Do you know what Steam is? If so, then you probably know about all the benefits that a gamer gets using this platform from Valve. The player not only becomes available to all the most modern and interesting games, but also online battles with friends who can live on the other side of the world.
Unfortunately, far from always all the features of "Steam" work as usual. In particular, sometimes the user sees the message âCould not connect to the Steam networkâ, and often the error pops up for no apparent reason.
Take a look at the little things!
Do not rush to panic. How many times does this message pop up? Have you tried to run the game only once? If so, then simply try to do it again by previously closing the Steam service in the system tray.
As a rule, single customer departures with such an error do not indicate anything terrible. Short-term problems on Valve servers may be to blame. If this situation persists even after restarting, you need to check your Internet connection.
It often happens that the provider who has some problems on the line is to blame. In addition, there are commonplace problems with the cable or Wi-Fi signal. If you are using a router in the next room on the cabinet, check its power. It happens that the nervous system suffers from all sorts of little things. Have you checked? Still unable to connect to the Steam network?
Eliminate the cause
Try closing the antivirus and firewall, and then try to start the game again. It is not so rare that these âwatchmen" do not release the program on the Internet. This happens especially often immediately after updating the Steam client, when the main program files change, after which the firewall automatically starts to âsuspectâ that some malware has upgraded it.
If the launch of "Steam" without a firewall is a success, then you will have to manually add it to the program exceptions. To do this, you need to read the FAQ on the official website of the application manufacturer. In this case, it is impossible to give any specific recommendations, since there are too many programs, and the setup procedure for them is different.
Way from Valve
It is curious that the gates themselves know about the problem, but they cannot say anything concrete about its cause. Technical support notes that many factors can influence this. However, they also gave out a method that often helps. If you canât connect to the Steam network, try it.
To fix everything, click on the Steam RMB shortcut, and then go to "Properties". In the dialog box that opens, you need to find a field called "Object". At the very end of the line written there, insert: "-tcp âlogin your login password".
In a word, as a result, you should get something like this: âC: \ Program Files \ Steam \ steam.exe" -tcp -login Vasyapupkin 9876543 ". In many cases, such actions really help to solve a painful problem.
Another solution
Some users report that they started having Steam problems after switching to another provider. It is not known how, but sometimes a large number of
network adapters registered in the system interfere with the connection of the program with its servers. When it was not possible to connect to the Steam network, it is better to thin out this list.
Simply put, after the old provider remains its network connection, which must be removed. How to do it?
Click on âStartâ, go to âControl Panelâ, âNetwork Managementâ. In the right part of the working window there is the item âChange adapter settingsâ. After clicking on the link, a window will open in which there will be a list of all adapters registered in the system. Find unnecessary connections among them, and then delete. This is done by clicking on them with the right mouse button and selecting âDeleteâ in the context menu.
Cardinal solution to the problem
Some Steam users managed to overcome the problem in a very radical way. They report that the program began to connect normally to servers only after they completely deleted the contents of the Steam directory, leaving only the âBinâ folder and the âSteam.exeâ file there.
There is a more targeted solution to the problem. Go to the above directory again, and then look for the âClientRegistry.blobâ file in it. Delete it, and then try to restart the program. Still can't connect to the Steam network? Move on.
More about the provider
If all of the above does not help, and Steam stubbornly refuses to go online, the problem should in any case be sought on the provider's side. Try another solution: go to the "Control Panel" and then to the "Network Control Center". Find in the right part of the working window âChange adapter settingsâ, then click RMB on your connection.
In the context menu that appears, click on the âPropertiesâ item. In the next dialog box, find the item âInternet Protocol Version 4â, select it with the left mouse button and click on the âPropertiesâ button.
In the "... DNS server addresses" fields, set the values ââto 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. Click "OK", and then again try to run "Steam". These are special open servers from Google.
Finally, try to remember if you didnât install any additional software before problems appeared: didnât some critical patch come on Windows, was the release of the nix-system updated?
Quite often, it happens that for some unknown reason, updates can conflict with some programs. So, the story with the Windows update is still fresh in the usersâ memory, after which the program basically refused to start.
Call technical support, write them an e-mail, enclosing screenshots with the problem. If this is something typical that arose just because of software problems, they will certainly help you.
Here's what to do if you are unable to connect to the Steam network.