Firmware update for Steam Controller ability is missing from latest Steam client.

[kitor]

ISSUE
Steam Controllers can no longer be updated. Old UI is missing, url steam://UpdateFirmware does no longer work. In new controller options there's no mention of firmware update ability.

Updating hardware itself by grabbing BT enabled firmware from another controller and putting it in recovery mode (RT pressed down while connecting to USB) works only partially - controller enters BT pairing mode, but is is undetectable.

OS
Windows 11

CONTROLLER TYPES:
Steam Controller

CONNECTION TYPE:
Wired

GAME, config link, etc: not applicable.

[Znex]

Originally posted by bickmanII:

Originally posted by bickmanII:

I have two steam controllers, one work perfectly, the other one always show name "#controller_steamcontroller_gordon" , and I can change the configs in steam controller's setting, for example, change the opening sound, however , none of them actually work on my controller , when I reboot my controller, steam couldn't detect it, but the controller actually works properly.

I can make sc setting work only when steam in offline mode

I have the same issue. Start in offline mode. Change settings. Some say it's because of old users profiles being linked to the controller. Only was to remove them was the old ui. As of know I'm trying to find a way to fix it. BEWARE doing the offline method de-linked my steam controller to my dongle.

[Nicovlaai]

Originally posted by Cpt_Kopfschmerz:

OMG!! Thank you! <3 And no that was the opposite of being silly. You where correct :O)

Wowowo Stop.. Having the same issue; cant get it to connect to the dongle after BLE upgrade. How do you exactly pair it?

I cant find any button on the receiver and have no clue how to pair it. Clicking the "Connect a steam controller" button does nothing but say "Confirm connected devices" but leaves me no choice to connect/confirm/pick anything. Help! thanks! :-)

EDIT: Found it, its STEAM BTN + X to pair with a dongle.

[jeanpaulsamson]

I used the command-line firmware update tool

Steam_Controller_FW_Update_Tool_5b0f21bd.zip

to update my Steam Controller to support Bluetooth BLE:

C:\Users\JEAN-P~1\Development\STEAMC~1>ble
Updating controller firmware
Sent reboot into bootloader.
Attempting to update via bootloader...
Image checksum: f5993930976b3f5893c8fed50f614a30
Starting firmware update...
Transfering data...
Verifying...
Successfully updated firmware.

Waiting for 0 seconds, press CTRL+C to quit ...
Attempting to send to wired controller...
Updating radio firmware
Attempting to update via USB...

Starting SWD

Radio full chip erase

Programming SoftDevice
Transferring updatescripts\fw_images\ble\s110_nrf51_8.0.0_softdevice.bin...
..........................................................................................
Programming Application at 0
Transferring updatescripts\fw_images\ble\vcf_wired_controller_d0g_5a0e3f348_radio.bin...
............................................................................................................................
Radio Update Complete.  Rebooting

I can now successfully connect the Steam Controller to my devices via Bluetooth. However, I can no longer get it to work with the official wireless dongle. I have tried re-pairing the dongle via Steam->Settings->Controller and selecting "Start" to add a new Steam Controller. Nothing happens. X+Steam on the controller starts the controller up so that the Steam logo is flashing. There is no prompt to enter a 4-button code or anything. What am I doing wrong? Is there actually a way to use the wireless receiver with this BLE Bluetooth firmware? I can confirm my dongle was functioning fine immediately before the firmware update.

[Stormtux]

Have you tried this?:
https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/1796-5FC3-88B3-C85F#switch

[BirdJesus]

Originally posted by Znex:

Originally posted by bickmanII:

I can make sc setting work only when steam in offline mode

I have the same issue. Start in offline mode. Change settings. Some say it's because of old users profiles being linked to the controller. Only was to remove them was the old ui. As of know I'm trying to find a way to fix it. BEWARE doing the offline method de-linked my steam controller to my dongle.

Edit: I found out how to fix this by de-registering an old profile that was on the steam controller in this post: https://steamcommunity.com/app/353370/discussions/1/4031347831096960063/

[ls013b7dh06]

Originally posted by BirdJesus:

Edit: I found out how to fix this by de-registering an old profile that was on the steam controller in this post: https://steamcommunity.com/app/353370/discussions/1/4031347831096960063/

no matter how many times I have tried, my steam is still open with the new ui, I cant get to the old ui, I dont know why, Btw, I have tried on my mac mini with win11 and macos 10.15.7, not work

[-=[ BME ]=- Joey]

They removed the "old UI" maybe half a year ago, sadly (but understandable).

What's sad is, that they forgot to include the SC config stuff into the new UI ... might come later down the road (2025++), but maybe only if we keep threads like this here alive

[pushcx]

Did anyone ever figure out what version of MSVCP100.DLL is needed and where to get it? I've tried a half-dozen versions from the MS site linked and running ble.bat just gives six popups about not having MSVCP100.DLL installed.

[pushcx]

I found the dll, and the update worked! https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999

For future readers:
I plugged in the controller without holding the right trigger or removing the batteries.
I ran cmd.exe as administrator.
I cd'd into the directory with ble.bat and ran .\ble.bat.
I got no popups, just the text jeanpaulsampson pasted in message #95 above.
I unplugged the controller and did not attempt to replace the firmware.bin as described in other messages.
I held Y and pushed the Steam button on the controller, and instantly saw it available to pair.

Best of luck to other owners. It's a shame Valve has abandoned it, but there's nothing like it for couch gaming.

[Scientwist]

I must have the worst luck with these things. I have 2 controllers and neither will update. One of them in device manager says Unknown Device: Port Reset Failed and the other DOES show as a "Drive" CRP DISABLD, whatever that means. THAT one shows the most promise, yet the tool can NOT find it, no matter what way I go about it, either the blt bat or the prod bat. Both say the same things, faile dto open USB device and Error finding device. Cable is KNOWN good. I have tried EVERY method listed, with and without batteries, on, off, trigger, no trigger, directly clicking the .bat files AND running them via CMD manually, made sure the 2010 VCRedist was up to date. BOTH controllers died and have refused to work at nearly the exact same time, within minutes of each other. Did nothing strange, just tried to play a game and they quit.

@austinp_valve Any ideas? Updates? I can't warranty these things, so any hardware I should look to see damage on for whatever reason? I will dismantle both if I have to to get them to work.

[(_BLACK_MAMBA_)]

If it helps anyone, then there is another working way, download the old version of steam with a still working "configurator" for configuring controllers (including steam controller), where it is possible to reset the controller settings to factory settings and successfully install the latest firmware.

It helped me a lot. I leave a link to the manual:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3039867754

[-=[ BME ]=- Joey]

Although i'd be very careful downloading (and running) SW from a pretty unknown source (and maybe even to give it admin privileges on Windows, as some tend to do), there might be many "idontcareabouts" out there, that might find this helpful.

I'd like to at least have the "old client version" option offered directly by Valve themselves, where you don't have to blindly trust any other random internet user, but only the company/party, that already has your data (and trust).

[-=[ BME ]=- Joey]

A pretty "legit" option might be a Linux live distro with an old (official) Steam client bundled already - i will test this likely next year (when i have time to test some possible configurations) and share my results here.

... but any other user might aswell do so meanwhile

[Nickakyoin]

Hello. I just purchased an used Steam controller and right now:

- it works perfectly fine connected via micro-USB
- Bluetooth and connecting doesn't work at all (not even with the specific dongle)

So I used the "FW Update tool" while the Steam controller is connected via micro-USB and I let it update it with both "ble.bat" (for last) and "prod.bat" (first). Still nothing.
Am I missing something or I screwed up?

Thanks in advice!

[(_BLACK_MAMBA_)]

Originally posted by Nickakyoin:

So I used the "FW Update tool" while the Steam controller is connected via micro-USB and I let it update it with both "ble.bat" (for last) and "prod.bat" (first). Still nothing.
Am I missing something or I screwed up?

I'm facing exactly the same situation as you. I solved it this way: download the old version of steam with a still working "configurator" for configuring controllers (including steam controller), where it is possible to reset the controller settings to factory settings and successfully install the latest firmware.

(you can download old steam separately, it is not necessary to delete an already installed one)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3039867754