Cant open any game on steam

[HowdyPartner]

Every game i try to start turns into an black screen and shortly after closes and i tried restarting my computer, reinstalling the games, verifiyng the integrety of the game files, restarted steam numerous times what can i do?

[Jaunitta 🌸]

Are you in the right Steam account?
The fact its applying to every game, do they appear as uninstalled in the library?
Are your games on a USB drive.
More details if you could like what has happened since the day before

[PANA WALTER]

ok

[HowdyPartner]

I am in the right steam account, they even appear as installed, i got most of my games on my external HDD and it happend just hours ago. I was playing The Binding of Isaac when suddenly my game began to have big buffer spikes and after i tried to shut down my pc my entire pc froze but didnt bluescreen and after waiting for 30 min or so i plugged the cable out and then it started to cause the issue

[pravda]

does everything else on your pc/laptop work ok except for steam games?

[downie dan the magical man]

L
\

[HowdyPartner]

Originally posted by pravda:

does everything else on your pc/laptop work ok except for steam games?

yes

[Kargor]

Something that happens to "every" game is likely completely unrelated to any specific game.

I would guess a new computer, or one that hasn't played games before, and you're running the basic and outdated drivers that came with the factory install.

[HowdyPartner]

Originally posted by Kargor:

Something that happens to "every" game is likely completely unrelated to any specific game.

I would guess a new computer, or one that hasn't played games before, and you're running the basic and outdated drivers that came with the factory install.

It happend just a while before and anything was fine then

[pravda]

there are a number of things you could try doing (which i can post) but is it still an issue or been resolved?

[Zepondrax]

Have you scanned your PC for viruses etc?

[HowdyPartner]

Originally posted by pravda:

there are a number of things you could try doing (which i can post) but is it still an issue or been resolved?

it would be nice if you could send them since some games still dont work

[Zepondrax]

They dont? Do you get any errors in all games? Have you checked error logs on your PC? Can you open any other applications?

Is it a permissions issue perhaps?

Originally posted by HowdyPartner:

Originally posted by pravda:

there are a number of things you could try doing (which i can post) but is it still an issue or been resolved?

it would be nice if you could send them since some games still dont work

[pravda]

(sometimes antivirus/firewall can block files from being accessed/updated etc ... so maybe try adding the game to your antiviruses exception list and check the antivirus quarantine/vault in case there are game files being blocked in the quarantine/vault)

run steam as administrator and try running games directly as admin

is this happening only on games running off the external drive?

if that is the case then i would try running a scan on the external drive to see if it has errors/corruptions and maybe scan your local c drive/windows installation drive as well:

- right click a partition/drive in windows file explorer - tools - check button - scan drive (the results of the scan/chkdsk will also show in the application log in event viewer)

- u could also look in event viewer (run eventvwr.msc from search/run box) at the windows logs - application and system ... see what events/errors have been happening ...

- maybe try plugging the external drive into a different usb port and/or use a different usb cable if you have an alternative one

- try installing a free steam game to a different drive and see if it runs ok

- ensure microsoft windows is fully up to date (check there are no outstanding updates to be installed - also check for any optional updates that are available)

run winver.exe from the windows start/search to see what version of windows 10 or 11 you are running ... eg. mine is running Windows 10 22H2 and my Windows 11 is 23H2 and is up to date on windows updates (Windows Start - Settings - Update & Security - Windows Update)

nb. watch out for Microsoft trying to install Windows 11 as an update under Windows 10 if you are wanting to stay on Windows 10

- install the latest graphics driver for your pc/laptop ... maybe during the install choose to do a clean install if the option is available

also some people have onboard graphics as well as a discrete/dedicated graphics card ... that can sometimes causes issues if the game/steam/windows doesn't switch/select the appropriate graphics solution for the game ... so make sure windows is configured so you are runing the game using the more powerful of the two if needed which is usually the discrete graphics card

to get graphics gpu info:

run dxdiag.exe from the windows start/search ... select the display tab ... on the right hand side look for where it says feature levels ... you can check what directx levels are supported 12_1, 12_0 and not just 11_1, 11_0, 10_1, 10_0, 9_3, 9_2, 9_1, 9_0 etc ... you can also see what graphics driver version/date you are running just above it

and/or

right click taskbar - task manager - click performance tab - scroll down on the left side to GPU - how many GPU's listed? click on GPU 0 and you can see the driver version/date/directx version/maximum directx level supported ... same for GPU 1 if you have more than one graphics adapter eg. a discrete/dedicated graphics card and an onboard integrated graphics chip


---

some other basic steps to do first as a precaution would be:

run an antimalware scanner like the free version Malwarebytes Anti-Malware available from their website: https://www.malwarebytes.com/
(very popular - have used it for over 15 years now)

also can try superantispyware free version another useful spyware scanner: https://www.superantispyware.com/free-edition.html
(very popular - have used it for over 10 years now)



extra steps to try in general:

u can run a command prompt by typing cmd.exe into windows search/run box in the start menu ... but right click and run it as administrator) and then run the following one after another (hit enter after each one, very important so each is completed before doing the next command):

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

DISM.exe /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup

sfc /scannow

Restart your computer once it's done.


(nb. these commands are verifications done by windows against microsoft servers to see if you have any system file/component corruptions - can take a little while for it to complete)

[pravda]

to install/reinstall the steam client again:

- steam client setup file is available by clicking INSTALL STEAM button on the steam about webpage: https://store.steampowered.com/about/

(direct official link to steam client - https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/client/installer/SteamSetup.exe)

- run the SteamSetup.exe file (right click the file and run as administrator if possible) which will install the steam client over the existing steam client installation

- nb. you will have to enter your steam login credentials again after the install and it will send a security code to your email which you will then have to retrieve and fill in the code to allow steam to verify the login details and then it will continue to load the steam app ...

- WARNING: also be aware if you uninstall the steam client it will delete steam games (from their install location) you have installed via steam, removes downloadable content and also savegames and other steam settings

- you can also check for steam updates by clicking on Steam menu at the top left in Steam and selecting "Check for Steam Client Updates..."


try the following steam service repair mentioned on the steam support website:

Repair the Steam Service:

The error may also indicate a Steam service failure. Please try repairing the Steam service:

Exit Steam.
Click Start > Run (Windows Key + R).
Type the following command: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\bin\SteamService.exe" /repair
Launch Steam and test the issue again.

or you can run a command prompt by typing cmd.exe into windows search/run box in the start menu ... but right click and run it as administrator) and then run the following command from the command prompt:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\bin\SteamService.exe" /repair


Note:
This command requires administrator privileges and may take a few minutes. If you have installed Steam to another path, please replace C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam
with the correct path.

[Zepondrax]

I was going to say Event Viewer/...

As a last resort reinstall steam

Maybe try exiting your anti virus then open steam and see if that works

Originally posted by pravda:

(sometimes antivirus/firewall can block files from being accessed/updated etc ... so maybe try adding the game to your antiviruses exception list and check the antivirus quarantine/vault in case there are game files being blocked in the quarantine/vault)

run steam as administrator and try running games directly as admin

is this happening only on games running off the external drive?

if that is the case then i would try running a scan on the external drive to see if it has errors/corruptions and maybe scan your local c drive/windows installation drive as well:

- right click a partition/drive in windows file explorer - tools - check button - scan drive (the results of the scan/chkdsk will also show in the application log in event viewer)

- u could also look in event viewer (run eventvwr.msc from search/run box) at the windows logs - application and system ... see what events/errors have been happening ...

- maybe try plugging the external drive into a different usb port and/or use a different usb cable if you have an alternative one

- try installing a free steam game to a different drive and see if it runs ok

- ensure microsoft windows is fully up to date (check there are no outstanding updates to be installed - also check for any optional updates that are available)

run winver.exe from the windows start/search to see what version of windows 10 or 11 you are running ... eg. mine is running Windows 10 22H2 and my Windows 11 is 23H2 and is up to date on windows updates (Windows Start - Settings - Update & Security - Windows Update)

nb. watch out for Microsoft trying to install Windows 11 as an update under Windows 10 if you are wanting to stay on Windows 10

- install the latest graphics driver for your pc/laptop ... maybe during the install choose to do a clean install if the option is available

also some people have onboard graphics as well as a discrete/dedicated graphics card ... that can sometimes causes issues if the game/steam/windows doesn't switch/select the appropriate graphics solution for the game ... so make sure windows is configured so you are runing the game using the more powerful of the two if needed which is usually the discrete graphics card

to get graphics gpu info:

run dxdiag.exe from the windows start/search ... select the display tab ... on the right hand side look for where it says feature levels ... you can check what directx levels are supported 12_1, 12_0 and not just 11_1, 11_0, 10_1, 10_0, 9_3, 9_2, 9_1, 9_0 etc ... you can also see what graphics driver version/date you are running just above it

and/or

right click taskbar - task manager - click performance tab - scroll down on the left side to GPU - how many GPU's listed? click on GPU 0 and you can see the driver version/date/directx version/maximum directx level supported ... same for GPU 1 if you have more than one graphics adapter eg. a discrete/dedicated graphics card and an onboard integrated graphics chip


---

some other basic steps to do first as a precaution would be:

run an antimalware scanner like the free version Malwarebytes Anti-Malware available from their website: https://www.malwarebytes.com/
(very popular - have used it for over 15 years now)

also can try superantispyware free version another useful spyware scanner: https://www.superantispyware.com/free-edition.html
(very popular - have used it for over 10 years now)



extra steps to try in general:

u can run a command prompt by typing cmd.exe into windows search/run box in the start menu ... but right click and run it as administrator) and then run the following one after another (hit enter after each one, very important so each is completed before doing the next command):

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

DISM.exe /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup

sfc /scannow

Restart your computer once it's done.


(nb. these commands are verifications done by windows against microsoft servers to see if you have any system file/component corruptions - can take a little while for it to complete)