[Solved] Steam Can't Download Games

shoober420 · 2014-10-11 19:29:35

Numerous people have been having this problem, where Steam will not download games correctly. It will start the download, then it slows to a crawl until it completely stops. I have found two reasons so far as to why this could be happening. One is that Steam is writing to the disk to aggressively, and it stresses out fsync, therefore stopping the download. Another one is that it asks why too many calls to DNS (10 a second), and this will cause it to just stop the download.

I was wondering if any of you know about this, and maybe have some sort of way to fix this. The fsync theory has a workaround that involves putting "barrier=0" in your fstab options for your drive. I did this, with no success. It still refuses to download.

The DNS theory has a workaround which includes using a package called "dnsmasq" to cache the DNS calls, so it doesn't stop the download. I tried dnsmasq with no success. When I set it up, it didn't download at all. My internet worked, but I couldn't download any Steam games. So that didn't work either. I may have set it up wrong, but I followed the dnsmasq Arch wiki page, so I can't imagine that I did.

Any suggestions? Valve has known about this for over a year and haven't done anything about it, so this is the last place I can think of to ask for help. I tried the Valve github, Steam forums, all to no avail.

Last edited by shoober420 (2014-10-17 00:44:53)

nskool · 2014-10-12 13:42:15

I'm guessing pacman was used for this installation? I don't much about the technicalities of this problem although I would be interested to know what's happening. If this is a kindof emergency for you, I'm posting this solely because Steam is working properly for me on PlayOnLinux with wine version 1.7.22. If needed, give it a try (If you haven't already).

shoober420 · 2014-10-12 18:37:36

I refuse to use Wine any other kind of software like it. I'm using the native Linux client of Steam. What I'm going to do, is install Arch Linux on a external hard drive with default settings, and see if it works with everything default. If it does, then its a problem on my end. If Steam still doesn't work even with default settings, I can draw the conclusion that Steam is at fault. I'll report back tonight with my findings.

Last edited by shoober420 (2014-10-12 18:40:49)

Weegee · 2014-10-12 18:44:23

I've had the problem with Steam downloading games at around 100 BYTES per second before, and I still have it when downloading new games (not when it downloads updates though for some reason).

It fixes itself after around 15 to 30 minutes of downloading with that kind of speed and then jumps up to around 1000 kB/s, which is still six times slower than my Steam downloads on Windows, but at least I'm able to download some games with that speed. I went through the Steam log files because of it, but the only thing I see there which might be relevant is this:

[2014-10-12 10:21:51] [1,2] Connect() starting connection (eNetQOSLevelLow, 146.66.152.15:27019, UDP)

But then again, I get this log output on Windows as well, so I don't think it's related to some "low level QoS".

clfarron4 · 2014-10-12 20:51:41

I used to have this on my home internet broadband, but I'm not having it any-more now that I'm back at University.

This is using the native Linux client.

shoober420 · 2014-10-13 07:21:39

I installed Arch on a external hard drive, but when I try to boot off of it, it freezes at the "GRUB loading" screen. I literally tried everything I can think of.

Weegee wrote:

I've had the problem with Steam downloading games at around 100 BYTES per second before, and I still have it when downloading new games (not when it downloads updates though for some reason).

Updates must use a different server which isn't effected by this bug. It must have something to do with how aggressively Steam floods DNS calls.

Weegee wrote:

It fixes itself after around 15 to 30 minutes of downloading with that kind of speed and then jumps up to around 1000 kB/s, which is still six times slower than my Steam downloads on Windows, but at least I'm able to download some games with that speed.

Really? It does? Well, I'm going to leave my games download all through the night and all day when I'm working to see if they actually download. I really hope it starts to work after 30 minutes like you say. I'll let you guys know tomorrow night.

Last edited by shoober420 (2014-10-13 07:22:08)

shoober420 · 2014-10-14 00:57:12

Okay, I left Steam download some games for about 5 hours, and it only downloaded like 5MB of data. So it definitely doesn't fix itself for me after 30 minutes. I took the external hard drive out of its casing and have a nice 640HB SATA drive I can directly plug into my motherboard. I bet it will boot now since its not limited by USB 2.0 speed. If it doesn't boot, I will install Lubuntu just for compatibility reasons, since Steam recommends Ubuntu, and see if games download with Lubuntu. If it doesn't, Steam for Linux has a serious bug.

Last edited by shoober420 (2014-10-14 00:57:59)

bleach · 2014-10-14 01:54:45

I don't have an answer for your problem but I have no problem with download speeds. I wonder if you have issues with downloading elsewhere? an external HD should not be an issue unless its a faulty drive you would be hard pressed to find download speed higher than write write speeds for me on a normal HD via usb2.0 I would get any where from 30-100 Mb/s where as actual dl speeds for me usually averages at 2.5. Steam my have some issues but I do not see it I would say its your end configuration or hardware.

Do you use torrents? If so how are those speess

shoober420 · 2014-10-14 08:00:03

Everything else downloads fine. Pacman updates download fine, and downloads via Chromium are fine. I was thinking it was my router, but Steam on Windows downloads games fine, and all my other downloads on Linux are fine. So it can't be the router. I really just think its a bug in Steam for Linux that effects only some people. I'm still going to try a default Arch setup with my external hard drive plugged directly into the motherboard. If that fails, give Lubuntu a try. If that fails also, its for sure a problem with Steam on Linux. My external hard drive held my backup data, which was perfectly readable, so I don't think its faulty. I'll report back tomorrow with my findings.

Last edited by shoober420 (2014-10-14 08:01:39)

brebs · 2014-10-14 08:19:15

Is your router blocking ICMP packets? That can prevent MTU negotiation.

Have you played with /etc/sysctl.conf? Some of the settings can be bad, e.g. setting net.ipv4.tcp_ecn=1 can prevent communication with old hardware, if it freaks out from the ECN flag.

DarkCerberus · 2014-10-14 09:52:32

Have you changed steam's mirror server location to one let say London if you're in England - steam usually changes the default server location in the steam preferences when it hasn't been properly configured - try browsing the settings on steam itself and check the Downloads section and the Download Region.

shoober420 · 2014-10-15 00:02:53

brebs wrote:

Is your router blocking ICMP packets? That can prevent MTU negotiation.

If this were the problem, wouldn't I be unable to download games on Windows as well?

brebs wrote:

Have you played with /etc/sysctl.conf? Some of the settings can be bad, e.g. setting net.ipv4.tcp_ecn=1 can prevent communication with old hardware, if it freaks out from the ECN flag.

I did pull my 99-sysctl.conf file out of the sysctl.d folder, but it still wouldn't download games. However, I never changed the "net.ipv4.tcp_ecn=" setting from its default, so maybe I will disable ECN and see if that fixes it. I can't see ECN being enabled by default, but its worth a try. I will try anything at this point.

DarkCerberus wrote:

Have you changed steam's mirror server location to one let say London if you're in England - steam usually changes the default server location in the steam preferences when it hasn't been properly configured - try browsing the settings on steam itself and check the Downloads section and the Download Region.

I have done this too. I have tried Sweden, Norway, Egypt, UK servers, and even China, all having the same outcome. They will start downloading, but slow to a crawl until it completely stops the download. I'm from the US.

Strange thing is, this was the same behavior I dealt with when I lived with my dad. His internet did the same thing. Now I'm with my mom, and it still does this. I do remember our ISP saying that we need to update our cable modem, but I can't imagine an older cable modem would prevent Steam from downloading games on Linux, especially when they download perfectly fine on Windows.

Last edited by shoober420 (2014-10-15 00:03:26)

shoober420 · 2014-10-16 07:07:44

I'm such a dingus. All along, it was my hosts file. I added some advertising IPs to block, and I guess for whatever reason, Steam servers were part of the list. Once I removed my hosts from /etc, it downloaded perfectly fine. Its downloading even faster then Windows does. What the dilly yo...

Arch Linux

#1 2014-10-11 19:29:35

[Solved] Steam Can't Download Games

#2 2014-10-12 13:42:15

Re: [Solved] Steam Can't Download Games

#3 2014-10-12 18:37:36

Re: [Solved] Steam Can't Download Games

#4 2014-10-12 18:44:23

Re: [Solved] Steam Can't Download Games

#5 2014-10-12 20:51:41

Re: [Solved] Steam Can't Download Games

#6 2014-10-13 07:21:39

Re: [Solved] Steam Can't Download Games

#7 2014-10-14 00:57:12

Re: [Solved] Steam Can't Download Games

#8 2014-10-14 01:54:45

Re: [Solved] Steam Can't Download Games

#9 2014-10-14 08:00:03

Re: [Solved] Steam Can't Download Games

#10 2014-10-14 08:19:15

Re: [Solved] Steam Can't Download Games

#11 2014-10-14 09:52:32

Re: [Solved] Steam Can't Download Games

#12 2014-10-15 00:02:53

Re: [Solved] Steam Can't Download Games

#13 2014-10-16 07:07:44

Re: [Solved] Steam Can't Download Games

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