Steam servers are too busy to unlock- really?

[kmagdono]

I purchased the basic Half-Life 2 retail edition. I believe I properly installed Steam and HL2 from the CDs and created a Steam account.

When I select HL2 from the Play Games window, a window comes up that says, "Decrypting Steam files - 0% complete. Please wait while Steam unlocks game files. Decrypting Half-Life 2 game files." After a minute or so, another window comes up that says, "Steam - Error. The Steam servers are currently too busy to handle your request. Please try again in a few minutes." Sometimes the second window comes up right away after I select HL2 from the Play Games Window, rather than as a continuation from the first window.

I have disabled my firewall and antivirus per other suggestions. I have tried googling and looking through various support threads here and in the Steam support forums.

My question: Is it possible I am doing something wrong or need to make other configuration changes, or are the servers really that busy (in which case I am frustrated that Valve did not properly plan for the load)? I have been trying every few minutes since late last night and this morning.

Thank you for your help!

 

[Biggleska]

Keep trying.

 

[destrukt]

from what you've said, you've done everything right.

there's not really anyone can suggest but, wait a while, steam just messing up again.

also, for future references, there's a community help forum [ http://www.halflife2.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=18 ].

 

[dynamicx]

I think that is a generic error message and what it's saying is not actually true. I'd guess that for some reason it can't connect to to the decrypt servers. Try disabling firewall and programs like netlimiter, although they might have fixed that.

 

[Pauly]

sometimes you may need to delete the clientregistry.blob in your steam folder. It will create a new one and should like how can i say, pick a different content server so it will work. Trust me- once you get past this you will forget all about it because the game is really good.

 

[kmagdono]

Thank you all for your polite, thoughtful replies.

I kept reading, following links, and eventually came across:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=210400

I followed the advice therein (to run LSP-Fix and winsockxpfix), and voila! I am now happily unlocking the files.

Thanks again, and Happy Holidays.

 

[CyberPitz]

Glad it got working for ya. Enjoy the game!