Hi Folks I've recently rebuilt my pc, ditched XP and switched to Windows 7 but I'm having a problems getting Steam to start. When I log in to Steam it spits back a message saying something like "there is a connection problem with the internet or Steam" and just sits there. I know its not an general internet connection issue and I can log in to Steam via explorer on the rebuilt pc and I have authorised it to my Steam account. I've looked through the Steam FAQ and troubleshooting guides and can't find anything to help with this, an e-mail to Steampowered Support is currently unanswered after nearly a week. I am assuming there is something I need to change in Win7 to get things moving but at present I can't figure out what it is. All drivers are current, I'm using Win7 Ultimate (updated) and all other applications and programs (iTunes, etc, etc) are fine, I just can't get Steam to run. I've had good success with queries from the Bit-Tech community, here's hoping this continues.
Oh I had this problem before.... I just forgot how I fixed it.. its been so long. It's not Win7 the problem. I am sure if I ended up uninstalling Steam and re-installing it back (I made a backup of my installed games, to not have re-download them again), Or I did something else. Try re-install and see. Make sure that Windows Firewall is not blocking Steam as well. Since Vista. Windows Firewall actually works, and have outbound and inbound control. It's pretty advance if you have look. Open Windows Firewall advance settings panel. Just search for Firewall on the start Menu. Then click on Inbound,. make sure Steam is enabled access, same for outbound. If the either list is empty, just wait a moment for Windows to populate the list.
Only thing I can think of is check your Firewall. Win7's firewall sometimes doesn't ask if you want to allow a program through the firewall. It's happened to a few of my games, as well to Origin when I first installed that. /2cents
I tried the firewall option and its allowed, and I have done the reinstall option as well. What I did find on the Windows Support forums is that Steam might be objecting to the fact that I have my PC at work at the moment as my home connection speed is pathetic (waiting nearly 2 years for fibre broadband BT, get your finger out!!) and the speed here isn't brilliant but its a damn sight faster than home. There is a thread on there that says Steam doesn't like the way Universities allocate the required ports so it probably will never work. I'll see what our IT bods have to say about that and post my findings on here.
I have a similar issue with Steam. When I boot my PC up, as soon as it gets in to Windows I can open Firefox and start surfing the net whilst I wait for Steam, Origin and other stuff to load up. However since one of the last Steam updates, when my PC boots and Steam loads it always say's there is no connection, and if Steam doesn't load on boot or I tell it to exit later on when I load Steam I get the same message even though I could be downloading or streaming video whilst Steam is opening. Origin has no issues with connecting on boot, but Steam always does. Have reinstalled Steam, Windows, Changed Routers, Firewalls, etc and I even tried using a O2 mobile broadband dongle and the issue remained. I just have to put up with it now, as every message I have had back from Valve is constantly blaming my pc or connection and saying there is no issue with Steam.
I had the same issue a few times and one or a combination of the following fixed it every time so far. a) Restart router b) Delete all of the contents of the steam-installation folder except the steamapps folder and steam.exe (and relaunch steam)
Steam isn't blocked when viewed through a web browser its just when I try to actually run it from the desktop, I'm more inclined to think its the issue with the allocated ports. Especially since I can play old games (X-Com and the like) via Steam on XP machines but just nothing in the Win7 pc. I can't get a hold of our local IT support bods at the moment so I'll have to hangfire on this until I speak to them.
Yep, turns out my issue was due to the University network blocking access to Steam, my pc is back home now and everything is just fine. Thank you to all who offered advice.
