Thank you Acid...
Only thing I didn't fully work on was background apps. One of the first things I tried before searching the net for an answer was turning off background apps when I'd try to restart a game. But, I haven't tried shutting them down before initially playing. Either way it's...
Great,,, I finally find someone having the same issue and the thread is a year old.
My problem is similar . I'll be playing a HL2 mod. Exit it. Then when I try to restart it or another one I get "preparing to launch half life" then nothing. I have to reboot before I can start one again.