disk write error

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Hey Steam,

I've searched the forums for solutions to the error I'm having, but nothing has worked. The problem I have is with two games, Chivalry: Medieval Warfare and War of the Roses. I purchased War of the Roses during the Weekend Steam Sale, and Chivalry during the Holiday Steam Sale. So, feeling in the mood for some Medieval fighting, I began the download for both items concurrently, along with an update to Left4Dead 2. Left4Dead managed to update successfully, but I wasn't able to launch either Chivalry or War of the Roses, both games gave me this error: http://imgur.com/iLjoFtL

The issue persisted after both a Steam restart, and a computer restart.

So I figured somewhere along the line the download had become corrupted, so I went into my library right clicked each game and clicked "Delete local content". After deleting both games from my hard drive, I proceeded to download Garry's Mod to test if it was the games or something wrong with my hard drive. Garry's Mod had no trouble installing, launching, and running. I exited GMod, and downloaded Chivalry (with no other downloads occurring). Same issue, again: http://imgur.com/iLjoFtL

Here's where it gets even stranger. I wasn't able to locate either the War of the Roses or the Chivalry folder before I deleted it, so I'm not sure where it is downloading the files (ie. it wasn't in in the steamapps folder). Right clicking the games in the library, clicking properties, and then clicking "Browse Local Files" did nothing either.

Any suggestions? Anything I should try? Thank you!

MY SOLUTION: Exit Steam. In Windows Explorer go to your Steam directory (C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/) and make sure the directory is NOT read only. Then right click your Steam launch icon and click 'Run as administrator".

I'm not sure why this suddenly happened, I'd never encountered this in over 25 game installations. Thanks to everyone who tried to help!

[Snoopy]

The disk write error is probably due to some bad sectors on your hard drive and/or a failing hard drive. Defrag your drive with windows defrag (if your running windows), not the steam cache defrag. This should fix any (fixable) disk issues, make sure you select to have it check for and fix any problems it finds. Then redownload your games and verify cache on them right away. Hope this helps!

[Blakeyrat]

With respect to KillerB, Defrag won't do anything about disk errors. It might even make them worse by having your HD chug without accomplishing anything meaningful. (Unless you're running Windows 2000 or XP, defrag is pretty much useless.)

Assuming you're running a spinning HD, you need to run a full error-check (make sure you check for bad blocks as well). It'll probably take a couple hours unless your disk is tiny. If it finds and fixes a few errors, you're probably ok. If it finds more than a couple dozen, ensure your backups are up-to-date (you keep backups right?) and buy a new disk because it's going down in flames. I don't share KillerB's faith in a HD's ability to repair errors itself... from my experience even if it "works" once, it'll just start failing again two weeks down the road.

If it's an SSD, by the time you get a disk write error, you're already screwed. Hope your backups are up-to-date.

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Originally posted by KillerB -=EFSG=-:

The disk write error is probably due to some bad sectors on your hard drive and/or a failing hard drive. Defrag your drive with windows defrag (if your running windows), not the steam cache defrag. This should fix any (fixable) disk issues, make sure you select to have it check for and fix any problems it finds. Then redownload your games and verify cache on them right away. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the input. I've already run a defrag with Windows Defragmenter and Piriform Defraggler, and then downloaded Chivalry to no avail. Thank you anyways!

Originally posted by Mecha Gamera:

With respect to KillerB, Defrag won't do anything about disk errors. It might even make them worse by having your HD chug without accomplishing anything meaningful. (Unless you're running Windows 2000 or XP, defrag is pretty much useless.)

Assuming you're running a spinning HD, you need to run a full error-check (make sure you check for bad blocks as well). It'll probably take a couple hours unless your disk is tiny. If it finds and fixes a few errors, you're probably ok. If it finds more than a couple dozen, ensure your backups are up-to-date (you keep backups right?) and buy a new disk because it's going down in flames. I don't share KillerB's faith in a HD's ability to repair errors itself... from my experience even if it "works" once, it'll just start failing again two weeks down the road.

If it's an SSD, by the time you get a disk write error, you're already screwed. Hope your backups are up-to-date.

I do have a spinning HD, as you properly suspected. I'll run an error check, and post back here with the results :) Thank you!

[123]

Ya , if it is a disk error , your hard drive is damaged but will still be usuable the most noticeable affect you will have is less storage space.

After you check the disk for errors it will set away those sectors to not be used.

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Ran CHKDSK, redownloaded Chivalry, same error.

CHKDSK ran for a few hours so I didn't see its results. Is there a way I can see the results of the CHKDSK?

Also any other suggestions?
Thanks again!

[Blakeyrat]

IIRC, check disk results go in the Event Viewer, so you can look there. I've been using SSDs for years now, so I haven't run check disk in ages. It might write a log text file somewhere on the boot drive.

Check your network card, see if it's Ralink brand. See this thread: http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/864960987071412450/

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Originally posted by Mecha Gamera:

IIRC, check disk results go in the Event Viewer, so you can look there. I've been using SSDs for years now, so I haven't run check disk in ages. It might write a log text file somewhere on the boot drive.

Check your network card, see if it's Ralink brand. See this thread: http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/864960987071412450/

I have the Intel PRO/1000GT PCI network card, so no I don't have Ralink. Also i checked my recent Windows Updates and all I have is a Windows Defender and XML Core Service 4.0 update.

Any more suggestions? Thank you again!

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SOLUTION: Exit Steam. In Windows Explorer go to your Steam directory (C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/) and make sure the directory is NOT read only. Then right click your Steam launch icon and click 'Run as administrator".

I'm not sure why this suddenly happened, I'd never encountered this in over 25 Steam game installations. Thanks to everyone who tried to help!

[Scandinav]

yup! same error here, same solution i hope, allthough.. i cannot change the "read only" attribute so i gotta add "everyone" to the circle of trust and not even then i can make it completly as i want, im getting some deny´s that i have to ignore.. nice work steam! i guess i gotta download all my files One more time!! :(
♥♥♥♥ steam!!

[Scandinav]

and there we go, access denied! im locked outta my own games that i payed for..
what happends is that all my games are in "read only folders" and i need to have administrator privileges to change that, problem is that i need administrator privileges to change it allthough, im the only administrator on my computer(only user!) furthermore, OFC my user is administrator(in windows)
bad ♥♥♥♥ is that the steam administration has such a hard time answer on the problem so i cant play my games for what, 1½-3 months?
steam sucks ass!!!

[Squall Leonhart]

FYI, you cannot 'Read Only' folders via this attribute, although this field is filled, it is a box instead of a tick and ticking or unticking it only changes the attribute on files within.

The only way to effectively deny write and modifications to/in a folder on XP through 8 is using a NTFS partition and denying particular users/usergroups permissions via the security tab.

This is likely where things have gone wrong.

[Vexille]

Yea i'm getting this too. I know my External Harddrive (The one I use for the more heavy steam games) but I can't seem to get it to finish the Error-Checking. It stops at a certain point which really annoys me. I left it on OVERNIGHT and it was still at the same spot is was when I turned it on. Re-did it during the day. Same spot. Only happens with a few games I have and its getting on my nerves. Re-installing may solve this but that is a pain. Any help?

[Dan loeb]

normally stuff like this happens when you've used the drive in other windows installs or systems without reformating it before switching it to another system, so you're no longer the user with the proper permissions for the drive. that's how i had this issue before, had to reformat completely and reinstall to fix.

[Vexille]

Originally posted by Pepper:

normally stuff like this happens when you've used the drive in other windows installs or systems without reformating it before switching it to another system, so you're no longer the user with the proper permissions for the drive. that's how i had this issue before, had to reformat completely and reinstall to fix.

Ah. Gotta save most of my important things on there then. Guess its time for the beggining of a new era...

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by Pepper:

normally stuff like this happens when you've used the drive in other windows installs or systems without reformating it before switching it to another system, so you're no longer the user with the proper permissions for the drive. that's how i had this issue before, had to reformat completely and reinstall to fix.

Doesn't matter if u reformat OS and then copy stuff over and the users are different.
Simply right click the root Steam folder > Properties > Security tab > Edit. Now select both the Admin and Your User and give those accounts full control; and apply. Then remove the Read Only checkbox from the General tab and apply. Read only is there for certain things by default, but by doing this to a root folder such as Steam, it helps to ensure every file and folder within it gets it's read-only properties (if was locked in previous) removed.

If you reformat and then copy data over from another system or drive, if the Owner User names differ; then u have to do this method to unlock it all for your current user.

Overall, to change any such settings u must be running as an Admin user. Helps to have UAC turned off to.