Absurd WiFi connection issues on Steam Deck OLED 1TB LE

[DoomTheRobot]

EDIT 7/9/2024: A new developer option in the 3.6 Beta (and now in the latest stable) seems to have fixed my connectivity issues. I can now connect to my Nighthawk RAX35. Here's the process if you want to give it a try:

1. Update your Steam Deck to the latest version
   
2. Enable Developer Mode in System tab
   
3. Go to new Developer settings tab at the bottom
   
4. Enable "Force WPA Supplicant WiFi backend" option
   
5. Reboot

This is what worked for me.

EDIT 5/4/2024: I should've done this way earlier but here is a list of routers that seem to be having issues:

• NETGEAR Nighthawk RAX35 (v1.0.5.104_1.0.1)
  
• NETGEAR Nighthawk RAX30 (v1.0.10.94)
  
• ASUS RT-AX86U Pro
  
• ASUS RT-AX88U
  
• ASUS Rapture GT-AX6000
  
• TP-Link Deco M4
  
• TP-Link AX50
  
• TP-Link AX6000
  
• Telekom's "Speedport Pro Plus"
  
• Sagemcom CS50001

If you're still having issues even after updating to the latest stable, post your router info and firmware version here so I can include it in this list.

EDIT 3/30/2024: If you are still having connection issues, try finding a way to update to 3.5.17 stable, as it contains various WiFi fixes which may fix the problems you could be facing. If not, head over to this GitHub issue[github.com] and leave a comment about the issue you're having.

Just got mine yesterday and have been having off-and-on issues with WiFi connectivity that never happened at all with my previous Steam Deck LCD 512GB model. This is not an issue with my connection as none of this has ever happened over the two or so years of using my original Steam Deck.

During the initial setup process, it refused to connect to my WPA2 secured WiFi network with nothing other than "Failed to connect" when attempting to connect to it. I'd enter my password and it'd sit for a while until it eventually fails. Despite this, I connected to my mobile hotspot perfectly fine to finish the setup process.

Here's what I've done so far:

• Rebooted the Router (obviously)
  
• Re-imaged SteamOS
  
• Disabled WiFi Power Saving
  
• Tried switching between 2.4GHz and 5GHz connections

I even went into Desktop mode and tried messing with the settings there. No luck.

For whatever reason though, and this is the confusing part: After multiple restarts it automatically connects to the WiFi network with no issues. It's almost completely random whether or not it wants to connect on boot. After connecting it works perfectly fine. No "Failed to connect", no loss of speed, works just as it did like the previous Steam Deck.

But once I eventually shutdown, it just happens again until I restart the system multiple times until it works again. Absolutely no clue why. I didn't mind it at first as I assumed it was just a software bug that would eventually go away, but now it's becoming extremely frustrating.

So what's the deal here? Is this a hardware issue or is my network just messed up somewhere? Where do I even start?

[Kage Goomba]

So update.

Started messing with my router. (TP-Link AX6000 in case people are having trouble following :P )

Both bands stopped working suddenly - so yeah hence my prompting to mess with my router.

I turned off 802.11 ax (keeping the usual other little letters) which is the Wifi6 speeds.
No change.

On a total random thought - I scaled security back to WPA2 instead of WPA3 (Auto or otherwise)
Suddenly I can connect on both bands.

I turned 802.11 ax back on.

Both bands connect.
I'm running full WiFi 6.

Not sure if anyone has bothered to check - but did anyone notice what Security you are using to authenticate with?
Me thinks this is WPA 3 being the culprit.

Maybe I'm a snowflake and damn lucky - but my LG V60 Cell Phone is showing the shiny little "6" on my Wifi and my Steamdeck is connected to THAT network.

Wish I could do a bandwidth test....hmmm

Also not using "24 hour clock" either :P

[Kage Goomba]

So yeah this is craptastic.

Turned my back on it for 15 mins or so - woke it up - it wasn't connecting anymore.
Had to restart the router's wireless package AND the steamdeck before it reconnected.

Trying MAC Address Binding to see if its some sort of security miscommunication/fight or other.

The firmware on this network chip is def suspect to be sure.

[RedAsKetchum]

引用自 Kage Goomba：

So yeah this is craptastic.

Turned my back on it for 15 mins or so - woke it up - it wasn't connecting anymore.
Had to restart the router's wireless package AND the steamdeck before it reconnected.

Trying MAC Address Binding to see if its some sort of security miscommunication/fight or other.

The firmware on this network chip is def suspect to be sure.

The time for Valve to RMA every single OLED unit they sold. Crazy.

[Kage Goomba]

引用自 RedAsKetchum：

引用自 Kage Goomba：

So yeah this is craptastic.

Turned my back on it for 15 mins or so - woke it up - it wasn't connecting anymore.
Had to restart the router's wireless package AND the steamdeck before it reconnected.

Trying MAC Address Binding to see if its some sort of security miscommunication/fight or other.

The firmware on this network chip is def suspect to be sure.

The time for Valve to RMA every single OLED unit they sold. Crazy.

Surely they could just patch this....has to be a software thing.

[DoomTheRobot]

Bit of an update since it's been a hot minute since I've talked about my interaction with Steam Support:

We're still going back and forth after about a week, a dozen messages and about 3 system reports sent. Sent another response to them just now. Nothing seems to have changed so far.

They do however know about this thread's existence since I linked it in my report, and even mention disabling the 160Mhz band that other users brought up here in one of their messages. So at the very least someone at Valve has looked at this thread. Until then though I'm not quite sure what else I can do. This issue still persists, making my OLED pretty much unusable for me so I'm stuck with my old LCD Steam Deck until then.

If Steam Support says anything significant I'll be sure to post it here.

EDIT: I forgot to mention they specifically mentioned engineers have looked at (the very least, my system reports) my issue, so it's probably being actively looked at.

[Kage Goomba]

引用自 DoomTheRobot：

Bit of an update since it's been a hot minute since I've talked about my interaction with Steam Support:

We're still going back and forth after about a week, a dozen messages and about 3 system reports sent. Sent another response to them just now. Nothing seems to have changed so far.

They do however know about this thread's existence since I linked it in my report, and even mention disabling the 160Mhz band that other users brought up here in one of their messages. So at the very least someone at Valve has looked at this thread. Until then though I'm not quite sure what else I can do. This issue still persists, making my OLED pretty much unusable for me so I'm stuck with my old LCD Steam Deck until then.

If Steam Support says anything significant I'll be sure to post it here.

Did you ask about WPA3 compatibility? Seems to be a "thing" - certainly is today.

[DoomTheRobot]

引用自 Kage Goomba：

引用自 DoomTheRobot：

Bit of an update since it's been a hot minute since I've talked about my interaction with Steam Support:

We're still going back and forth after about a week, a dozen messages and about 3 system reports sent. Sent another response to them just now. Nothing seems to have changed so far.

They do however know about this thread's existence since I linked it in my report, and even mention disabling the 160Mhz band that other users brought up here in one of their messages. So at the very least someone at Valve has looked at this thread. Until then though I'm not quite sure what else I can do. This issue still persists, making my OLED pretty much unusable for me so I'm stuck with my old LCD Steam Deck until then.

If Steam Support says anything significant I'll be sure to post it here.

Did you ask about WPA3 compatibility? Seems to be a "thing" - certainly is today.

I've only mentioned to them that my network security protocol is WPA2 when they asked.

[Mikey-GreyHat-]

Just got my 1tb oled (non LE) today, and same issue. Sometimes wifi won't even show any network available to connect to. I have the Asus RT-AX86U and still have not been able to connect. Took the machine to work earlier today, and connected to the work wifi no issues (believe it's a Netgear nighthawk router) finished setup, brought it home to download some games (I have gigabit at home) and deck refuses to connect.

[Mikey-GreyHat-]

I just disabled the 160MHz bandwidth option, and changed my authentication method to WPA2/WPA3 -personal on my router, then rebooted the deck, and everything seems to be working. I've toggled wifi a couple times, and performed a few reboots just to test, and so far it's instantly connected every time. I'll update if it fails again, but so far that seems to have fixed it for me. Hope this helps atleast some people.

[PopinFRESH]

引用自 Mikey-GreyHat-：

Just got my 1tb oled (non LE) today, and same issue. Sometimes wifi won't even show any network available to connect to. I have the Asus RT-AX86U and still have not been able to connect. Took the machine to work earlier today, and connected to the work wifi no issues (believe it's a Netgear nighthawk router) finished setup, brought it home to download some games (I have gigabit at home) and deck refuses to connect.

Have you tried any of the settings changes in this thread yet?

EDIT: lol NVM you ninja posted while I was asking this :)

[PopinFRESH]

引用自 Mikey-GreyHat-：

I just disabled the 160MHz bandwidth option, and changed my authentication method to WPA2/WPA3 -personal on my router, then rebooted the deck, and everything seems to be working. I've toggled wifi a couple times, and performed a few reboots just to test, and so far it's instantly connected every time. I'll update if it fails again, but so far that seems to have fixed it for me. Hope this helps atleast some people.

If you are keen to do some testing to see if you can get it working without disabling those features and help figure out where the issue is would you be able to do the following:

On your router go to Administration > System > Basic Config and set the routers NTP server to use the same NTP server that the Steam Deck defaults to; which should be 0.arch.pool.ntp.org. Make sure your region / timezone is correct, then Save that setting and verify that it sync'd the date & time successfully. Then reboot your router.

On your Steam Deck reboot into desktop mode and click on the date/time in the bottom right to open the Date & Time menus. Disable automatic setting via NTP if it is enabled and then manually set the correct date & time for your timezone. Save the settings and close out of the menu. Then re-open the menu and toggle back on to Automatically set the date/time via NTP. Save the settings and then shutdown your Steam Deck.

On your router again, re-enable 160MHz channel width for your 5GHz band, and re-enable WPA3.

Then boot your Steam Deck up normally to Gamemode and try to connect to your 5GHz network.

[Crossed]

Wow, glad to know I wasn't the only one that was having some wierd wifi networking issues with my 512 OLED deck. Seemed to be mostly w/ Chiaki with it randomly disconnecting/glitching out of nowhere.

I have an Asus AX86U Pro router. From following the thread, a combination of the following changes seemed to have fixed the issue for me; I haven't seen the wifi drop.
- Disabling Wifi Power Management on Steam Deck
- Unticking AX mode from my router (converting it from basically a Wifi 6 router to a Wifi 5 router lol)
- Using Channel 36 or 48 on the 5ghz network

My wifi channels were already split to two networks, and I already had unset DFS channels (160Mhz) due to the area I live in. The only thing I haven't really tested is if the wifi stays stable from the deck coming out of sleep mode. I usually shut down my deck after I'm done using it. FWIW, I use WPA2-Personal.

[RedAsKetchum]

Guys make sure you report the issue on the appropriate channels. Its the one place someone is actively looking at SD related bugs.
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/SteamOS/issues

[Izzy Smalls]

this bums me out i feel like i have a 700 dollar paperweight here.

lots have had luck disabling the 160mhz band, but i cant seem to figure out how to do it with this mesh network router: EVO6700AP

[PopinFRESH]

引用自 BrigadierAngus：

this bums me out i feel like i have a 700 dollar paperweight here.

lots have had luck disabling the 160mhz band, but i cant seem to figure out how to do it with this mesh network router: EVO6700AP

Have you already tried manually setting the date & time and then re-enabling automatic date/time via NTP?

If not, try rebooting the Steam Deck into desktop mode.
Select the date & time in the lower right corner to open the date & time menus
Disable the automatic date/time if it is enabled
Manually set the correct date and time, and ensure your region is set correctly for your timezone
Save the settings and close the menu
Then re-open the date & time menu and re-enable the automatic setting via NTP and save the settings. Ensure the date & time are correct, then reboot back into Gamemode.