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?

[IHateThisPlace_2]

Escrito originalmente por ℭ𝔯𝔢𝔢𝔡:

well in my case the issue is resolved all I did iaw to suffer from lack of access to the network then actory reset deck and then after setup everythingmstart working. Additionaly I only lft 5Ghz network on 2.4 was underutilized anyway.

The issue reapeared after a day of use QQ so formatting the deck ain't solving things long term

[PeeJaySpear]

Escrito originalmente por alineveryday:

Valve finally acknowledged the issue on Github and now asking for data for analysis, please provide your data point in https://github.com/ValveSoftware/SteamOS/issues/1253#issuecomment-1854765015

Is it just my phone, or does this link not work? I am getting infinite errors / reloads. Would really like to hear the official word from Valve

[foprel]

Escrito originalmente por PeeJaySpear:

Escrito originalmente por alineveryday:

Valve finally acknowledged the issue on Github and now asking for data for analysis, please provide your data point in https://github.com/ValveSoftware/SteamOS/issues/1253#issuecomment-1854765015

Is it just my phone, or does this link not work? I am getting infinite errors / reloads. Would really like to hear the official word from Valve

I can open it without problems!

[Ryan]

A followup; I had to hard reset (long power button press) my deck (due to desktop mode game not exiting) and it lost the ability to connect to 5ghz again.

For now I've turned off 160mhz band as I don't have time to troubleshoot more until the weekend, but I will play around soon to see if it can connect again. So on 5ghz but 160mhz off for now.

[Savage]

I'm really frustrated at this point. I've spent more time troubleshooting and trying to fix issues on this device than actually playing with it. I had gotten everything working well enough, but was still having issues with connecting to Wifi after deck was asleep so I tried disabling Wifi Power Management as recommended elsewhere and now I'm back in the throes of not being able to connect to my network at all. This NEEDS to be top priority for Valve to fix before people get so fed up from not being able to just use their devices.

[TheCrazyCanuck]

It's frustrating but I'm sure they are on it. If anything they'll hopefully beef up their interoperability testing with WIFI access points given that's the main use case of the device.

[Crysis85]

With all the streaming possibilities, from home devices and from cloud a stable robust wifi connection must be top priority. But i think there'll be a long road ahead.

[Rodomar705]

Escrito originalmente por TheCrazyCanuck:

It's frustrating but I'm sure they are on it. If anything they'll hopefully beef up their interoperability testing with WIFI access points given that's the main use case of the device.

There are still people with LCD and wireless issues to this day, so I would not count on this much. I hope that this will be true, but at this point I'm not sure how much I believe it.

[leamingtonspaceman]

If you set up a WiFi extender and create a unique SSID for it, and connect the Deck to it, would that cure the problem?

[ALE5510]

a strange thing happened to me yesterday with my 512gb model and penultimate firmware (I hadn't yet updated the deck to the latest version): used it offline for a few days (or not paying attention to whether it was connected or not) outside the house and also left in suspension on battery, I try to install a game at home with a Fritz 7590 modem with 5ghz wifi and I notice that the wifi on the deck is off, in the settings even turning the wifi off and on again nothing changed and no visible network appeared. Restarting the steam deck seems (and I mean SEEMS) to have resolved it but I still have to test it. Has this happened to anyone?

[Rodomar705]

Escrito originalmente por ALE5510:

a strange thing happened to me yesterday with my 512gb model and penultimate firmware (I hadn't yet updated the deck to the latest version): used it offline for a few days (or not paying attention to whether it was connected or not) outside the house and also left in suspension on battery, I try to install a game at home with a Fritz 7590 modem with 5ghz wifi and I notice that the wifi on the deck is off, in the settings even turning the wifi off and on again nothing changed and no visible network appeared. Restarting the steam deck seems (and I mean SEEMS) to have resolved it but I still have to test it. Has this happened to anyone?

Yep, the firmware of the card died and kept rebooting. It's the classic one where people can't see any network until a reboot of the whole device.

[ALE5510]

Escrito originalmente por Rodomar705:

Escrito originalmente por ALE5510:

a strange thing happened to me yesterday with my 512gb model and penultimate firmware (I hadn't yet updated the deck to the latest version): used it offline for a few days (or not paying attention to whether it was connected or not) outside the house and also left in suspension on battery, I try to install a game at home with a Fritz 7590 modem with 5ghz wifi and I notice that the wifi on the deck is off, in the settings even turning the wifi off and on again nothing changed and no visible network appeared. Restarting the steam deck seems (and I mean SEEMS) to have resolved it but I still have to test it. Has this happened to anyone?

Yep, the firmware of the card died and kept rebooting. It's the classic one where people can't see any network until a reboot of the whole device.

ok, so it's a driver/software issue, not hardware? It is likely that this will happen with a long period of suspension of the steam deck, in fact it seems that the driver goes into a loop when the machine is turned on.

[bergbeller]

Escrito originalmente por chris:

Reporting in.

RTAX86U Asus router. Both 5 and 2.5 not working.

Wifi worked great for the first two days and now randomly stops working for hours. It seems to be completely random, reboots, sleep etc... make no difference.

Just tried a factory reset and it found the networks but could not connect.

Not sure if related but the sleep function is not working either. It turns back on after 15 seconds.

Messaged steam support 2 days ago and still no response. Probably will have to return it.

I am experiencing the exact same problem! In every detail mentioned. 512GB version, ISP provided router (German Telekom's, „Speedport Pro Plus“ - https://www.smarthome.de/geraete/telekom-speedport-pro-plus-titanschwarz). Please share if you had any resolution?

Was fine at first couple days, then random disconnects and some successful connections now and then, but uptime is degrading every day - This morning I restarted it once and I seemed to squeeze in 1 minute of connection, there was a game downloading and then the download speed slowly crawled back to 0 and I was offline again. It has happened before, but I had some extra hours of connection, instead of seconds. Tried several wifi settings, frequencies, channels, wifi power saving off, single band, re-imaging, whatever… nothing seemed to improve it at all.

My support ticket has been back and forth for a couple weeks now. They send me 1 instruction, I do it immediately reporting back, then I have to wait another couple days until they come back to me… honestly really frustrated, they seem to be stalling an inevitable replacement… I just wish I had their complete troubleshooting fluxogram in 1 message so I can do it all at once and return it already…

[Le Bidibule]

Sorry if it has been posted before, there is a workaround or two given by Steam support.
I know this isn't perfect but at least it seemed to solve this issue.
1. On your router, 5ghz, change the band to other than 160mhz.
2. If you have a disappearing wifi bug :
"It seems that the official workaround is to go to storage mode :
"When you get a chance we would recommend to please try temporarily switching your Steam Deck into battery storage mode as doing so can potentially address any issues with firmware in a potentially bad state which reinstalling or reimaging the device would not:

- Power the Steam Deck down normally (choose Shut Down from the Power menu). If you can't access the menu, you can force a shutdown by holding down the Power button for 10 seconds.
- Hold down the Volume+ button and press the power button. Wait up to 1 minute; the Steam Deck should boot into the BIOS menu.
- Using the D-Pad and A to select, navigate to "Setup Utility"
- Navigate to the Power Menu
- Choose Battery storage mode, and confirm.

You should see the Steam Deck power off, and the power LED will blink three times to confirm battery storage mode has been activated.

Wait a few minutes, then plug the Steam Deck in using the provided power supply and turn on the Steam Deck and retest the issue.

If this has no effect on the problem, let us know, and we will proceed onto next steps.

Steam Support"

This sucks, and I hope it'll be patched soon.
But now I can play and download w/o problem.
Good luck to you all.

[Brennivin]

Bump for visibility. This appears to still be an ongoing issue that hasn't yet been formally acknowledged or addressed.