diff --git a/lib/libalpm/dload.c b/lib/libalpm/dload.c
index 2d8b4d6d..3eea998b 100644
--- a/lib/libalpm/dload.c
+++ b/lib/libalpm/dload.c
@@ -510,6 +510,16 @@ static int curl_check_finished_download(CURLM *curlm, CURLMsg *msg,
 							payload->remote_name, hostname, payload->error_buffer);
 					server_soft_error(handle, payload->fileurl);
 				}
+
+				fflush(payload->localf);
+				if(fstat(fileno(payload->localf), &st) == 0 && st.st_size != payload->initial_size) {
+					/* an html error page was written to the file, reset it */
+					if(ftruncate(fileno(payload->localf), payload->initial_size)) {
+						RET_ERR(handle, ALPM_ERR_SYSTEM, -1);
+					}
+					fseek(payload->localf, payload->initial_size, SEEK_SET);
+				}
+
 				if(curl_retry_next_server(curlm, curl, payload) == 0) {
 					(*active_downloads_num)++;
 					return 2;