diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index befdfc4a..903758a6 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -322,7 +322,10 @@ across dub, generate, and design (a corrupt-binary failure no longer poses as
   and retries the load automatically. Offline mode (`HF_HUB_OFFLINE`) is
   respected — repair never makes a network call the user opted out of — and if
   the re-fetch still can't fix it, the actionable delete-and-reinstall message
-  is preserved as the fallback. (#581)
+  is preserved as the fallback. (#581) The repair now also **retries** the
+  re-fetch (3 attempts, resuming each time) so a single transient blip — the very
+  thing that interrupts a download in the first place — doesn't bounce you back
+  to a manual reinstall; tune with `OMNIVOICE_MODEL_REPAIR_RETRIES`. (#739)
 - **Dubbing a YouTube URL no longer dies on a transient "Broken pipe."**
   Pasting a video link could fail outright with `download: Unable to download
   video: [Errno 32] Broken pipe` — a broken pipe raised while the write side of
diff --git a/backend/services/model_manager.py b/backend/services/model_manager.py
index b9992a52..f57eab1f 100644
--- a/backend/services/model_manager.py
+++ b/backend/services/model_manager.py
@@ -578,7 +578,6 @@ def _repair_model_cache(checkpoint: str) -> bool:
     except Exception as imp_err:  # pragma: no cover - huggingface_hub is a hard dep
         logger.warning("Cannot import snapshot_download to repair cache: %s", imp_err)
         return False
-    logger.info("Auto-repairing incomplete model cache for %s …", checkpoint)
     dl_kwargs: dict = {"repo_id": checkpoint}
     endpoint = os.environ.get("HF_ENDPOINT")
     if endpoint:
@@ -586,22 +585,50 @@ def _repair_model_cache(checkpoint: str) -> bool:
     if os.name == "nt":
         # Match the install path (download.py): avoid symlinks on Windows.
         dl_kwargs["local_dir_use_symlinks"] = False
-    try:
-        snapshot_download(**dl_kwargs)
-    except TypeError:
-        # Older/newer huggingface_hub may not accept local_dir_use_symlinks
-        # on a cache-only call — retry without the optional knob.
-        dl_kwargs.pop("local_dir_use_symlinks", None)
+
+    def _attempt() -> None:
+        """One snapshot_download, tolerating an hf_hub that rejects the optional
+        symlink knob. Lets real failures (network, gated repo, disk) propagate."""
         try:
             snapshot_download(**dl_kwargs)
+        except TypeError:
+            # Older/newer huggingface_hub may not accept local_dir_use_symlinks
+            # on a cache-only call — retry without the optional knob.
+            dl_kwargs.pop("local_dir_use_symlinks", None)
+            snapshot_download(**dl_kwargs)
+
+    # Bounded retries (#739): an incomplete cache *is* an interrupted download, so
+    # a single transient blip mid-repair shouldn't drop the user back to a manual
+    # delete-and-reinstall. snapshot_download resumes between attempts (present,
+    # correctly-sized blobs are skipped by hash), so each retry continues where
+    # the last left off — cheap and idempotent. Counts/backoff are env-tunable
+    # for restricted networks and kept fast (backoff=0) in tests.
+    try:
+        retries = max(1, int(os.environ.get("OMNIVOICE_MODEL_REPAIR_RETRIES", "3")))
+    except ValueError:
+        retries = 3
+    try:
+        backoff = max(0.0, float(os.environ.get("OMNIVOICE_MODEL_REPAIR_BACKOFF_S", "2")))
+    except ValueError:
+        backoff = 2.0
+
+    logger.info(
+        "Auto-repairing incomplete model cache for %s (up to %d attempt(s)) …",
+        checkpoint, retries,
+    )
+    for attempt in range(1, retries + 1):
+        try:
+            _attempt()
+            logger.info("Auto-repair of %s completed; retrying model load.", checkpoint)
+            return True
         except Exception as e:
-            logger.warning("Auto-repair of %s failed: %s", checkpoint, e)
-            return False
-    except Exception as e:
-        logger.warning("Auto-repair of %s failed: %s", checkpoint, e)
-        return False
-    logger.info("Auto-repair of %s completed; retrying model load.", checkpoint)
-    return True
+            logger.warning(
+                "Auto-repair of %s attempt %d/%d failed: %s",
+                checkpoint, attempt, retries, e,
+            )
+            if attempt < retries and backoff:
+                time.sleep(backoff * attempt)
+    return False
 
 
 _DEFAULT_OMNIVOICE_CHECKPOINT = "k2-fsa/OmniVoice"
diff --git a/tests/test_model_cache_repair.py b/tests/test_model_cache_repair.py
index d7853c44..05378dba 100644
--- a/tests/test_model_cache_repair.py
+++ b/tests/test_model_cache_repair.py
@@ -142,8 +142,52 @@ def test_repair_returns_false_when_download_fails(model_manager, monkeypatch):
     """A failed re-fetch (no network, gated repo) returns False, never raises."""
     import huggingface_hub
 
+    calls = []
+
     def boom(**kwargs):
+        calls.append(kwargs)
         raise OSError("network down")
 
     monkeypatch.setattr(huggingface_hub, "snapshot_download", boom)
+    monkeypatch.setenv("OMNIVOICE_MODEL_REPAIR_BACKOFF_S", "0")  # no real sleeps
+    monkeypatch.setenv("OMNIVOICE_MODEL_REPAIR_RETRIES", "3")
     assert model_manager._repair_model_cache("test/checkpoint") is False
+    # #739: a transient failure must be retried, not given up on after one try.
+    assert len(calls) == 3
+
+
+def test_repair_retries_then_succeeds(model_manager, monkeypatch):
+    """#739: a flaky connection that drops twice then completes must self-heal —
+    the repair retries snapshot_download and returns True, so the user is never
+    sent to a manual delete-and-reinstall for a transient blip."""
+    import huggingface_hub
+
+    attempts = {"n": 0}
+
+    def flaky(**kwargs):
+        attempts["n"] += 1
+        if attempts["n"] < 3:
+            raise OSError("connection reset")
+        return "/cache/test/checkpoint"
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(huggingface_hub, "snapshot_download", flaky)
+    monkeypatch.setenv("OMNIVOICE_MODEL_REPAIR_BACKOFF_S", "0")
+    monkeypatch.setenv("OMNIVOICE_MODEL_REPAIR_RETRIES", "3")
+    assert model_manager._repair_model_cache("test/checkpoint") is True
+    assert attempts["n"] == 3
+
+
+def test_repair_retries_are_env_tunable(model_manager, monkeypatch):
+    """A restricted network can lower/raise the attempt count; a single attempt
+    must still work (no off-by-one that skips the only try)."""
+    import huggingface_hub
+
+    calls = []
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        huggingface_hub, "snapshot_download",
+        lambda **k: calls.append(k) or (_ for _ in ()).throw(OSError("down")),
+    )
+    monkeypatch.setenv("OMNIVOICE_MODEL_REPAIR_BACKOFF_S", "0")
+    monkeypatch.setenv("OMNIVOICE_MODEL_REPAIR_RETRIES", "1")
+    assert model_manager._repair_model_cache("test/checkpoint") is False
+    assert len(calls) == 1