this post was submitted on 06 Jan 2024
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Steam Deck

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Help troubleshooting dead steam deack controller (self.steamdeck)
submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by lounges to c/[email protected]
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When I picked up my steam deck the other day after having played it the night before the screen turned on, but none of the controller buttons, or touchpads would perform any actions. The touch scren, volume, and power buttons were fine.

I was able to use the touch screen to get to the controller section of settings and noted there was no controller detected. I compared this with another steam deck in the house which showed a neptune controller connected.

I contacted Valve support and they said my unit was out of warranty and that I could send it in for $185 or attempt a repair myself. I'm happy to perform the repair myself, but I havent got a clue what part may be bad. Valve support has not been very helpful on this, so I thought I would see if anyone here had any ideas.

Troubleshooting already done:

  • Applied all updates
  • Drained battery in entirety
  • Battery storage mode from bios
  • Factory reset

Edit: My assumption is that the built in controller connects through USB and that somehow whatever controller that uses is toast. I've been able to plug in other devices USB and those work though so who knows. In any event I'm going to pursue a replacement through the extended warranty benefit of my credit card. Thanks for all th suggestions.

Edit2: In case anyone stumbles across this post through a search engine or whatever, I have received my rma'd steam deck back and here were the technicians notes on the fix.

  • Replaced LR control boards
  • Software firmware was upgraded to newest version
  • Reset unit to factory default settings

I am still unsure what caused the hardware failure, perhaps it was an issue with the charger which was connected (although other usb devices were totally fine).

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[–] A_Very_Big_Fan 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I sometimes have this exact same thing happen to me too (including the touch screen + volume/power buttons working fine), but only on the desktop environment... And for me it gets fixed when I restart the system

I believe EmuDeck was the source of the problem, but if you factory reset the system that shouldn't be an issue.... So having that in mind, this smells like a hardware issue. (I've done absolutely no research, though, so take that with a grain of salt. I just thought it was interesting that our Decks had the same symptoms.)

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Hey @[email protected] (do pings even work on Lemmy?), do your buttons not work both in game mode and desktop mode?

But yeah like you said, the problem having survived a factory reset makes this feel more like a hardware issue, but it doesn't hurt to check if the problem persists on "both sides" of the OS.

[–] lounges 1 points 11 months ago

Buttons do not work anywhere no.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Hmm, looks like iFixit has a Steam Deck page, which could be helpful. The fact that none of the buttons work is a bit strange; I wonder how they're attached to the motherboard? Feels like some sort of connector or controller problem (as in hardware controller, not game controller 😄), but I haven't looked into how the Deck's hardware handles the button inputs

[–] lounges 2 points 11 months ago

My initial thought was software, but after all the above stuff I did pop the back off to check for any burned out components, water, and to make sure all the cables were seated well. Everything looked fine though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Inside there's a long white ribbon cable that runs across the deck that goes over the top of the battery. I'd start with checking that cable for damage or corrosion and re-seating the connection at both ends. Unplug the battery first. If that doesn't work I'd just go for re-seating every cable you can, looking for water damage, and making sure all the screws holding the boards down are snug.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I guess this is late based on your edit, but this happened to me and re-imaging as per official instructions fixed it for me. I ended up installing bazzite instead of steam os in the end though.

[–] PlasticExistence 1 points 11 months ago

Try upgrading the UEFI. Do NOT use the reset to default option on firmware 118. It's bugged and will cause additional problems.

If you're already on 118, I would first try to reapply it. If nothing changes, then downgrade to 116 and check. If functional again, upgrade back to 118.

Note: I sold my original Deck, so I can't be sure 118 is the current UEFI version.

I had previously used the restore defaults option on 118 while troubleshooting an unrelated problem, and that caused the sound and touchscreen to stop working. Downgrading to 116 and back to 118 fixed it.