OS X Steam keeps asking to update - stuck in loop

[bmac89]

Hello,

Steam self updater keeps asking me to update, which I have done multiple times. However everytime I launch Steam, an OS X dialogue appears: "Steam needs to self-update before launching. Type password to allow this."
I do this and a second Steam icon pops up on the dock with the usual Steam updating... extracting package... then the second icon disappears and Steam launches as per normal.

Then again while running Steam it asks to update. I have been stuck in this loop since the update arrived 8th October.

I am running Steam build 7 October API: v017 on mac mini (late 2012) running Yosemite 10.10.5

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[Dirtyharry50]

There is a simple way to reset steam by deleting everything in the Steam folder except for the Steamapps folder within it that contains your games and then reinstalling Steam which will automatically pick up on the presence of the games in Steamapps when reinstalled. I do not remember the instructions precisely though so just in case there is anything slightly different to do other than what I just mentioned, go verify that on the steam forum for Mac. You can just go there via browser at steampowered.com and visit the forum I believe.

Otherwise, if you submit a support ticket I think you will fairly quickly get a canned response back that will include those instructions to reset steam. In fact, the support pages probably already have that posted too.

If you don't want to wait, you can try just doing what I mentioned but be sure you backup your complete Steam folder first just to ensure you don't run into a problem. Hopefully it already is on Time Machine anyway? If so, I'd go ahead and do it. Just make sure you do not delete the Steamapps folder because it contains the common folder and that contains all of your installed games.

Last but not least, in case you don't already know this: steam resides in your library/Application Support folder so that is where you need to go to do this stuff.

 

[bmac89]

There is a simple way to reset steam by deleting everything in the Steam folder except for the Steamapps folder within it that contains your games and then reinstalling Steam which will automatically pick up on the presence of the games in Steamapps when reinstalled. I do not remember the instructions precisely though so just in case there is anything slightly different to do other than what I just mentioned, go verify that on the steam forum for Mac. You can just go there via browser at steampowered.com and visit the forum I believe.

Otherwise, if you submit a support ticket I think you will fairly quickly get a canned response back that will include those instructions to reset steam. In fact, the support pages probably already have that posted too.

If you don't want to wait, you can try just doing what I mentioned but be sure you backup your complete Steam folder first just to ensure you don't run into a problem. Hopefully it already is on Time Machine anyway? If so, I'd go ahead and do it. Just make sure you do not delete the Steamapps folder because it contains the common folder and that contains all of your installed games.

Last but not least, in case you don't already know this: steam resides in your library/Application Support folder so that is where you need to go to do this stuff.

Thanks, I will give that a try

On a side note - I would never even bother with Steam support. From previous experience they never bother to respond apart from the auto response to say that they will respond! Last time I contacted them regarding a technical issue which was not documented on forums, FAQ, support page or outside of Steam was over two months ago and not a single word from them since. This has been my experience prior to this as well with a support ticket sent through the steam app this time last year and still no response. They don't seem to give a hoot about mac!

 

[Dirtyharry50]

Thanks, I will give that a try

On a side note - I would never even bother with Steam support. From previous experience they never bother to respond apart from the auto response to say that they will respond! Last time I contacted them regarding a technical issue which was not documented on forums, FAQ, support page or outside of Steam was over two months ago and not a single word from them since. This has been my experience prior to this as well with a support ticket sent through the steam app this time last year and still no response. They don't seem to give a hoot about mac!

You do have a point there. I was thinking you might get the right canned response with a little luck. I have rarely tried to contact them for any reason in the past as I know they are largely useless. In fact, I did send a ticket recently over something users could not help with and I got a reply telling me they would email me a reply. I forget when that was now. I guess the dog must have ate it or something. That was probably it.

 

[usefree]

Hello,

Steam self updater keeps asking me to update, which I have done multiple times. However everytime I launch Steam, an OS X dialogue appears: "Steam needs to self-update before launching. Type password to allow this."
I do this and a second Steam icon pops up on the dock with the usual Steam updating... extracting package... then the second icon disappears and Steam launches as per normal.

Then again while running Steam it asks to update. I have been stuck in this loop since the update arrived 8th October.

I am running Steam build 7 October API: v017 on mac mini (late 2012) running Yosemite 10.10.5

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

View attachment 591531

Hi bmac89,

I had the same problem for my son's Steam on my mac mini. The steam app in my Mac user account (admin) never had the issue, but on my son's Mac user account (user) always had asked for my admin userid and password. Googling with no luck for a while, I looked through my hard drive where the downloaded Steam client patches are piling up and thought about the following steps to fool the steam app. It worked for me, although I do not know how long it will last.

0. Login to the Mac user account
1. Quit Steam
2. Open Terminal
3. Login as root (super user) su -
4. Go to the Steam's Application Support Directory cd /Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Steam
5. Archive the package folder mv package package_old
6. Create a new package folder mkdir package
7. Quit Terminal
8. Open Steam
9. In the menubar, go to Steam>Check for Updates... Viola!

Good luck! Hope this works for you, too.