Nothing happens after starting

i have flashed my NEC DV5700a to 3.43 from 3.07 and this aint resolved my issue.

When i click launch on steam, the "preparing to...." screen appears, the hard drive light blinks for abit, there is no DVD rom activity (before or after the flash) then the "preparing to...." screen disappears as if summit was bout to load.... nothing does.

The game is 100% and ready to play.

My copy is the Uk retail standard

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Could someone please tell me what company made the dvd drive in the Acer Aspire 1511LMi laptop.

I have the exact same problem as you guys.

I searched everywhere but all i find is: ic25n060atmr04-0.
When i search google on "ic25n060atmr04-0", it shows hitachi harddisks. :frown:

It's a Dual DVD rw. (player and rewriter)

I really hope this works, because i'm starting to get pretty :angry: because of this.


Edit: It's the dvd version. 100% ready (hl2 & cs:s), everything registerd.
 
Shakermaker said:
I just flashed my drive with the official Philips program. It runs now! Thanks!
Click to expand...


Where did you get the program to do this? I have a philips dvd8601 drive and cant find any firmware for it anywhere. Ive got the same problem.

It seems to be only people with dvd-r drives doing this and i dont want to wait until they release a no cd patch, i payed $60 for this so i could play it the day it came out not so i could be messed around by stupid amounts of piracy protection which only the legit users will have a problem with.
 
Shakermaker said:
You think? In my case the install, unlocking and validating went smooth. It's just nothing happens after staring up the game.
Click to expand...

Same here. When I start the game I see the Valve screen (man with valve in eye socket) and then it goes to a blurry screen and just hangs and locks up the computer.

I uninstalled the game this morning and re-set the the download/install. I'll try again this evening after work.
 
Jacob Dyk said:
hi everyone

well, i registered to this forum in search of some help, but reading the posts so far i think its a general problem which needs to be fixed by valve..........but still i got a problem thats not mentioned here so far, so plz read it!

i also got problems with starting the game. i registered at steam (and the account definitely works), i start the game, the Valve-startscreen appears but after that, when it should switch to a blurred screen which says "loading data" (saw that at my friends house), i got the belove "back to windows"!!!!!...........

i got all the new drivers, my system is fast like hell and i NEVER had a problem like that. i installed it several times now and tried everything that i can think of.

so maybe anyone of you guys know something? though reading the other posts...........i still hope.

thx in advance!

jacob
Click to expand...


I have the exact same problem.
 
swine said:
I have the exact same problem.
Click to expand...

Same here.

got a DVD AOPEN 1648/AAP. Installed multiple updates (firmware).
Still nothing is happening.

Tried all sorts of updates, patches, disabling, enabling hardware and software, still nothing. Been doing this for bout 5 hours now and getting i'm sick and tired of it.

Thanks Steam/Valve/Vugames for beating 50 euro's out of my pocket and getting me aggravated for absolutly nothing in return..
:hmph:
 
Right, I had the same problem. Preparing to play Half-life 2... window appears, then disappears, DVD spins up, then nothing happens. Looking in task manager, HL2 starts up but then disappears.

Solution:

First, I updated my Benq DW1620 Drive to the latest firmware from Benq's site. This didn't help straight away, but do it anyway.

Second, uninstall your graphics drivers. Restart your machine, download and run the 66.93 drivers from www.nvidia.com. Unless you're running an ATI card, of course. This is the most important stage!

Third, go to windowsupdate.microsoft.com and grab all the drivers it recommends. Restart your machine once this is done.

This fixed my problem, which is identical to the problem many people are describing, so should fix many of theirs as well.
 
I have the same problem but I'm trying to run the downloaded version. I received a registration number with my video card and the options are download or wait 8-10 weeks for discs. They force you to download if you got your copy in this manner.

So there's something else beside some disc security.
 
@zHunter
Running an ATI card (9800 XT).
But didn't update my windows.. hmm, really don't wanna run on SP2 (had lots of problems with xp at work after installing sp2).

Well, gonna try and update windows.. wish me luck.
 
I've had no problem running SP2, good luck! Make sure u grab the drivers it suggests on windows update too.
 
If you have a DVD burner it will not work. You must have just a normal DVD reader.
 
Ok i have an acer travelmate 800 (1.6 centrino 512ram 9000ati mobility).
Half life locks up after the valve splash screen, and there is a blurry background whith loading in the bottom right corner...much like everyone else. It says i need to update my graphics drivers at the start, but i did and still no go (even says i still have to update my drivers at the start). Keep the solutions you have found comming, meby someone has solved my problem.
Cheers...
 
NiteX said:
If you have a DVD burner it will not work. You must have just a normal DVD reader.
Click to expand...


Not true. The Benq 1620 I and a few others have is a DVD burner and the game works fine after flashing the firmware.
 
NiteX said:
If you have a DVD burner it will not work. You must have just a normal DVD reader.
Click to expand...

got a DVD AOPEN 1648 (it's not a burner..)
 
Does anyone have a solution for that problem???

Because I have the same problem and I have a DVD
burner!!!

Maybe Valve is allready creating a patch???

Otherwise, the only way to play the game is a No-DVD-Crack!!!
But if you bought a legal game it normally should work!!!
 
Sorry it didn't fix your problems, it fixed mine, but it must be a difficult bug to fix for everyone!
 
I've got the Downloadable version of HL2. I've d/l'd the entire game in full.

Once I go to "play game" it turns the screen black, then the screen flickers quickly and you still get the majority of the screen as black, but now I've got the Windows tool bar at the bottom of the screen showing! And that's it.

I have to ctrl+alt+del to get out of it, and Task Manager just says "HL2 not responding".

I'm currently running the Omega drivers for my ATi XT 9800 card, this being due to the ATi drivers conflicting with Call of Duty. There are news ones out no apparantly, so I'm hoping that this will solve my problems.

But like other have already said, if I can get a solution to this problem I'd be well happy. Not nice having a great game to play, yet I can't even get past first base! LOL My lifes story! :D
 
swine said:
Same here. When I start the game I see the Valve screen (man with valve in eye socket) and then it goes to a blurry screen and just hangs and locks up the computer.
Click to expand...

I had this happen, sometimes it didnt get to the blurry screen, sometimes crashed to desktop or rebooted. Turned out to be the sound card. If your using C-Media on board audio updating the drivers might work for you.

Fixed my problems and its running fine.
 
Mail i just sent to their support...

After having spent 3-4 days trawling the internet for help and patching my PC, i still cannot get this game to start:

Asus A7N8X nForce 2 motherboard
Athlon XP 2400
1 GB Memory
ADSL Internet Connection
Windows XP (fully patched but NOT on SP2)
DirectX 9.0c (9.0b also tested)
ASUS GeForce 4 Ti 4600 128MB with Latest Video Drivers (61.77) also tried with drivers prior to update 50.43
LG DVD/CDRW GCC4120-B combo drive with latest Firmware 2.02

I've done the "repatch Steam" fix from the halflife2.net forums
I've done the "delete clientregistry.blob file" fix
I've tried the "delete Steam Apps\<username>\half-life 2 folder" fix
I've deinstalled and re-installed HL2 4 times now
I've deinstalled and reinstalled Steam as well...

Bought HL2 DVD Version

Half Life 2 has been registered and unlocked successfully.
Half Life 2 says 100% downloaded and ready to launch.

Double click entry on Steam and it says "Preparing to play Half-Life 2" for about 15 seconds, then nothing...same for CS:Source. Can't see any activity on the DVD drive

So, what now?

A reply would be appreciated.
just need to wait now :( i've done everything i can think of to get it working...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Yup, I have the same starting problem also.

Takhasis, if you get any replies, post them here, ok?
 
The problem is, as you might have guessed it, the copy protection.

Either the game gives you the message that it couldn't authenticate the medium or, worse, you get no message at all. You'll see HD activity, CD/DVD activity and then all is quiet.

What sometimes works is trying it again and again (plan some time for it) or wait for the failed authentication message to appear at one of your attempts. If you get that message you can try to open and close your drive, so that the copy protection has to reread the disk. Sometimes the game will load then.

Valve may make a good buck with HL2, but any other title giving legitimate buyers of a title these Steam/copy protection problems would be dead within weeks.

Infidel
 
Found the problem, it was deamon tools. I've shut that down and HL rolls.. (before patch was released..)
 
Got the same problem. I've tried everything I have known, as well as everything suggested and nothing works. My drive wont let me release the DVD either. This sucks, after all the problems I had at being at Uni, and the network not being able to connect to Steam, I took it home. Eventually got it to work there once, was amazing, but I haven't been able to again. I hope this gets solved soon.
 
Man, this sucks. I have seen people who have an illegal copy of this game and it WORKS PERFECTLY. Is this what it's supposed to be? The copy protection isn't working at all, and legal buyers can't even play the game. Great, Valve, great.
 
Until VUGames support get back to me, i've got it working as follows:

- another post elsewhere on this forum refers to a loader available on gamecopyworld.com.
- i set my firewall to block ALL traffic, and AV up-to-date (coz im paranoid ;))
- exit from steam
- run the loader instead of steam (firewall set to block just in case its a logger but it looks ok)
- Run HL2 in offline mode

oh look, it works perfectly - DEFINITELY points at the fact that the steam/hl2 security check on the DVD is at fault.
 
3 days and no reply from support, will continue to use the loader as it works perfectly till they decide to answer my mail...
 
Another example of DVD-RW and "Unable to authenticate"

DVD-Burner is a NU DVDRW DDW-082. Have updated the firmware and even tried changing the transfer mode from DMA to PIO as Sierra's technical support site suggested. Also having no luck with the no CD/DVD download suggested at gamecopyworld.com

Will try a regular CD-ROM when I get home from work. Crap like this makes me want to pirate games instead of paying for them.

Jerry Fuselier
Crowley, TX
http://www.teammethane.com
 
Yes u guessed it, 2 weeks and still no reply, not even a courtesy mail saying "we are looking into this".

their customer service SUX.

At least i'm playing it using the gamecopyworld launcher, but COME ON VUGAMES - GET IT SORTED FFS!!!!!!!!!!!
 
My fix

I just installed HL2 again and got this same problem, which I didn't have last time I played it. Steam installed and everything updated, counter-strike and hl1 works, no problem there. Preparing to play HL2 box comes up, then HL2 appears in taskbar for a sec and dissapears.
My problem was that i had ReForce running and some resolutions were changed, I had to set it to default settings - and it worked.

So in conclusion, check your refreshrate programs if you have any, check your videocard settings for refreshrate and set it to default.
 
They sure are checking for updates after a full year :|

(A mod should make an "interesting tidbits" sticky here where people like you can post their solution without resurrecting a dead thread :hmph:)
 
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