HL2 & HL2ep1 Stalling on a de-fraged WD Raptor

[ehudyoda]

Finally, I've successfully re-installed my steam account and games.
After, a long and painful process.

I've re-installed my stuff on a WD Raptor.

Ever since, the only thing that HL2 & HL2ep1 was able to do,
is load 65% of the level very fast and stop there.

Once, I was able to load a new game in HL2ep1.
It was highly corrupted - all yellow & black shapes and no sound. :bonce:

All of my drivers are up-to-date.

Any idea anyone? I'll appreciate any kind of help. :stare:

 

[Asus]

Have you had steam re-check the game files?
In the steam window right-click on the game, properties, tab Local Files, button "Verify integrity of game cache...".

If it was a hard drive issue then it would affect more than just HL2 and EP1.

 

[ehudyoda]

Yep tried it

Have you had steam re-check the game files?
In the steam window right-click on the game, properties, tab Local Files, button "Verify integrity of game cache...".

If it was a hard drive issue then it would affect more than just HL2 and EP1.

Thanks for the quick response.
did what you suggested, no change.

I did notice that the 'steam.exe' process was at 50% cpu usage the whole time.
Maybe some sort of idle-loop on one of the cpus.
I don't have any other idea.

 

[staticprimer]

If its an issue with dual core, you could try disabling one of your cores using the method described here. I wasn't aware that source had any particular problems with dual core processors though.

 

[ehudyoda]

?

If its an issue with dual core, you could try disabling one of your cores using the method described here. I wasn't aware that source had any particular problems with dual core processors though.

Thanks staticprimer,

What is the difference between this method & setting affinity only to cpu0?
cause, if its the same, I've tried it.
cpu0 was 'full' with the steam.exe process and again the overall usage was at 50%.

Are they different pills for the same headache? should I try it anyway?

 

[staticprimer]

Yeah, the method I posted is the same as setting affinity, but it allows you to do it automatically.

So it probably isn't your processor, and I would say it is something wrong with your graphics card, but that would not explain the loading problems. That would probably leave just your RAM and HDD. If you can, borrow someone else's HDD, plug it into your computer and try to run the game.

 

[TechnoHippyChic]

Check to see if your video card fan got unplugged.

 

[ehudyoda]

Starting to hate steam

Well.. my computer is successful around other intense games:
stalker, chaos theory, doom3 (still counts?), etc.

So my guess is software problem and not heat.
I'd wish there was a possibility to play HL series without
the steam client, I'm starting to hate that piece to software. :frown:

EDIT: I'll check your ideas anyway, thanks.

 

[Asus]

Can you get a screenshot of the image corruption by chance?

Could be a the game itself (reinstall?) or a GFX driver conflict with that particular game (try different driver version). While new drivers do fix issues with games they focued on, they can also create new issues with other games. Try an older one perhaps. But I would try reinstalling the games first. HL2 and HL2 EP1 might share files so you'd want to reinstall all of those.

Are you on Vista or XP?

 

[ehudyoda]

using XP

Can you get a screenshot of the image corruption by chance?

Could be a the game itself (reinstall?) or a GFX driver conflict with that particular game (try different driver version). While new drivers do fix issues with games they focued on, they can also create new issues with other games. Try an older one perhaps. But I would try reinstalling the games first. HL2 and HL2 EP1 might share files so you'd want to reinstall all of those.

Are you on Vista or XP?

I'm using XP with Nvidia's latest (official) 158.22.

You might be right about an older driver, I can't seem to remember if the problems occurred after I've updated it.
Does it matter if I install through steam download or my own backup?

 

[staticprimer]

You should download from Steam again, as your backup might be corrupted as well.

 

[ehudyoda]

Ok

You should download from Steam again, as your backup might be corrupted as well.

I'll do that. Thanks again.

(With the steam downloading speed lately it could take until intel produces a 32-core cpu.)