Can't Connect To Steam Servers

[Abbarrach]

I can't get past log in, as in, I'll log in, it'll grey out the log in window, and then a few moments later, another pop up will come up that says it can't connect to Steam Servers. I've tried a lot of things, I'll list them below.

Tried uninstalling and reinstalling
Tried keeping all programs except Steam closed
Turned off Windows and Malwarebytes' firewall, including just straight up turning off Malwarebytes
Changed Steam Guard to go through the phone app
Changed the password just in case something weird was going on
Turned off and back on my laptop
Renamed the Steam.exe.old to just .exe and used that to open it
I did a system restore to a date it worked on
Reset the adapter via cmd
Did a chkdsk to see if it was ok and it was fine



What makes this even more frustrating is that my browser (Chrome) works perfectly. I'm talking watching Youtube in full HD and it isn't hitching a single bit. I'm not sure if it is related, but I also can't use Skype either. I tested that with much the same steps, keeping it uninstalled while I reinstalled Steam and vice versa, and nothing. I can log in via the app and through Chrome, but not the program itself.

The only change I've had was instead of telling me that the Steam Guard code "doesn't seem right" is that it just goes to the connecting window instead of saying it was wrong (which it wasn't, I straight up copy pasted from the email more than once). I'm at a loss and I have no idea what's going on. Assistance would be appreciated.

[The Giving One]

First, if you are using a router, don't. Use an ethernet cable and hook it directly up from your PC to your modem.

Next, if you still cannot connect, boot your PC into safe mode WITH networking, and try to log in that way.

STAY in that boot and come back here to post.

Also, please give more info on your system...
Is Malwarebytes actually your antivirus program ?
What is the operating system ?
What network is this on ? (home, school, business, etc.)

If you have upgraded to Windows 10, then tell us that also please.

Originally posted by Abbarrach:

I'm not sure if it is related, but I also can't use Skype either.

Skype is on this list and known to cause issues with Steam. I suggest that you uninstall Skype and reboot into safe mode WITH networking.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9828-SFLZ-9289

[Abbarrach]

I don't have access to the modem, as I'm renting a room and the landlord keeps track of it. I understand it's going to limit the troubleshooting options, and I'm really sorry. I did message to see if he would possibly just power cycle it but I have not gotten a response.

I booted into safe mode with networking, and I couldn't connect to anything. Does that mode require the connection to be ethernet over wireless? Because if so that renders that option unavailable to me, unfortunately.

Malwarebytes is my antivirus and whatnot, yes. I have disabled it before attempting to connect to see if it was blocking anything, and there was no change. I am running Windows 10, and it was an upgrade from 8 months and months ago. The network is a home generic network, I think? That seems like it is different than just the internet connection from the way you said that though.

I have uninstalled Skype and there was no change in attempting to log in. I know that some of the options I have available to me are limiting, I'm sorry.

[The Giving One]

Safe mode with networking does not require ethernet over wireless, as only your wireless and NIC device drivers are loaded in that boot.

Thank you very much for your detailed response as to what you did. You have no idea how much that is appreciated here when trying to help someone.

As you said, not having accesst to the modem may be a problem.

Firstly, since you said you upgraded to W10, where did you get the system drivers for that computer that support Windows 10 ? Did you check the manufacturer's website for those ?

Some computers cannot run Windows 10, as not all the hardware may have drivers released or supported. Since you said the upgrade was a bit of a long time ago, maybe that is not relevant.

I can suggest that you maybe try to reset your router then, since you cannot get to the modem. Do not power cycle it. Use the tiny reset button that you need a small object to insert and push that button, depending on your router.

Some users have has roomates that increased their firewall setting for their router without knowledge also, and I have seen that before.

[Abbarrach]

That's very odd then. The internet connection icon was the little monitor with the cable and red X, and it said no connections were available. I think that there's an issue with how it connects to the internet then.

Yeah, I've checked the drivers for everything, as I've had issues with the laptop before. If it helps at all, my computer is an HP M6 N113DX, which from my Googling seems to be a bit of an oddball model. But I went to HP's site and updated all the drivers, and went to check Microsoft's site to see if there were any discrepancies maybe contributing, but there weren't any differences, just a referral to HP.

The computer updated because it had that pop up that informed me that the computer was compatible and could run Windows 10, so I assume that it was ok for it.

Uhm, also, probably a little dumb, but what's the difference between a router and a modem? Aren't they the same thing?

[The Giving One]

Go here and use the drop menus in the boxes and look for wireless and NIC (ethernet, LAN) device drivers, as well as other drivers, and fully update/install them. If you never did this, then that surely is suspect here. I see that you said you did, but please be sure.

http://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/HP-ENVY-m6-Notebook-PC-series/7038934/model/7450490

Originally posted by Abbarrach:

That's very odd then. The internet connection icon was the little monitor with the cable and red X, and it said no connections were available. I think that there's an issue with how it connects to the internet then.

THIS seems to suggest that you have an actual issue with your computer hardware/network there and NOT just Steam, which further supports my theory about your drivers concerning your upgrade.

You don't have Windows 8 anymore....you have Windows 10. So, you need Windows 10 drivers.

Never let Microsoft Windows update your drivers. Only do that from the manufacturer's website(s).

A router is needed for a wireless connection in your network. A modem is provided by your ISP and is needed for simply a wired (ethernet) connection.

What do you mean that you have "had issues with the laptop before" ? What issues ?

[Abbarrach]

Ok. I updated all the internet/network related drivers, and I ran the driver check tool HP had and everything came up up to date. I'm not sure what else I can change then. I really do appreciate your help and persistence!

Ah, that makes sense. I thought router and modem were the same thing. Either way, though, I don't have access to either. Which is frustrating.

The laptop has shut down overnight twice and would not wake back up. No fans would spin, no hard drive noises, nothing. I couldn't power it on, and it wasn't battery. Nothing I did changed anything. It ended up being send to HP both times because it was under warranty and they had to replace some parts, one of them being the motherboard. Thankfully, it has not repeated that. What it does do, though, it blue-screen at least once a month, and never with the same error. I had one yesterday that said something about a kernel, but it was not specific at all so Google was no help.

[The Giving One]

You are very welcome, and I will be much more satisfied if we can get you fixed up.

Some ISP do have router/modem combo units, where the router and the modem are in the same device.

You are saying now that you don't have access to the router also ?

If you are getting BSOD on that computer, that would have been much better to know about sooner here. That surely suggests that drivers could have been a cause.

Are you absolutely sure you have updated all the drivers ? Do not use that HP tool to do that or check them. Manually search through EVERY driver on that HP support page and fully update all of them. BSOD errors are pretty serious, and usually the result of failing hardware (in your first case with the motherboard) or drivers corrupted/misconfigured/outdated/not supported...etc.

If you get all the drivers properly updated and you don't actually have failing hardware there at the moment, the BSOD errors should go away. That really is a much more serious issue than not being able to use Steam.

If we cannot get you connected here now, I will highly suggest that you go and post in the hardware and OS forum to get help, as you seem to need it much more with your actual computer issues than you do with Steam issues. If that happens, you can link this thread there for completeness so others can see what we have discussed here so far.

If you are in safe mode with networking and you have NO internet access at all (not just simply access to Steam), then you have a problem with your wireless device, network, router or modem almost surely...and lastly a distant possibility is your actual ISP but that is a very distant possibility. EDIT..OR the drivers are still a possibility, just in case someting is still amiss with those. Specifically the wireless device drivers.

If you had a friend available that could bring a computer over, you could eliminate the network and the modem and the router as being the cause here, and that would really narrow this down.

EDIT..One final thought that just came to me here...

You said that they replaced the motherboard once. So maybe and I do mean maybe, they have a slightly different board now in that computer and that board does not support Windows 10 but only supports W8 again. That is wayyy outside the box here, but could be possible....

[Abbarrach]

I'm sorry about not mentioning the BSOD before. It's kind of become something I deal with and didn't seem relevant. Yes, I don't have physical access to either the router or the modem.

Ok. I have done all the drivers, every single one. A couple have given me some weird results.
"Intel Chipset Installation Utility and Driver" tells me that I do not have the minimum required software for it.
"Intel Management Engine Interface (MEI) Driver" says the same thing.
"MediaTek (Ralink) Wireless LAN Adapter Driver" goes through the unpacking/extracting, pops up and says the install wizard will begin soon, flickers a moment, along with some command line windows popping up and then vanishing far too fast to read, and then it just... stops? It was like I never tried to update it.
"Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver" says it "ended prematurely" because "the platform is unsupported." It also gave me a log file for reference. Do you need that?
"HP 3D DriveGuard Software (HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection)" and "HP System Event Utility" both seemed to install and then end. I'm not sure if they did, though, because there was no install wizard saying it was installed correctly or anything like that.
"ENERGY STAR Qualified Power Plan" same thing with that.

This... uh, doesn't look particularly good....

As for connecting to the wifi, my roommate was just streaming Netflix, and I am able to connect perfectly fine with my phone, and watching Youtube videos on this laptop works. It's able to access the internet on browsers, but not on Steam or Skype.

[Abbarrach]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

EDIT..One final thought that just came to me here...

You said that they replaced the motherboard once. So maybe and I do mean maybe, they have a slightly different board now in that computer and that board does not support Windows 10 but only supports W8 again. That is wayyy outside the box here, but could be possible....

That's possible... I could look into downgrading it, I suppose? I have CPUID so if you would get any useful information out of that I could absolutely share it.

[The Giving One]

Well, maybe I should have been more clear but you don't need all those utility updates really, as those are mostly just junk.

What you have posted makes no sense, unless my last comment about the board being slightly different is relevant.

Intel Rapid Storage should only been needed if using a RAID setup for multiple drives, so don't worry about that one.

The chipset and wireless LAN drivers doing that really concerns me here.

Wait...before you said that you have a "no connections available" icon in your system tray (tv screen with little red "x") so how are you watching youtube videos ? If you have that icon, you have no access to the internet ?

It is almost surely not related to this problem, but Skype is known to cause issues with Steam.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9828-SFLZ-9289

The BEST thing that anyone can do when changing to a supported OS is to do a full format and fresh install. This "upgrade" is a joke, really. Starting fresh when you change your OS is best, as that way you don't run into any conflict with drivers that are for multiple operating systems, you see.

One final question that is very important and can sum this up maybe really quickly...

Can you say for sure that other than the motherboard replacement issue, you have got the BSOD errors quite often since you did the upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 8 ?

Honestly, if this was me at this point, I would consider a full format and fresh install of Windows 10, if you can get that sorted out with Microsoft as your key for Windows 8 should allow you to have Windows 10 as a fresh .iso and install it that way.

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Abbarrach:

That's possible... I could look into downgrading it, I suppose? I have CPUID so if you would get any useful information out of that I could absolutely share it.

I would love to see the results for CPUID, however that is getting off topic and out of scope for this forum. I really hate to tell you that here, but forum rules suggest that threads be conducted in the proper fourm, you see. This is becoming a hardware and OS forum topic, since you have or seem to have these serious issues.

I would do this..

Click the report button in the top right of your title window and request very specifically and respectfully that your thread be moved to the hardware and operating system forum. That is best, as the users there are most helpful in these kinds of things.

After that, maybe you should edit the title for a more appropriate reason for the thread and to get the most attention, you see.

[Abbarrach]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

Wait...before you said that you have a "no connections available" icon in your system tray (tv screen with little red "x") so how are you watching youtube videos ? If you have that icon, you have no access to the internet ?

I said I had that when I was in safe mode with networking I had that. In the regular booting of the computer, I have internet connection, but I cannot connect to Steam using the program. I try to log in and it says it cannot connect to the servers. I said so in my opening post, here's the quote.

Originally posted by Abbarrach:

What makes this even more frustrating is that my browser (Chrome) works perfectly. I'm talking watching Youtube in full HD and it isn't hitching a single bit.

I tried uninstalling Skype. It made no difference.

Not quite often, but yes, definitely more after I upgraded. I have (not recently) had to do a factory reset to the default, original settings, where I then had Windows 10 as it was from a new install. Like you said about what you would do at this point, I'm probably going to just reset it and see if that will work. Do you have specific advice on how I should do that? I'm assuming doing the factory reset isn't formatting and fresh installing Windows 10.

[The Giving One]

Yes, you are correct and maybe I got confused because it was of course after your opening post that you said that about the "no connections available" icon, so please forgive me for my misunderstandings here.

But again, that makes no sense. UNLESS you booted into safe mode ONLY and not safe mode WITH networking. In safe mode WITH networking, your NIC and wireless device drivers are loaded only, along with basic and essential system drivers.

So, you should have had internet access in safe mode with networking, if you do in fact have access in a normal boot of Windows.

Yes, a factory reset is not the same as a fresh install of Windows.

Lets back up a bit here just for the moment, please.

I would like for you to confirm that you were in fact booting into safe mode WITH NETWORKING before, because with all due respect, what you posted sounds exactly as if you only booted into safe mode.

[Abbarrach]

Ok. Power of Google-fu gave me what I needed to use the networking. Apparently you have to connect to the wifi on the log in screen BEFORE you log in, and it will still SHOW that there is no internet connection and say there is no connection, but there is. I have no idea, and honestly, I'm just gonna roll with it. So I'm in safe mode with networking, and I have internet.

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Abbarrach:

Ok. Power of Google-fu gave me what I needed to use the networking. Apparently you have to connect to the wifi on the log in screen BEFORE you log in, and it will still SHOW that there is no internet connection and say there is no connection, but there is. I have no idea, and honestly, I'm just gonna roll with it. So I'm in safe mode with networking, and I have internet.

Ok...now that you are properly in that boot mode, can you still not log into Steam using your Steam account ?