Infuriating Issue With Any & All Source Engine Games

[♪Masupups♪]

I've never had a more frustrating issue with anything related to Steam as I'm having now. I'll describe the problem as clearly as I can, because as far as I know I'm the only person who's had this EXACT problem.

So I recently decided to reopen Steam and mess around in some of my old favorite source engine games (most specifically Gmod). I expected it to launch like the games always used to. Some games would "prepare to launch" and then actually open. Some would say they're preparing to launch and then don't do ANYTHING after that window closes. I messed around in various games, and found that whether or not they launched after the "preparing to launch" box was ENTIRELY random. In order for me to get any source engine game to work, I generally have to launch it, open task manager, wait to see if the process (hl2.exe) starts using a lot of memory (like games normally do), and end the process if it doesn't DO anything. I then do that list of things again, repeatedly, until the game finally launches. I'm gonna note now that no matter how long I wait, I still have to do this because I've (literally) waited up to an hour at times to make sure I wasn't just being impatient. The resources (memory) the process uses will stay somewhere below 5k most of the time, but when working usually hits 50k.

Oh, and it gets worse. Now let's say a game is ACTUALLY compliant and launches (which is already hard enough to do)... I still have to make sure that the game doesn't freeze entirely when loading to the menu at startup (i.e. the loading bar for games like Gmod stops completely part of the way through), and that it doesn't freeze when I'm loading a singleplayer OR multiplayer game alike. Yes, it IS that bad.

So let me sum it up in case that was confusing somehow:

-All source engine games on my PC have issues launching after the "preparing to launch" window disappears. This happens most specifically and frequently in Gmod. Any non-source engine games or third party games all function normally as they should.
-There ARE times the games do launch, but it seems to be entirely random, and getting it to work involves launching the game, watching its resources in task manager and closing it if it doesn't use very much memory after a minute or two. This process usually needs to happen anywhere from 2-10 times before I get a game to launch.
-Even after the game launches, it'll often freeze at random points on loading screens for the menu, singleplayer and multiplayer games alike.
-However, if any game manages to get past all of the aforementioned errors and actually starts/joins a game, it works perfectly fine. Sometimes it'll crash anyway when the server is changing maps (as there's a loading screen there).

One last thing I'd like to point out is that about six months ago or so I didn't have these problems. I didn't have these problems on any other computer, either. I've also never heard of anyone else having this specific problem.

I am running a Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS. I have 6GB of RAM, an Intel Pentium CPU G630 @2.70GHz (which I hate very much), and an ATI Radeon HD 5500 Series graphics card.

Now here's the part that'll frustrate everyone else: what I've TRIED in order to fix this.

-I was sure this guide would help, but I did every little thing in it and no fixes.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6218-USFX-5568
-I have reinstalled Steam and every affected game multiple times.
-I've verified/defragmented every single source games numerous times.
-Deleted .blob files multiple times.
-Tried using -32bit, -autoconfig, and -windowed in every game's launch options.
-Renamed appcache and config folders to make sure they worked properly.
-Tried the above steps with my OTHER account and STILL had issues...
-Updated all my drivers (graphics and audio mostly) as well as installed/uninstalled/reinstalled/repaired various versions of DirectX, PhysX, and Microsoft Visual C++ (64 AND 32 bit).
-Updated Windows COMPLETELY to the latest version.
-Disabled every single background process from launching at starting.
-Cleared at LEAST 200GB of space, leaving my 1TB hard drive halfway full.
-Disabled all anti-virus programs/firewalls and making exceptions to every single exe file Steam could POSSIBLY use.
-Edited the compatibility settings for all of those exe's to ensure they have the proper permissions.
-Scavenged the Steam forums as well as every forum that could possibly address this issue that I found through Google.
-Many, many more little things I can't even begin to recall...

This problem is ridiculously stupid, my computer easily exceeds minimum requirements and hard drive space for every single game. I feel like the answer is as simple as flicking a switch in some random config program for a function of Windows, but I have no idea where to look or what my problem is as there are signs pointing in multiple directions. And I can't reinstall Windows as I'm on a shared computer and people don't want to back-up their programs for such a trivial problem that they don't need to worry about.

If ANYONE has ANY idea what to do, PLEASE get back to me here. I feel like people might mention some of the things I've already done but haven't listed because they were either trivial or forgotten, so I'll let you know if I've already done what you've suggested. Thanks to anyone who managed to read all of this nonsense, I appreciate it when people take the time to at least look even if they can't help.

[♪Masupups♪]

Bumping, because I've also now tried every compatibility option and am still looking for suggestions.

[ManiacMal]

Damn man thats a crazy amount of troubleshooting you have already done. Have you done or tried clearing out registry rows for Steam? Lastly I seen you listed you updated Windows 7 to the latest version. But since this happened did you try reformatting? Is that even an option for you? Is there other users on the OS besides the administrator? Tried compatibility modes or run as administrator? I assume you have though.

There is something stuck somewhere that is causing this, could be a corrupted registry entry but as you already found out there is so many possibilities that could be wrong. Just trying to give you a couple directions to go and hope it helps.

[schnitzeljaeger]

Did you delete the source game folders in \steamapps\<your_id>\<game> ? I had some strange problems with source games in the past too^^ When you restart the games they reinstall and (at least) in my case the problems were gone.

[♪Masupups♪]

@Hash: That's actually really good, I'll try checking out the registry. I always forget to do that. xD And unfortunately, I can't reformat W7. The best thing I can do is restore my computer (because a lot of necessary files wouldn't be affected). I'd love to just wipe the whole thing and start from scratch, but again, this is a shared system. The fortunate part is that I AM an administrator, so I have access to everything I need to fix it in other ways. Unfortunately, every compatibility option and administrator permission combination didn't fix it.

But really, thanks. I'll be seeing what I can do in terms of the registry. That sounds like it'll definitely lead somewhere.

@schnitzel: I actually didn't do that specifically. I deleted all my games and then reinstalled them. I even tried uninstalling them individually via 'Programs and Features'. BUT that's smart. Install, delete the game folders, launch, it reinstalls files, and it runs. That sounds smooth, so I'll check it out, too. Thanks for the advice.

I'll update this if either works out. Thanks again for the input!

[Jorn King Of The Wild Boars]

FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK

[Mong O'Lloyd]

This has been happening to me too

[♪Masupups♪]

Bumping again, this problem won't go away. Have been trying to clear out associated registry rows with no success, I get the same result.

[Snoopy]

I didn't see mention of (I read, but maybe missed) the following:

Windows Memory Diagnostic - bad/failing memory module?
Check Disk - bad/failing sectors on drive?
Overheating? - make sure all fans are clean & working, heatsinks are seated properly and reseat your memory module(s) & processor if socketed. Let the system completely cool down and see if things are any better from a 'cold' boot.

Just some ideas, the above can cause a multitude of problems that may not appear related.

[♪Masupups♪]

Hey, I understand TL;DR and skimming are probably common with these long posts.

Anyway, on topic...
I ran both CHKDSK and WMD. Both of those done as thoroughly as I could. (Only did WMD on Standard and Basic, I didn't have the patience for Advanced but will run overnight.) I also do some routine maintenance on my computer, overheating and hardware aren't issues.

But I really wouldn't have thought of those first two things, I always forget to keep up with them.

Still not working though. Props for the suggestions, was worth a shot.

[Will]

Do non-Steam games have similar problems or is it only Steam games? Have you made any significant hardware changes in the mean time? I've had certain machines that would lock up (not as bad as yours) because of under-powered graphics cards (i.e., power supply can't keep up with new video card). The problem would only happen with Steam games though, especially TF2, while other games like WoW would work just fine.

[♪Masupups♪]

No Will, I haven't had problems like this with any other games aside from those run specifically on the source engine.

So far, that includes... HL2 (+EP1 and EP2), TF2, CS:S, (ESPECIALLY) GMOD, Synergy, Empires, EYE, Portal and a few more I can't name off the top of my head. Strangely enough, I haven't had problems with L4D+L4D2. It happens to those ones, but not frequently. I mean, I've managed to run DayZ for ArmA II and Magicka without those causing my PC issues, and they lag and sputter like they should for a weak system.

The only hardware change this system has ever had was the graphics card, and it's been working fine since I installed it (which is also when I bought the computer). Power requirements may be draining, I've had that issue on another system, but it doesn't SEEM like it. I'll double check at some point.

But yeah, as far as I can tell, this only ever happens with source engine games. I reeeeally wish I could take the easy way out and reinstall Windows.

Will look into power drain possibility.

[ChuckyCheegles]

Get a Linux boot disk you can look up on the internet how to get one I recommend getting a rescue sort of Distro you can download it burn it onto a disc and boot off of it you can perform tests format the Windows 7 partition or run a Memory Test. There are a lot of things that you can do with it.

[Arcade Goon]

Is your interent limited? I sometimes have this issue when interent speed is too slow.
Try launching in offline mode?

[INKY]

I got same problem, havent done as much truble shutin but my gmae snever launch.