"Unable to authenticate original disc within time limit"

Drive just packs in intermittent revving then caput. Half life would be something, this has got no life. What gets my goat especially is the dirtbags are not even ackowledging this is a problem. Me thinks because sales would be effected in a pretty major way. I want a patch and I want it now.
 
I changed the write speed of my dvd drive to 32x and it now works everytime.
Got My computer, right mouse click dvd drive, properties then recording tab. change write speed and see if it makes a diff.
 
Nope no difference at all. Got onto the steam forum and found this from a valve guy...

http://steampowered.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/steampowered.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=277

Why do I get a "disk could not be authenticated" error when I try to play my retail version of Half-LIfe 2?


Answer
We have received a few reports of players being unable to play because they receive a "Disk could not be authenticated" error. The problem is usually fixed by having them move the disk they are

trying to play from to the first lettered drive available. I.E. if you are trying to run the disk from your dvd burner g:\ move it to your dvd player f:\.

If this does not fix the issue please check for any firmware upgrades for your drives as well. Also, the software Sonic DLA and Any DVD have been conflicting with the retail CD's you may need to uninstall this software before the disks will be recognized properly. If you are still having issues please use the "Ask a question" tab at the top of this page and submit a

msinfo32 report.
 
Question regarding the suggestion of moving drive letter. I have an a drive floppy, an f drive cd-rw and my g drive plextor 712-a. How will this work and how do I do it.
 
For those of you still having trouble with this problem, here's what I did in order to get my half-life 2 to work:

First, log on into steam. Then start HL2 with no DVD in the drive. Soon steam reports to you that there is no disc in the drive. Now put your HL2 DVD in the drive and click retry. After a while comes the infamous "unable to authenticate disc etc. etc." message. Now simply click retry and it works! And my DVD drive is Plextor PX-712A, hopefully this thing works with all Plextor DVDs that are having this problem.
 
I did exactly what you told about ten times and the result was as bad as before, nothing happent, just Plextor tries to find hl2 disk without any hope. This is what we call quality.
 
Oh I forgot to mention one thing, click the the retry for the "unable to authenticate original game disc within time limit" after the DVDs autoplay window loads up. Hopefully that helps.
 
Well i wished to god i had read this forum before going out to buy this rubbish.

Im stuck on the same thing as the rest of you, and all this to play one game is a joke.
This is one game going back to the store for a refund and it will definitley be the last time i buy any product by the company who made the game.
 
Solution for Plextor PX-712A (V1.05) that worked for me:

1. Download and install PlexTools Professional V.2.18 from here: http://www.plextools.com/download/download.asp

2. Put HL2-DVDROM in burner.

3. Drive Settings > DVD Read Speed Setting > 3-8 X CAV

At least this worked for Half Life 2 and the "Unable to authenticate original disc in time limit"-problem. :)
 
Well done byby it works for me too. Here it is again.

Here's how i did it last night. Hope it works for the rest of you guys.

Uninstalled and reinstalled turning off my virus check. Not sure that had any effect but i launch the game without the disc in the drive, wait till i get the put the disc in message, put in in then wait till i get the unable to authenticate warning and then simply click retry and the game launches. Halleluiah
 
Same for me it helped me also(Plextor 712a), Thank´s for this tip. I mean change the speed of drive 3 - 8 x cav by using plex tool pro 2.18, I have tried everyting else, nothing help, this was the real breaking through.

Zebu y are the man.
 
I have the same problem, with an entirely different drive (Samsung SD-612F). Tried everything I can to get it to work, emailed tech support, filled out their web form etc. The worst thing is that the tech support number listed on the back of the DVD box doesnt even work, so I can't even phone them. Brilliant customer service there, seems like they just don't give a f**k once you have forked over the cash for the game.
 
I'm sitting here now for an hour trying to get this crap to load.

This is the worst idiotic copy protection I have ever seen: We, the legitimate owners of the game are made to jump through a series of hoops, while the game already is readily available on the P2P networks, as someone apparently found a way to sniff the Steam data exchange.

I bet everyone downloading it from there has less problems than we do. Oh, they also paid nothing for it.

Thank you, Valve.

Infidel
 
I have a Fix!!

My Plextor DVD is at fault. messing with Plextools also works but is a pain to do every time I want to play. I' found a fix! Now how do I post an attachment?

Many,many THANKS to Hijack!
 
when I install disk 5 just cant find anything on it. it acts like its installing then tell me to insert it again. it looks super clean and I cleaned it twice...any ideas?
 
Edit: **oops** I should read the entire thread before posting
 
zebu said:
Solution for Plextor PX-712A (V1.05) that worked for me:

1. Download and install PlexTools Professional V.2.18 from here: http://www.plextools.com/download/download.asp

2. Put HL2-DVDROM in burner.

3. Drive Settings > DVD Read Speed Setting > 3-8 X CAV

At least this worked for Half Life 2 and the "Unable to authenticate original disc in time limit"-problem. :)
Click to expand...

If PlexTools does not support your DVD-drive, use Nero DriveSpeed to reduce your 'DVD Read Speed'. (Nero burning software includes Nero DriveSpeed). This trick also worked for me - HL2 starts every time!
 
The problem is that the dvd-rom can't seem to "spin up" the dvd and get the info it needs to validate the dvd.

I use an alternative method of bypassing this problem without reinserting the dvd:

Just start up Windows Explorer (Win+E as quickkey). Select the dvd-rom and find a file on the dvd, like one of the ini-files. Open it, and immediately after, start HL2 from shortcut. While the process of starting HL2 is underway, just close the ini-file and open another one. Keep browsing for a sec or two so you are sure that the dvd spins in the drive while the copyprotect-check is going. Then the game starts fine every time.
 
To All:

There seems to be various solutions to this issue. Would you be kind enough to lets us know what DVD-ROM-Writer-CD your using?
 
all the solutions don't work for me
maybe someone else knows a solution??
 
This is like the foruth serious problem I've seen with this game.
VALVe is the Microsoft of gaming. No, they're worse.
 
Philips DVD8421

I've got the constant 'Unable to authenticate original disc within time limit.' error occuring. I've tried everything (legal) and have filed a ticket (and received no response). I just bought the system, an HP with a Philips DVD8421 in it which is a dual layer DVD +R. A while back, I got it to run a couple times after hours of hitting 'retry' after the error occurred, but now when I hit retry, it kills hl2.exe and does NOT retry. Even more annoying.
 
Yes this really su***

More than 2 Hours of installation, registration and decrypting, and...there's NO gameplay because of that copy-protection. And no fix for that. That's not the way, paying customers should be treated. Thanks for all the suggestions in this thread, but nothing worked for me, so I will try to get my money back on monday.

THANKS VALVE
 
Thanks to zebu. I had problems with Thief and the plextools work perfectly.
Seriously thank you.
 
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