Can't connect to steam game servers

[Elfis]

I can't connect to any steam game servers as far as I can tell. I can surf the web absolutely fine and I can play other games that are not on steam fine. I have successfully played Heroes of the Storm and Heroes of Newerth which are both multiplayer games. However, when I try to play a steam game I either can't find any servers or can't connect to the servers. I have tried to play TF2, CS:GO and Robocraft. On TF2 I can't find any servers at all. One CS:GO it says "connecting to server" when I try to find a game but then it says "failed to connect" everytime. A similar thing happens on Robocraft. I have Norton Internet Security but I have tried allowing through steam as well as individual games and that didn't work. I also tried turning Norton off entirely and that didn't work. Does anyone have any ideas what I could try to fix it?

Please and thank you!

[Jake Peralta]

Hi guys, two years later I have the exact same problem, I've had it for weeks... Any clue how to resolve it ?

[Elfis]

If I recall, in the end I had to restore my computer to an erlier point in time to fix this problem. I did a lot of research and in the end I think I had tracked the problem back to my network settings in some way. People were saying my network was blocking it and I think some people suggested resetting the router (going from memory). In the end I don't think I could get it fixed so I ended up restoring my computer which resolved the problem.

Good luck, I feel your pain as it was quite annoying for me.

[Scarred]

I've had this issue for a few months now and tried restoring my computer to an earlier date, and also factory resetting my PC. Also tried buying a new router, all the basic fixes, and opening up all the required steam ports but still had zero luck. Steam support was unable to assist me any further.

[Sn0man03]

help pls im getting this error again

[Scarred]

The issue I ended up having was a Bluetooth USB dongle. I'm not sure why it was causing the issue, but as soon as I pulled it out, everything worked perfectly normal.

[iiTz_ZooMz]

mine is weird, some games work online but fighting games like mk11, injustice 2, etc. wont connect

[_NightSky_]

Hi all, I wanted to reply to this message because it's one of the few I found online with people who were having the same problem as me but no one seemed to have a solution that worked. Basically, I was able to log in to steam on my Windows 11 Alienware laptop but i couldn't connect to the online game servers for any of my games. I reinstalled Windows and didn't have antivirus or anything installed besides default Windows Defender. When I opened up steam, I couldn't even connect to it anymore. So I updated the drivers from the Dell website, not Windows! Windows often has outdated drivers in their updates. The Ethernet driver was what fixed me being able to log in to Steam again (even though I was on wifi). But I still could not connect to online games. After eliminating Windows, drivers, firewall and antivirus as the culprit, I decided to connect my laptop to another wifi hotspot. It worked! So that meant it was my router. Is it wifi or the entire router? Well, I plugged my laptop to my router through Ethernet cord to see. It worked again! So it was the wifi. I remember I had previously increased the protection settings on my router a few months back but I don't remember what I changed. Easiest solution? Factory reset of router. BAM! I can now connect to my games online.

Here are my thoughts after researching this problem thoroughly. This error seems to happen over multiple issues that can cause the problem. Drivers may be outdated or corrupted. When updating your driver's, it's safer to uninstall the old driver first and reinstall the new one. Get your driver's from your PC manufacturer not Windows update! Running Steam as admin helped some people. Adding "tcp" to the shortcut for Steam helped some people. Check your wifi and router settings. Try a different wifi hotspot to see if it's your router. Hope this helps people!

For reference, I have Alienware M15 r6 with May 2022 Ethernet and wifi driver's. Running Windows 11 home with Bitdefender antivirus and Bitdefender firewall. Router provided by Verizon 5g Home.