Steam Controller on Note 9 in steam link constantly disconnecting

[Garthark]

Hi, I've hit my limit of ideas as to what the problem might be.

Via bluetooth my steam controller connects for a short time (up to 1 minute) then disconnects (which powers down the controller) so i power it back up and all hell breaks loose in the steam link app (sometimes crashes when it reconnects, sometimes resumes perfectly) oh and it's not the batteries (it stayed connected perfectly for 10 minutes to my pc via wireless).
Here's the weird bit. The controller seems to stay connected for a long time as long as the Steam Link app isn't running.

Wired using a OTG connector the controller perpetually connects and disconnects immediately with no wait. This is regardless of the Steam Link app running.

What's strange about this is my wired MS X360 controller works perfectly fine (alas i'd like to remove the wires this uses)

And just in case the worry is about the bluetooth on my phone it works with multiple other input devices perfectly fine (keyboard, speaker and headset).

I have tried this with both versions of Steam Link app (google and galaxy version) and both suffer from the same issues.

Note 9
Android: 9
Steam Link for Galaxy: 1.0.4
Steam Link: 1.1.30
Steam Controller Firmware Version: Wed May 30 23:12:13 2018 (1,527,718,333)

Duplicate post on Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamController/comments/9w73fx/steam_controller_on_note_9_in_steam_link/

Update: tried the Steam Controller USB dongle in my phone with an OTG adaptor, with no luck google version (of the Steam Link app) lets me choose a Steam Controller but claims there's "No Controller Detected". Whereas the Galaxy version detects "Valve Software Steam Controller" but won't let me map any buttons.

2nd Update: tested with latest software and no change, although have noticed for the controller to disconnect no game actually needs to be running, just navigating steam and the problem occurs.

3rd Update: Managed to get it working for a bit through screwing around with the controller settings in steam (changing controller profiles) whilst playing skyrim after then it worked (including other games), since then I've not been able to replicate the anti-bug of it working. Also tried re-flashing steam controller, no luck.

[Garthark]

Anyone? I've been updating this as new versions of Steam Link become available to no avail, is there any information out there, According to Reddit I'm not the only person with this issue. (appears to be specific to the Samsung Galaxy Note 9)

[DirtyCamper]

Originally posted by Garthark:

Anyone? I've been updating this as new versions of Steam Link become available to no avail, is there any information out there, According to Reddit I'm not the only person with this issue. (appears to be specific to the Samsung Galaxy Note 9)

The only thing I can answer is: I have that too.
Next to the fact it regularly doesn't want to start the stream... (ip rule management bugs I presume).

[DirtyCamper]

So on a note 8 it works, no disconnects,
On a note 9 it disconnects fairly fast...
I have no idea what the difference is between these two...

[DirtyCamper]

Another update... Reconnecting and all, and using steam link for galaxy, not the android app, I got it to work for longer than a minute...
As a matter of fact: my controller stopped working, I turned it off, turned it on again, and it was grabbed by the app, and worked on steam again, now without shutting of. tested for 5 minutes...
Weird... When I have time I will test again...

[hayabusa685]

Hello All, I just wanted to add that I had the same issue with my Steam Controller on the Steam LInk app with my Galaxy S9+. I've even gone as far as wiping the phone and starting from scratch again with the same exact issue.

[kill_dano]

Also have this issue on my note 9. Seems to affect both the samsung version and the regular version of the Steam link app.

[DirtyCamper]

And my good news on 2018-12-04 was short lived....
I got the feeling something in the note 9 turns the device off.

[Garthark]

Originally posted by DirtyCamper:

And my good news on 2018-12-04 was short lived....
I got the feeling something in the note 9 turns the device off.

I think something in the SteamLink app is causing the controller to either power cycle or disconnect the bluetooth on something (phone or controller)

[hayabusa685]

I have found that SteamLink for Galaxy seems to work well which is in the samsung app store.

[DirtyCamper]

Originally posted by hayabusa685:

I have found that SteamLink for Galaxy seems to work well which is in the samsung app store.

I got the same disconnects with that application.

[Packetdancer]

FWIW, I think there's something weird in Samsung's version of bluedroid (or maybe the underlying drivers) in their branch of Android 9. Specifically, my Note 9 does not like to stay connected to the Steam Controller ever since I got the Android 9 upgrade. When I installed the beta of the Android 9 image for the Galaxy S8+—which had previously worked flawlessly—the same disconnects started on that phone.

It's definitely not Android 9 as a whole, though, because the Pixel and Pixel 2 running Android 9 still work perfectly. :/

[Garthark]

Originally posted by Packetdancer:

FWIW, I think there's something weird in Samsung's version of bluedroid (or maybe the underlying drivers) in their branch of Android 9. Specifically, my Note 9 does not like to stay connected to the Steam Controller ever since I got the Android 9 upgrade. When I installed the beta of the Android 9 image for the Galaxy S8+—which had previously worked flawlessly—the same disconnects started on that phone.

It's definitely not Android 9 as a whole, though, because the Pixel and Pixel 2 running Android 9 still work perfectly. :/

Hmm curious, the note 9 did run a newer version of android than the S8/S9 (8.1 rather than 8.0) so maybe it was somthing they did to modify android 8.1 onwards...

[DirtyCamper]

Originally posted by Garthark:

Hmm curious, the note 9 did run a newer version of android than the S8/S9 (8.1 rather than 8.0) so maybe it was somthing they did to modify android 8.1 onwards...

It never really worked on my note 9, even though my note 8 worked when they were on the same android version.
I haven't tried just using the controller as a mouse/keyboard.
Anyway, I think this is yet another of Samsung's advanced power management tricks: it probably disconnects mouses and keyboards that haven't been used in a long time. That's correct, because it is not in mouse/keyboard mode anymore, it is not used as such.
Another one of Samsungs power management tricks was to disable IPv6 when the screen turns off. Fortunately they fixed it in a new firmware of the note 4 and up.
I love my note 9, but sometimes when I look under the hood, I see lots of band aids and sticky tape.

[Packetdancer]

Originally posted by DirtyCamper:

Anyway, I think this is yet another of Samsung's advanced power management tricks: it probably disconnects mouses and keyboards that haven't been used in a long time. That's correct, because it is not in mouse/keyboard mode anymore, it is not used as such.

Oh, heck. That would definitely do it.

[King Neptune]

I'm experiencing this issue as well. About to trade in this damn Note 9 for something else. Anyone ever able to make progress on this issue?