I can log in and the main Steam Window and the news page will begin to load; then it crashes without an error message. What's wrong?

Are starting Steam up through an icon on your desktop that wine/cedega put there? Or through console. If through console, and your not getting any error message on the console, then could you paste the command you are using to run the program?

Try to give more details. I'm just assuming that you are using wine.

In general:
Always take a look at wine's app-db if you're having trouble... there's a lot of information on steam:

http://appdb.winehq.org/appview.php?iVersionId=1554

Scroll down to see the troubleshooting information.

Alternatively you could try helper applications like Wine-doors or play-on-linux.

http://www.wine-doors.org/wordpress/
http://www.playonlinux.com/en/

Both are pretty early in the development stage, so this might cause more trouble... I haven't tried them.
If you don't mind paying a little money, you could try cedega or cxgames. CXgames comes with a 7 day full-functional trial so you can see if it works for you. - but it doesn't (officially) support nearly as many games as cedega.

http://transgaming.com/
http://www.codeweavers.com/products/...ownload_trial/

I don't know how much information you need (I'm still VERY new to Linux), so you're going to get a lot of info from my shell; I hope this helps:

fixme:spoolsv:serv_main (0 (nil))
err:service:service_get_status service protocol error - failed to read pipe r = 0 count = 0!
fixme:exec:SHELL_execute flags ignored: 0x00000500
andrew@73h-B3457-Jr:~/Downloads$ fixme:advapi:LookupAccountNameW (null) L"andrew" (nil) 0x34e974 (nil) 0x34e96c 0x34e970 - stub
fixme:advapi:LookupAccountNameW (null) L"andrew" 0x131d90 0x34e974 0x12d898 0x34e96c 0x34e970 - stub
fixme:msi:ControlEvent_SpawnWaitDialog Doing Nothing
fixme:msi:ACTION_HandleStandardAction unhandled standard action L"SetODBCFolders"
fixme:msi:msi_unimplemented_action_stub RemoveRegistryValues -> 2 ignored L"RemoveRegistry" table values
fixme:msi:msi_unimplemented_action_stub RemoveShortcuts -> 3 ignored L"Shortcut" table values
fixme:msi:msi_unimplemented_action_stub RemoveFolders -> 1 ignored L"CreateFolder" table values
fixme:msi:ITERATE_CreateShortcuts poorly handled shortcut format, advertised shortcut
fixme:msi:ITERATE_CreateShortcuts poorly handled shortcut format, advertised shortcut
fixme:msi:ITERATE_CreateShortcuts poorly handled shortcut format, advertised shortcut
fixme:shellllCanUnloadNow stub
fixme:shellllCanUnloadNow stub
fixme:shellllCanUnloadNow stub
fixme:shellllCanUnloadNow stub
fixme:advapi:SetEntriesInAclA 1 0x34fe68 (nil) 0x34fe60
fixme:advapi:SetNamedSecurityInfoW L"c:\\Games\\Steam" 1 4 (nil) (nil) (nil) (nil)
fixme:advapi:SetEntriesInAclA 1 0x34fe68 (nil) 0x34fe60
fixme:advapi:SetNamedSecurityInfoW L"MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Valve\\Steam" 4 4 (nil) (nil) (nil) (nil)
fixmerocess:SetProcessShutdownParameters (00000100, 00000000): partial stub.
err:ntlm:SECUR32_initNTLMSP ntlm_auth was not found or is outdated. Make sure that ntlm_auth >= 3.0.25 is in your path.
err:ntlm:SECUR32_initNTLMSP Usually, you can find it in the winbind package of your distribution.
err:dscapture:widDsCreate DirectSoundCapture flag not set
This sound card's driver does not support direct access
The (slower) DirectSound HEL mode will be used instead.
fixme:shdocvw:ViewObject_SetAdvise (0xf3a18f8)->(1 00000002 0x1392310)
fixme:shdocvw:PersistStreamInit_InitNew (0xf3a18f8)
fixme:shdocvw:WebBrowser_put_RegisterAsBrowser (0xf3a18f8)->(ffffffff)
fixme:shdocvw:WebBrowser_put_RegisterAsDropTarget (0xf3a18f8)->(ffffffff)
fixme:shdocvw:ViewObject_SetAdvise (0xf3a21e0)->(1 00000002 0x1392350)
fixme:shdocvw:PersistStreamInit_InitNew (0xf3a21e0)
fixme:shdocvw:WebBrowser_put_RegisterAsBrowser (0xf3a21e0)->(ffffffff)
fixme:shdocvw:WebBrowser_put_RegisterAsDropTarget (0xf3a21e0)->(ffffffff)
fixme:win:SetLayeredWindowAttributes (0x70076,0x00000000,0,2): stub!
fixme:win:SetLayeredWindowAttributes (0x70076,0x00000000,109,2): stub!
fixme:win:SetLayeredWindowAttributes (0x70076,0x00000000,109,2): stub!
fixme:win:SetLayeredWindowAttributes (0x70076,0x00000000,0,2): stub!
fixme:dbghelp:dump_system_info fill in CPU vendorID and feature set
err:ntdll:RtlpWaitForCriticalSection section 0xb5d4ac "?" wait timed out in thread 0046, blocked by 0038, retrying (60 sec)
err:ntdll:RtlpWaitForCriticalSection section 0xb5e2dc "?" wait timed out in thread 0046, blocked by 0038, retrying (60 sec)
err:ntdll:RtlpWaitForCriticalSection section 0xb5e2dc "?" wait timed out in thread 0038, blocked by 0046, retrying (60 sec)
fixme:shdocvw:ViewObject_SetAdvise (0x106890b0)->(1 00000002 0x139fba0)
fixme:shdocvw:PersistStreamInit_InitNew (0x106890b0)
fixme:shdocvw:WebBrowser_put_RegisterAsBrowser (0x106890b0)->(ffffffff)
fixme:shdocvw:WebBrowser_put_RegisterAsDropTarget (0x106890b0)->(ffffffff)
fixme:shdocvw:ViewObject_SetAdvise (0x10689440)->(1 00000002 0x139fc08)
fixme:shdocvw:PersistStreamInit_InitNew (0x10689440)
fixme:shdocvw:WebBrowser_put_RegisterAsBrowser (0x10689440)->(ffffffff)
fixme:shdocvw:WebBrowser_put_RegisterAsDropTarget (0x10689440)->(ffffffff)
fixme:shdocvw:ViewObject_SetAdvise (0x1064b128)->(1 00000002 0x13a1b60)
fixme:shdocvw:PersistStreamInit_InitNew (0x1064b128)
fixme:shdocvw:WebBrowser_put_RegisterAsBrowser (0x1064b128)->(ffffffff)
fixme:shdocvw:WebBrowser_put_RegisterAsDropTarget (0x1064b128)->(ffffffff)
fixme:iphlpapi:NotifyAddrChange (Handle 0x7b5dc9c8, overlapped 0x7b5dc9ac): stub
fixme:system:SetProcessDPIAware stub!
errle:CoGetClassObject class {4955dd33-b159-11d0-8fcf-00aa006bcc59} not registered
errle:CoGetClassObject no class object {4955dd33-b159-11d0-8fcf-00aa006bcc59} could be created for context 0x1
fixme:shdocvw:ClOleCommandTarget_QueryStatus (0x1064b1c4)->((null) 1 0x3463b0 (nil))
fixme:shdocvw:ClOleCommandTarget_Exec (0x1064b1c4)->((null) 25 2 0x3463d8 (nil))
fixme:shdocvw:ClOleCommandTarget_Exec (0x1064b1c4)->((null) 26 2 0x3463d8 (nil))
fixme:mshtmln_change_dlcontrol unsupported dlcontrol 00000070
fixme:mshtml:OleControl_OnAmbientPropertyChange not supported AMBIENT_USERAGENT
fixme:shdocvw:ClientSite_GetContainer (0x1064b1c4)->(0x346424)
fixme:shdocvw:ClOleCommandTarget_Exec (0x1064b1c4)->({000214d1-0000-0000-c000-000000000046} 37 0 0x346528 (nil))
fixme:shdocvw:HttpNegotiate_BeginningTransaction (0x10643460)->(L"" L"" 0 0x3464a4)
fixme:mshtml:fix_headers Ignoring User-Agent header
fixme:win:SetLayeredWindowAttributes (0x100aa,0x00000000,0,2): stub!
fixme:shdocvw:ClOleCommandTarget_Exec (0x1064b1c4)->((null) 29 2 0x34c0b8 (nil))
fixme:shdocvwocHostUIHandler_GetDropTarget (0x1064b1c4)
fixme:shdocvw:ClientSite_GetContainer (0x1064b1c4)->(0x34c068)
fixme:shdocvw:InPlaceFrame_SetStatusText (0x1064b1c4)->(0xb7e15b74)
fixme:shdocvw:ClOleCommandTarget_Exec (0x1064b1c4)->((null) 25 2 0x34bf7c (nil))
fixme:shdocvw:ClOleCommandTarget_Exec (0x1064b1c4)->((null) 26 2 0x34bf7c (nil))
fixme:mshtml:HTMLBodyElement_put_scroll (0xfe9d9b0)->(L"no")
fixme:mshtml:HTMLDocument_put_ondragstart (0x105f3470)
fixme:mshtml:HTMLBodyElement_put_scroll (0xfe9d9b0)->(L"no")
fixme:mshtml:HTMLBodyElement_put_scroll (0xfe9d9b0)->(L"no")
fixme:win:SetLayeredWindowAttributes (0x100aa,0x00000000,0,2): stub!
fixme:win:SetLayeredWindowAttributes (0x20066,0x00000000,0,2): stub!
fixme:shdocvw:ClOleCommandTarget_Exec (0x1064b1c4)->((null) 21 2 (nil) (nil))
fixme:shdocvw:ClOleCommandTarget_Exec (0x1064b1c4)->((null) 28 2 0x34bf78 (nil))
fixme:shdocvw:ClOleCommandTarget_QueryStatus (0x1068914c)->((null) 1 0x34a730 (nil))
fixme:shdocvw:ClOleCommandTarget_Exec (0x1068914c)->((null) 25 2 0x34a758 (nil))
fixme:shdocvw:ClOleCommandTarget_Exec (0x1068914c)->((null) 26 2 0x34a758 (nil))
fixme:mshtmln_change_dlcontrol unsupported dlcontrol 00000070
fixme:mshtml:OleControl_OnAmbientPropertyChange not supported AMBIENT_USERAGENT
fixme:shdocvw:ClientSite_GetContainer (0x1068914c)->(0x34a7a4)
fixme:shdocvw:ClOleCommandTarget_Exec (0x1068914c)->({000214d1-0000-0000-c000-000000000046} 37 0 0x34a8a8 (nil))
fixme:shdocvw:HttpNegotiate_BeginningTransaction (0xff317a0)->(L"" L"" 0 0x34a824)
fixme:mshtml:fix_headers Ignoring User-Agent header
fixme:dbghelp:dump_system_info fill in CPU vendorID and feature set
fixme:dbghelp:dump_system_info fill in CPU vendorID and feature set

Note that this is everything from a fresh install of Steam right up to when it crashed. I did install Gecko as well, following the instructions on the WINE database.

Use code tags if you post large pieces of code.

So I guess this is what you get when you type wine ~/.wine/dri.../steam.exe, right?

- That is what I mean by more information.
Does steam even start? When does it crash?...

What have you done so far? What version of wine are you running? What distribution are you using?
Have you followed the link to winehq that I posted? Did you follow the howto?
Here's the link again:
http://appdb.winehq.org/appview.php?iVersionId=1554