I pray for the safety of all your Frames
Tragically while I was streaming VR Minecraft, my Frame randomly shut down and has rejected further charge, rendering it dead. I’ve heard of it happening to others and it’s unsurprising it happened to me, all my tech is cursed. 🫠
I’ve already had many issues. Some weeks ago I had to flash the OS again after a boot loop glitch, that was scary. The software is very buggy.
Tried some suggestions… unlocking and reseating the Frame, different cables and different devices to provide power. It still won’t draw from my powerbank let alone my Steam Deck charger.
RMA process has started, they responded within an hour. hopefully it won’t be too long for… repairs. 😶 Anyone have other suggestions I could try before I send it off?
The same thing literally just happened to me over this weekend. I had it plugged into a charger, and it shut off mid-game while playing in PCVR. When I booted it back up, it was in low-battery mode and turned back off, so I re-seated the charging cable and tried again. After half an hour of charging it was still in the battery-too-low-to-boot mode. Eventually it wouldn’t even show the low-battery (charging icon) screen and only had a flashing red LED indicator. Then that stopped. I tried my 65W charger that was working with it before, my Steam Deck charger (45W), and even a slow charge overnight from USB-A to -C as others have suggested.
It took 3 days of back and forth with customer service having me try everything I’ve already tried (make sure charger is 45W, disconnect and reconnect the battery, etc.) but they’re finally approving the RMA. I’m just waiting on the shipping label now. I’m glad I kept the box it shipped in.
I’ve had my Frame for about a month.
Edit: sorry for all the posts, I kept getting a connection error failed to post comment thing but I guess it was posting it anyway.
Oof, I had a similar support experience with an Index RMA. They bounced me across multiple agents that wouldn’t read previous messages and would ask for the same trouble shooting steps I’d already SHOWED THEM, it was hell 🫠
Glad to hear the balls rolling and I pray you get yours fixed soon :)
I had mine for a month too, was yours also in beta branch per chance?
P.S, don’t worry about the posts, it gave me a good chuckle scrolling through my notifications; it happens :P
I never opted into the Beta branch so I should have been on the Stable release. It seems like a common issue where the communication between the charger and the unit can’t agree on the proper Wattage or Voltage.
Edit: I’ve seen people say that updating to the beta branch can fix this, but I couldn’t even boot to try it.
I can’t speak to the RMA process for the Frame, but my limited edition white Steam Deck needed to be sent in, I think months after you were no longer able to buy the white one (and it was probably my fault it broke).
They sent me a brand new one. Limited edition white.
Valve’s customer service has been exceptional in my experience.
They made me pay to fix a failed firmware update that killed my board on my Steam Deck.
My experience has been… kinda shit. They also seem to have messed up something on the board where I can’t accept some free gift in Steam, but I can’t get rid of the message either. I asked support about it and they were like, “IDK, talk to the repair place we sent it to!”
WTF?
Bummer
I had a nightmare experience trying to RMA my Index, but in the end they fixed it past warranty.
I do appreciate their support, even if communication can be iffy at times. My worst fear is a painfully long wait :(
On the steam deck, you can force the device into battery saver mode, which will sometimes revive a dead steam deck. I don’t know of a similar shortcut for the steam frame, and I’m assuming you’ve already tried and failed to enter Bios/UEFI power menu. You might ask steam support if there’s a hardware shortcut for it (and if there is, please share it).
I forgot about bios mode, thanks!
Although, no dice; no reaction.
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Weirdly I’ve heard that this is sometimes tied to tbe IPD lock, and some folks have had success in booting it back up after unlocking it. I don’t have mine just yet thanks to a shipping delay so I can’t exactly confirm or deny, but I’ve heard that floating around. Trying to mentally prep for any potential RMAs myself 👁️👄👁️
I had to unlock it to detach the Frame during my reseating attempt(s), but I’ll wiggle it some with heavy copium-infused magic ✨
I heard this is an issue caused by being in the current beta version, maybe double check that rumor when you get yours.
Hope it comes soon! :)
I’ve had similar issues, where the Frame would shut down and not charge, although, the device would still have some charge left, I kept the power button pressed long enough (maybe 30-60s) and then the frame turn back on with 40% charge…
Not sure if this is the same problem here, but maybe try that?
I’m fairly sure it still had charge left when it died, but alas, I tried again and no luck.
This is really sad news :( I had hoped that Valve’s Frame would keep running and not hit these sorts of dead ends. How comfortable are you with opening up the battery in the back? IFixit was able to get it off (and out) here: https://vr.org/articles/steam-frame-ifixit-teardown-battery-glued-fan-2026. If it were me, I would open it up and make sure all the connections still had good contact.
I want to do it, I saw the screws and it looked like an easy teardown but I don’t want to mess with the warranty by accident, and I feel like this is beyond a connection issue I could fix
I wish there were more accounts of others trying, but I wouldn’t want to do it unless I knew it would work.
Software company doing hardware … it is sad to see that Valve is not immune, but overall not so surprising
