Half life 2 crashes >_<

[DRFTR566]

I've just got the half life 2 game and am very excited. but when i start it, it shows the valve logo, the trademarked message, and the fuzzy background loading screen. it stays there for about 7-12 seconds then crashes to my desktop. I've checked the requirements and am well above the minimum requirements. plz help me! this game is fun (from what I've heard) and is addicting

system specs
----------------------------------
Model: Dell dimension 4550
Processor: Intel Pentium 4
speed: 2.00 Ghz
memory: 1536mb
available disk space: 125+ GB
DX version: 9.0c

Display :Nvidia GeForce FX5500 (256mb video ram) i have the most up to date drivers (for what i know)

i have checked out other posts and googled my problem with little effects.

THX FOR ANY AND ALL AVAILABLE HELP!!

 

[DRFTR566]

i forgot to mention...
half life 2 lost coast and half life 2 deathmatch works perfectly...

 

[Dinnesch]

Right-click HL2 in Steam and click Properties>Local Files>Verify integrity of game cache.

If that doesn't work, go to properties>Launch options and type "-dxlevel 80" (without the apostrophes).

 

[DRFTR566]

doesnt help

 

[Dinnesch]

Weird. Did you even buy the game? If not, we're not allowed to help you here.

 

[DRFTR566]

how do i start it in windowed mode? a friend said he had the same problem and it was fixed when he played in windowed mode

 

[AtomicSpark]

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Command_Line_Options#Command-line_parameters

-window or -sw - Forces the engine to start in windowed mode.

 

[DRFTR566]

thx man
works perfectly in windowed