Help Me! Can't Access US Servers

[Inanna Eloah]

I posted another thread about this same thing in another part of the forum, and one of the folks who responded suggested I put a Help Me! thread in here, so yeah, here it is.

I have a weird problem where if I'm logged into Steam on my gaming rig, and I try to find Skial servers that are based in the United States, the server browser acts as if the servers don't exist. I've also noticed that if I go to the Skial website server list and click on the servers there, a Steam client window pops up saying the server is not responding and won't open the game.

That said, I can access all those servers using my refurbished laptop. I have a single Internet modem and no router whatsoever, and the modem isn't wireless so in order to hook up my laptop to the Internet I have to swap the Ethernet cable from the desktop to the laptop. Otherwise, it's the same exact connection. I also use the exact same account on the laptop that I do on the desktop.

But this is really bothering me. It's as if the Skial servers in the United States simply cease to exist when I'm running TF2 on my desktop. I know that's not what's really going on, but still that's how Steam treats it. If I try to access a Skial EU server, I instantly connect, no problem at all. It is only US servers that are doing this to me, and only when I'm using my desktop computer.

 

[chuckwagon]

Carrying over from the previous thread- when you try to ping the servers from the command prompt, are you including the port? If there are colons, don't include anything after the colon. For example, 2Fort NY fast is 74.91.116.159:27016. But you will only want to ping 74.91.116.159. The :27016 part just helps the server identify your computer through network address translation.

Going back to the server browser, check all the variables, latency, map, server not full, has users playing, etc. If there is anything specified in any of these fields, it could be unintentionally filtering out the servers that you are looking for.

That is my guess, since the searches work on a different machine on the same network. I think it is a server browser issue.

Also check the blacklisted servers tab to see if you accidentaly blacklisted them, and check your history tab to see if they show up there. Maybe also check friends tab if you know you have a friend playing on one of the servers that you are trying to get to.

Let me know if you have any luck.

 

[Inanna Eloah]

Carrying over from the previous thread- when you try to ping the servers from the command prompt, are you including the port? If there are colons, don't include anything after the colon. For example, 2Fort NY fast is 74.91.116.159:27016. But you will only want to ping 74.91.116.159. The :27016 part just helps the server identify your computer through network address translation.

Going back to the server browser, check all the variables, latency, map, server not full, has users playing, etc. If there is anything specified in any of these fields, it could be unintentionally filtering out the servers that you are looking for.

That is my guess, since the searches work on a different machine on the same network. I think it is a server browser issue.

Also check the blacklisted servers tab to see if you accidentaly blacklisted them, and check your history tab to see if they show up there. Maybe also check friends tab if you know you have a friend playing on one of the servers that you are trying to get to.

Let me know if you have any luck.

I didn't know about the parts after the colons, so thank you for letting me know.

There is nothing in my server browser that is any whit different between machines. I've checked the history tab on the desktop and it does not acknowledge time I've played on any US-based Skial server, at all. Also, I don't have any of the Skial servers blacklisted.

And again, I'm also having the same trouble if I try to join the servers directly through the list on this site, which makes me think this is not a server browser issue, but rather an issue with my computer or maybe my Steam installation.

EDIT:

I just tried what you suggested, removing the stuff after the colon. No change at all, and like I said, clicking on an EU server loaded the game right up, but clicking on an active US server brought up the error that I mentioned before. For whatever reason, my Steam installation doesn't like the US servers at all, and insists they're either nonexistent or not working.

 

[chuckwagon]

One other thing- QoS (quality of service) settings on the router. I once tried to tweak QoS settings on my router to prioritize my gaming desktop over other devices on my network and it have the opposite effect. It gave my local US servers pings so high that my sever browser was selecting EU servers first.

 

[Inanna Eloah]

One other thing- QoS (quality of service) settings on the router. I once tried to tweak QoS settings on my router to prioritize my gaming desktop over other devices on my network and it have the opposite effect. It gave my local US servers pings so high that my sever browser was selecting EU servers first.

I'm not using a router, just a standard cable modem. I haven't changed any of the settings on the modem at all. All I've done with it in the last several days is power cycle it because my Internet browser was sluggish.

 

[Inanna Eloah]

A little update for you all. I'm not sure what happened, but this morning I was able to access the servers again. Given that nothing worked last night, I'm going to assume that it just fixed itself.

Crossposting this into both my relevant threads.