Unable to start a Steam account - please help :(

[Duff-Man]

I have a copy of HL2 sitting in front of me, Which I bought from my local Game (UK).

I've installed it, and installed Steam etc. - all the 'automatic' installations from the DVD were a success. Now I'm sat looking at a steam update box which is stuck at 0%, and has been since I installed it (about an hour after it was released - 9am UK time = 1am PST). I've tried restarting my internet, rebooting, uninstalling Steam and trying again etc, all without success:

(the above box appears when I either start Steam from my start menu, or try to start HL2).

Can anyone help?

I know that Steam is suffering the heavy user load at the moment, but I haven't read of anyone else who was unable to complete even the initial update, let alone create a Steam account. I wouldn't mind if I thought it was just a heavy load on Steam which was the problem, but as it is I can't be sure I've exchanged a single byte of data with Steam's servers.

Thanks a lot for any assistance!

 

[SilentKilla]

My buddy couldnt create a steam account, waited 20 minutes, and it worked. Good luck!

 

[Duff-Man]

Damn...

Well, it'd be nice if that could happen to me! However I've been trying for almost 24hours now and haven't been able to get off 0% on the 'updating' progress bar which comes before you get asked for details to create an account.


:sadpanda:

 

[She]

keep tryin..

dont know what valve was thinking..

 

[Duff-Man]

Thanks guys...

Does anyone have any other suggestions? I've read around a fair bit, and people having problems with Steam tend to be having them on the validation stage, rather than the stage I'm stuck at (look at the screenshot in my original post).

As it stands, I haven't managed to exchange a single byte of data with the Steam servers despite them having been 'fine' for at least a couple hours of my trying, so i don't think it's just a case of waiting longer.

(cool avatar btw, 'She')

 

[polypod]

well there were a few times when steam was loading something but didn't tell me.. i imagine you would have seen it if it were downloading something though.. oh, don't forget to check your firewall.. i had to give mine special permission,(zone alarm).. or you could just disable it to see if that's the prob..

 

[Duff-Man]

I've disabled the firewall completely, and unfortunately it doesn't help.

I did suspect that it might be downloading something and just not letting me know, but I left it while I slept for 6 hours, and it still hadn't left 0%. I don't imagine there is much stuff to download before it even asks me for details to set up an account, so I imagine the problem lies elsewhere.

I'm on a network administered by my University, and I can't find out whether the ports that Steam requires are blocked or not, but they shouldn't be as I know one of my housemates has played CS over Steam over the network at some point.

Thanks for the reply anyway

 

[Duff-Man]

Bump

 

[mad max 6]

what connection speed do you have.

 

[fez]

I'm on a network administered by my University, and I can't find out whether the ports that Steam requires are blocked or not, but they shouldn't be as I know one of my housemates has played CS over Steam over the network at some point.

u need to find out if they are unblocked, this would be the main reason for it not working. contact ur network administrator.

 

[Duff-Man]

Okay, thanks.

Is there a program I can run to find out whether the required ports are blocked or not? I've got the list of required ports from the Steam support FAQ.

I don't know who the University network admin would be... I guess I'll have to write a few emails.

Mad Max - my internet sucks badly. There are about 350 people sharing a 10mb pipe. The overall speed I generally get is somewhere between what you'd expect from a 28.8 and 56k modem in the day, but at night it's more like dsl (512) speed. I've been trying to get on throughout the day and night though, so that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Duff-Man]

bump for any more help?

I need to find out if the ports that Steam uses are blovked or not... is there any way I can do this through Windows, or is there any program which I can download to do it?

Thanks...

 

[Hypertony]

Loads of people reported the same problem on the Uni network.

Two choices:

1) Beg the nice network admin to open the ports for a while until you're done.
2) Visit a friend's house with fast broadband and plug your PC in their network and download them.

 

[Duff-Man]

Thanks, hypertony. It's good to know I'm not 'alone' at least.

Unfortunately everyone here is on the same network, so I'd have to take my full tower rig on a tube (=subway train) to go to the nearest friend's house. I'll be going home for Christmas, so I guess I'll probably have to wait until then *sigh*. At least Bloodlines is coming out on Friday!

I'll find out who the admin is and email them, but I think the chances of them opening the ports are roughly the same as me looking out of my window and seeing flying pigs.

 

[phialsquiz]

Try del ClientRegistry.blob/Steam_10.mst/SteamUI_34.mst in steam folder, then restart steam .

 

[Duff-Man]

I love you! That helped...

I only had ClientRegistry.blob in the folder. I deleted this, and the program went up to 27%. It then reset itself to 0% and created Steam_10.mst. Unfortunately it then just hung at 0%...

It definitely did something though, because the size of Clientregistry.blob grew from 2k to 1024k.

Any other suggestions?!

 

[phialsquiz]

werid, my ClientRegistry.blob only 190kb