What happens if the controls break?

[👁]

With a Nintendo Switch, the infamously fragile Joycons can be replaced, but what happens when the controls on your $800 Steam Deck break?

Warranty can't last forever, so what happens when you have a joystick that starts badly drifting or a button stops responding with the correct input?

Even the most durable controllers break down eventually, but with the Steam Deck when that happens do you just hope there's a nearby hardware repair store that can fix it?

[SillyWalk]

iFixit sells official replacements for the deck, like buttons, sticks and even screens. There's also the option of sending the deck to an official Deck repair center and they will do it for you. Overall, the repairability of the deck is more than decent, look at how the sticks[cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net] basically have their own mini-pcb so they can be replaced without touching/replacing anything else.

iFixit Steam Deck store
iFixit Steam Deck repair guides
Steam iFixit collab announcement
Steam Deck repair center announcement

[Minneyar]

In fact, if you want to preemptively prevent drifting, GuliKit sells hall effect joystick modules for the Deck, which are effectively immune to drifting or dead zones. You just need to know how to use a soldering iron.

[Prezidentas]

Originally posted by Minneyar:

In fact, if you want to preemptively prevent drifting, GuliKit sells hall effect joystick modules for the Deck, which are effectively immune to drifting or dead zones. You just need to know how to use a soldering iron.

those have outer deadzone issues currently, perhaps in the future it will get a lot better

[@R+5]

Originally posted by Minneyar:

You just need to know how to use a soldering iron.

Most people wont, unless a proper tech guy helps to do it. thats because you also need a special type of soldering tool to work with precision, and not only the skills and practice.

imo if it isnt woke, dont fix it.

[JohnDeere_Simulations]

I have had a PS3 remote that had a issue and I took it apart one time, and I had to clean off the contacts in the remote, I put the remote back together and it fix the remote, and after that it worked for a while, and it started acting up again, so I was going to take it apart but I actually called GameStop and they said if your remote keeps acting up then just buy a whole new one, so I just bought a cheap one from Amazon but if your remote has an issue with drifting if you look on the back, there’s a little hole like a pinhole and you can put a pin in there and reset it and then that will fix the drifting because it resets the remote inside. Hope this helps.

[Man's Best Friend]

Originally posted by @R+5:

Originally posted by Minneyar:

You just need to know how to use a soldering iron.

Most people wont, unless a proper tech guy helps to do it. thats because you also need a special type of soldering tool to work with precision, and not only the skills and practice.

imo if it isnt woke, dont fix it.

From what I've seen of the hall effect joysticks there's no precision work involved. It's a wire that gets soldered to a big fat pad for the capacitive sensor. Nothing more. As long as you've got basic soldering skills, it's doable.

[@R+5]

Originally posted by HTTP Error 418: I'm a teapot:

From what I've seen of the hall effect joysticks there's no precision work involved. It's a wire that gets soldered to a big fat pad for the capacitive sensor. Nothing more. As long as you've got basic soldering skills, it's doable.

well you could make a video about how easy it is. if its good, that video could become more or less viral among steam deck owners and those who want to modify one. Maybe its actually easy and im just assuming it would be as risky as trying to repair a phone, or something else with small circuits.

i wouldnt risk damaging an expensive device doing hardware hacking if i lack the right tools and skills to even make the attempt.

i also think that valve should design future versions of the deck with a more modular style: to make easier to replace every part, to fix the device or make it more comfortable, useful, or for any other unexpected use.

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by @R+5:

Originally posted by HTTP Error 418: I'm a teapot:

From what I've seen of the hall effect joysticks there's no precision work involved. It's a wire that gets soldered to a big fat pad for the capacitive sensor. Nothing more. As long as you've got basic soldering skills, it's doable.

well you could make a video about how easy it is. if its good, that video could become more or less viral among steam deck owners and those who want to modify one. Maybe its actually easy and im just assuming it would be as risky as trying to repair a phone, or something else with small circuits.

i wouldnt risk damaging an expensive device doing hardware hacking if i lack the right tools and skills to even make the attempt.

i also think that valve should design future versions of the deck with a more modular style: to make easier to replace every part, to fix the device or make it more comfortable, useful, or for any other unexpected use.

There are already a plethora of videos that show it. The Phawx did one, and several others have since done videos showing the installations

[invision2212]

You don’t even need to solder anything if you don’t care or use the gyro controls

[Minneyar]

Originally posted by @R+5:

i wouldnt risk damaging an expensive device doing hardware hacking if i lack the right tools and skills to even make the attempt.

I promise it's not hard. Even if you've never held a soldering iron before, you'll be fine if you watch a video and practice for 15 minutes first.

But people also seem to be really getting down in the weeds on this when the whole point is that the Deck is designed to be repairable. The answer to "What happens if the controls break?" is "You fix it." You can send it into a repair shop if you want it to be covered under warranty, but if it's out of warranty and you don't want to pay for it, you just fix it yourself.

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by invision2212:

You don’t even need to solder anything if you don’t care or use the gyro controls

More specifically, if you don't care to use the capacitive touch on the thumbtacks. That can be used for more than just activating/deactivating the gyro control, and you can use gyro controls without using the capsens.

Originally posted by Minneyar:

...But people also seem to be really getting down in the weeds on this when the whole point is that the Deck is designed to be repairable. The answer to "What happens if the controls break?" is "You fix it."

Concurred, the discussion regarding soldiering is all dealing with a 3rd party replacement option. If you are just wanting to replace the joysticks it is about as simple as it could possibly be.

1. Order the replacements from iFixit
   
2. Power off your Steam Deck
   
3. Remove the 8 screws to take the back off and remove the back cover
   
4. Unseat and disconnect the ribbon cable for the joystick daughter board
   
5. Remove the 3 screws holding the daughter board to the frame
   
6. Remove the daughter board and replace it with the new one
   
7. Use the 3 screws to reattach the new daughter board to the frame
   
8. Reseat and secure the ribbon cable
   
9. While ensuring you don't touch the exposed circuit boards, power on the Steam Deck and re-calibrate the joysticks and ensure they are working.
   
10. Snap the back cover back on and secure it with the 8 screws
    
11. Something, something, something
    
12. Profit