pretty sure all incoming traffic is blocked anyway (which is what you really need most.) unless you initialise the connection.

besides noting the fix and reporting back here, can you find out exactly what is causing the problem because this is the first i've heard about win8.1 having problems with ftp, i ssume it's an ie 11 issue somewhere. thanks.

I have used 3 browsers so it may be something other than explorer. I know they could not open the Dell manual link at MS with some pcs while others were ok.

I did some Googling and it seems as though others are having this FTP issue.

I know very little but it seems to me that the Comcast gateway is the culprit.

The tech was all over my pc with file associations etc. but could not get the manual to download. He spent an hour trying different settings.

I will report back as to what they say or do and what is causing the problem if they can determine it.

It seems to be spotty with some affected and others not. Do some Googling about ftp and Win 8.1

Peter, try the Clean Boot, see what happens.

The image above say's that Low is the default, but if it's turning out to be a known issue, then it may have no bearing on it, hopefully someone will figure it out and roll out the update required to sort it for you.

@ Ztruker -Rich, how do you do that? I am not sure what you mean other than safe mode.

@ 8210 I see "typical security to be low."  What gets me is that the tech who was using Win 7 switched to Win 8.1 and he could not download the manual either and acknowledged there is an FTP issue.

I am really sorry to involve so many nice folks. I don't know how I got caught in the middle of this sticky issue; I can barely keep an even keel on a good day.

Thank you for  the link to  a clean boot; it is interesting. I saved it to a folder and will study it tomorrow.

I also have a Belkin N300 and when I ditch this gateway and get a pc modem and separate phone modem I will put it back into use.

M.$. never called as they said they would,

I am convinvinced it is the gateway, anyway.

@ R

I got a note from MS that they needed to escalate the issue and would have to reschedule a call. P.

That's a good sign. Hope they can help.

Yes, I hope they remember.

If you are using Win 8.1 perhaps you would like to use this link to see what happens. Other OS's are OK it is just 8.1.

http://www.dell.com/support/Manuals/us/en/19/ShowProductSelector

A friend just sent me the manual in my SkyDrive using Win 8.1

I seriously doubt the veracity of that MS tech statement that he could download the manual with Win 7 but not with Win 8.1

I feel the Comcast router is the culprit as I can download it with low security but not with typical/medium security.

I will use the typical choice and if necessary switch to low.

I wish I had my own router with my N300 but that would require another modem for the phone to get the most of the triple play.

I hope all the nice folks here understand I would not have pursued this had that tech not made his statement.

Thanks all for your time and patience.

Peter

 

I feel the Comcast router is the culprit as I can download it with low security but not with typical/medium security.

I will use the typical choice and if necessary switch to low.

Almost certainly from what you have found so far, but unless I am going blind (quite possible the way I'm going downhill of late), the screenshot you gave shows using low as the default setting, and as such totally fits in with what your finding, which is why I suggested using the default knowing higher settings can often mess such tasks up, I attach the edited screenshot here to show what I see, I don't know where you may be seeing that medium is the default ?

[attachment removed]

Obviously I understand why you would want more protection than something that states it's low cover, I just know changing such options can cause the sort of issue you currently have, so if you can download it in the Low (default) setting, then the router is probably doing everything it should, it just means your ISP has poor security settings compared to what a user would want, unless I have totally missed something (very possible) lol.