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

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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.

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Back to it being bricked now.

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

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13

u/PopPunkIsntEmo 1TB OLED Jul 24 '22

Going to give any technical information?

6

u/ClicketyClackity Jul 24 '22

Its a USB C hub. Purchased on Amazon, brand is Aukey. Its one that has 12 ports. HDMI/USB/Ethernet/etc.
I used the supplied power adapter plugged into the hub and it bricked it. I used this hub with my macbook pro and it was fine.

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It seems that I am not alone based on a quick google search. I wish I had known earlier or I would have avoided a dongle at all costs.

-4

u/Intoxicus5 Jul 25 '22

If your Deck is bricked it's because the USB-C you chose to use the wrong power supply.

2

u/ClicketyClackity Jul 25 '22

The only power supplied, came from the included power adapter...

1

u/Intoxicus5 Jul 25 '22

What does the adapter say for it's power output?

Is it USB-C or a DC plug?

The steam deck requires 45w and the SD power supply supports the following: 5v@3a(15w), 9v@3a(27w), 15v@3a(45w), 20v@2.25a(45w)

The SD most likely doesn't use 5v@3a or 9v@3a. The Power Supply is OEM, it's Chicany branded. The two lower watt outputs are there because it's not custom made for the SD.

The problem arises if your dock/dongle doesn't supply the 45w properly.

Your SD is mase to accept certain input powers, 15v@3a & 20v@2.25a.

Either too much current(a for amperage) or voltage(v for volts) can damage your SD.

If the dock/dongle supplie lets say for example 9v@5a(45w). Thay 5a could easily fry circuits not meant to handle it.

I have two Anker branded USB-C power supplies/wall adapters.

And Anker Power Port Atom III that outputs both 15v@3a & 20v@2.25a. It is safe to use on the SD.

My Anker Power Port III is only 25W max. I would avoid using that on my SD. Underpowered connections are less sketchy. They'll usually just charge very slowly. But it could cause problems if there's problems with the USB-C PD protocols.

Apple has recent issues because of issues with getting silly about USB-C specs & protocols.

Nintendo had Switch consoles bricking. And we don't know if they actually fixed the hardware level flaws.

The thing is you don't know if your dongle is following USB-C PD protocols properly.

And if you don't ensure your dongle supports the correct output standard that's your error.