"Steam" client is a blank black box

[SakeBito]

'Just sent an irate message to these insular monopolists on the fact that this desktop turd that calls itself "Steam" opens up, when I click on it, a blank black rectangle, and that's it. I minimize, maximize; I open Task Manager to End Process and End Process Tree; watch the auto-start use any of the dozens upon dozens of "steamwebhelper.exe" instances to open... another blank black box; sometimes if I minimize and maximize I get the rudimentary elements of the menus; none of those elements' links are active so the whole mess does not function anyway; sometimes I get as far as the Library displaying the game titles (no graphics) and clicking the download icon of course does nothing.

And then I look up at the clock and realize I've just burned up two full hours of my finite %#^&!%! lifespan d i c k i n g around with this bugged-up, needlessly-complex turd of a gateway to... the games that I have long since paid for and which are supposed to belong to me.

Why do we put up with this crap instead of simply grabbing physical media off of the shelf (likely an SD or USB card nowdays,) and just plugging it in, installing and playing. Why are we having to deal with this ineptly-run, insular monopoly standing between us and the games that we have duly purchased?

Asking for a friend.

Otherwise, does anybody have any suggestions as to how to plow through this bugged-up nightmare in a way that won't see me in a nursing home before I get to the point where I can click a simple Play button?

/rant

[Iceira]

First you need a client that actual working.

Steam black is a sure signs of things not work as it should.

You problem now is with what, cache or DNS issue
try steam Flush cmd ( google it ) do have account and pw rdy.

Then its seen as steam settingt try turn off gpu accelration option, ( also seen before can help sometimes )

The last is AMD on Board IGPU that effect main card ( atm its only AMD users , we other had this intel igpu issue years ago, so nothing new in this.


Last is do not have win7/8 or have steam clientt with any special option, they have removed -gui and other things its like there is a old OS service issue and it look like they are feedup with it keep going down , and its here the setting can effect us if you also try use old GUI only.


Dont expect we know what OS your are or what setting you did, we are user here and is clueless, we only have the word you typing here.

But you can forget play button if you dont get steam client fixed.
im sure you know this, but what if you make joke and be ironic about it, and thats the problem here, what if you are not. ( steam have rules about even thats not allowed. ) and we are not kidding you here.

What if you are a kid and just want to play.
then get a adult to help you, something is not working as it should.

gl with it.

[SakeBito]

This worked normally a week ago with exactly the same system, OS, graphics card. Nothing on this end has changed.

[Iceira]

Originally posted by SakeBito:

This worked normally a week ago with exactly the same system, OS, graphics card. Nothing on this end has changed.

And that dont help, you can get millions of steam user that can say it work here.

Talk with support then, make ticket, pc do require skills , and you need to know where they are or reply will be to long.

steam black issue can be google , im sure of this. its happend over a year atleast, with few user each time.

[SakeBito]

No idea how to mark this as "Solved" - a simple button with the euphemistic label "Mark as Solved" would prolly be a good idea - but I was able to fix this myself.

So for anyone else having this rip-out-your-hair problem, here's what I did:
Before trying to open the desktop Steam thing, right-click the icon, then click Properties. Under Properties click the "Compatibility" tab. Click the check box for "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" and play around with the different options in the dropdown.

I'm using Windows 7 64-bit, so of course the Windows 7 compatibility option did not work - that's what was giving me all of the crap I described above. So after trying a few of them I clicked Windows Vista and for whatever weird reason that's working. When I click the descktop icon everything comes up, all of the elements are working and nothing's broken. Except....

There's a chronic problem - whether the client GUI comes up and works or not - of the message "No Connection" at the bottom. But that's a whole different can o' worms. 'Also got that solved I think just by dumb luck: Going into Steam Settings and trying different servers (the one in Vancouver, Canada eh? seems to work - sometimes - also Sydney Australia - sometimes - Sao Paulo Brazil - sometimes - etc. Also got it to connect once by clicking Discussions under Community and clicking "Start a discussion" and then the "log in" link" - because the option under the "Steam" dropdown at the upper left of the GUI tells me I'm online even when there's the "No Connection" message - so that's no help. Other times clicking "log in" from Start Discussion sits there a few seconds and then tells me "Unable to connect to Steam servers, go pound sand."

So this whole mess remains a.) needlessly complex (why can't someone code a stripped-down "Library, Downloads and Preferences Only" version of this client program,) and b.) hopelessly buggy, with c.) no indication that anyone at Valve/Steam cares.

So again, except for the chronic problem with connectivity - nothing else on this system is having trouble with 'net connectivity - the blacked-out GUI problem had to do with compatibility settings and can be considered solved.

But... no button for "Mark as solved." Maybe it's around here somewhere but they hid it, as a bonus game. Such fun.