VAC authentication error - CSGO

[b1ank]

So since about 30th or 31st of january, I have been getting this error.

I have done what was asked on steam
I have changed my DEP setting to on for everything
I have made new rules in my firewall
I have turned off all services
I have re-installed CSGO, first onto 1 hard drive, then onto another, then onto a third

What can I possibly do now?

Please anyone, how did you fix this?

[C²C^Guyver |NZB|]

Something on your PC is blocking VAC. Since it's your PC, only you can fix it.

No one here has any idea what's on your PC or how it's configured.

This is all of the information that this forum can offer:

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=2117-ILZV-2837

[b1ank]

Messaggio originale di C²C^Guyver |NZB|:

Something on your PC is blocking VAC. Since it's your PC, only you can fix it.

No one here has any idea what's on your PC or how it's configured.

This is all of the information that this forum can offer:

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=2117-ILZV-2837

I have done everything on here. Each step has been completed at least a dozen times.

[b1ank]

Performing a clean boot with network enabled cant even launch the game.

"Your graphics hardware does not support all features (CSM) needed to run this game"

I cant even do that.

EDIT: wouldnt work anyway because Safe Mode uses no drivers. I have no graphics features there.

[C²C^Guyver |NZB|]

Messaggio originale di 76561198282752728:

Messaggio originale di C²C^Guyver |NZB|:

Something on your PC is blocking VAC. Since it's your PC, only you can fix it.

No one here has any idea what's on your PC or how it's configured.

This is all of the information that this forum can offer:

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=2117-ILZV-2837

I have done everything on here. Each step has been completed at least a dozen times.

Read this part, again. It's important:

Something on your PC is blocking VAC. Since it's your PC, only you can fix it.

No one here has any idea what's on your PC or how it's configured.

[The Giving One]

So you ran the bcedit commands also, correct ? What was the output for each and every command when you ran them ?


bcdedit /deletevalue nointegritychecks
bcdedit /deletevalue loadoptions
bcdedit /debug off
bcdedit /deletevalue nx

If you need to run them again to check, then feel free to do so. The support page is a bit old, so I am not sure if the outputs under Windows 10 would be the same as this :

"The value is protected by Secure Boot policy and cannot be modified or deleted."

Is Windows 10 your OS ?
You said you tried different hard drives, so are any of them external hard drives ?
What is your antivirus program ? Yes, even if you have exceptions, post that also please.

More information might be needed.

EDIT................................

Messaggio originale di ・ᴄʟᴀᴍꜱ:

"Your graphics hardware does not support all features (CSM) needed to run this game"

Please do not multipost, as we cannot see new posts you make as we are typing a reply to a previous post. I just saw this as I posted, so this is new information.

Post your system specs. Go to "help" in the top of Steam, then system information. Right click in the new window, "select all" then copy and paste all of that here, please.

[The Giving One]

From the error message you got, my first guess would be your PC is trying to use the on board GPU instead of a dedicated card, if you have one, but we need to see the specs to try to sort that out.

But I am not sure that would cause the VAC error, a GPU not supported error, that is. So we will just have to take it one step at a time and try to see if we can sort it out.

I would also suggest a malware scan in safe mode, using Malwarebytes and with all scan options enabled.

https://www.malwarebytes.com/

Since you said the issue just started not long ago, we need to rule that out, too.

[b1ank]

bcdedit /deletevalue nointegritychecks = An error occurred while attempting to delete the specified data element. Element not found.

bcdedit /deletevalue loadoptions= An error occurred while attempting to delete the specified data element. Element not found.

bcdedit /debug off = The operation completed successfully.

bcdedit /deletevalue nx = The operation completed successfully.

Windows 10 Pro is my edition.

I tried installing CSGO on my main drive (C:) which is Samsung 250GB
On my NVME 1Tb SSD
On my D: which is a hard drive
None were on an external hardrive

Antivirus program I have is Malwarebytes. I uninstalled it, the problem still occurred, I reinstalled it problem occurred. I just use Windows defender.

System information as follows -

Computer Information:
Manufacturer: MSI
Model: MS-7977
Form Factor: Desktop
No Touch Input Detected

Processor Information:
CPU Vendor: GenuineIntel
CPU Brand: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6600K CPU @ 3.50GHz
CPU Family: 0x6
CPU Model: 0x5e
CPU Stepping: 0x3
CPU Type: 0x0
Speed: 3504 Mhz
4 logical processors
4 physical processors
HyperThreading: Unsupported
FCMOV: Supported
SSE2: Supported
SSE3: Supported
SSSE3: Supported
SSE4a: Unsupported
SSE41: Supported
SSE42: Supported
AES: Supported
AVX: Supported
AVX2: Supported
AVX512F: Unsupported
AVX512PF: Unsupported
AVX512ER: Unsupported
AVX512CD: Unsupported
AVX512VNNI: Unsupported
SHA: Unsupported
CMPXCHG16B: Supported
LAHF/SAHF: Supported
PrefetchW: Unsupported

Operating System Version:
Windows 10 (64 bit)
NTFS: Supported
Crypto Provider Codes: Supported 311 0x0 0x0 0x0

Video Card:
Driver: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070
DirectX Driver Name: nvldumd.dll
Driver Version: 27.21.14.6172
DirectX Driver Version: 27.21.14.6172
Driver Date: 2 23 2021
OpenGL Version: 4.6
Desktop Color Depth: 32 bits per pixel
Monitor Refresh Rate: 59 Hz
DirectX Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070
VendorID: 0x10de
DeviceID: 0x1b81
Revision: 0xa1
Number of Monitors: 1
Number of Logical Video Cards: 1
No SLI or Crossfire Detected
Primary Display Resolution: 3840 x 2160
Desktop Resolution: 3840 x 2160
Primary Display Size: 23.90" x 13.58" (27.48" diag)
60.7cm x 34.5cm (69.8cm diag)
Primary Bus: PCI Express 16x
Primary VRAM: 8191 MB
Supported MSAA Modes: 2x 4x 8x

Sound card:
Audio device: Headset Earphone (HyperX 7.1 Au

Memory:
RAM: 32728 Mb

VR Hardware:
VR Headset: None detected

Miscellaneous:
UI Language: English
Media Type: Undetermined
Total Hard Disk Space Available: 2144964 Mb
Largest Free Hard Disk Block: 865504 Mb
OS Install Date: Jan 01 1970
Game Controller: None detected
MAC Address hash: 18fbfe85ad492f97d7d809b21c54b3da92c07228
Disk serial number hash: d32ad91c


EDIT: Ill do a scan in safe mode with malwarebytes. Be a couple minutes.

[The Giving One]

Messaggio originale di ・ᴄʟᴀᴍꜱ:

bcdedit /debug off = The operation completed successfully.

bcdedit /deletevalue nx = The operation completed successfully.

According to this, you needed to run those commands as they said they completed successfully, not "could not be modified". So maybe that will help.

I will have a look at the specs. For now, here is a forum search of the GPU error you posted so look through those and see if anything might help or be relevant :

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/search/?gidforum=882959061469925793&include_deleted=1&q=Your+graphics+hardware+does+not+support+all+features+%28CSM%29+needed+to+run+this+game

EDIT>>> I made a mistake here and corrected myself later. The PC was in a clean boot and that caused the GPU error.

Do not trust Windows update to update your hardware drivers properly. It might not always do that well or correctly. You should only get GPU drivers from the official source, in your case Nvidia.

Someone was around here the other day and did that and it fixed their issue, even though they had updated their drivers using Windows update just the day before.

You only have one GPU being detected, so at least my first theory was incorrect, and that is good. One GPU only to worry about.


EDIT.......................................

I see another possible issue. If this is your EXACT motherboard, it uses a Killer LAN device :

https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z170A-GAMING-M5#down-driver&Win10%2064

If Windows update or you installed the Killer Access Manager Suite and NOT the driver only, that has been seen to be an issue with Steam and games for years around here.

Make sure you have the driver ONLY and NOT the whole Suite package, and that can cause a software conflict and the error, possibly.

Go to msconfig in Windows, and run that and see if you see a bunch of Killer processes running there or that run on boot.

[b1ank]

Messaggio originale di The Giving One:

Messaggio originale di ・ᴄʟᴀᴍꜱ:

...

You only have one GPU being detected, so at least my first theory was incorrect, and that is good. One GPU only to worry about.

Every time I run the commands, it says the same thing.

I've updated my BIOS and GPU drivers through their official product pages/NVIDIA geforce experience

sfc /scannow "did not find any integrity violations"

I have DirectX 12 installed on my PC.

EDIT: Going into my Services in msconfig, I cannot see any Killer Access Manager or any other process with "Killer" in the name.

[The Giving One]

Ok, maybe Windows 10 works differently with the bcedit commands. I am not sure, as the support page is a bit old and around back when Windows 7 and 8 were about all we had.

See my edit above, please. I found something else you need to be aware of.

If you updated the Killer Access Manager Suite and NOT just the driver, if that is your motherboard and device, then that could be a problem.

You want to have the Killer driver ONLY and NOT the Suite package.

[b1ank]

Messaggio originale di The Giving One:

Ok, maybe Windows 10 works differently with the bcedit commands. I am not sure, as the support page is a bit old and around back when Windows 7 and 8 were about all we had.

See my edit above, please. I found something else you need to be aware of.

If you updated the Killer Access Manager Suite and NOT just the driver, if that is your motherboard and device, then that could be a problem.

You want to have the Killer driver ONLY and NOT the Suite package.

So I do WANT the Killer driver?

EDIT: Yes, that is my mobo. Ill download the driver only now.

Downloading it I cant see how I actually install it. no .exe

OKOK, quick google search made me realize I was dumb

EDIT 2: "the best drivers for your device are already installed"

[The Giving One]

Yes, you want to have the latest Killer driver ONLY. I would first prefer you confirm that you have the whole suite.

Is that your exact motherboard that I linked ?

If it is, you should see a selection for "driver only" and then one for "Killer Network Driver".

Yes, it is a bit misleading, but you want the one that literally says next to it "Driver only".

You do NOT want to have the Suite package installed in your machine. ONLY the driver for the LAN device.

[b1ank]

You think it can somehow be affected by my motherbaords CMOS, or RAM haven taken out while the PC is running. I did this around the same time (a bit earlier) this problem started happening.

EDIT: No, thats about all the dumb stuff Ive done.

Ok, so I have the driver downloaded and I extracted it, now I need to uninstall the driver (from device manager), reboot my computer, then install the downloaded driver (ONLY), correct?

[The Giving One]

Messaggio originale di ・ᴄʟᴀᴍꜱ:

You think it can somehow be affected by my motherbaords CMOS, or RAM haven taken out while the PC is running. I did this around the same time (a bit earlier) this problem started happening.

You removed hardware WHILE the PC was running ? Is that what you are saying ?

Yes, you should never do that, of course. But this is new information, so if you have any other information that you know might be relevant, please let us know.

That might have caused some damage that we do not even know about yet.

About the VAC error :

Maybe I am not being clear, so I apologize for that, if so.

You do NOT want to have the Killer Network Access Manager installed on your computer. That package comes with the driver already, so simply downloading the driver again is not going to fix this.

You have to uninstall that other Manager, if you have it, and then reboot your PC, and then make sure the driver only is installed.

It's why I keep asking if you do have the Manager installed. It's just a program that "manages" the Killer Network device on your PC, and you do not need it anyway. It's basically bloatware, for a gaming rig. All you need is the driver, and the Manager program MIGHT be the cause of your error, if you have it installed.

See the note there :

1. For Killer Onboard LAN driver without Killer Network Manager. <--------------
2. Killer Onboard Lan driver Inf file need to be install manually. Killer Network Manager User Guide (Click)

I can't know for sure this is the only problem that is causing the error, but I am suggesting you make sure that you do NOT have that Manager installed at all.

If you do, you need to get rid of it and reboot the PC, and then make sure you have the latest driver ONLY installed.

Think of it like GeForce experience, for lack of better comparison.

GeForce Experience installs your GPU drivers for you, but you do not need to even have it to get the latest GPU drivers from Nvidia. You can go there and get them yourself, without even having GeForce installed.

Same here. The Killer Network Access Manager can update and install the LAN drivers for you, but you do not need it. You can get the "driver only".

And in this case, for a while around here on Steam, the Killer Network Access Manager Suite has been seen to be a conflict with Steam and games, and can possibly be the cause of the VAC error you have.

[b1ank]

I do not see the Network manager in my programs and features, nor in device manager. Where would it normally reside?

https://imgur.com/a/YqgnLt8 - ss of Device manager, showing "Killer E2400 Gigabit Ethernet Controller"

EDIT: Also not seen in my services