Steam/CS:S causing connectivity problems

Ok, the here's the deal-e-o. The internet and everything runs fine when I start up my comp, when I click on the CS:S icon steam activates (I don't have it set to start up when Windows starts) then CS loads. I refresh the server list but here's the problem. Almost every server I pick, it doesn't automatically start loading. It goes to another box with the server stats and an EMPTY player list even though the server list shows, let's say, 9/12 people on. However, in that box, the latency column states the initial ping concurs with what the server list says (e.g. 92) but then skyrockets to max out at 2000. This happens all the time.

And as icing on the cake, I'll try to Alt+Tab out or even completely close Steam and CS, and my browser no longer loads pages. I've tried multiple sites on different servers and they all say page cannot be loaded. But when I restart my comp, all is back to normal. This is really stumping me.

Background info: Vostro 1500 running XP 32bit w/SP2 and the only other programs running other than Steam and CS are Kaspersky AV and Windows Firewall. I've already made exceptions in the Firewall so I know it's not that that is causing the problem.

Any help is greatly appreciated and will be rewarded...somehow.

 

Is it just with CS:S? Has this problem ovcured with other steam games?

 

I've only tried CS:S but the thing that leads me to believe this is something larger than CS is that I've loaded up StarCraft also which cannot connect to B.Net after I've played CS.

I've found a work-around for the internet not working after playing CS though. I can get on the browser and B.Net servers AFTER I've gone to Network Connections and disabled then re enabled my connection then doing Repair on it.

That still doesn't fix the server issue with CS though.

 

So 30 people don't know anything about this problem?

 

I have no idea, I have never heard of that kind of issue before.

Have you tried loading steam prior to loading CS:S? Have you tried disabling the antivirus temporarily while playing?

If none of that works, I really don't know what to tell you. Uninstall CS:S and uninstall Steam. Clear the steam folder and then try again.

Good Luck.

 

I've tried launching a game from Steam and not loading CS first and what happens is similar but not exactly the same. Instead of the server stats/player list box popping up like in the CS menu, almost every server I try to join from Steam I get a pop up saying 'Server is not Responding'. I went down the list trying every single one even if it's one I didn't want to play. I got one or two servers to actually load and I was able to play but almost all of the ones I tried I couldn't join. I doubt it's an issue with corrupted/missing files from an install as I can play, it's just almost impossible to find a server that will actually load up.

I haven't tried disabling Kaspersky and still no go. I'm filing a question with Valve Support and hopefully they'll have an answer.

 

Ok, I think I've narrowed the problem down. I totally disabled the firewall and AV and did a fresh boot to get those factors out of the equation. When Windows comes up, I checked the internet and a game to see if I could get connection and I did. Then I started Steam but did nothing other than load it up. I checked the connections again and they again were good. Lastly, I started the server list up, refreshed it and attempted to join a server. Every single server I clicked on (about 15-20) all said 'Server is not responding'. I left Steam running and checked my browser and could not get any site to load. Also the game couldn't connect to it's servers.

I went to Network Connections and performed the Repair option on my hard line to my cable modem. The second I did that, all my connections worked and I was able to join servers. So my guess is, is that Steam is triggering the fault somehow when it gathers the server list.

This problem looks like it's going way over my head (As they say, I'm a 'hardware guy') so if any software/network programmers/engineers can help me out with this, I'd appreciate it greatly.

 

Sorry for so many posts by me, I'm not talking to myself I swear, I'm just trying to give you guys as much info as possible.

I've definitely narrowed it down and have reached the holy grail of troubleshooting, getting a reproduceable problem. It's DEFINITELY without a doubt caused by refreshing the server list in Steam. The internet works fine, I can connect to everything, even the game servers IF I don't hit 'Refresh List' again. As long as I use that same list after I've repaired my connection, it works beautifully. How the heck this is borking my connection I have no clue, that's why I'm giving all you smart guys the evidence.

 

I have the same problem, are you connecting through any sort of router? if so you need to go into the router settings and open the router to accept steam ports
also you need to set up a static ip adress as well
more info can be found here, just choose the model of your router and u can find help there:
http://portforward.com/routers.htm

 

Hm...this happens to me occasionally...

I just frantically click connect and/or adjust my rate to a higher setting. Eventually it just works itself out.

 

I'm at uni behind a proxy server, and whilst I have enough port allowances to let steam and certain server groups run e.g. those ending with 27015 for instance...trying to view the server list in CS:S of TF2, leads to the internet disconnecting. It seems that the uni servers do not like the high amount of connections to them.

 

Some universities, acutally try to block steam ports, and atually also have a limit on how much bandwith can be use, and throttle the connection if too much bandwith is used

 

Well, I'm not at a university, I'm on the east coast using Time Warner Roadrunner and it's been good to me thus far so I'm sure it's either the software, my computer or the router. And yes master I'm on a router because my roommate uses my connection also but I've tried it when his computer is off and still get the same problem so that isn't a factor. It's a D-Link 4-Port wired router. When I mean it isn't a factor I'm referring to him possibly having something to do with my conn. based on bandwidth issues. I'm not ruling out the router at all. I'm trying that site that you posted.

 

I'm f#$%# going nuts with this crap. The portforward site that had my router guides is severly out of date. Other than the color of the d-link banner, everything else in the menus were different :/

I did the whole static IP thing on my end, opened up the steam ports and still didnt work. I tried to turn off DHCP totally on the router and just connect through my static IP and it kept saying something about the WAN and LAN subnets are conflicting. Then I tried just putting my computer in the DMZ so I would bypass the routers firewalls and STILL Steam was being f@#$%@ gay and saying Servers not responding. And I don't have the option to just direct connect to my modem because other people are paying me to use the router so I'm stuck with trying to get this piece of **** tin box to work.

I'm three seconds away from turning this computer into scrap plastic and aluminum...

*EDIT* After I did meditation and high amounts of some unknown drug, I calmed down enough to try something else. You can still do port forwarding without that static ip crap if you know your ip in the first place. So I IPCONFIGed in DOS, got my IP and set up the port forwarding. And it didn't work. That saved me a lot of heartache trying to get my computer and router to converse in the first place.

Steam is hellf$%king bent on pissing me off and not letting me play.

 

Well, I don't know what I'm accomplishing by saying this, but what happens when you are hard wired to the internet? Does it still give you same trouble?

BTW I had problems with Steam when I used Peer Guardian. I disabled it, and now everything is fine.

 

Amol, I probably wouldn't have the problems I'm having if I was direct-connected to my modem but people are paying me for the net, so I'm stuck with learning how to work this damn thing

 

I have the exact same problem as the original poster. I would at least try connecting directly to the internet but my router is my modem as well and it's through verizon fios.

However, my problem comes when I try to connect to a server itself inside the game rather that refreshing my server list.

When I try TF2, it gives me no problems. It plays just fine.

On another note... IF tell CS:S to join a server and let it set, after 5 or 10 minutes it will allow me into the server. I also just uninstalled CS:S and reinstalled.

I have an hp dv8000 series. xp media center, wireless card built in and it's a laptop.

 

Actually, I JUST updated my wireless network card and I believe it fixed the problem 100%

 

Faced a somewhat similar issue some time ago.

2 weeks ago my TF2 just started to disconnect from servers after about 5 - 10 minutes on joining it. Well, it actually completely disconnected from my home wireless network and refuses to connect back until I do a restart. This doesn't happen when I'm just web surfing, nor does it happen if I use a wired connection. There were no problems before that. It just happened like that...and the only thing I recall doing to my notebook before that occured, was installing Mass Effect. Sounds stupid huh? Well, I uninstalled it anyway, and my problem didn't go away, so it obviously wasn't that.

Tried reinstalling my drivers...didn't work. Tried uninstalling, then reinstalling my drivers, and it worked. But for some stupid f*cked up reason, it now wouldn't connect properly to my school's network. Less than 2 minutes after connecting to my school network, it disconnected again. I attempted to reconnect, and it just disconnected shortly after.

*sigh* Well, I didn't know what the problem was, but I had one solution to fix it. Silly me didn't have any restore points or full backups, so, I transfered all my important data onto my thumbdrive, reformatted my computer and reinstalled Windows Vista on it (my 7th installation of Windows on this notebook in 2 months). Sucked, but my problem went away.

 

I don't generally get these issues (even though I have the same setup as you), but sometimes you've got to make sure Steam is all updated by opening/closing it a few times. An old Steam client can cause problems, especially if it misses an auto-update.

That said, SEVEN TIMES?? I installed Vista on my MBP almost a year ago and have never had to reinstall it, are there any other issues you were having? Make sure you grab SP1! I hate it when people have to do OS reinstalls!

 

Hmm. I completely uninstalled Steam and all it's games, then reinstalled them but it didn't fix the problem. (sorry I forgot to mention it)


About the 7th installation...heh. It kinda goes something like this:

Edit: It should be my 8th installation of windows.

1st installation (XP) - Windows XP Professional SP2.

2nd installation (Vista)- School provided Windows Vista Business, so I upgraded mine and passed over my home license key to my sister.

3rd installation (XP) - Vista was a little hard to get used to, so I swapped back to XP. It felt noticably slower when opening up stuff, like how if you open up your Control Panel in XP, all the icons load up immedietly, but in Vista they take a few seconds for all the icons to load up slowly. ATITool wasn't working too, and TF2 felt slower.

4th installation (XP, Boot Camp 2.1) - Had some stuttering problems, and I was clueless how to fix them. Reinstallation of drivers didn't work, so I did a reinstallation.

5th installation (Vista) - Now I was facing some stupid network problems where I kept disconnecting from my school's 802.1x network under XP, and no one could figure out how to solve it, so I turned back to Vista as I didn't face them there.

6th installation (XP SP3) - My father kinda scolded me for being so indecisive as I kept hopping from one OS to the other OS, and he convinced me that I should find a way to solve the problem instead.

7th installation (Vista) - I tried for 2 freaking weeks. Searched the entire internet, bugged my school's tech support twice a day, called Apple up, called Microsoft up, no one could solve it and I finally gave up, and installed Vista.

8th installation (Vista) - Steam felt like being a ***** on me and suddenly started to disconnect from my router shortly after joining a server. Uninstalling and reinstalling my drivers worked, but after that I had problems with my school network again. I gave up and did a full reinstallation of Vista.

*Windows and Boot Camp were fully updated in all 8th installations.

 

I doubt it is really that great an issue, but I think a minuscule fraction of your problems might stem from using Vista Business for gaming instead of Premium or Ultimate. Otherwise, I think people should install 3-4GB of ram for an optimal Vista experience. Yeah, people say 2 GB is enough, but my experience was noticeably improved when I added another 2 GB.

I can relate to the strange network problems on the MBPs running Bootcamp, I've had my share. The first issue was at school, where voice packets (using a mic in CS:S) wouldn't transmit properly. I don't really understand what was going wrong, as my brother (who has the same MBP setup and lived in the same dorm room) didn't have such issues. Later, when I got back home and switched to a wireless network (802.11g), neither of the MBPs (Bootcamp Vista Ult) would connect to a WPA2 enabled network. Every other wireless system I had in the house would do it fine, but the second I connected with the MBPs major websites like aol.com, weather.com, steampowered.com, etc would no longer load.

In the end I decided to upgrade our 3 year old Linksys Router to a D-Link DIR-655 and pretty much all of my connectivity problems have vanished. WPA2-AES works on everything, pings are lower, connections are solid and run at almost full 802.11g speeds.

If you have any more Vista problems, PM me or open up a new thread, I feel the need to help fellow MBP+Vista+Steam users. Otherwise, is it worth upgrading to the newer Bootcamp? I am using the final BETA version...and have been for almost a year. Does a newer BootCamp fix the wonky power plug issue where you have to remove the power adapter and reconnect it for Windows to recognize it is on AC power?