FIXED** Computer is Freezing Whenever Steam ( and only Steam) is Launched

[Ketchup]

This one is just weird. We just noticed it this week, and it is affecting the machine in my sig (not other PC in the house has Steam). It was first noticed yesterday when my son was playing CS:GO. It has now gotten to the point where I can just start steam and let it sit for a minute, and the entire computer will freeze.

Here is where I am at:
-Windows 10 has the latest updates as of this week - and the next step will probably be to remove that most recent update.
-Video card drivers have been updated to the latest available as of today, no change. Rolled back to drivers that were a year old, no change.Tried a driver uninstaller, no change.Windows 10 auto driver update is off.
-Swapped drives and re-installed steam on a the new drive (neither are the OS drive). Installed Steam no problem. Go to download a game, FREEZE. Swapped SATA cable and port, same issue. I did copy several files that are outside of steam between the two drives today, so I don't believe there is a problem with the cable or drives anyway.

And here is where (I think) things get stranger: we can run any other game on this computer with no issue (Need for Speed, Flash-based games, etc) and we can surf the Internet, etc, without any type of problem. I have run the latest 3dMark and the OCCT torture test without issue. I took a look on the Steam boards before posting here and don't see anything, so wondering if you all have run into anything like this.

I did get one blue screen with a WATCDOG error, but it didn't write the file to the drive, so I don't know what it might have been pointing to.

FIXED: See post #10.

 

[XavierMace]

Installed any new games? With Steam Cloud saves enabled, some games will really thrash your drive while syncing. If you open Task Manager and see Steam maxing out your drive, that's probably it. IE, my Spellforce 3 save folder is 4Gb. Steam would lock up every time I quit the game (albeit for only a couple of seconds). Disabled cloud saves, no more problem.

 

[deustroop]

Several years ago some watchdog violations were caused by the IDE ATA/ATAPI controller driver. Wouldn't hurt to try switching to the standard driver if using the intel iastorA or vice versus.

 

[deustroop]

Another thought is to try cleaning the steam d/l cache.Per

From your Steam Client, open the Settings panel by selecting "Steam > Settings" from the top left client menu.

In the Settings panel, select the Downloads tab and you'll find the "Clear Download Cache" button at the bottom.

 

[Ketchup]

Another thought is to try cleaning the steam d/l cache.Per

From your Steam Client, open the Settings panel by selecting "Steam > Settings" from the top left client menu.

In the Settings panel, select the Downloads tab and you'll find the "Clear Download Cache" button at the bottom.

Do you know if this can be done from the website? Steam won't stay unfrozen long enough for me to do this.

As far as the drive, I originally had steam on an SSD and it did the same thing. I can't open task manager or anything. Always takes a hard shutdown.

 

[deustroop]

The d/l cache appears accessible only from the client application.
You can switch the controller driver from device manager, reboot and try the steam client .

 

[mxnerd]

Try Steam Cleaner

https://github.com/Codeusa/SteamCleaner/

https://github.com/Codeusa/SteamCleaner/releases

 

[deustroop]

Have you tried the application in safe mode ? May indicate whether the problem is steam or the system. Also if the drive is a hdd, defrag. Finally, check the speakers.

Right click the little speaker icon in the Windows taskbar notification area and choose "Playback devices" (or go to control panel and choose "Sound")

Double click the "Speakers" device (or right click on the "Speakers" playback device and choose properties).

Go to the tab with the "disable all enhancements" checkbox and check the box

Click the OK button.

 

[Ketchup]

No sound enhancements are enabled, and the steam cleaner only removes data from the drive from what I can see. That was already taken care of when the drive containing the steam installation and all steam apps was removed (I ran the uninstall first jik).

 

[Ketchup]

Well I **MIGHT** have fixed the issue. Uninstalled a few Windows updates with no change them finally Asus AI Suite (it was disabled from startup when the problem first started, but still installed). Uninstalled, rebooted, and the computer is now running CS:GO with no issues. Will keep an eye on it and report back.

Interestingly, that program (AI Suite) first started giving me issues with Fall Creators update. I found a newer version for another Z97 board, and it seemed to be working fine until this week. So if this holds out, I'll just start tweaking from the BIOS. The program was very handy though.

 

[Alpha One Seven]

Uninstall Steam. Problem solved.

 

[joash]

Thought I was the only one with this issue. Steam was the problem and uninstalling it fixed the freezes. Wondering if anyone found a good fix for this? Was wondering if the recent windows 10 update had something to do with this....

 

[deustroop]

ok

 

[Ketchup]

Thought I was the only one with this issue. Steam was the problem and uninstalling it fixed the freezes. Wondering if anyone found a good fix for this? Was wondering if the recent windows 10 update had something to do with this....

Unfortunately, these major updates (like the Creators update) seem to always give me an issue with an program or a game. I don't think I am alone here either. Sometimes it just takes an uninstall/reinstall, sometimes it takes a newer version, and sometimes, like in this case, it takes a total removal of a program. I hope Microsoft does something about this. As a user, all I am trying to do here is use their OS. I am not going out of my way to get Beta updates or anything like that.

 

[XavierMace]

To play Devil's advocate though, I've had zero issues with any of the major update on any of my home PC's or any of the ones at work. That always makes me wonder if there's a reason some people have more issues with them than others.