Steam causes wireless controllers to instantly power off after sleeping (Win10)

[justageezer]

Possibly one, possibly two inter-related issues with wireless controllers affecting both the current release and apparently the beta, discussed on the forums here.

Issue 1) Some wireless controllers (Xbox One normal, Elite & DS4 reported) will refuse to wake up if they go to sleep with Steam running.
To reproduce:
Start Steam and connect wireless controller (in any order),
Wait for controller to enter sleep mode (or randomly turn off - see below),
Try to turn controller back on with Steam running - as soon as it connects it seems to receive a signal to power off as it goes to sleep again within about 1 second,
Stop Steam - the controller will now connect correctly and Steam can be restarted.

None of the checkboxes under Settings -> Controller appeared to have any effect, however I did experience some weirdness with the 'Turn off controller after' drop-down setting.

Issue 2) Wireless controllers randomly turn off mid-game despite full battery / latest firmware / regardless of any USB port settings etc.
To reproduce:
Start Steam and connect controller (in any order),
Play game until controller randomly turns off for no apparent reason,
Due to bug 1 above exit Steam to restart controller,

In a few tests I found that with the default 'turn off after 5 minutes' setting my controller would work for hours before randomly powering down, but with it set to never turn it off it actually turned off after about 5 minutes.

When connected both of the controllers I have tried are correctly identified as Xbox One controllers by Steam.

The forum discussion linked above links to another thread on the Oculus forums where several Steam users reported this issue in some detail. I've only experienced this issue recently but that thread goes back some time.

[=SM= Strekkode]

I have the same problem, cant play games for more than 20-mins before my controller disconnects. :(

Edit: im using the xbox one controller and the windows xbox adapter in Win10

[misenique]

My Xbox One Wireless controller wont turn off when I close Big Screen or even if i turn it off in Big Screen. "Turn off on Big Screen exit" is checked.

Is there any solution?

[misenique]

Origineel geplaatst door DarkHuD:

Origineel geplaatst door mısenıque:

My Xbox One Wireless controller wont turn off when I close Big Screen or even if i turn it off in Big Screen. "Turn off on Big Screen exit" is checked.

Is there any solution?

Not so far. Force closing steam is the only thing that works for me, but that's a non-solution if you're playing a game that requires steam to be open. In GTA, it works but you'll lose the overlay and won't be shown in game.

It'd be great if Valve would fix or even comment on this issue that has persisted for a few months now since the december-ish updates.

I meant to say "Big Picture Mode"

My Problem is i cant even force the controller to turn off.

"Turn off on BPM exit" isnt working.
Turn off the controller manually in Big Picture isnt working.
Turn off when shut down whole steam not only BPM isnt working.

Ive checked 5min to standby isnt working.

My controller will turn off in like 20mins while steam is closed.


I just want to turn off the controller when i close big picture, without pressing the guide button for a couple of seconds. I want it to turn off through software.


is there any solution?

[OllieD]

Same Issue here!

[DarkHuD]

I forgot to post my solution.
Firstly, it wasn’t steam. My bad, for real.

So nvidia’s GeForce experience added that overlay a while back. Turns out, the overlay caused the entire issue. Disabling the overlay solved the problem entirely. I can’t remember where I found that answer, but it was buried deep in search results.

[NeXuS23]

It's normal behaviour for Xbox One Controllers to go off automatically to save Batteries if not used for 5-10 Minutes or so and also if you close the Game. But i suppose the later happens because the Game sends an command, because there are indeed Games where that doesn't happen.

And if they go off and you enable them and it blinks, connects and go off again, this usually means batteries are empty and needs to be replaced.

But i must say i don't use any Steam Controller Fatures at all, because they always caused issues for me, it's better if Win10 and the Xbox App handles it, especially Elite Controllers with their propritary paddles and settings.

I also sometimes further use reWASD (the only app so far that also handles ELite COntroller Paddles) and well you know too many cooks spoil the broth, so better not additionally add Steam in that equation.

[DarkHuD]

Origineel geplaatst door NeXuS23:

It's normal behaviour for Xbox One Controllers to go off automatically to save Batteries if not used for 5-10 Minutes or so and also if you close the Game. But i suppose the later happens because the Game sends an command, because there are indeed Games where that doesn't happen.

And if they go off and you enable them and it blinks, connects and go off again, this usually means batteries are empty and needs to be replaced.

But i must say i don't use any Steam Controller Fatures at all, because they always caused issues for me, it's better if Win10 and the Xbox App handles it, especially Elite Controllers with their propritary paddles and settings.

I also sometimes further use reWASD (the only app so far that also handles ELite COntroller Paddles) and well you know too many cooks spoil the broth, so better not additionally add Steam in that equation.

No, this wasn't normal behaviour. As covered at length, the issue was abnormal behaviour caused by a bug. A controller that turns off instantly isn't normal.

[NeXuS23]

Origineel geplaatst door DarkHuD:

Origineel geplaatst door NeXuS23:

It's normal behaviour for Xbox One Controllers to go off automatically to save Batteries if not used for 5-10 Minutes or so and also if you close the Game. But i suppose the later happens because the Game sends an command, because there are indeed Games where that doesn't happen.

And if they go off and you enable them and it blinks, connects and go off again, this usually means batteries are empty and needs to be replaced.

But i must say i don't use any Steam Controller Fatures at all, because they always caused issues for me, it's better if Win10 and the Xbox App handles it, especially Elite Controllers with their propritary paddles and settings.

I also sometimes further use reWASD (the only app so far that also handles ELite COntroller Paddles) and well you know too many cooks spoil the broth, so better not additionally add Steam in that equation.

No, this wasn't normal behaviour. As covered at length, the issue was abnormal behaviour caused by a bug. A controller that turns off instantly isn't normal.

Yeah i'm aware it was a bug, but they also do that if Battery is empty and also do it after a while without interaction if battery is full. At least my ones do that all the time.

But yeah if it happens while playing and using the Controller with full Batteries, something is odd.

I don't like it anyway if third party stuff fiddle around with me Controllers, like starting stuff if i press the guide button and similar, so i completely disabled all steam controller stuff.

[DarkHuD]

Origineel geplaatst door NeXuS23:

Origineel geplaatst door DarkHuD:

No, this wasn't normal behaviour. As covered at length, the issue was abnormal behaviour caused by a bug. A controller that turns off instantly isn't normal.

Yeah i'm aware it was a bug, but they also do that if Battery is empty and also do it after a while without interaction if battery is full. At least my ones do that all the time.

But yeah if it happens while playing and using the Controller with full Batteries, something is odd.

I don't like it anyway if third party stuff fiddle around with me Controllers, like starting stuff if i press the guide button and similar, so i completely disabled all steam controller stuff.

Did you read the responses in the thread? We were all way past low batteries.

[Logan the Hamster]

Bug still present and still as annoying as ever, no workaround existing.

[Uberlime]

A true shame! just lost 2h of Yakuza 0 because of this dogdam issue, closed steam without saving 1st to fix controller & forgot this was a savepoints game, this has been going on for me since January at least when i first bought it & nothing since ?!!
I can confirme that nvidia overlay bugs it too. So these 3 companies shd b put in a room 'till they figure sh*t out, imho (3rd=SoMycroft)

[DarkHuD]

Origineel geplaatst door UberLime:

A true shame! just lost 2h of Yakuza 0 because of this dogdam issue, closed steam without saving 1st to fix controller & forgot this was a savepoints game, this has been going on for me since January at least when i first bought it & nothing since ?!!
I can confirme that nvidia overlay bugs it too. So these 3 companies shd b put in a room 'till they figure sh*t out, imho (3rd=SoMycroft)

It was the nvidia geforce experience overlay that was causing the issue for me, not steam. It all presented as otherwise. Disabling that overlay entirely solved the issue full stop.

[manwh0re]

Just started playing no mans sky again and having the same issue. If i turn steam off and turn the controller on it works fine and stays powered and when it sleeps i am able to turn it back on no problem. If i turn steam on then let it sleep, it wont power on again at all.

[manwh0re]

My friend also has exactly the same problem. We used to play a tonne of gtav and never had any issue until recently.

[PushStart]

I'm not sure if this is exactly the same issue and belongs in this thread, or if it's a seperate bug and should be a new post. I'm on Windows 10. Most recent Steam update is keeping my Xbox One controller from working right. Confirmed it's Steam and not Nvidia; controller works like normal when I close Steam, disabling GFE doesn't do anything. Last GFE update was 8/01 anyway and this issue just popped up yesterday. Steam controller still works. I have a (wired) Hori RAP4 that has a PS3/4/Xbox 360 mode switch. PS3/4 modes work fine, Xbox 360 mode scrambles the buttons now, which makes me think this is an Xinput related issue.

Was initially having difficulty getting the Xbox One controller to connect wirelessly, it kept shutting off instantly and wouldn't even attempt to pair, which is very similar to an issue I had with Steam about a month back (it would shut off after about half a second, solved by unplugging all of my other controllers and restarting Steam - no dice this time).

Restarting my computer a couple times got the wireless controller to pair again, however the buttons are scrambled. Guide button acts like right bumpter, right bumper is the guide button, X Y and the start button don't do anything, the back button is start, and I don't know what else. Checked and unchecked and rechecked all of the desktop, big picture, and input configurations to no avail. This happens even outside of big picture mode with desktop configuration disabled, as in pressing right bumper will focus the Steam window or launch big picture if Steam is already focused, when the "guide button focuses Steam" option is checked (for the record unchecking does not fix).

Pretty stumped at this point, I think it's something on Valve's end that they'll have to sort out. I'm on the Steam beta client but rolling back didn't solve the problem.