FIXED!!! - got hl2 for christmas, installed, registered, game wont start

[Wiz]

I saw some old posts about this here, but after trying what others said worked for them I still cant get it to run.

Geforce 5900
1G ram
AMD XP 2400+ (1700 OC'd to 2400)
Asus A7n8X Deluxe

Game tries to start, gets just past "Loading..." then goes to white screen.
I can "hear" menu sounds, when I press "down" & hit enter there are menu type beeps and there's some background game noise, but just this white screen. Doesn't matter if it's full screen or windowed.

I upgraded to the latest graphics drivers from the nvidia site, I made sure I have Directx 9.0C, etc..

Any other ideas what to try here? This was my one and only present, from the kids to me & I'd like to get it running instead of having to try to return it.
Thanks.

 

[PottedMeat]

i'm not sure if my problem was like that, but i couldn't get the game to start (i got to the main menu, but i couldn't get into the first level )

the game kept crashing with the most recent nvidia drivers, so i switched over to the 61.76 drivers ->got it working right away

if that doesnt work, are you overclocking? maybe throttling it down to stock speeds might work. kill any apps you dont absolutely need before running hl2
maybe the system Event Viewer will tell you what happened

 

[Wiz]

I really don't think it's a system stability issue - I have successfully used games like Doom3 on this setup and it crunches seti 24/7 except when trying to run games. I'd be more inclined to think it's a driver issue, but it sure didn't have any problems with Doom3.

The "help" over on the Steam forums leaves a lot to be desired. A lot of people complaining that they "can't get HL2 to run and nobody from the Valve / Steam / Sierra cares"

The "help" at Sierra is anemic as well.

I spent about 4 hours last night trying to get this working, @ 2AM I finally gave up and decidto post here as AnandTech forum people are definitely more helpful than the rest.

I did update my nvidia graphics driver to 66.93 which someone else reported as fixing their problem.

Whether I start it in a window or full screen it gets past the "Loading" screen and I get this white display.
I can hear sounds and if I click places on the white screen I hear "menu beeps" and if I use "Up / down" and "Enter" then I also hear beeps and I hear some background game sounds like footsteps and a guy talking.

 

[Wiz]

Just updated my sound drivers, no change with HL2 tho.

 

[igowerf]

Right click on the Steam icon in your system tray and go to monitor. Is it downloading an update? If it is, let it finish updating before running the game. For some reason, Steam lets you run the game before its fully downloaded or updated.

 

[Wiz]

right, saw that one over at their forum - no downloads in process

By randomly pressing "down" when it's at the white screen "menu" then hitting enter I got into the game.
"Good morning Mr Freeman" someone said from the white screen...
Pressed keys at random and things happened.
Pressing "esc" pauses the disembodied white screen voice and then hitting that key again resumes the droning.
The game runs, I guess I'm in "Half Life 2 for the blind mode".

 

[duragezic]

Still sounds like video drivers. I'd try a different set of them. I have no experience with Nvidia drivers though. When I have ATI game-driver issues I often check out Rage3d.com forums. Is there anything like that for Nvidia cards?

edit: Your game sounds like its working fine otherwise, since you could start a new one and get to the intro video. Maybe it's a gamma or brightness issue because of the drivers?

 

[Wiz]

Well, the game does start & run but I'm telling you the screen is pure white. I've seen washed out gamma before and it's not like this.
Also when a menu item comes up it is sometimes in a rectangular black box. So I get a white screen with a small black rectangle. Seems it's one of those "are you sure you wanna do this?" things. I hit Y or ENter & it goes away & something else happens as evidenced by the sound effects.

 

[Wiz]

I kept on banging my head against this wall and guess what???

It's working!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I went to guru3d & found the latest nvidia beta driver and installed it, version 71.20c

Now everything just works!!
Just was playing HL2 @ 1280x1024 with 4x AA & man was it cool

Weird that the latest WHQL certified drivers wouldn't work :|

 

[ChurchOfSubgenius]

I have sort of the same problem, mine gets to "game loading" (after street scene where you choose new game) and the locks up computer at about 80% loaded.

I have a Radeon 9500/9700 with the Omega drivers, I just loaded new drive last night after my hard drive caught on fire...truth, so I don't think I have a problem with anything else that is loaded.

 

[Wiz]

WOW fire???

Are you overclocking a tad too much?
Have you tried any memory test programs?