Im Going Insane... Help With HL2 Installation PLZ!

[kenny78]

hey guys,
i bought HL2 retail when it first came out. Since then i have uninstalled it and steam. recently i reinstalled it and steam and used my old acount info. i even used my cdkey to retrieve my acount info cause i couldnt remember it. but now i can log into steam using that acount no worries. but my games arent activated yet. when i go to use that same cd key to activate my games it says the cd key is in use in an acount already....yer MY ACOUNT... the one im using.
thats obvious since the key was what i used to retrieve my acount info( you enter the key then it emails you your secret question and login name). now the games were played on this acount before but now its not letting me use that key to register them again on the same acount. any ideas on how to get HL2 and CSS going? im desperate.

 

[$kelet0r]

you don't need your cd key at all once you have created a steam account
just log into steam click on hl2 and let steam download it for you

 

[kenny78]

you don't need your cd key at all once you have created a steam account
just log into steam click on hl2 and let steam download it for you

when i click it at 'store' it tries to get me to buy it. but i have the game installed. i did it off the cd's. but its not in my games list when i log into my acount? do i have to activate them again so the reinstalled steam will recognise them or something?

 

[$kelet0r]

no usually you should at least have halflife 2 and css in your my games menu
clicking on them should start the download

 

[kenny78]

no usually you should at least have halflife 2 and css in your my games menu
clicking on them should start the download

nope nuthing is in there except for half-life 2 demo. and a bunch of mods. and im only on 56k so i dont want to download a game. i already installed hl2 and css fully of the cd's anyway... i just dont get it how im supposed to get them back in my list. it was this acount that i used for the games originally?

 

[$kelet0r]

why are there mods there? weird
try restarting steam and make sure hl2 is in the correct folder - ie you didnt put it in one of your choice
if the gamefiles are there then steam should detect them and try to update

you might try uninstalling hl2 again activate steam and then try and install the game

other than that if that fails you have a major problem that http://support.steampowered.com would be better equiped to solve