Touchscreen not working

[DocktorJ]

So on first boot, I had no touchscreen functionality. Tried software updates, restart, shutdown, factory reset, no change. Booted from USB recovery and it worked for a day. Then randomly stopped. USB recovery does not fix the issue, nor does anything else. Awaiting response from Steam Support.

[thoughtsofspeaking]

Same has happened to me. Feels like a Linux issue rather than Faulty hardware. Something the Bios update broke possibly?

[DocktorJ]

I agree, it seems to be software rather than hardware, I got it working after a USB recovery for about 5 minutes before it failed again, so I know the touchscreen physically works. But if it's a software issue, why aren't more people experiencing it? You are literally the only other person I've found with the same issue!

I went into BIOS and it shows touchscreen is enabled, toggling this setting to disabled and back to enabled did not help either.

[Lg2K]

I'm experiencing some touchscreen problems as well since today. It has been working fine for the last week (from Tuesday to Friday) but today it just stopped responding to my inputs. I've restarted my deck multiple times, tested the in Steam menus, in-game and in the desktop mode but it just doesn't respond anymore. I haven't tried to factory reset or reinstall from USB yet, but I would rather not do that again. Hopefully it get fixed in a steam update very soon. Or could there maybe be some kind of disable touchscreen button combination we accidentally pressed?

[thoughtsofspeaking]

Originally posted by simonjordan557:

I agree, it seems to be software rather than hardware, I got it working after a USB recovery for about 5 minutes before it failed again, so I know the touchscreen physically works. But if it's a software issue, why aren't more people experiencing it? You are literally the only other person I've found with the same issue!

I went into BIOS and it shows touchscreen is enabled, toggling this setting to disabled and back to enabled did not help either.

Yeah, it is puzzling. But from what I can gather, there seems to some issues with the bios anyway. It supposedly throws up a lot of errors booting.

As for why Only a few people have mentioned this issue, I have no idea but as an owner of a Vita and switch I can confidently say the touchscreen is so redundant in this category of device, I can imagine there are a fair few that haven’t even noticed.

I only noticed myself when handing the device over to someone who is more inclined to touch interfaces. I’m not even bothering with a RMA for now for that very same reason. I’m happy with or without the touchscreen and the only reason I would send it back for an RMA would be A) Just in case this is a sign of something else breaking down the line, B) The touchscreen was part of the price I paid, so I should be able to have a working one C) to prevent future RMAs being rejected due to the device having multiple issues.


Otherwise, to me it’s not worth the multiple week wait to get another device shipped to me and the hassle of shipping a device I’m perfect happy with as is.

[thoughtsofspeaking]

Ok, speculation time. I’m now leaning towards this actually being a hardware issue. If you watch Ifixit’s (or even Valve’s) teardown video, you will see that the ribbon cable for the the touch screen is directly underneath the right trackpad.

While normally there is nothing wrong with this, the ribbon cable is quite small with no slack at all. I’ve opened up my fair share of devices and this is unusual. There is normal a tiny bit of slack on ribbon cables, just to account for general wiring flex.

Could it be possible that if you click the right trackpad too hard, you can dislodge the ribbon cable? Of course, this isn’t a user fault, the design simply was a bit Ill advised, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

Alas, while I’m perfectly capable of opening up my device and checking for myself, I’m not bothered enough to do so. Still if you are a bit handy and don’t want to wait on a RMA, that might be a easy fix. I can’t confirm for definite, but the ribbon cable looks like a standard 5 pin ribbon cable so if you have a multimeter and know what you are doing, you might even be able to replace it with one with a tiny bit more slack.

Again, this is all speculation. It could be something else and even if I’m right, it could be dangerous to your device to mess with it. Your mileage may vary.

[DocktorJ]

That's an interesting theory, as I'm now leaning towards it being a hardware issue, being that I can't reliably reproduce a fix (I've got it to briefly work after various troubleshooting, but never the same thing twice).

Steam has offered to replace the unit, so I'm sending it back as I'm not happy accepting a defective product when I've paid full price. Hopefully they will have a few spares ready for immediate shipping in anticipation of a certain failure rate.

[jonp]

We've identified a firmware initialization issue that causes the touchscreen to stop responding. The fix is being tested now, and will roll out in an upcoming BIOS update.

If your touchscreen stops responding, a simple reboot is not enough to clear the issue. However, you can reset the touchscreen by putting the Steam Deck into battery storage mode:

• Power the Steam Deck down normally (choose Shut Down from the Power menu)
  
• Hold down the Volume+ button and press the power button. 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.

Plug the Steam Deck in to the supplied power supply. Turn on the Steam Deck.

[Lg2K]

Originally posted by jonp:

We've identified a firmware initialization issue that causes the touchscreen to stop responding. The fix is being tested now, and will roll out in an upcoming BIOS update.

If your touchscreen stops responding, a simple reboot is not enough to clear the issue. However, you can reset the touchscreen by putting the Steam Deck into battery storage mode:

• Power the Steam Deck down normally (choose Shut Down from the Power menu)
  
• Hold down the Volume+ button and press the power button. 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.

Plug the Steam Deck in to the supplied power supply. Turn on the Steam Deck.

Thanks, that indeed restored the touchscreen functionality. I was just about to send a support ticket to request an RMA because I though I had tried everything (Factory reset, bios reset and reimage using an usb), I'm glad it's a software issue and not a hardware issue. Thanks for the great work on the Deck and support! I've been enjoying every minute of it so far (yes even the trouble shooting).

[DocktorJ]

Originally posted by jonp:

We've identified a firmware initialization issue that causes the touchscreen to stop responding. The fix is being tested now, and will roll out in an upcoming BIOS update.

If your touchscreen stops responding, a simple reboot is not enough to clear the issue. However, you can reset the touchscreen by putting the Steam Deck into battery storage mode:

• Power the Steam Deck down normally (choose Shut Down from the Power menu)
  
• Hold down the Volume+ button and press the power button. 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.

Plug the Steam Deck in to the supplied power supply. Turn on the Steam Deck.

Thanks, I tried this but unfortunately it didn't work for me, although it has worked for others here and on Reddit.
I've been offered an RMA so will continue down that path.

[thoughtsofspeaking]

As a follow up, yes this indeed did correct my issue

[Miguel]

Originally posted by jonp:

We've identified a firmware initialization issue that causes the touchscreen to stop responding. The fix is being tested now, and will roll out in an upcoming BIOS update.

If your touchscreen stops responding, a simple reboot is not enough to clear the issue. However, you can reset the touchscreen by putting the Steam Deck into battery storage mode:

• Power the Steam Deck down normally (choose Shut Down from the Power menu)
  
• Hold down the Volume+ button and press the power button. 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.

Plug the Steam Deck in to the supplied power supply. Turn on the Steam Deck.

I have the same issue, I'll wait for the BIOS update

[Axell]

I have the same issue, tried solution 10+ times to no avail

[Husker]

Originally posted by jonp:

We've identified a firmware initialization issue that causes the touchscreen to stop responding. The fix is being tested now, and will roll out in an upcoming BIOS update.

If your touchscreen stops responding, a simple reboot is not enough to clear the issue. However, you can reset the touchscreen by putting the Steam Deck into battery storage mode:

• Power the Steam Deck down normally (choose Shut Down from the Power menu)
  
• Hold down the Volume+ button and press the power button. 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.

Plug the Steam Deck in to the supplied power supply. Turn on the Steam Deck.

Interesting Story; First time I tried this, nothing changed (touchscreen was still not functoning).
Second time I set the deck into battery storage mode, it booted, I put in my PIN and than it...
shut down by itself
directly afterwards I was unable to start it again.
I was REALLY scared that I "bricked" the deck, but:
After a few minutes I was able to start it and voilà
touchscreen is working now!

[Tomora]

So, I got the same Problem yesterday and now I've fixed it.
All fine, but why didnt Valve fix this until now?
(No hate, love you Valve <3)

[costasiero]

same here and the "fix" doesn't work