diff --git a/src/lay/lay/layMacroController.cc b/src/lay/lay/layMacroController.cc
index 2eb517e76..7c78016fe 100644
--- a/src/lay/lay/layMacroController.cc
+++ b/src/lay/lay/layMacroController.cc
@@ -379,9 +379,11 @@ MacroController::sync_package_paths ()
 void
 MacroController::sync_implicit_macros (bool ask_before_autorun)
 {
+  //  gets the external paths (tech, packages) into m_external_paths
+  sync_macro_sources ();
+
   if (m_no_implicit_macros) {
 
-    sync_macro_sources ();
     sync_package_paths ();
 
   } else {
@@ -392,9 +394,6 @@ MacroController::sync_implicit_macros (bool ask_before_autorun)
       prev_folders_by_path.insert (std::make_pair (p->path, *p));
     }
 
-    //  gets the external paths (tech, packages) into m_external_paths
-    sync_macro_sources ();
-
     //  delete macro collections which are no longer required or update description
 
     std::vector<lym::MacroCollection *> folders_to_delete;
diff --git a/src/lay/lay/laySaltDownloadManager.cc b/src/lay/lay/laySaltDownloadManager.cc
index 559b59333..3dd9f3727 100644
--- a/src/lay/lay/laySaltDownloadManager.cc
+++ b/src/lay/lay/laySaltDownloadManager.cc
@@ -523,6 +523,9 @@ SaltDownloadManager::execute (lay::SaltManagerDialog *parent, lay::Salt &salt)
 
     dialog->start ();
 
+    //  Stop other events to interfere with the download, specifically not macro controller updates
+    tl::NoDeferredMethods silent_section;
+
     std::sort (m_registry.begin (), m_registry.end ());
 
     for (std::vector<Descriptor>::const_iterator p = m_registry.begin (); p != m_registry.end (); ++p) {
diff --git a/src/lay/lay/laySaltManagerDialog.cc b/src/lay/lay/laySaltManagerDialog.cc
index 4e86323bd..dd58ed13e 100644
--- a/src/lay/lay/laySaltManagerDialog.cc
+++ b/src/lay/lay/laySaltManagerDialog.cc
@@ -1213,13 +1213,13 @@ private:
 void
 SaltManagerDialog::get_remote_grain_info (lay::SaltGrain *g, SaltGrainDetailsTextWidget *details)
 {
-  if (! g) {
+  //  NOTE: we don't want to interfere with download here, so refuse to do update
+  //  the info while a package is downloaded.
+  if (! g || m_downloaded_grain.get ()) {
     details->setHtml (QString ());
     return;
   }
 
-  tl_assert (m_downloaded_grain.get () == 0);
-
   m_downloaded_grain.reset (0);
 
   if (m_downloaded_grain_reader.get ()) {