Steam and L4D crashes

well i figured i would make a second topic instead of using the L4D weekend deal as my personal thread

here's just some info from the previous thread

here's part of the support ticket i sent in:

I haven't played a PC game since the days of the Delta Force series (back in 1999). I have heard about steam for a while now and was excited when I saw Left 4 Dead was half off. I jumped on the opportunity to purchase it for such a cheap price. I downloaded Steam just fine, installed it, launched it etc. 4 hours later, after L4D was fully downloaded I decided to play it right away. Well my Comodo Firewall came up and it asked if I wanted to give it access to the internet (of course I said yes) so after Comodo popped up, L4D froze. I went into Task Manager and forcefully shut L4D down. I re-launched it through Steam and I got to the main menu, do to click on Play Versus and it freezes. Well I go back into Task Manager and forcefully close it again and re-launch L4D for a 3rd time. This time the engine error pops up (how can I not be running Steam if I need Steam open to launch L4D?). I say ok, re-launch steam and re-launch L4D. Well about 10 tries later, I get one of the two erros mentioned above (L4D freezes at main menu or I get the engine error).

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/7039/steamcrashvn3.jpg
one error i get.
yes it says Not Responding next to Steam

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/7905/engineerrorxn2.jpg
same error without Not Responding next to steam

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/3411/l4dfreezepq6.jpg
point at which it freezes

i tried deleting the ClientRegistry.blob file, re-opening steam. doesn't work
i tried opening straight from the desktop. doesn't work
i tried re-installing steam and l4d. doesn't work

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/8901/l4dfreeze2cq7.jpg
that's the newest point i am at where it freezes (1st time i have seen this screen)

sorry about the bad pic quality
had to use my moms kodak

 

that is very weird, have you tried emailing Steam and see what they suggest?

 

Are you sure the firewall is set up properly? I don't use Comodo but I know it is rather strict in what it allows (or doesn't allow). Other than that I have no clue what it could be.

 

still waiting on their reply

yea i have steam set up so comodo allows anything associated with it

 

i never had to do that, i got the message that appears about it but i just said to always do that and its worked fine so far

 

Well, frankly, i would try uninstalling all traces of steam and the game, and try again, some times stuff happens like this...

 

yeah have you tried uninstalling steam and ALL games as well as all folders and files about steam or steam games? maybe that might help

 

I bet its a firewall issue.

 

well i backed up l4d onto my external hd, then uninstalled steam, deleted everything steam related.
did a fresh download of steam, installed it. now im running steambackup to re-install l4d from my external.
if this doesn't work i will turn off comodo and see if that works.
i just don't understand how it could be my firewall when i have it set to allow and far cry 2 and the witcher both work

=/

 

i wouldnt think its the firewall either - i use comodo as welland its been fine for me
just had an epic 4 hour session, got to the final level part on No Mercy on Expert was freaking great had decent people this time, unlike last time
add them to my friends list play with them again coz they were cool

 

I accepted your request today , yeah lol its hard to find decent people, but when ya do find them it'll be the best game ever! Most people get the game thinking its like counter strike and every man for him self, not the case at all ! I'll see in a game soon! peace

Oh and dude try messing with the launch settings maybe it needs to be set to a certain options resolution, memory usage, etc..

 

I remember when I had a firewall (forgot what it was) it used to freeze a new launching program until I approve that program access to work. This could be what causing the problem. Maybe disabling your firewall will solve the issue. BTW, you might have approved L4D (as you said in your previous posts), but maybe you didn't do that for Steam which could be causing the problem. Hope everything works for you soon!

 

well i just got Fear 2 and had the same freezing problem.
so i added Fear2.exe to Comodo's trusted applications and it works just fine now.

so i added steam.exe and the Left 4 Dead desktop icon (which turns into steam.exe) to comodo's trusted applications and still nothing.

the guy from steam said i have 2 audio drivers installed and to uninstall them and re-install one of them
idk how this would help
and he said to update video drivers when i tried with 181.20 drivers and it froze so i went to default drivers. Fear 2 works but L4D won't

i just want a refund at this point

 

This is frustrating, I just got the game on the weekend and only got to play the single player to the safe place then when I start the subway part it crashes with the audio loop and black screen. The only way I can get out of it is to hold down the power button. I've sent steam an email they asked for more info and after that I haven't heard from them since. I tried deleting the game then downloading again and nothing. I want a refund and this has put a huge blemish on steam for me now and I'm kinda wary of purchasing another game in the future. It's like I blew 25 bucks on a 2 minute demo. I want a refund!

 

Also this seems to be a major issue with so many folks, just google l4d crash or even go to steams own forum and since the game came out there hasn't been any kind of push to get this remedied at least as far as what I can read on the forums. This is unacceptable, I'm sure the game is fun, but now I wonder why they had a 50% deal? Are they trying to milk a defective product?

 

figured i would update this really quick

i disabled all services at startup and l4d actually runs
so now i need to figure out which service it is hanging up on

 

I had the same problem. I fixed it as detailed in this thread.

Hope it helps!

If not, I'd still recommend the use of the Event Viewer to track down what is causing your problem.

L4D is a great game

 

honestly, steam has been a rock solid service for me and many of my friends. i have a feeling like something unusual is going on with your setup. driver issues or firewall related.

 

i think i got it finally

i disabled the service Nvidia Media Center Manager and now it works

if anyone wants to play, add me.
s2odin