Hi all,
Recently ive been having a few problems with steam where basically, when i boot my pc up, steam does not automatically run. Following this, when i actually go to my program lists and run steam 9/10 it doesn't actually start. It tells me that im connecting to my account but as soon as thats over nothing happens, nothing appears in the bottom right tray and no windows open, although wierdly enough when i open task manager steam is running under the processes tab. On top of this i do sometimes get to the actual log in screen where i have to type in my password, which i do, and then i have the same issue, after it tells me im connecting nothing happens.

On the odd occasion when i do manage to log in the main 'Store' tab on the steam UI doesnt work, it tells me there is a connection issue, and when that happens, i can't load any games either, instead i get a little message that says: 'This game is unsavailable at this time, please try again later'. Now on my last go, it took me 3 shutdowns with altered stettings, 6 restarts, and about 5 times of closing and opening steam.

In my attempts to fix the problems ive deleted the ClientRegisty.blob, but that hasn't seemed to have worked. I was talking to Art earlier and he said that i may well have to reinstall steam, which i would happily do, i was just wondering if there is an easier fix.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Joker <3

Hmmmmmmm.

Turn off steam and delete clientregistry.blob AND steam.dll
Depending on what anti virus program you use, you should be able to exclude the steam folder from it's "watch list" so that the anti virus will ignore the steam folder.
Also, make sure you haven't blocked Steam in the firewall, if you've got two firewalls (Windows + another one, turn off one of them, only one firewall can run at the time).
Choose your own or the closest country as your download region in steam Settings.
You can also update your DirectX here: www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx...displaylang=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And consider updating your graphics card, if you're not into that sort of stuff, just shout and I can help.
Also, run a system clean with i.e. CCleaner ( www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/down...f6db858f65c29/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; )
(If you choose to download ccleaner, remember to untick the "Only delete tempfiles older than 24 hours", in Advanced).


Can't really think of more atm

Can only say, slab's answer solves 99.99% of the problems with steam.

And almost forgot, steam only loves your wallet.

It cirtenly does...

Some other stuff you could try. Run the "Verifying GCF Cache Files" tool on your installed games/the games that sometimes is unavailable. (Right click on the game and click properties, then click the "Local Files" tab)

If you're desperate, you could run DEP (Data Execution Prevention)


Start->Control Panel->System->Advanced->Performance->Data Execution Prevention (XP)
Start->Control Panel->System->Advanced Systemsettings (or something, I've got Norwegian Windows 7, so I don't know the accurate translation, but it should be to the left)->Select the Advanced tab if not allready selected->Click settings beneath "Performance"->Select tab "Data Execution Prevention".
Now, tick (select) the "Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select:"
Select "Add" and then navigate to your Steam directory, and add Steam.exe to the list. If you have other games like L4D or Warhammer, add them too aside from Steam.exe (These are usually in Steam\steamapps\common...)

Thankyou very much i'll work my way through the list of solutions and hopefully one will work

valve support is pretty decent
although i think simply reinstalling steam would be a lot faster

Depending on his internet download rate that is, but yeah, if you've got a woop-ass internet, you should reinstall.