Steam and my Death

[SweatyPyro]

Okay, I currently have an error, and I think it'll need a a large thinking tank of help on this one.

This morning, I woke early in order to enjoy yet another limited day of the free Team Fortress 2 weekend. Same old set up, same old start up....but Steam does not connect.

Initially, The Steam service was unable to connect, but my login info enabled me to run on Offline mode, while obviously still being on the internet. What I tried doing was fooling around the Windows firewall, taking away Steam permission (in an effort for the firewall to relearn it, as told my Steam support) with no luck. I ended up giving Steam back it's permission, and since I booted up TF 2, that got it's permission as well. So I decided to restart again (I restarted initially before without any changes).


Effect of the 2nd restart: Even worse than before.

I come up now with this error message:

'Unable to connect to the Steam network. 'Offline Mode' is unavailable because there is no Steam login information stored on this computer.

You will not be able to use Steam until you can connect to the Steam network again.'

So yes, now I don't even have my account credentials saved, which is odd seeing as nothing I did would have removed them.

Now, I am stuck. I try recovering my password to beg on my knees and cry like a baby for help on their forum, but they don't recognize my username, so they don't email me back my password ( I could have sworn I knew it!).


So yes, this is my situation, and I'll need all the help I can get.

[Jademz]

HMMM. ok, from personal experience with this, I found that the shortcut on my desktop doesn't work like the direct link inside teh folder. Do a search of the .exe(s), and use the one inside the folder to launch.

See if that works. I haven't had a corrupt steam problem, so if that's part of the problem, perhaps.. gulp.. windows restore? lol

ps. I move my folders around in my pc all the time, so it reinstalls a small amount of data. you may try transferring it to a more stable drive if for some reason that one has a page file on it, or something.

[SweatyPyro]

Define page file.
BTW, Steam.exe won't work. Same issue.

I'm think reinstalling it.

[TRON.dll]

Define page file.
BTW, Steam.exe won't work. Same issue.

I'm think reinstalling it.

That sounds like a good idea. But completely uninstalling it could be an issue if the uninstaller is corrupted, too.

[data_ghost]

then just click on the file and press delete.

[Jademz]

I followed up on his last message on a messenger, so I guess we'll have to wait for his response on our efforts to get it working..

[TRON.dll]

then just click on the file and press delete.

lol.

You see, if you do that, that just deletes the executable. There's still a ton of resources and stuff in the Steam folder, which is not deleted when you only delete the executable. The uninstaller can probably uninstall everything but your account settings/preferences, but upon reinstalling Steam, you'll probably need to sign in manually, which poses a problem if you forgot your password.

[Layer]

Well..hopefully you won't forget your password (or at least retain your email address so Steam can email it back to you) because there will come a time when Steam ...for whatever reason (a significant update, major system changes, because it just chooses to be retarded)... will require you to manually re-login.

[SweatyPyro]

Well, I'm still defragging the hunk of junk as I type. I retried for the heck of it, of course the error persists.

However, Steam seems to remember m account info, because I saw a glimpse of it logging in w/ my username. No idea why offline mode isn't a possibility, though.

[Avi]

This has something to do with the recent update. I have Steam installed on my laptop, and it says the same thing when I'm not connected to a network. All I have to do is get it to recognize the wireless signal and it's good.

[SweatyPyro]

I assumed the update was the error.

However, one more thing:

Jademz, should I just do as you told me and select the no paging file option? because I'm able to switch the numbers right there in Custom settings.

And making sure, Min: 1024, Max: 2048, right? My RAM is Min/2.

[Jademz]

I assumed the update was the error.

However, one more thing:

Jademz, should I just do as you told me and select the no paging file option? because I'm able to switch the numbers right there in Custom settings.

And making sure, Min: 1024, Max: 2048, right? My RAM is Min/2.

ok, once defragged: Control Panel/System/Advanced/Performance Settings/Advanced Change: select no page file on your HDD. hit SET. reboot.

I play it safe using windows, even though it will work by default, I hit F8 right after the bios posts go to safe mode. Go back to the page file menu, set both minimum and maximum to 2048. hit SET. reboot.

I was taught that by doing this the page file will stay in one place. When it's minimum is different from the maximum, the page file moves all over your drive, shuffling around fragging it up worse.

You can thank 9volt for that information on the page file size. You can see the file move around when you defrag every few weeks when it's different sizes.

I recommend doing a chkdsk in the drive properties, above the defragmenter.(you can also use disk manager in the admin tools)

If the time comes that you get another HDD, do this same process, and put your page file on it. but make sure not to fill it up. 30% 'till full capacity is where there may be a decline in performance, especially on a system drive.

[SweatyPyro]

Alright, wish me luck.

Okay, the new page file has been set. Going to do the scndsk thingy majiger now.

[SweatyPyro]

Well, I'm done with all those recommendations, but long story short Steam refuses to work.

I am thinking of just reinstalling it.

My only question is this: Will it keep and remember all that game data and files on the computer? With leaving the directory the same, of course.

[TRON.dll]

Ooh, I was wondering about that, too. I have to take my new computer in to the Geek Squad because the LAN port doesn't seem to work all of the sudden. I know that there are other options, like USB to LAN cables, but when something doesn't work on an expensive piece of hardware, there's an obvious problem. If I end up having to replace my machine, will I still be able to reinstall Portal and all of my other Steam games?

I have Portal on CD-ROM, but I also have an NVIDIA card in that computer, so I got the Half-Life 2 Deathmatch game for free. Will I be able to reinstall that for free?