Fix: Steam thinks its running in compatibility mode

[ZeroHour]

Hey Zero Hour,

 

First let me thank you for taking an interest in my problem.

 

I have checked, and yes, both my graphics card and sound card drivers have been updated to the latest version.

 

The sound card I have is a Realtek AC'97 Audio

 

I do not see any kind of error message whatsoever. The desktop simply appears immediately without any error messages.

 

I checked my card settings in the Nvidia control panel.

 

I am running a nvidia 8800 gts graphics card along with two hard drives. One of which was installed recently.

 

I hope this helps you narrow down a fix

 

Thanks again for all your help,

Kyle

 

Hi

Can you check your event log for errors in it?

Start->Control Panel->(icon view rather then category)->administrative tools->event viewer

You have a realtek ac97, its a chip with LOTS of issues. Did you use the drivers from your motherboard manufacturer (or dell for example) first as they can customise the chip a little (to save cash) and it still named the same thing. I would try disabling your sound card using device manager (also in control panel) and launching the game to see if that does anything.

 

Cheers

[ZeroHour]

When I try to install a game or just use Steam on my desktop it starts and when I enter my account name and password and click login it crashes and Windows tells me that "Steam 732897 is not responding".

 

Sometimes before it does this it will try to update Steam but I am getting very slow download speeds, around 3 Kb/s when I know my internet connection is better than that and I can download other things at normal and faster speeds while it updates.

 

What do I have to do to make Steam not crash and let me install my games?

 

Hi

Can you double check in steams settings you have the correct country listed? I know they were having some download speed issues at christmas. Also I would try changing your dns to googles of 8.8.8.8 firstly and see if that helps a little.

I would also wait for steam to do its thing. Windows can show its not responding but its still could be doing things in the background. If after 5 minutes nothing has happened I would then end steam but I have had *freezes* like this when installing/starting steam.

[ThaProphet07]

Hey Zero, thank you for your suggestions. I focused on my internet connection and modem/router settings after reading the post (as opposed to looking at my anti-virus programs) and I had my router and modem configurations setup wrong since August. It didn't cross my mind that I had chose the wrong settings, but I must have been tired or something when I did it 5 months ago.

 

I set my modem back to bridged mode, set the router back to PPPoE and enabled gaming mode. It was either the 2 firewalls were turned on at the same time and slowed the connection, or it was because both my modem and my router were trying to find independent connections. Either way, I also have a bit faster download/upload speed :DDDDD.

 

Anyways, thank you very much. I hear other people have very similar issues as I on the steam forums so I will post my problem and solution there.

[ZeroHour]

Hey Zero, thank you for your suggestions. I focused on my internet connection and modem/router settings after reading the post (as opposed to looking at my anti-virus programs) and I had my router and modem configurations setup wrong since August. It didn't cross my mind that I had chose the wrong settings, but I must have been tired or something when I did it 5 months ago.

 

I set my modem back to bridged mode, set the router back to PPPoE and enabled gaming mode. It was either the 2 firewalls were turned on at the same time and slowed the connection, or it was because both my modem and my router were trying to find independent connections. Either way, I also have a bit faster download/upload speed :DDDDD.

 

Anyways, thank you very much. I hear other people have very similar issues as I on the steam forums so I will post my problem and solution there.

 

Hi

glad to hear your problems are sorted and glad to be of help

Just link them to this page/thread and I will see if I can assist.

[kyle1337]

Hi

Can you check your event log for errors in it?

Start->Control Panel->(icon view rather then category)->administrative tools->event viewer

You have a realtek ac97, its a chip with LOTS of issues. Did you use the drivers from your motherboard manufacturer (or dell for example) first as they can customise the chip a little (to save cash) and it still named the same thing. I would try disabling your sound card using device manager (also in control panel) and launching the game to see if that does anything.

 

Cheers

 

I checked the event viewer and the only error that seemed pertinent and was logged on a recurring basis (i tried to get the game working a number of times) was the following:

 

"The NVIDIA Display Driver Service service has reported an invalid current state 32"

 

I am just about to try turning off my sound card but after seeing these recurring errors i wanted to post this immediately.

 

Thanks,

Kyle

[kyle1337]

Hi

Can you check your event log for errors in it?

Start->Control Panel->(icon view rather then category)->administrative tools->event viewer

You have a realtek ac97, its a chip with LOTS of issues. Did you use the drivers from your motherboard manufacturer (or dell for example) first as they can customise the chip a little (to save cash) and it still named the same thing. I would try disabling your sound card using device manager (also in control panel) and launching the game to see if that does anything.

 

Cheers

 

Update:

 

I reinstalled the latest nvidia driver as well as turned off the sound card and still no luck. From what i read the issue with that error message has to do with the latest driver for nvidia. Unfortunately I could not find a fix. Hope you can figure something out.

 

Thanks again,

Kyle

[ZeroHour]

Update:

 

I reinstalled the latest nvidia driver as well as turned off the sound card and still no luck. From what i read the issue with that error message has to do with the latest driver for nvidia. Unfortunately I could not find a fix. Hope you can figure something out.

 

Thanks again,

Kyle

 

You have a very common problem it appears. I am having a hunt for a fix for that error but you could try running L4D2 with all the ingame graphics settings set to the min and see if it loads.

People seem to be linking it to DX10 games but I am sure l4d2 is not dx10. Also I would try disabling Aero (aka transparent start menu etc) and see if there is a issue with it running in the background with the game. I have 64bit w7 so I have not got those entries with my card.

I am having a look for more suggestions.

[kyle1337]

You have a very common problem it appears. I am having a hunt for a fix for that error but you could try running L4D2 with all the ingame graphics settings set to the min and see if it loads.

People seem to be linking it to DX10 games but I am sure l4d2 is not dx10. Also I would try disabling Aero (aka transparent start menu etc) and see if there is a issue with it running in the background with the game. I have 64bit w7 so I have not got those entries with my card.

I am having a look for more suggestions.

 

Thanks for all the effort zero hour,

 

One suggestion i came across was to revert back to an older display driver. The consensus seems to be that the problem occurs because of a lack of quality with nvidia's new drivers. What is your opinion on going back to an old driver? good idea? bad idea? and why?

 

Thanks again for all your help, I am just about to try your fixes and will let you know if they work.

 

Regards,

Kyle

[ZeroHour]

Thanks for all the effort zero hour,

 

One suggestion i came across was to revert back to an older display driver. The consensus seems to be that the problem occurs because of a lack of quality with nvidia's new drivers. What is your opinion on going back to an old driver? good idea? bad idea? and why?

 

Thanks again for all your help, I am just about to try your fixes and will let you know if they work.

 

Regards,

Kyle

 

Its okay to roll back (or try a beta?) but one thing to remember is every new driver release usually includes newly released games fixes/optimization so if you go too far back and have bought a game that has a later fix you may have issues with the later game but both beta and rollback are worth a go to find the cause.

[-_Conartist]

Okay same problem with windows 7 re downloading a patch when the message comes up i've followed the To fix the issue:

 

1. Hit start->run->regedit

2. Go to key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers

3. Look for a entry with your path to steam.exe

4. Delete that entry

5. If you dont find it there try HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers

 

which is listed above

steam is now working but...

Steam is black and is now not responding any help?

[ZeroHour]

Okay same problem with windows 7 re downloading a patch when the message comes up i've followed the To fix the issue:

 

1. Hit start->run->regedit

2. Go to key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers

3. Look for a entry with your path to steam.exe

4. Delete that entry

5. If you dont find it there try HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers

 

which is listed above

steam is now working but...

Steam is black and is now not responding any help?

 

What graphics card do you have?

Does leaving it for 5 minutes fix the issue?

 

Kyle:

New drivers were just released. Please check out the latest drivers on nvidia.com.

DirectX 9 version of several applications (for example, Assassinʹs Creed, Avatar, Pro

Evolution Soccer 2010, Far Cry 2) crash after the Intro video when using the default

settings. [621742]

I wonder...

[Moose2212]

hi there txs for the post on this compatability tried the first one you suggested & the only 2 files that were shown were :-ab(Default) REG_SZ (value not set) the 2nd file in there was abF:\VSWizard.exe REG_SZ RUNASAADMIN.So i tried the second & the 2 files in there were as follows :- ab(Default) REG_SZ (value not set) abC:\Program File... REG_SZ VISTARTM so am still non the wiser as how to sort this out ma tearing what little hair i have left out please could you help many txs

[Dragoonki]

awesome, that fixed my first problem lol

[Helpmeplease]

:oHey ZeroHour I really hope you can help.....

 

Obviousley, by the name, I created this account to ask you how to fix a problem I keep having.... You seem like a bit of a whiz so I thought I may aswell ask...... Basically, when I try and start up steam it says Its logging into my account..... I wait, and I wait..... when finally 1-2 mins later it shows up with a message saying:

 

 

Could not connect to Steam network.

This could be due to a problem with you Internet connection, or with the

Steam network. Please visit Steampowered for more Info

 

My internet is fine, and it isnt the steam network because all my mates can log in fine, and on top of that steampowered is as useful as an a$$ on my elbow......

 

But seriously, Im getting increasingly more anxious as Febuary the 9th looms near (Bioshock 2 release date) and Im hoping that I will fix it by then.

 

P.S Im worried because Im 95% sure Bioshock has to initiate with steam.....

 

PLEASE HELP!

[ninjabeaver]

Are you running behind a broadband router?

 

I had a D-Link Router which absolutely refused to play with Steam. I had to bin it and buy a Netgear in the end. This was a year or two ago though.

[ZeroHour]

Moose2212: What error are you getting? What OS are you running?

 

Helpmeplease: I get the same error sometimes but restarting steam usually fixes it. What OS are you on per chance? What ISP also?

[Helpmeplease]

Im not sure what an ISP and a D router is (gamer lol) but i have windows premium 64 bit

[ZeroHour]

ISP = Internet Service Provider (aka who supply your internet connection)

D-Link are a company (like netgear etc) that make network devices.

Do you link to your internet connection using wifi/usb/network cable?

[Helpmeplease]

Ah, well my ISP is bigpond (broadband) and I use a network cable

[SeanBrentJ]

Can anyone Help? I just downloaded it and i downloaded and installed Americas Army 3. Everytime i try to play the game it says Game currently unavalable try again atanother time

[shivahn]

Hello, i have had this problem aswell after installing Steam on window 7 64bit. Once i open up steam this pop up "Running Steam in Windows compatibility mode is not recommended. Please remove any Windows compatibility settings for all users under file properties for Steam.exe and restart Steam. Press 'Cancel' to premanently ignore this warning and continue." I tried the both you have posted by going into both the registery but i couldnt find steam.exe. I then hit cancal to permantly ignore this warnining and it opened up steam without any problem. Im just wondering if this would damage the system in any way? Thanks!

[p3nt0s]

yeah, i've done everything even what you suggested nothing works i've done everything thing the steam forums suggested i don't know what to do i have windows 7 professional and at time it'll let me reinstall steam but sometimes when it is uploading the platform it'll try 3-5 times before an error comes up saying "steam is temporary unavailable, please try again later" can someone help me i've been told its a corrupt file in the installation but i have no clue how to get it out... can someone please help me

 

 

see if there is a program named hl.exe running, if it is try shut it down.

[Gonads]

Yet another person who has joined to say thanks. Also might be an IT professional in a couple of years so may as well get registered now.

 

Just thought I would CRUSH the idea that it was something to do with NVIDEA drivers as I have an ATI card. I also saw L4D2 mentioned although for a different problem...it did the compatibility thing after I was playing that and closed steam earlier so maybe a link there.

 

This steam being unavailable message only occurs for me when I put the wrong password in or no internets exist.

 

Thanks again. Was going to happily say cancel and go on my merry way but I felt like I was being ignorant not dealing with it.

[whoknows]

SOLUTION IF the first step didn't work and btw this worked for me.

 

Hit start->run->regedit

Go to key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers

Look for a entry with your path to steam.exe

Delete that entry

If you dont find it there try HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers

 

Okay now for 2nd step; Mainly your just deleting another folder in regedit; and for the proffesionals out there feel free to test as this worked for me.

 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> Software

You should now see a folder named "Valve". Delete it, the hole folder (left click folder "Valve" right click and delete, confirm deletion)

 

Okay now close the Regedi; go to steam and click properties and click compatability mode click "Change settings for all users" un-check compatability mode and Run as administrator. Apply and close it. Stream shall now work for you. I do hope the administrators of this website put this up cause it worked for me, as as a vista user i can proudly say nothing is ever easy >,<

[p1nkelephan7s]

Thanks, this was very helpful to me, as I see it was to a lot of other people!