SOLVED: Steam crashes/freezes after login

[calli]

I started a support ticket regarding this. But I thought I'd post it here aswell, as follows..

PROBLEM:
Ok, so since the last update of steam I've been googling my ♥♥♥ off, getting help from all kinds of nerds, to fix my problem. But nothing have worked.
Right after the update, Steam wouldn't work properly. I get to login window and it's about to login, friends window appear below in the bar and then suddenly everything crashes.
In the beginning i got this message, and I had to close steam through the task manager:

http://www.speedyshare.com/xRX4F/steam.JPG

Now I dont get it anymore, steamprocess just dissapear.
I even reinstalled windows cause it wouldn't work.
Here's what I've tried so far:

-Reinstalled win, installed all drivers, updated some.
-Updated windows, everything available from Microsoft webpage.
-Installed latest versions of .NET Framework, DirectX, you name it.
-Have tried deleting steam folders, except steam.exe and steamapps. It updates fine but shuts down after login.
-I've opened the steam client ports in my router.
-I've searched for virus
-Tried logging in on other accounts from this computer, same thing.
-Others can log in on my account from their computer.
-I have also removed everything regarding Valve and Steam in HKEY_CURRENT_USER
-Started windows in cleanboot. did'nt work
-Updated bios

-I'm starting to think its hardware related, but it worked fine before the update. I tried looking in the new client update to see what have changed but couldn't think of what could have made my computer feel out of date. Nothing makes sense.

These are my computer specs:
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model M56S-S3
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 107 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~3114 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Award Software International, Inc. F5, 2009-01-22
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale Sweden
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2111)"
Time Zone W. Europe Standard Time
Total Physical Memory 4 096,00 MB
Available Physical Memory 2,49 GB
Total Virtual Memory 2,00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1,96 GB
Page File Space 4,84 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

Please help me, want to start playing again. Thanks!

[Lactury]

I get this every time I try to log in.. http://vvcap.net/db/f6RjYqNDl5hNLGXJRpxe.htp

[Lactury]

Have you tried to boot in safemode with networking?

[calli]

Doesnt work in Safe Mode. But Steam Works in Diagnostic Mode in Offline Mode. Must be some softwar interfering then. But how am I suppose to find out which one it is. Tick and untick each process and reboot in between? Would take me a whole week to find that out...

[calli]

I ticked and unticked bunch of different services in msconfig. The service that was interfering with Steam was "Plug and Play". Gonna look deeper into it now. Dont know why that process blocked steam from logging in.

[Grey8]

i have the same problem. I disable that 'plug and play' service and steam is working fine. It began like 2 weeks ago after update.

[calli]

It was my usb hub that interfered.

[HaVoK]

When i start steam, i'll login, and then it will just freeze, and then crash. Iv'e tried everything you could think of. Im running Win Xp SP3. Intel i7 3770 cpu, AMD radeon 5670 HD Graphics card, and 4GB of ram. Any suggestions? this has happened for a while, hence i have not been able to play any steam games.

[N>A>N>C>Y]

Mine works now all I did is wait and it only took 1 minutes and everytime I open it again its okay no problems anymore

[Grey~]

Ursprungligen skrivet av TesseracT:

When i start steam, i'll login, and then it will just freeze, and then crash. Iv'e tried everything you could think of. Im running Win Xp SP3. Intel i7 3770 cpu, AMD radeon 5670 HD Graphics card, and 4GB of ram. Any suggestions? this has happened for a while, hence i have not been able to play any steam games.

hm my problem is still there|/ And i see u have almost same amd radeon graphic card,i have 6770 it seem its the problem

[Tango Romeo]

I have a pretty high end PC and I had been trying everything I could possibly think of or find and I still had this problem for days. But then I FINALLY FOUND A SOLUTION!!!!

Restart your computer and then follow these instructions to refresh your Steam files:
Windows XP/Vista/7

Completely exit the Steam client.
Open the run dialogue by pressing windows key + r (you can also navigate here from the start menu by typing run).
Type steam://flushconfig then press enter. (If asked to allow this website to open a program, please click Allow or OK).
Restart your computer.
Now, launch Steam directly from the installation folder, not from a pre-existing shortcut (~C:\program files (x86)\Steam).
The Steam application will either appear as Steam or Steam.exe depending on whether your settings show file extensions.


Mac OSX

Completely exit the Steam client.
Open Safari and type steam://flushconfig then press enter
Restart your computer.
Launch Steam and re-test the issue.


Linux

Open Terminal
Type steam --reset
You will see the following: Installing bootstrap /home/[username]/.steam/steam/bootstrap.tar.xz
Reset complete!
Restart your computer.
This should remove and download new Steam files for your Steam client.
Launch Steam and re-test the issue.

[Foul Fortune Feline]

OH MY GOD IT FINALLY WORKS!!! I just reinstalled steam for the 8th time in three weeks and manually deleted all the registry files for steam before reinstall (on windows: Press Windows Key+R, type "regedit", hit enter, and delete "HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Valve") and it FINALLY WORKS. I have done nothing on my free time since ~3 weeks ago except try this OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN AND steam://flushconfig and deleting everything but steamapps, userdata, and Steam.exe, and it hasn't worked all the time due to a JOINT problem in the registry AND the Steam files. THANK GOODNESS IT FINALLY WORKS!!! WOW I HAD NO IDEA HOW MUCH I NEED MY STEAM LOL STEAMADDICT!!!

[Monica Lewinspii]

Steam Guard "Failed to contact Steam servers"

Anyone ever tried to authorize their machine and get this immediately after entering the 5 digit code sent to you via email?

"Failed to contact Steam servers. The Steam servers could not be contacted at this time. Please try again later."

I'm going on 12 hours now of not being able to authorize my home machine for my work account.

Thanks for the help.

[🥛🥛🥛🥛🥛]

This may be a temporary issue with Steam, or you may have missed soem kind of other authorisation email from Steam. Restart Steam/computer and try again, if not contact Steam support about it.

[Monica Lewinspii]

Restarted everything. No go. I'm pretty certain I'm getting all the email.

[Culex]

I have this problem right now. I get the email, I type in the code it says failed to contact steam servers. Trying to install on my brand new laptop.

EDIT: got it to work by switching routers.