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?

[kingblue]

I was finally able to connect to my TP Link AC1750. I was running a very old version of OpenWRT. Updated it and it works fine now.

It was all user error from me.

[j.holski]

I've changed from 12 to 24 hours display option and after restart my SD was able to connect to wifi. Now everything is ok.

[arkitex]

Wow, I did the same and switched from 12 to 24 hours and 5gz wifi is working now.

[BO7AMMOOD]

I have this issue and I barely managed to set up the OLED deck yesterday because of it. Been suffering all day long from it and I just now noticed something very strange. Apparently once I move... about 12 feet away at least from the router then the connection works and as soon as I get back close to the router it stops working? This is so bizarre that I don't know what to make of it now :/

[Kage Goomba]

Originally posted by BO7AMMOOD:

I have this issue and I barely managed to set up the OLED deck yesterday because of it. Been suffering all day long from it and I just now noticed something very strange. Apparently once I move... about 12 feet away at least from the router then the connection works and as soon as I get back close to the router it stops working? This is so bizarre that I don't know what to make of it now :/

That's just outright interference sadly.

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by Kage Goomba:

Originally posted by BO7AMMOOD:

I have this issue and I barely managed to set up the OLED deck yesterday because of it. Been suffering all day long from it and I just now noticed something very strange. Apparently once I move... about 12 feet away at least from the router then the connection works and as soon as I get back close to the router it stops working? This is so bizarre that I don't know what to make of it now :/

That's just outright interference sadly.

It is more likely an issue with the beamforming and MIMO not working properly rather than interference.

[Beb]

I had this exact issue with my 512Gb OLED model, I tried all the troubleshooting steps with no luck. It's on its way back to valve. I'd love to hear from Valve on the matter before I order another unit!

[neodata686]

So switching from 12 to 24 hour display in Settings -> General -> 24-hour clock oddly seems to have fixed this for me. I'm now connected to my 5ghz wifi 6 router I couldn't connect to before. Strange.

[sandman]

Originally posted by neodata686:

So switching from 12 to 24 hour display in Settings -> General -> 24-hour clock oddly seems to have fixed this for me. I'm now connected to my 5ghz wifi 6 router I couldn't connect to before. Strange.

I disabled 160 Mhz bandwidth yesterday and managed to connect. Now I gotta try re-enabling it I guess (I use 24 hour format by default but switched it after disabling 160Mhz). This is a very peculiar issue

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by neodata686:

So switching from 12 to 24 hour display in Settings -> General -> 24-hour clock oddly seems to have fixed this for me. I'm now connected to my 5ghz wifi 6 router I couldn't connect to before. Strange.

Originally posted by sandman:

Originally posted by neodata686:

So switching from 12 to 24 hour display in Settings -> General -> 24-hour clock oddly seems to have fixed this for me. I'm now connected to my 5ghz wifi 6 router I couldn't connect to before. Strange.

I disabled 160 Mhz bandwidth yesterday and managed to connect. Now I gotta try re-enabling it I guess (I use 24 hour format by default but switched it after disabling 160Mhz). This is a very peculiar issue

I don't think it has to do with 12h or 24h format; it has to do with you just setting the time. This is likely due to the date/time being far enough off sync that it is causing issues with security aspects that require time alignment.

Try booting into desktop mode, ensure you are connected to WiFi, disable Automatic date & time by NTP if it is enabled, manually set your date/time to the your current date & time, and then save the settings. Then reload the settings and re-enabled automatic date & time by NTP server and ensure your region is set correctly for your time zone. Save the settings again and then shutdown the Steam Deck, re-enable your routers 5GHz band and 160MHz channel width, then boot your Steam Deck normally in Game mode to see if it connects to the 5GHz network using 160MHz channels.

[BO7AMMOOD]

Originally posted by Kage Goomba:

Originally posted by BO7AMMOOD:

I have this issue and I barely managed to set up the OLED deck yesterday because of it. Been suffering all day long from it and I just now noticed something very strange. Apparently once I move... about 12 feet away at least from the router then the connection works and as soon as I get back close to the router it stops working? This is so bizarre that I don't know what to make of it now :/

That's just outright interference sadly.

I'll admit that I'm out of my depth when it comes this issue, but if the problem was interference, wouldn't that affect other devices as well? I use a ton of devices that connect to this router and I haven't experienced this issue with any one of them!

Originally posted by PopinFRESH:

Originally posted by Kage Goomba:

That's just outright interference sadly.

It is more likely an issue with the beamforming and MIMO not working properly rather than interference.

Okay now I'm really out of my league

All I know is that it's very weird that this is happening only with the OLED Deck, and not with the LCD one or the many other devices that I used.

I've tried setting the clock to display 24 hours rather than 12, I've disabled Wifi power management, and I've also tried messing about with the router settings as best as I can (I couldn't find a setting relating to 160Mhz), but none of those workarounds worked. So now I need to use the deck far away from the router, and whenever I'm near it I found out that a mobile hotspot works just fine. I'll just have to watch those downloads when I'm using the hotspot so that I don't exceed my mobile data limit. A band aid solution I guess until this problem gets worked out hopefully.

[grzelu]

I managed to connect to Wi-Fi, but SD is losing connection every 10-30s. Then it reconnects for 20-40s and cycle repeats. Do you have the same? It makes downloading games eternity and basically I can’t download anything in desktop mode because it timeouts. In Steam it simply reconnects and continues the download.

[omicronpersei8]

Interesting. My unit had no issue connecting to 5GHz Asus router wifi. Went through the software and firmware updates.

I did change the clock to 24 hour but this was after setting up steam, downloading a few games, etc.

So I may have inadvertently applied the workaround some users mentioned here, but it seemed to be fine before I did so.

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by omicronpersei8:

Interesting. My unit had no issue connecting to 5GHz Asus router wifi. Went through the software and firmware updates.

I did change the clock to 24 hour but this was after setting up steam, downloading a few games, etc.

So I may have inadvertently applied the workaround some users mentioned here, but it seemed to be fine before I did so.

Would you happen to be located on the west cost of the US? (e.g. PST/PDT timezone)

[Keyouta]

I'm having the same issues. Thanks for posting the thread and good to know it's not a one-off.