diff --git a/test/test_download.py b/test/test_download.py
index f1bccf58c5..a8de1d0025 100644
--- a/test/test_download.py
+++ b/test/test_download.py
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ from youtube_dl.utils import *
 DEF_FILE = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)), 'tests.json')
 PARAMETERS_FILE = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)), "parameters.json")
 
+RETRIES = 3
+
 # General configuration (from __init__, not very elegant...)
 jar = compat_cookiejar.CookieJar()
 cookie_processor = compat_urllib_request.HTTPCookieProcessor(jar)
@@ -94,7 +96,19 @@ def generator(test_case):
             _try_rm(tc['file'] + '.part')
             _try_rm(tc['file'] + '.info.json')
         try:
-            fd.download([test_case['url']])
+            for retry in range(1, RETRIES + 1):
+                try:
+                    fd.download([test_case['url']])
+                except (DownloadError, ExtractorError) as err:
+                    if retry == RETRIES: raise
+
+                    # Check if the exception is not a network related one
+                    if not err.exc_info[0] in (ZeroDivisionError, compat_urllib_error.URLError, socket.timeout):
+                        raise
+
+                    print('Retrying: {0} failed tries\n\n##########\n\n'.format(retry))
+                else:
+                    break
 
             for tc in test_cases:
                 if not test_case.get('params', {}).get('skip_download', False):
diff --git a/youtube_dl/FileDownloader.py b/youtube_dl/FileDownloader.py
index 5087b4cc82..d82aa2d83b 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/FileDownloader.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/FileDownloader.py
@@ -231,11 +231,21 @@ class FileDownloader(object):
             self.to_stderr(message)
         if self.params.get('verbose'):
             if tb is None:
-                tb_data = traceback.format_list(traceback.extract_stack())
-                tb = u''.join(tb_data)
+                if sys.exc_info()[0]:  # if .trouble has been called from an except block
+                    tb = u''
+                    if hasattr(sys.exc_info()[1], 'exc_info') and sys.exc_info()[1].exc_info[0]:
+                        tb += u''.join(traceback.format_exception(*sys.exc_info()[1].exc_info))
+                    tb += compat_str(traceback.format_exc())
+                else:
+                    tb_data = traceback.format_list(traceback.extract_stack())
+                    tb = u''.join(tb_data)
             self.to_stderr(tb)
         if not self.params.get('ignoreerrors', False):
-            raise DownloadError(message)
+            if sys.exc_info()[0] and hasattr(sys.exc_info()[1], 'exc_info') and sys.exc_info()[1].exc_info[0]:
+                exc_info = sys.exc_info()[1].exc_info
+            else:
+                exc_info = sys.exc_info()
+            raise DownloadError(message, exc_info)
         self._download_retcode = 1
 
     def report_warning(self, message):
diff --git a/youtube_dl/utils.py b/youtube_dl/utils.py
index d366c41736..017f06c42e 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/utils.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/utils.py
@@ -435,6 +435,7 @@ class ExtractorError(Exception):
         """ tb, if given, is the original traceback (so that it can be printed out). """
         super(ExtractorError, self).__init__(msg)
         self.traceback = tb
+        self.exc_info = sys.exc_info()  # preserve original exception
 
     def format_traceback(self):
         if self.traceback is None:
@@ -449,7 +450,10 @@ class DownloadError(Exception):
     configured to continue on errors. They will contain the appropriate
     error message.
     """
-    pass
+    def __init__(self, msg, exc_info=None):
+        """ exc_info, if given, is the original exception that caused the trouble (as returned by sys.exc_info()). """
+        super(DownloadError, self).__init__(msg)
+        self.exc_info = exc_info
 
 
 class SameFileError(Exception):