GMod skips over map download on multiplayer servers. WTF!!!!!!!

[mattth]

So I have been playing GMod for a week now, and everything has been going smoothly. I've been connecting to modded multiplayer servers and GMod downloads all the textures, LUAs, maps just fine.
That was until last night. Now on the download screen, it just blatently skips over downloading the new map file (it shows up on the downloads list but disappears a split second later, instead of lingering as if the map was actually being downloaded), then it downloads all the other files just fine. Then I get a popup error that says:

Missing map maps/[whatever].bsp, disconnecting

It's behaving this way for pretty much all the servers i'm trying to connect to (the ones that worked all week, and new servers i haven't tried before).

This is a valid Steam copy of the game. I also have HL2, HL2ep1, and CSS.

I don't see how this could be related to my hardware but I'll just post specs anyway

WinXP pro
2.4 GHz Core2Duo
2 GB RAM
GeForce 8600M GT

[whosdr]

The server has a maximum file size limit. If a file goes over this, it cancels. Most maps are over the default amount, so don't download.

[mattth]

Ok. Since i'm really new to this I'm NOT qualified to say you're wrong but how did I get through six days of playing on a handful of servers without encountering this problem and then on the next day this error occurs on all (but one, maybe) connection attemps (on the same servers)?

You're telling me all the sudden i'm encountering oversized maps all the time? Or every admin just lowerd his max file size?
(not trying to sound like a jerk, i'm just pissed off)

[That Damn Cat]

If you get missing map message try to find it on internet sites like fpsbanana.com or garrysmod.org then join to server.

[whosdr]

He is correct. Download the maps from Garrysmod.org and try again.
If the map has materials, restart. If not, you can join straight away.