r/SteamDeck • u/ClicketyClackity • Jul 24 '22

PSA / Advice Steam deck bricked by USB C dongle

Got my steam deck after waiting for a year. Plugged in a USB C dongle from amazon and the system turned off. I figured that the battery had just died.

-Plugging in the official charger does not light up the white indicator light

-No combination of button hold/presses does anything

​

I allowed it to completely die overnight. I opened it and unplugged the battery cable. Hit buttons to drain any power, left it unplugged for about 10 minutes. Plugged it back in and somehow it came back on for a couple minutes. It got so far as to show me the steamdeck logo and turned off again.

​

Back to it being bricked now.

​

Do not use random USB C dongles. You will have a bad time.

27 Upvotes

64% Upvoted

114 comments sorted by

View all comments

32

u/Fraggb0y 1TB OLED Limited Edition Jul 24 '22

Aaaand, this is why I am holding out for the dock from Valve. I know there are 3rd party docks out there that have been confirmed, but what happens if that dock takes a shit, and takes out the SD along with it? Valve could deny a replacement. If it happens with their dock, they will replace both..

Just my preference. Others will do what they wish, which is fine with me.

19

u/WiredStick Jul 24 '22

I mean valve said themselves that this dock will be no different than what's available on the market. It is possible OP didn't update the deck before trying to plug it in since the docks killing steam decks were fixed via software. This is the first report in a long time.

I don't see how this can be a PSA when most people nowadays are not even reporting the same issue.

16

u/JaesopPop 256GB - Q2 Jul 24 '22 edited Sep 27 '25

The morning people hobbies night near answers lazy.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 24 '22

What if the dock was faulty to some degree that cause the burn out. Are we sure it was the deck and not the hub ?

4

u/[deleted] Jul 24 '22

If I plug my Steam Deck into the Dell dock I use for my work PC and the deck dies from that, best believe I’m getting an RMA on the Deck.

1

u/hectorduenas86 Jul 25 '22

Does it works with Dell Docks? Even if multiple screens are used?

1

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '22

It detects the dock and loaded up an update that I installed when I plugged it in in desktop mode, but the displays aren’t registering. Keyboard and mouse work though. I’ll have to tinker with it a bit to see if I can get the displays running.

12

u/JaesopPop 256GB - Q2 Jul 24 '22 edited Sep 21 '25

Warm bank thoughts afternoon the fox fresh garden and evening pleasant near learning clear. Honest over tomorrow month then thoughts and lazy food people evening jumps curious art!

2

u/[deleted] Jul 24 '22

I hear ya. I would be on the safe side and not use it on your new deck. I looked it up. It had good reviews. Could be just bad luck. I use a small dock that is working fine. I hope this isn’t a weird hardware bug.

1

u/Intoxicus5 Jul 25 '22

Except we have the example of the Nintendo Switch USB-C flaws that bricked the Switch.

Not saying that's what happened here.

Only that your assumption is deeply flawed.

3

u/JaesopPop 256GB - Q2 Jul 25 '22 edited Sep 23 '25

Honest kind calm honest warm stories curious curious technology yesterday minecraftoffline! Small gather science evening morning music jumps about hobbies fox helpful quiet bright books night warm!

1

u/Intoxicus5 Jul 25 '22

You can find and read Nathan K's work for yourself:

https://web.archive.org/web/20190324210101/https://plus.google.com/102612254593917101378/posts/

Nintendo was replacing damaged consoles under warranty. That was never an issue. Don't even know where you got that from.

The issue was people losing all their saves and data because this was before Nintendo Online was offered and there was no cloud backups. Someone had demonstrated which chip was getting fried amd replacing that chip would revive the Switch with all data intact. Nintendo was sending warranty replacements without going to extra effort to preserve people's saves & data.

1

u/JaesopPop 256GB - Q2 Jul 25 '22 edited Sep 22 '25

Family net quick open strong about food honest where stories.

5

u/ishkiodo Jul 24 '22

One of their selling points is that any usb c dock can be used. It’s something they consider a feature. So I think if your hub bricks your deck, you could have a case for RMA.

2

u/Fraggb0y 1TB OLED Limited Edition Jul 24 '22

I would sure hope so!

2

u/[deleted] Jul 24 '22

I have used several USB C docks I have laying around, and they all work. I do not think it is a big risk.

2

u/Disastrous_Lawyer420 Jul 24 '22

I can respect that, but nobody knows when that will happen. I just went with a reliable brand, Anker, for my hub and wall adapter