Fix: Steam Error Code 53

Steam is famous for revolutionizing online game purchasing and playing but even Steam can sometimes throw random error codes which can be quite difficult to figure out on your own. One of these errors is definitely the error code 53 which is almost exclusively followed by the message:

Related Reads: How To Fix Steam Disk Write Error

On the first look, it may appear that the servers are actually too busy and that you can only wait for them to become available. However, that is only one of the possible causes for this error as it can occur due to various other reasons you should check out in the article below.

Solution 1: For AMD Chipset Users

This solution was posted by a user who wasn’t able to use Steam for a couple of days due to the following error code and he was able to fix this by performing the operations below. The error is caused by an “AmdAS4 Device” driver not being installed or due to a Windows counterpart driver being installed instead.

1. First of all, you need to check whether that is the issue that is causing the error code 53 on your Steam client. Note that this only applies to AMD users.
2. In order to do that, Click Start and type Run. Select Run. A Run dialog box will appear. Type “devmgmt.msc” in the run dialog box and click the OK button. This is to open Device Manager Window.

3. Try to locate the AmdAS4 device in Device Manager. If you fail to find it, it means that the device is not installed. Even if it’s installed but you fail to find it, reinstalling it can help you get rid of the error code.
4. In Device Manager click on Action >> Add Legacy Hardware and click on Next after the Add Hardware Wizard pops up.
5. At the next screen, choose the “Install the hardware that I manually select from a list (Advanced)” option and click Next again.

6. Choose the Show All Devices option and click Next. Locate the AmdAS4 device from the list and follow the instructions on-screen to proceed with the installation of the device.

NOTE: If you can’t locate the AmdAS4 device on the list from the method above, you can download these files manually from this link by clicking the purple Download file button.

After the download finishes, navigate to the Downloads folder, double-click the file and follow the instructions on-screen in order to install the device.

Solution 2: Reformatting Your Drive Into a Different File System

This can be a really difficult solution to get the hang off but it helps if your Steam library is on a different drive than your system and that drive is formatted to something other that NTFS. This problem tends to occur if you are using a different file system than NTFS. For example, certain users have formatted their drives to EXFat and it appears that some Steam games cannot run on EXFat.

That is why it’s the best if you format your drive while backing up everything located on it on a different location or an external storage. Consider moving everything to cloud or an USB device with plenty of storage before proceeding with this solution.

1. Open your Libraries folder and click on This PC option. If you are using an older version of Windows, simply open My Computer from your Desktop.
2. Right-click on the drive you want to format (the drive where the game is currently located) and choose the Format… option.

3. A small window should open up so make sure you click on the menu under File system and choose the NTFS option. Click on Format and be patient for the process to finish.
4. Move Steam to the new location along with your game library and check to see if error 53 appears again.

Solution 3: Disable McAfee Real-Time Scanning

Disabling real-time scanning is definitely the top solution for users who have McAfee antivirus installed on their computer and it solves the problem immediately almost each time. It appears that their Real-Time Scanning feature does not cooperate well with Steam and its games and it prevents it from connecting to the Internet properly. That is why you must disable it for a couple of minutes until the game downloads and launches.

1. Open your McAfee antivirus user interface by double-clicking on its icon on the Desktop or by double-clicking on its icon in the bottom right part of your taskbar.
2. From its home page, click on the Real-Time Scanning under Virus and Spyware protection which will open a new window.

3. Under the Real-Time Scanning: On screen on top of the window, click on Turn off and choose the amount of time you need at maximum before you click Turn off.
   
4. Check to see if the error still appears.

Solution 4: Add the Game You Are Playing to Exceptions on Your Antivirus Tool

Some antivirus tools sometimes prevent the games from connecting to the Internet properly and they block it under false suspicion. The whole confusion can be avoided while disabling your antivirus but then you are leaving your computer unprotected from external threats which is definitely not recommended for anyone.

That is why you can add the game you are playing to exceptions on the antivirus tool you are using.

1. Open your antivirus user interface by double-clicking on its icon on the Desktop or by double-clicking on its icon in the bottom right part of your taskbar.
2. The Exception setting is located in different places according to different antivirus tools. It can often be found simply without much hassle but here are some location on the most popular antivirus tools:

Kaspersky Internet Security: Home >> Settings >> Additional >> Threats and Exclusions >> Exclusions >> Specify Trusted Applications >> Add.

AVG: Home >> Settings >> Components >> Web Shield >> Exceptions.

Avast: Home >> Settings >> General >> Exclusions

3. In each case, make sure you choose the game properly or that you paste the full location to the file correctly. The location of the game will depend on your Steam library location. If you haven’t changed it ever, the default location is:

C >> Program Files (x86) >> Steam >> steamapps >> common >>NAME_OF_THE_GAME