Can't play, steam stuck? : Fallout: New Vegas

» Fri Jul 23, 2010 9:18 pm

Steam won't load up on mine. If I execute it, it gives me the login form, notices if I type in a wrong password, but when I enter in my normal one, the window disappears and nothing happens except the . If I click remember the password then the next time I open it it, it hangs on the connecting screen

I've reinstalled it. I've rebooted. I've installed it to a new location. I've disabled my firewall. I've changed settings in my router. I've deleted my .blob file. I've scanned for virus'. I've closed all 3rd party processes and stopped all non essential services. My router isn't logging any blocked/rejected connections going either way. I can log in on another system in my office.

I don't understand how it could just suddenly stop working. If I haven't changed anything on my side then I assume it's on Steam's side but I can't tell because steam's log is vague:

CsComm Session Oct-30-2010 23:34:31.544 [3092] ReconnectThread (3092) Starting
CsComm Session Oct-30-2010 23:43:18.468 [4164] ReconnectThread (4164) Starting
CsComm Session Oct-30-2010 23:44:44.774 [2112] ReconnectThread (2112) Starting
CsComm Session Oct-30-2010 23:46:34.333 [2424] ReconnectThread (2424) Starting
CsComm Session Oct-30-2010 23:51:29.117 [5784] ReconnectThread (5784) Starting

I deleted the stream reg entries and the service from the common files folder and reinstalled. When I opened it the lower 20% of the screen flashed a few times like something wanted to open.

If I create a new account it stops and sits at the creating account step indefinitely.

I tried launching steam with various debug options but none worked, is there a way to enable them?

-console -debug_steamapi -fs_log -fs_logbins -nocache -no-dwrite -single_core -tcp

I scanned using Sophos, Clam AV and Kaspersky and my system is clean. I logged network packets while connecting/logging in and ping'd all the IPs it connected to and it didn't try to connect to any IPs that are out reach of my network. Oddly it was connecting to crash.steampowered.com which makes me wonder, is steam sending out info about my computer without telling me?

My connection_log.txt showed:

[2010-10-31 01:23:01][0,0] : Log session started
[2010-10-31 01:23:01][0,0] : SetSteamID( [a:1:0] )
[2010-10-31 01:23:01][1,2] : Connect() starting connection (eNetQOSLevelLow, 208.111.171.82:27017, UDP)
[2010-10-31 01:23:02][1,2] : ConnectionCompleted() (208.111.171.82:27017, UDP)
[2010-10-31 01:23:03][1,2] : RecvMsgClientLogOnResponse() : 'OK'
[2010-10-31 01:23:03][3,2] : LogOff()
[2010-10-31 01:23:03][2,2] : AsyncDisconnect()
[2010-10-31 01:23:04][0,0] : ConnectionDisconnected('Disconnected By Remote Host') : 'OK' (208.111.171.82:27017, UDP)
[2010-10-31 01:23:04][0,0] : [2010-10-31 01:23:04][0,0] : ConnectionDisconnected() not auto reconnecting due to user initiated logoff

The steam minidump folder is filled with crash dumps:

Assertion Failed: Calling GetUserConfigFolder before we know our SteamID -D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exeW:\Windows\System32\uxtheme.dllW:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_5.82.7600.16385_none_ebf82fc36c758ad5\comctl32.dll-D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.dll-D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\dbghelp.dll-D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\CSERHelper.dll-D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamUI.dllW:\Windows\System32\winmm.dll-D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\tier0_s.dll-D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\vstdlib_s.dllW:\Windows\SysWOW64\psapi.dllW:\Windows\System32\cryptsp.dllW:\Windows\System32\rsaenh.dll-D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\crashhandler.dllW:\Windows\SysWOW64\wininet.dllW:\Windows\SysWOW64\normaliz.dllW:\Windows\SysWOW64\urlmon.dllW:\Windows\SysWOW64\crypt32.dllW:\Windows\SysWOW64\msasn1.dllW:\Windows\SysWOW64\iertutil.dllD:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\bin\FileSystem_Steam.dllD:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\bin\vgui2.dllW:\Windows\System32\msimg32.dllW:\Windows\SysWOW64\comdlg32.dllD:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\bin\libcef.dllW:\Windows\System32\secur32.dllW:\Windows\System32\winhttp.dllW:\Windows\System32\webio.dllD:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\bin\avcodec-52.dllD:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\avutil-50.dllD:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\bin\avformat-52.dllD:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\bin\avutil-50.dllD:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\bin\icudt42.dllD:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamclient.dllW:\Windows\SysWOW64\imagehlp.dllW:\Windows\System32\dhcpcsvc.dllD:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\bin\p2pvoice.dllD:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\bin\mss32_s.dllD:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\bin\SteamService.dll

I don't know why it stopped working. Normally I wouldn't care because most of my games run fine from their .exe's but NV has uncle steam's finger in it's bum and unless it miraculously fixes itself, I'm stuck.

Has anyone run into this situation or know of a good way to debug this one or turn on steam logging?

» Fri Jul 23, 2010 5:39 pm

There is something promising. The steam help forum has other ppl in my same situation. Oddly this all happened after their servers went down on the weekend. Oh well. You get what you pay for (steam client).

update:

A lot of people are having this prob so that's a good thing. At least I now know I wasted a lot of time wondering if it was my system. Oddly someone else has the same prob where they can log in from one computer but not another in the same house. Maybe it's the same situation as mine: Win7 x64 doesn't work and XP does. Other ppl having the prob area also Win7 x64 users. Steam probably snuck an update in over the weekend that killed it.