Okay, so i experienced this just yesterday and the day before that all was good. i tried reinstalling java, game client and tried everything Instructed in the technical issues page, as well as verifying cache.
Nothing worked and still need some assistance to this matter.
I am using Windows XP 32-bit sp3(latest)
My video card is nvidia geforce 8500 gt 1GB
And the latest drivers and files required.
How do you have a 1GB graphics card in a 32-bit machine? (o_o)
What happens if you play from the main site while logged out of Steam? I've been seeing quite a few threads after the last Steam update describing random crashes.