Ive recently had to format my computer, before the format i had steam and it worked fine.

Ive just yesterday downloaded and installed Steam.

The first strange thing that happens is that when it auto-updates after installation the update window disappears at about 26% only to reappear at 35% (give or take a few percent).

Secondly when i restart my computer, upon startup i get the error;

"Steam.exe (main exception): Win32 StructuredException at 0259828F: Attempt to read from virtual address 10672 without appropriate access rights."

Lastly when steam opens and i enter my account information, click 'Login' i get the error message;

"Could not connect to Steam Network.
This could be due to a problem with your internet connection, or with the Steam Network. Please visit www.steampowered.com for more info."

Ive read all the support pages about this and cant seem to fix it. Ive tried installing Steam from the CD aswell as from the internet and get the same results. I sent an email to steam trying to find a solution and they simply told me to look at the FAQS, which ive already done.

I don't have a firewall at the moment as i uninstalled it in the hope it would allow steam to run. I dont have anything working in the background like that that i know of and dont have SP2 yet as i wanted to sort this first.

Any ideas how i can fix this? If you need anymore information, such as a HJT log then just ask, dont know if it will help or not.

Do you at least have SP1?

A certain level of update might be neccessary for alot of applications to work.

Also one should not be online without at least SP1.

I would recommend installing SP2 & all subsequent Critical Updates before anything else.