Steam Deck does not start: What you can do

If the Steam Deck does not start, the problem can be fixed in several ways. First, check the most obvious sources of error

If the Steam Deck does not start – here’s how to fix the problem

If the Steam Deck does not start, the problem can be solved in several ways. The first is to find the cause – and this can be software or hardware related.

• First of all, you should check whether the Steam Deck is charged and, in this context, whether the charger included with the handheld is working. If the Steam Deck is receiving power from the charger cable, a white LED should light up next to the power button. If the LED flashes several times in succession after you have pressed the start button, it means that the Steam Deck’s battery is empty.

• If the LED does not light up at all even though the charger is connected, you should first check the charger for a defect. Since it is a USB-C cable, you can use, for example, a modern Android smartphone such as the Samsung Galaxy S23 for testing. If the smartphone receives power, the charger is not the cause of the problem.

• Also check the Steam Deck connectors for loose contacts to rule them out as the cause of the problem. If the charging cable can be pulled out of the connector without much resistance and generally feels very loose when connected to the Steam Deck, the connectors may need to be replaced or repaired.

• If the Steam Deck loads normally and still does not respond, press the “Volume +” button and the Start button at the same time. This will take you to the BIOS of the unit. Here you select the option to continue the boot process, which will boot the Steam Deck.

• Your Steam Deck may not be able to find the boot file to boot up smoothly. This problem can occur, for example, if you have made changes to the operating system or installed a different operating system. To assign the correct boot file to the Steam Deck, repeat the process described above to get into the BIOS.

• Now select “Boot From File” here. First click on the ESP file that is displayed on the left-hand side. In the folder that now opens, navigate to “steamOS”. Now just click on the file “STEAMCL.EFI”, which will restart the Steam Deck.

This is how you reset the Steam Deck if it does not start

To reset a Steam Deck that won’t start, a few preparations must be made beforehand.

• First you need to download the SteamOS: Steam Deck Image. The Steam Deck Image is needed to reset the handheld.

• Next, you should have a USB stick with at least 8GB of free memory. For Windows PCs, the manufacturer Valve recommends the program Rufus to properly format the USB stick and install the Steam Deck Image. MacOS and Linux users are recommended to use the program balenaEtcher to format the stick.

• To connect the now prepared stick to the Steam Deck, you will need a USB-C adapter. If the Steam Deck is switched off, connect the USB stick to it and press the “Volume -” button and the power button at the same time until you hear a noise and then release the volume button. The unit will now automatically start the boot manager.

• Here you now select the option System Boot via EFI USB Device, which causes the unit to switch to desktop mode after a short black screen. Several options are now available to you. However, to reset the unit to factory settings, select “Re-Image Steam Deck” and start the process. You can navigate in this mode with the trackpad and the trigger buttons of the Steam Deck.