Steam big picture gets stuck on the left or up button

[Daddy Devito]

It starts happening before steam even opens up properly and when I do press any of the arrow keys on my controller (ps3), steam stops going up or left for a second and then it starts over again. Any of the other buttons doesn't make it stop. Using my keyboard doesn't stop it from going left or up also. How can I fix this? Weirdly this started happening just before I connected my controller.

[gregowinner]

Hi, I have the same exact problem. It works perfectly fine for some games and I've tested the controller extensively in the console and nothing seems to be wrong. Yet in Big Picture Mode and a few games, this problem occurs with both an Afterglow Xbox 360 controller and an official PS3 controller (regardless of which USB port it's plugged into). Strangely enough, I have another Afterglow and PS3 controller from the exact same brand and I don't have experience this problem with those gamepads. FWIW, I'm on Arch Linux, but had the same thing happen on Ubuntu.

Also, if I persist in Big Picture Mode and manage to navigate to a game and launch it, suddenly the problem of the arrow keys being stuck on left/up is solved and the game runs perfectly after that, with both "faulty" controllers working fine from then on.. It's quite bizarre, really.

I was wondering if you ever found a solution for your problem, since this post is a few months old by now.

[adioe3]

I can also confirm this happens with Microsoft Wireless Keyboard 2000 (AES for Business). The moment I plug in the receiver it's as if I've stuck my finger on the left arrow. Unplugging the USB receiver makes it stop.

I'm using Debian 8.

[Arthanis]

I can confirm this. I thought it was a issue with my ps3 controller, but after I tested it with jstest-gtk, I can see that the controller works flawlessly with all its axes. Also, even if I use only my wireless microsoft keyboard, both steam and game (Dust elysisan tale) get the controller stuck on left or up.

[gregowinner]

@Arthanis As I mentioned in my earlier post, when I open Steam in Big Picture Mode with the wonky controller already plugged in, and then (with great difficulty) navigate to and launch the game from inside BPM, the controller is suddenly no longer stuck and I can play the game using it. It's obviously not a full solution, but it's how I play my coop games with my girlfriend now and it's a functional (if annoying) workaround for me. Might be worth a try for you as well.

[Arthanis]

@gregowinner, thanks for the tip. The problem is that I'm trying to play wirelessly with my dualshock 3 controller. But I will try that.

[dnaod]

I can confirm that on Gnome LInux 15.10 using a Microsoft Wireless Desktop 800 this bug also exists. Unplugging the Microsoft mini-dongle immediately stops the left and up inputs. Plugging the dongle back in causes it to immediately restart.

I will flip over to Windows and see if the problem persists.

[Arthanis]

dnaod, check this:

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/3384

[dnaod]

Originally posted by Arthanis:

dnaod, check this:

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/3384

Thanks Arthanis. I'll monitor that issue for sure.