First off: Happy Holidays. Now, after a back and forth with Steam Support for the past week, they have concluded last night at 2am that I am ineligible for a “complimentary repair” due to the order date and that my only options are to send it to a repair partner for an estimated repair of $200 or try to fix it myself (which I have already tried since their email to no avail). For some context: I have been an off-and-on light user of my launch Steam Deck 64GB model for the past year, every couple of times a month I used it for some very VERY light puzzle-solving gaming (I was last playing Lumines Remastered, and Rez Infinite) fact is: I loved playing these kinds of games from the comfort of my bed rather than my PC/Desk, I loved the idea of the Steam Deck since day 1. Last week, I noticed something weird after charging it, the screen would not turn on at all. I tried almost everything, all button combinations you could do on boot-up sequence, I scrolled through countless Reddit/Steam discussion threads with possible solutions (feel free to send me some recommendations/questions). I tried everything I possibly could, Steam Support was so patient and helpful with trying to direct me to methods of exiting ‘Storage Mode’ and attempting to enter ‘Bios Mode’. After all was said and done the only thing I could get my Steam Deck to do was the startup chime, fan spin, and haptic feedback, and that’s it. The display is completely shut-off and there is no sign of booting into the SteamOS. I have done ZERO modifications to my Steam Deck and only had like half of the storage occupied, I always kept it up to date and in its storage case, never took it out or damaged it, due to my medical condition I can’t go outside to begin with. I am at a loss for words, I can’t financially afford a $200 repair right now considering I was a light user of the device, to begin with, and medical expenses are draining me of any extra funds for a “quoted” repair that could increase in price at any time if Steam/Valve’s repair partners change their minds… I just can’t help but think now that I essentially have a $400 paperweight of a device on my shelf right now after I have exhausted all ways of repairing it myself. I am thankful to the Steam Support staff I understand that warranty periods exist for a reason and that I have to deal with it myself like a big boy, I just wish that under the circumstances of literally doing nothing wrong, the device could be repaired for free due to just the odd underlying nature of my problem.
tldr: my deck is bricked and im out of warrenty and poor/sick rn so oh well
Which cables / chargers do you use? Which cable/charger did you use when the problem first occured?
I’m asking because I was charging my deck with these magnetic cables where you have one end always connected to the SD and the other to the charger. I guess this cable/connection fried my deck a while ago. Probably very small but big enough conductive material at the magnetic side of the cable.
Its bad that the deck isn’t protected against this kind of overvoltage but its what it is.
If you didn’t use such cables it might just was thunder or other reasons that induced a overvoltage in your home.
Or just bad luck.
But tbh fuck valves policy concerning the 1 year warranty. Here in germany most companies give 2 years. Seems like valve isn’t too confident in their own hardware.
Oh no! I hope mine isn’t fried ): I’ve been using the charger that came in box and I don’t recall any power surges recently /: But yes I agree I think atleast two years would be sufficient especially for a launch day model.
1 year seems lenient with the kinds of people using the Steam Deck. If it wasn’t something we were allowed to take apart, then it probably would be 2 years. Confidence in their hardware has nothing to do with it.
I can also buy a new gpu or pc ram and get 2 years warranty for it. The only real difference is opening the case. Everything after that has the same physical risks of damaging. Not really an argument.
You’re right. I’m not arguing. I am stating a relevant fact for a valid reason.
All companies, it’s EU mandated, no one can give you less than 2 years.
Because the have to. there is the general warranty that is mandatory and the warranty that the company gives you that can be everything or nothing.
Gewährleistung und Garantie.
Yes, but even the voluntary warranty (not gewährleistung) is mostly 2 maybe even 5 years or longer. This is not mandatory. So one year is really weak.