This is truly painful...still not logged in after putting my password in at least 100 times...
Looking on the Steam website and found these tips...
I have Steam installed but I can't connect
ANSWER
PLEASE NOTE:
If the Steam Network is down or too busy you may not be able to connect to the Steam Network at this time!
You can always look at the Steam Status Page and see if there is something is going on. If the last update for that page is more then 20 or 30 minutes behind, that is a good indicator of a problem.
Please also check to see if there are other players having the same problem on the Steampowered Forums.
If the Network is down, you will just need to be patient and wait until the problem gets cleared.
If everything else seems to be ok and no one else is reporting this problem then you can try exiting from Steam and deleting your ClientRegistry.blob file (typically):
C:\Program Files\Steam\Clientregistry.blob
General Fixes:
Assuming that your connection to the Internet is working on other applications (browser, e-mail, etc.), connection problems with Steam can occur for a number of reasons. The most common are outlined below.
1. Your Internet Connection
Check the stability and reliability of your Internet connection.
An unstable connection can cause Steam to download improperly, or your attempt to connect to a server might time out.
There are online tools that allow you to check for problems with your connection, including the following:
http://www.dslreports.com/tools
http://www.speedguide.net/analyzer.php
If you suspect that you are having problems relating to your connection, please contact your ISP.
2. P2P Applications
Make sure that you're not running P2P programs like Kazaa or LimeWire in the background. These programs can consume a large portion of your bandwidth.
3. Security and Anti-Virus Software
If you're using security or anti-virus software, train it to recognize Steam.exe and all instances of HL.exe as trusted programs. Consult your program manuals for how to do this.
4. Firewalls and Routers
If your computer is behind a router or firewall, you'll need to open the ports that Steam uses to connect to the Internet.
Note that you'll need to train your software firewall to recognize both Steam.exe and the HL.exe executable for the games you're running.
If your configuration software requires the port numbers, use the following:
*
UDP 1200
*
UDP 27000 to 27015 inclusive
*
TCP 27015 to 27039 inclusive
For help on port forwarding for your Router, please consult this excellent website:
http://www.portforward.com.
For assistance with your Firewall you will need to go to the support site for your particular Firewall. Windows XP SP1 firewall does not require any specific configuration changes for Steam to work.
5. Viruses, spyware and malware, netlimiting, anonymous IP masking programs
Connection problems can also arise if your system is infected with a virus or spyware. Programs like Cybersitter, Netlimiter and Stegnos Anonymous Internet also interfere with normal Steam operations.
There are many free applications to help remove spyware.
Here are some links we have found to be useful:
http://www.computercops.biz
http://www.io.com/~cwagner/spyware.html
http://www.dslreports.com/faq/spyware
6. Steam Related fixes:
If you have ruled out the external problems we've outlined above, you can also do the following:
a. If Steam related files became corrupted, they can interfere with Steam?s ability to connect, you may have to delete or re-install these files.
Steam and HL related files that can get corrupted:
*
ClientRegistry.blob file,
*
Steam.exe and Steam.dll files
*
Steam's GCF files,
*
any custom game content you may have installed.
b. Make sure that you're not running Steam.exe and HL.exe under compatibility mode in Windows XP.
c. Make sure that you don't have two network cards installed which might cause problems.
If you are having connect problems, disable all network connections except the one associated with your internet connection. Also, disable QoS, uPNP and Wireless Zero services if your connection has these enabled. Only TCP/IP should be enabled as a service in your network properties.
d. Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) will not support Steam
e. ISP providers that use transparent proxy caching methods or that mask your IP address can also cause Steam to fail to connect.
f. NOTE: Many Colleges, Universities, Schools and Large Corporations are now actively blocking ports to prevent virus, trojan and Internet worm problems as well as to prevent misuse of their networks.
If you are having problems and you are on one of these complex networks that are intentionally blocking ports required for Steam to work then you may not be able to connect to Steam and play.
About all you can do is to take the Steam required port list to the network administrators and ask them if those ports are blocked.
Many of these networks will unforunately also mask your IP address and so may prevent Steam from working. This is a different problem from port blocking and is related to Proxy and / or NAT translating twice. For example, there might be a router doing NAT in your Dorm that then feeds another NAT translating router that services just one part of the Campus.
If this is happening then you probably won't be able to run Steam over the Campus network.
g. If all else fails, try uninstalling Steam (use the add/remove option in the control panel) and re-install a fresh copy.
I can't log into my Steam Account, what do I do?
I can't log into my Steam Account, what do I do?
I can't remember my Password
I can't remember my Secret Question/Answer
I can't remember my Steam Account Name
ANSWER
PLEASE NOTE:
If the Steam Network is down you will not be able to log into your Account!
You can always look at the Steam Status Page and see if there is something is going on. If the last update for that page is more then 20 or 30 minutes behind, that is a good indicator of a problem.
Please also check to see if there are other players having the same problem on the Steampowered Forums.
If the Network is down, you will just need to be patient and wait until the problem gets cleared.
If everything else seems to be ok and no one else is reporting this problem then you can try exiting from Steam and deleting your ClientRegistry.blob file (typically):
C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\Clientregistry.blob
Your Password
The most common cause of this problem is that you forgot your password.
Often, players will log in, check the box in the login window that says "remember password" then play for weeks or months without having to enter their password, then the day comes when they need it and they don't remember it.
Steam provides an easy way to recover your password, all you have to do is click on the button in the logon menu that says:
"Retrieve a lost account".
An email will be sent to the contact email address with the account information.
Of course, if you changed your email address and did not update your
contact email address then you will be in trouble.
PLEASE, ALWAYS KEEP YOUR CONTACT EMAIL ADDRESS UP TO DATE.
Here are all your options:
1. You Know Your Account Name and Password
-------------------------------------------------
a. You can log in and play
b. You can change your secret question and answer
c. You can change your password
d. You can change your contact email
2. You know Your Account Name but not Your Password
----------------------------------------------------------
a. You can use Your Secret Question/Answer to make a new Password (email sent)
b. If you don't know your Password or your Secret Question/Answer then you can try filling out the ASK A QUESTION Form and request assistance.
Required Information when you submit an Account Question:
o Your Account Name, including any old Account names
o Your CDKeys
o Your Email Addresses including any old email addresses
o If you purchased the game online, provide the last 4 digits of the
Credit Card used for the purchase.
NOTE: Be sure to provide as much information about your account as you can.
3. You Don't Know Your Account Name
----------------------------------------
a. Use CDKey to Retrieve Account Name (email sent)
b. Use Contact Name to Retrieve Account Name (email sent)
c. If you don't know your Account Name or your CDKey or Contact Name then there is nothing anyone can do to help you.
4. Special Problem:
You know you Account name but the Contact Email is wrong or old.
----------------------------------------------------------------
This is difficult because even if you know the answer to the secret question, the email with the verification code will never be able to come to you.
The only thing you can do in that case is fill out the ASK A QUESTION Form and describe your problem as well as provide what information you have.
Try to provide as much information as possible.
Other Problems:
Second Account Problem
The next most common reason is players forget their account name, then create a second account that is almost the same. This happens especially if a player used an email address for the account name, his first account might be
joe@aol.com then he forgot that and created a second account "joe" and will try and use that account to play, but of course his CDKey is registered to his first account so he can't play any games.
Your account names are always used as a folder name in your Steam installation, you can look in your directories to see what your account name is. All of the account names will be there unless you uninstall Steam or manually delete your Steam installation.
Not Your Account
Occasionally, players will try and log into someone else's account thinking it is theirs, most often if they are trying to log into an account that is their nickname rather then their actual account name.
Again, using the recover account option is the fastest method to get back online.
Weak Passwords
One common problem is that players might use a very weak or bad or predictable password on their account which might let a thief gain access and hijack the account. Of course, the first thing that will happen is the thief will change the password and contact email address so the owner is unable to retrieve the account.
If you currently have a password that is the same as your email or account name or your nickname, your first or last name or any easy word with less then 6 characters then you are in considerable risk and should immediately change your password to a more secure sequence.
Some good rules for passwords are:
* Be as long as possible (never shorter than 6 characters).
* Include mixed upper and lower case letters if possible.
* Include numeric digits if possible.
* Do Not use anything related to your personal information.
* Do Not use any dictionary word, in any language.
Firewalls
The last situation you might run into is where you used "logout and exit" and then have an internet connection problem (most typically caused by your firewall). This also happens when you delete the Clientregistry.blob file which stores your password.
In this case, when you try to run Steam, it will come up and tell you that you can't log into Steam until you connect to the internet. Because your firewall is selectively blocking only Steam (usually due to an update) you can still browse the web so it looks like you don't have an internet problem, and indeed, you don't. What you have is a firewall problem.
The solution there is to open your Firewall User Interface and remove all references to Steam.exe and HL.exe, then run Steam again. This time, your Firewall will ask you if you want to allow Steam to have access to the internet and so you say yes, and now Steam will connect to the Steam Network and ask you to log in.
In the unfortunate case where the player installed a firewall, then manually deleted the firewall directory and executables (he didn't use the add/remove uninstall tool) he might very well still have parts of the firewall running in memory where he can't see them, but they are still there trying to protect him from problems.
In this case, Steam and HL will work until the game executables get updated, and then the Firewall will see that the signatures have changed and will start blocking Steam and HL from accessing the internet.
This is the most common cause of Steam getting stuck updating and then give the message "Failed to connect to the Steam Network"
Unfortunately, there is no user interface left for the player to control the firewall, and in fact doesn't even think he has a firewall installed so he's stuck.
Usually the only way to fix this is to go re-install the same firewall or an update of that firewall and then uninstall it properly using the add/remove tool in the control panel.
If you are unable to remove the blockage and you are unable to repair your installation then often the only last option is to re-install your operating system.