In need of some help

[odin]

Little bit of background... I've had my Steam Deck for about a week. I've only installed: Project Zomboid, Emudeck and one PS2 game. I have limited knowledge of linux, but am somewhat familiar with it as I run Ubuntu on my laptop. Definitely not a power user though.

ANYWAY

Not sure how to potentially resolve this, but I did search through the forums for potential solutions or similar issues. Twice now, when trying to switch from desktop mode to handheld mode my steam deck has locked up. Rebooting doesn't work, recovery options won't work.

The first-time, I was able to somehow reset, do the first-time setup and retain all of my game data. I just had to reinstall my games and format the SD card. I can't figure out how I did it, though, this time around. When I try to run one of the recovery options, it get's stuck saying I don't have access to the console and the root account is locked or something. If I boot it up like normal, I get stuck on the steam deck logo of the startup video indefinitely.

I already submitted a support ticket, but all Valve has said so far is to make sure it is plugged in correctly.

Are there any solutions that don't require me to erase all user data and factory reset?

Thanks!

[Mahjik]

Not what you want to hear but if this is a new Deck, if you do a reimage and it still does the behavior then that should prove to Valve that it needs to be RMA'd.

[odin]

Thank you. I guess, at this point, that is more or less what I am trying to figure out.

[Mahjik]

Here's the link:

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/1B71-EDF2-EB6D-2BB3

[odin]

I did the “erase all user data” in recovery mode (… + power button) and that worked, but I wasn’t able to recovery my game data this time. Which is a bummer because I had like a week long (irl) run going in Project Zomboid. I’m going to prepare a recovery image, in the event it happens again. If it happens after that, I’ll try to see about having it RMA’d.

The funny thing is that it’s only happened switching from desktop mode to gaming mode. I might just try to spam switching and see what happens. Thanks again!

[Dachiken]

I shared this on a reedit post and I wanted to share it here too, cause I had the same issue and not too much info anywhere for newbies. I did this without any previous knowledge of Lynux:
First download an Ubuntu image from the official website.
You must create a bootable USB. I did mine with UNetbootin on Windows. Use this app to burn the Ubuntu ISO image into the USB.
Then connect the USB to your deck. I recommend having a cable or USB adapter to have at least two USB ports available, one for your USB, the other for a mouse.
Now, press Volume down (-) then ON. You'll see a menu where you can select the bootable USB. Wait and select Try or Install Ubuntu.
Ubuntu will start, and after a language selection screen, choose TRY Ubuntu, NOT install.
Close the dialogue box and go to the bottom left corner and open the applications folder. Search for the one called Disks (In utilities).
Once there you will see all the partitions available. Select the first partition and press the gear icon at the bottom, and select Repair Filesystem. You have to do this on every other partition. It won't take long.
When you are done, exit Ubuntu (upper right corner). It will ask you to unplug your USB and hit enter. Restart, you might be asked to select a previous version of the Steam OS. I did and now it's working again. Good luck

[SF]

Originally posted by Dachiken:

I shared this on a reedit post and I wanted to share it here too, cause I had the same issue and not too much info anywhere for newbies. I did this without any previous knowledge of Lynux:
First download an Ubuntu image from the official website.
You must create a bootable USB. I did mine with UNetbootin on Windows. Use this app to burn the Ubuntu ISO image into the USB.
Then connect the USB to your deck. I recommend having a cable or USB adapter to have at least two USB ports available, one for your USB, the other for a mouse.
Now, press Volume down (-) then ON. You'll see a menu where you can select the bootable USB. Wait and select Try or Install Ubuntu.
Ubuntu will start, and after a language selection screen, choose TRY Ubuntu, NOT install.
Close the dialogue box and go to the bottom left corner and open the applications folder. Search for the one called Disks (In utilities).
Once there you will see all the partitions available. Select the first partition and press the gear icon at the bottom, and select Repair Filesystem. You have to do this on every other partition. It won't take long.
When you are done, exit Ubuntu (upper right corner). It will ask you to unplug your USB and hit enter. Restart, you might be asked to select a previous version of the Steam OS. I did and now it's working again. Good luck

thx，I used a USB with the Ventoy program and installed the Ubuntu ISO into it.
Solved the problem by following your steps.

[MJ711]

Originally posted by SF:

Originally posted by Dachiken:

I shared this on a reedit post and I wanted to share it here too, cause I had the same issue and not too much info anywhere for newbies. I did this without any previous knowledge of Lynux:
First download an Ubuntu image from the official website.
You must create a bootable USB. I did mine with UNetbootin on Windows. Use this app to burn the Ubuntu ISO image into the USB.
Then connect the USB to your deck. I recommend having a cable or USB adapter to have at least two USB ports available, one for your USB, the other for a mouse.
Now, press Volume down (-) then ON. You'll see a menu where you can select the bootable USB. Wait and select Try or Install Ubuntu.
Ubuntu will start, and after a language selection screen, choose TRY Ubuntu, NOT install.
Close the dialogue box and go to the bottom left corner and open the applications folder. Search for the one called Disks (In utilities).
Once there you will see all the partitions available. Select the first partition and press the gear icon at the bottom, and select Repair Filesystem. You have to do this on every other partition. It won't take long.
When you are done, exit Ubuntu (upper right corner). It will ask you to unplug your USB and hit enter. Restart, you might be asked to select a previous version of the Steam OS. I did and now it's working again. Good luck

thx，I used a USB with the Ventoy program and installed the Ubuntu ISO into it.
Solved the problem by following your steps.

If this really worked then it proves that initial setup of SteamOS never completely/correctly finished.
With the very first boot of the device (after purchase or reinstallation), the user must wait long time for the OS to finish. A lot of people are very impatient and would restart the unit during first setup thinking hat the unite has hang itself and is not responding. That is usually wrong assumtion. And this definetelly MUST be done while plugged in.

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by MJ711:

Originally posted by SF:

thx，I used a USB with the Ventoy program and installed the Ubuntu ISO into it.
Solved the problem by following your steps.

If this really worked then it proves that initial setup of SteamOS never completely/correctly finished.
With the very first boot of the device (after purchase or reinstallation), the user must wait long time for the OS to finish. A lot of people are very impatient and would restart the unit during first setup thinking hat the unite has hang itself and is not responding. That is usually wrong assumtion. And this definetelly MUST be done while plugged in.

That’s a different user than the OP. The op likely set a root password while setting up emudeck and didn’t realize what it was. Dachikan’s instructions are essentially forcing SteamOS to rollback to the secondary / previous update.

@OP could also do similar booting into a different installation and then mount the root filesystem to a mount point like /mnt. Then chroot into that environment and use passwd to change the root password.

However if the OP has already done the wipe userdata that essentially nukes the /home filesystem so there is no reason now to not do a re-image which is way easier.