Steam Deck Dock - Wired Ethernet Network connection (drops freezes network issues)

[faeldra]

Situation: Steam deck docked in the steam deck dock and connected to the Ethernet port.
SteamOS 3.4.6 Fully updated Stable.
Dock is fully updated to but i don't know where to see the version.
Ethernet enabled & Wifi Disabled.
Been using the Dock on wifi cause of this, but I think I have had this issue sinds when I got it.


So after a minute or so my connection freezes up and the internet on the deck stops working, after another minute the Steam Deck wil alert me that the internet stop d working.
Ill have to either disconnect the Ethernet Cable OR Disable/Enable the Wired Internet connection in the Connection Manager, then it will work for 1 ~ 4 Minutes and the problem repeats.
(When connected to Wifi it works perfectly. )

After some searching on the community pages, i have read that there are some docks that cause issue's on the Routers / Switches that they are connected to.
So fortunately i have a managed switch Netgear GS105Ev2 5 ports. So when I log in the Configure Page.
I immediately experience slow loading of this page. (the switch is laggy wile the steam deck is connected by Ethernet cable,
when i disconnect the cable OR disable the connection in the steam deck network config, the page immediately works normal(fast) again)

I have tested if the problem happens when the Official USB C Charger is Disconnected = Problem Persists
So first I exchanged the switch for another one (same Type different Firmware version), Problem persists.
So I updated the firmware on both Switch to the latest Firmware, the problem persists.
So I've set the IP dress to Static = Problem persists

So I've connected another Dock (LOOQS USB C 8 in 1 Hub) = the Internet by Ethernet Cable keeps working + Switch configure page works normal = No Problems

I have NOT tested another Ethernet cable be course it works with another Dock.

Conclusion
My steam Deck dock is causing network issues when the Ethernet is enabled (and connected).

Cause can be hardware or Software at this point I don't know.

Please help!

[taropsyche]

I'm not 100% sure if we're coming to the same conclusion or I'm just latching onto this post cause it's new. I had issues with the Dock getting stuck at 100mb/s and now it's back again. I'll change link aggregation and nothing helps other then leaving it in Automatic mode.

I've tried both 3.4.6 Beta and now Preview. Haven't rolled back to stable yet.

The connectivity was really bad tonight playing on the TV when I was using my Shield with the SteamLink app. I checked my router and the port was reporting that it was negotiated at 100mb/s not Gigabit T_T. You'd think that that would be plenty fast to play games, but it keep dropping the connection ><

Just thought the dock was finally fixed T_T

[Echo]

experiencing exactly the same stuff with official steam deck docking station (original steam deck charger plugged in), ethernet connection just disconnects after X amount of time and then reconnects on its own and loops like that constantly

tried changing link negotiation speed but nothing improves the situation so left it at auto (also tried metered connection off, on but no cigar so left it on auto)

please Valve, for the love of god, fix your damn official 100EUR expensive USBC HUB

[BiggusDiccus]

Originally posted by Echo:

experiencing exactly the same stuff with official steam deck docking station (original steam deck charger plugged in), ethernet connection just disconnects after X amount of time and then reconnects on its own and loops like that constantly

tried changing link negotiation speed but nothing improves the situation so left it at auto (also tried metered connection off, on but no cigar so left it on auto)

please Valve, for the love of god, fix your damn official 100EUR expensive USBC HUB

under windows or steamos? Under windows you should install realtek driver for the network card. Don't use generic windows one.

[faeldra]

So in the mean time. I have received a new Dock (by RMA). Wich has the same issue's. been using its for the last 6 months now. I hoped the new dock update would fix it but no.

[Chotato]

Having a nearly identical issue with an unofficial dock I got from Amazon. Seems like it’s a Deck/Dock interfacing issue tied to SteamOS changes since it’s not an official dock but having a similar issue. I say SteamOS related because my issue sometimes goes away entirely on specific versions of SteamOS and becomes worse on others.

I leave wifi on while it’s docked and using Ethernet and I don’t experience any loss of service but every few minutes it’ll pop up saying the wired connection is connected but has no connectivity, and you can watch in the desktop mode network tab that the wifi kicks in for half a second or less.

Instead of experiencing total internet failure, it gets these micro disconnects. It’s enough to drop me from a Forza match/GTA 5 server but not enough to actually cause loss of internet, no notifications from these games that there was an internet issue, just suddenly dropped onto a session by myself. No idea what’s going on with the Deck’s internet and Docks but it seems like this is a fairly widespread issue. If it happens while doing something like watching a YouTube video, the buffering may stop for less than half a second or not at all and I don’t experience any interruptions. It’s exclusively a problem with games that require constant internet back and forth to maintain connection.

Additionally it seems to be tied to SteamOS for me. Some updates will fix the issue entirely and some will make it worse. ABSOLUTELY HATE that we can’t turn off auto updates. I want to find a stable release that works and then leave it there for as long as possible.

Not to mention various other SteamOS issues I’ve gotten from forced updates, including one “Stable” build that was so broken it stopped me from playing literally anything at all because of bad FPS on games that previously worked on the last version. End up switching to the beta branch to avoid these borked versions/installs.