.rars Not Downloading All Of A Sudden!

Been having trouble downloading certain files for about a week now.
I have enjoyed the game Mount&Blade Warband for years and have always downloaded mods for it. These mods come in .exe., .zip and, most commonly, .rar formats. I have never had problems downloading these until about a week ago.
 
The download begins, then three to four minutes later it stops with an error message saying...
 
<file name>could not be saved, because the source file could not be read.
 
Other times the download will say it has, like, 40mins remaining, then appear to download really suddenly. On opening it, however, with winRAR or 7-Zip, it says "unexpected end of archive," so the file is clearly incomplete.

I have tried everything...
Turning the anti-virus off.
Different browsers (safari, IE, firefox, chrome).
Turning off other applications running in the background, one by one.
Uninstalling winRAR, etc. and reinstalling.
Pulling my hair out, crying, embracing and begging my PC to behave like it used to.
Checking internet connections.
Running a virus/malware check - nothing detected.
 
All no luck.

The most annoying part is that it never used to be a problem. This started suddenly though not, as far as I can remember, after any obvious automatic update or anything. I am at a loss. Weirdly, the same thing happens if I use my room mate's PC (also running windows 7).
 
PLEASE HELP!
 
Many thanks for your great service,
 
Sam

 

For reference, this is the kind of file I'm trying to download...
 
http://www.mbrepository.com/file.php?id=2697
 
Also, I have just downloaded the safari installer (an .exe file) successfully. I think this is exclusively a rar problem.

 

Go and and run the .rar fix.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19449-default-file-type-associations-restore.html
 
Or do a system restore to your earliest point.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/system-restore

 

Hi,
 
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.
 
1. Unfortunately, there is no link for rar type files on the website you linked.
 
2. I thought of doing a system restore yesterday but, alas, there is only one date on offer to roll back to - the 28th - and the problem started before then.
 
Last night I stayed up till 3 in the morning and managed to download rar files at that time with safari. All day today, however, rar files have not been downloading again, with safari or any other browser.
 
SO WEIRD.
 
Have no idea what this is.

 

Hi, now you mention that they downloaded OK during the early hours when in the UK and even a large part of the world, the internet is reasonably quiet, is suggesting perhaps a connection or line fault.
First who is your Internet service provider, and secondly what type of connection do you have, cable, telephone line, or other.
 
If on the normal telephone line, lift the handset and listen, is there any crackling sounds, even faint ones?
 
Whatever type it is, check all your connections through to the line out, best is to fully remove and replace, doing so makes sure the connection is a good one.
 
Nev.