Half Life 2 Startup Problem

Hello,
I recently bought a new video card to play my games like HL2 but after a while they have ceased to function correctly, as in when you run the game from Steam, it loads the game until it gets to the Loading screen with the blurred background before rebooting my computer.
The funny thing is, is that the graphics card ran the game until a few weeks ago, which is almost incomprehensible!!!
My computers specs, are as follows;
Pentium 4 3.06GHZ Processor
512MB DDR RAM
nVidia Geforce 6200 512MB DDR.
2 Hard drives an 80GB and a 120GB with a total of 200GB
DVD Reader, DVD-RW
RealTek AC'97 Sound Adapter
a SiS motherboard (im not quite sure on what make)

After this has happened I followed instructions on the nVidia site and I have update my Motherboard drivers, etc. However since then, I have entirely reformatted my computer and still no luck.

Any Help would be much appreciated as I have no idea on how to resolve this problem.

Thank You.
Unfortunately, still no luck, although I have tried everything given on that site, but for other nVidia users who are having similar problems with HL2 this driver is recommended to resolve the issue, however in my case it has not.

Are there anymore suggestions on how to resolve this issue???

i got same problem with counter-strike source..

well if i know exactly what hes talking about... mine works fine up until its about to go to the menu.. Right as it is about to load the startup screen it closes.

I need to try HL2 and other steam games.. Seems like a CS issue but I don't know too much about it.. Downloading other updates now.. I'll message tommarow.. It was working and i didn't change anything before it stopped working.

Yes I did, I also followed the list of procedures, however the problem remains, the PC still reboots after displaying the Valve logo and the blurred Loading screen.

It can only be a Steam problems as other games work, just not those running through Steam.

I too have the same set up as you and the same issues... Downloaded HL2 and at first it and css didn't work. I then downloaded the upgrade (78.05) provided by steam which still didn't work. I then downloaded the most up to date version of the driver from Nvidias website. This allowed me to play HL2 and CSS for about a week until it started to reboot my PC again. Since then I have had no luck.

My PC specs are..

Nvidia GeForce 6200SE TurboCache 256mb
PEN 4
3.40GHz
250gb HDD

HELP... of what I played of HL2 it was a bloody good game and it looks like steam are gonna take their time answering my query.

dont feel bad man, i have the exact same problems as you. It crashes on all games at loading screen that are source. I can alt tab for most of them besides counterstrike source. There has to be an answer.

its kinda weird though, i don't even get an error, or any signs that anything is wrong. It looks like it is going to open but it just closes.

yeah, basically out of no where for me too, it restarts my computer

Try a different NVidia driver. Had this happen to me w/HL2 also. Rolledback driver and it worked again.

Thanks Jack

I emailled Jack Borthwick regarding this problem (perhaps he has unsubscribed to this forum) who has found a suitable driver that both css and hl2 work with.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_81.85.html

Remember to remove the existing driver using add/remove programs in control panel. All the installation instructions are on the page.

For some reason HL2 seems to run a lot slower than it did before when it first worked. Strange!!!!

Never mind..

Thanks again chaps for all your help.

:chef: haha its a chef...

But if anyoen finds out a solution to this problem please post it here for everone else .

o haha i get it

Try deleting all your cfg files related to hl2 and css.

CSS:
\Steam\SteamApps\(username)\counter-strike source\cstrike\cfg\config.cfg

HL2:
\Steam\SteamApps\(username)\half-life 2\hl2\cfg\config.cfg

cfg files saves all the setup info in the game you made.
And when deleted, the game generates a default cfg, like if your game and steam were freshly downloaded.

This, of course, works on all mods.

(Don't think savegames will be lost - but dont take my word on that..)

-Staffan

It has to be an nvidia problem and not steam. I have ATI

I bought this game last year and played through it w/o probs. I just started it up again after almost 10 months of not playing, did all the new updates, etc. and it still played well and i havent put in a new video card -->still same ati 9800 pro

Re: HL2 startup problem

I am having the exact same problem.

Pentium 4 3.2GHz
ASRock P4V88+ M/b
512Mb DDR
GeForce 6200 128Mb
40Gb Hard drive

I have removed and re-installed graphics drivers of various types and still no joy. I have updated my Via chipset and still no joy. But I can play games like Far Cry which points to the fact could it be something actually wrong with HL2 coding conflicting somehow with 6200 gfx card? I was running HL with CS via a Steam account with no problem with my gfx. It has only been since I have upgraded now to HL2. Which once again asks the question is it the software rather than the hardware? Is there a patch out there that will make this problem go away and put HL2 right?

same problem as jack

Jack, im having the same problem, i have the same graphix card as you do. The game runs for 5-6 minutes and then crashes, and each subsequent time it gets worse. By that I mean the game runs for only 1-2 minuts before it crashes and i have to restart computer.

please help i really wanna play, the game looks insane