CSS Freezes

[RofLoLmao]

Whenever I start up CS:S, I attempt to join a server thats when it freezes completely and I have to force shut down my computer. This problem has happened recently. The server does not load up and once I click the server it crashes and freezes. There is no error message I get. I've tried deleting and reinstalling, but that did not solve the issue either. Also, now once I click 'Find Servers' it freezes on the spot no error message and my computer completely freezes. Any help would be appreciated.

[maynard]

reformat?

this might possibly help
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/11...source-crashes


if not you could always google more ideas.

[RofLoLmao]

reformat?

this might possibly help
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/11...source-crashes


if not you could always google more ideas.

Thanks for the website but that did not solve the issue. I've been searching google for awhile now and nothing seems to be working. This is a strange problem that seems uncommon.

[jwtemp]

Alright, here's what you need to try. This will result in a loss of ALL your CS:S settings and downloaded maps/sounds/whatevers, but we have to narrow down to determine if it's your computer or the game.

Uninstall CS:S via the Steam interface. After the uninstall is complete, navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common (if you're using Windows XP, the (x86) won't be there, but same path). Inside this folder is a Counter-Strike Source folder. Delete it.

Reinstall the game. Report back here the results and we'll go from there to the next step.

[RofLoLmao]

Alright, here's what you need to try. This will result in a loss of ALL your CS:S settings and downloaded maps/sounds/whatevers, but we have to narrow down to determine if it's your computer or the game.

Uninstall CS:S via the Steam interface. After the uninstall is complete, navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common (if you're using Windows XP, the (x86) won't be there, but same path). Inside this folder is a Counter-Strike Source folder. Delete it.

Reinstall the game. Report back here the results and we'll go from there to the next step.

Well I have a feeling it might be the computer because I tried joining a server with Day of Defeat Source and the same problem occurred. Should I still try what you suggested above?

[jimmay]

Is it happening whenever you try to render any 3D graphics? In other words do 3D games other than CSS and DoDS work fine? My graphics card shit the bed a couple years ago with somewhat similar symptoms. Everything worked fine for 2D but as soon as I tried to play any game using 3D, everything would freeze and I'd have to restart my PC. I ended up just downloading a basic 3D demo to test with and it would crash every time I started it. Replaced the graphics card and problem was solved. This was back when Nvidia was having solder problems with their GPUs...

[RofLoLmao]

Uninstall CS:S via the Steam interface. After the uninstall is complete, navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common (if you're using Windows XP, the (x86) won't be there, but same path). Inside this folder is a Counter-Strike Source folder. Delete it.

Reinstall the game. Report back here the results and we'll go from there to the next step.

UPDATE: This did not solve the problem.

---------- Post added at 11:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:13 PM ----------

Is it happening whenever you try to render any 3D graphics? In other words do 3D games other than CSS and DoDS work fine? My graphics card shit the bed a couple years ago with somewhat similar symptoms. Everything worked fine for 2D but as soon as I tried to play any game using 3D, everything would freeze and I'd have to restart my PC. I ended up just downloading a basic 3D demo to test with and it would crash every time I started it. Replaced the graphics card and problem was solved. This was back when Nvidia was having solder problems with their GPUs...

The only games I have are CSS and DoDS. I don't think it has to do with the graphics card though but I may be wrong. I am able to create my own server and play and everything else works it's just the "Find Servers" problem.

[jwtemp]

Alright Rofl, next step. I realize this is a total pain in the ass, but assuming there's not a fatal issue with a piece of your hardware, we can get it working, just might take us a few tries.

After your computer crashes, is it blue screening or are you simply receiving a black screen followed by your BIOS boot up screen? Since it's also happening on DoDS, we can reasonably assume it's not just the CS:S files that were/are borked but also the Source engine files. In that case, here's what you need to do.

Uninstall ALL Source based Steam games (based on your description, this should only include CS:S and DoDS) from the Steam interface. After that, navigate back to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps. Inside of this folder, you should see several files with a GCF extension - multiplayer ob binaries.gcf, source 2007 shared materials.gcf, source models.gcf, etc. - delete all of them.

When you go to download CS:S again, these files will be re-downloaded and recreated. If there's something wrong with one of your Source core files, this could be the problem and redownloading them should resolve it.

Let me know if it still continues to crash. It very well may, in which case we'll start attacking your drivers and hardware next.

[RofLoLmao]

Alright Rofl, next step. I realize this is a total pain in the ass, but assuming there's not a fatal issue with a piece of your hardware, we can get it working, just might take us a few tries.

After your computer crashes, is it blue screening or are you simply receiving a black screen followed by your BIOS boot up screen? Since it's also happening on DoDS, we can reasonably assume it's not just the CS:S files that were/are borked but also the Source engine files. In that case, here's what you need to do.

Uninstall ALL Source based Steam games (based on your description, this should only include CS:S and DoDS) from the Steam interface. After that, navigate back to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps. Inside of this folder, you should see several files with a GCF extension - multiplayer ob binaries.gcf, source 2007 shared materials.gcf, source models.gcf, etc. - delete all of them.

When you go to download CS:S again, these files will be re-downloaded and recreated. If there's something wrong with one of your Source core files, this could be the problem and redownloading them should resolve it.

Let me know if it still continues to crash. It very well may, in which case we'll start attacking your drivers and hardware next.

When the game freezes, it just stays on the CS:S screen and I am not able to alt tab or ctrl alt delete my way out of it. Also, the only .gcf files I see are winui.gcf and sourceinit.gcf. I'm not sure if that is a major problem or not. Just tried what you said JW and to no avail.

[jwtemp]

Alright, then we have an underlying driver or hardware problem. Which makes this a bit harder to figure out.

What kind of video card do you have? Are you familiar with the process of uninstalling and reinstalling video devices and drivers? If so, completely uninstall your video card's drivers and the device from the Control Panel, reboot and then reinstall the latest drivers from your hardware manufacturer's website. If not, let me know and I'll give you some instructions.

Edit: Some people are saying they're able to connect to servers via the console. Do you have the console enabled in your game and, if so, do you know how to connect to servers with it?