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I recently installed CS:S and this is the first time I have played it on my new computer. The installation and updating process went smoothly with Steam. When I start Counter-Strike: Source, it goes to the main menu and the server list pops up as it should, but then the screen turns black with a grey square in the bottom right corner, and a brown square in the bottom right corner for Day of Defeat: Source. If anybody knows how to fix this problem, I would be more than happy to read your response

-Specifications of my computer:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6700

Nvidia 8800 GTX

ASUS P5N32-SLI DE Motherboard

Windows XP Home Edition

2GB of RAM

Well I know for a fact your system specs could run the game without even sweating

So maybe it's a Steam error itself?

Try making a Icon of the game ( Right click the name and click Make Desktop Icon ) then click it from there, if it still messes up then try to contact Valve from http://www.valvesoftware.com/

Hope I helped

The icon method didn't work,(thank you for responding anyway), so I sent an email describing my problem, but unfortunatley I recieved an email instantly saying that they might not get to my email because of the fact that they recieve a large quantity of them daily. I guess I'll keep searching the internet.

Correction from my first post, like I said before DOF:S and CS:S both go black, but they only go black when I click on a menu, ie: Options, Find Server, etc. So I am guessing that the problem is from Steam and the video settings for the games. I went to the support section of the Steam website and tested to see if everything was compatible and working properly, and everything was. But, the only thing that was interferring was my Nvidia firewall crap, but I turned that off. The problem continues to happen, even after installing the games 3 times...hmm

Wait did you buy the game Directly through steam or did you buy it at Bestbuy or Gamestop?

Also try installing the new ( sortof ) nVidia display drivers / ForceWare

If this doesnt help then maybe you'll get lucky enough to get a response from Valve

I bought Counter-Strike: Source from Gamestop
-Also, last time I updated my drivers I had a problem with it, involving a "false" error everytime I started my computer up to the desktop, so I eventually had to rollback my drivers. But, I will try updating my drivers again

Tell me once you've installed the drivers and tried reloading the game again

If you STILL have a problem with it loading then maybe you could try running the game on another computer ( like a friend's or if you have another ) to see if it's the game or Steam

Nvidia is telling me that the version of drivers I have is up-to-date, so that is not the problem, and the firewall in my system wouldn't be effecting the video of the main menu. I reistalled Steam for the fourth time, and now I am trying to figure out how to avoid updating Steam and the games. I read somewhere online that a recent patch caused the bug.

I give up...I can't seem to find a solution for this problem!!!
-I guess if this is cuased by a bug in a recent patch, I'll just have to wait!

Well if the patch did mess up the thing then Valve would fix it soon, If they get enough emails about it then they'll see that a patch messed it up and fix it

your firewall is blocking the game from finding the servers, if steam updates ok but you open a game and search for servers and it locks then try disabling your firewall

It doesn't happen because of connecting to a server, it happens when I just start the game, and after about 10 seconds of being on the main menu, the screen turns black with a grey square in the bottom right corner of the screen.

unistall your video drivers and use driver cleaner cleaner pro to remove all remnants of nvidia drivers, download the latest drivers for your video card and install, sounds like a video issue to me

rdp5246...THANK YOU. I can now play Counter-Strike: Source with no problems. I just uninstalled and installed my drivers and it worked!

Well, now that that problem is done and over with forever(hopefully), a much smaller problem is that everytime I start Steam, my resolution automatically changes to a really low resolution. If you happen to know why this might be, feel free to give your suggestion(s).

check your in game video settings and set them to the same resolution as your desktop,close and open steam a few times to see if they stick. i have read that the 8800 series cards and steam have a few driver issues yet that will take a little time to iron out. im an ati fan so i dont play around with nvidia too much

Yeah, I'm sure there are still more patches to come forward to fix the problems with the newer graphics cards. My desktop resolution is a little higher than my in-game resolution...1280 x 960 = in-game resolution, 1280 x 1024 = desktop resolution.