Help! Game won't launch

[Sarkus]

I downloaded through Steam and the game unlocked early Tuesday morning. The game never will launch, however. It just pops up the "Preparing to play Half-Life 2" window for a few seconds, then just kicks out.

Among other things I've tried the following fixes:

1) The bin file copy fix
2) Uninstalling and reinstalling video drivers
3) Downloading everything from Windows update
4) Deleting and reinstalling local content for HL2
5) Deleting and reloading various GCF files
6) Disabled all programs in startup except Steam

I sent a tech email to valve Tuesday AM but have never received any response. I've updated my question explaining different things I've tried. I'm getting annoyed at their lack of response.

I'm not the only one with this problem from what I've seen on the various boards I've been surfing.

My system: A64 3200, GeForce 6800 GT - latest drivers, Windows XP SP2 - fully updated.

 

[Nooky_]

yeah

Ive got the same freakin problem

Tried everything too, but it just wont work :flame:

Hope they fix this soon

 

[flea]

ok i had this problem with a friends machine but he was using the dvd version, however the fix we used may help you and it was easy, we got it from here

http://steampowered.custhelp.com/cg...dmwxPTUyJnBfY2F0X2x2bDI9OTcmcF9wYWdlPTE*&p_li

it says this but we had no error msg the game just said preparing to play and then nothing and this fixed it
I'm getting a cd / dvd not present in drive message when I try to play HL2.

Question
If you are receiving the following message:
“Please install Half-life 2 Retail Standard before continuing. Installation of Half-life 2 Retail Standard is required before continuing. Please insert your Half-life 2 Retail Standard CD/DVD into the drive and select ‘install’ from the autorun menu.”
Answer
If you are still encountering this error please exit Steam, open the Steam folder on your hard drive (the default location is C:\Valve\Steam) and delete the ClientRegistry.Blob.

Once this file has been deleted restart Steam. After a short update you should be able to log in and play properly.

 

[Sarkus]

Already tried that.

 

[Nooky_]

yep me too