Absurd WiFi connection issues on Steam Deck OLED 1TB LE

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DoomTheRobot 21 Nov, 2023 @ 1:51am

Absurd WiFi connection issues on Steam Deck OLED 1TB LE

EDIT 7/9/2024: A new developer option in the 3.6 Beta seems to have fixed my connectivity issues. I can now connect to my Nighthawk RAX35. Here's the process if you want to give it a try:

Go to Settings in Game Mode
In System tab, change System Update Channel to Beta and update
Enable Developer Mode in System tab
Go to new Developer settings tab at the bottom
Enable "Force WPA Supplicant WiFi backend" option
Reboot

This is what worked for me.

EDIT 5/4/2024: I should've done this way earlier but here is a list of routers that seem to be having issues:

NETGEAR Nighthawk RAX35 (v1.0.5.104_1.0.1)
NETGEAR Nighthawk RAX30 (v1.0.10.94)
ASUS RT-AX86U Pro
ASUS RT-AX88U
ASUS Rapture GT-AX6000
TP-Link Deco M4
TP-Link AX50
TP-Link AX6000
Telekom's "Speedport Pro Plus"
Sagemcom CS50001

If you're still having issues even after updating to the latest stable, post your router info and firmware version here so I can include it in this list.

EDIT 3/30/2024: If you are still having connection issues, try finding a way to update to 3.5.17 stable, as it contains various WiFi fixes which may fix the problems you could be facing. If not, head over to this GitHub issue[github.com] and leave a comment about the issue you're having.

Just got mine yesterday and have been having off-and-on issues with WiFi connectivity that never happened at all with my previous Steam Deck LCD 512GB model. This is not an issue with my connection as none of this has ever happened over the two or so years of using my original Steam Deck.

During the initial setup process, it refused to connect to my WPA2 secured WiFi network with nothing other than "Failed to connect" when attempting to connect to it. I'd enter my password and it'd sit for a while until it eventually fails. Despite this, I connected to my mobile hotspot perfectly fine to finish the setup process.

Here's what I've done so far:

Rebooted the Router (obviously)
Re-imaged SteamOS
Disabled WiFi Power Saving
Tried switching between 2.4GHz and 5GHz connections

I even went into Desktop mode and tried messing with the settings there. No luck.

For whatever reason though, and this is the confusing part: After multiple restarts it automatically connects to the WiFi network with no issues. It's almost completely random whether or not it wants to connect on boot. After connecting it works perfectly fine. No "Failed to connect", no loss of speed, works just as it did like the previous Steam Deck.

But once I eventually shutdown, it just happens again until I restart the system multiple times until it works again. Absolutely no clue why. I didn't mind it at first as I assumed it was just a software bug that would eventually go away, but now it's becoming extremely frustrating.

So what's the deal here? Is this a hardware issue or is my network just messed up somewhere? Where do I even start?

Last edited by DoomTheRobot; 9 Jul @ 3:50pm

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Showing 1-15 of 657 comments

Rodomar705 21 Nov, 2023 @ 2:41am

Oh, wow, this is an already great beginning for the new wireless hardware. I had hoped to buy an OLED just to see if my previous wireless hardware frustrations were gone after the switch to Qualcomm wireless hardware, but I didn't expect to regress even further down. Can you try to post your dmesg log here by running sudo dmesg in Konsole from desktop mode? You might have to set a administrator password before being able to use that, just run passwd to create one if you haven't yet.

DoomTheRobot 21 Nov, 2023 @ 4:33am

I apologize in advance if I missed anything or if it doesn't provide sufficient information. I am not well versed in the terminal.

Regardless, here are two of the logs. First one is when WiFi was working. Second one is when it wasn't.

Working: https://pastebin.com/bAsHYJrU
Not working: https://pastebin.com/gW3BbESe

deaddoof 21 Nov, 2023 @ 4:43am

Is your SSID hidden?

rlh445 21 Nov, 2023 @ 6:03am

wifi module would be my guess based on the description. open a support ticket w/ steam, no one here can tell you what to do - most people aren't even owning theirs yet.

Lil B_999 21 Nov, 2023 @ 6:46am

Originally posted by rlh445:
wifi module would be my guess based on the description. open a support ticket w/ steam, no one here can tell you what to do - most people aren't even owning theirs yet.

"most people aren't even owning theirs yet" Dude, a lot of ppl have theirs already at least the lcd module

Mahjik 21 Nov, 2023 @ 6:51am

Originally posted by Lil B_999:
Originally posted by rlh445:
wifi module would be my guess based on the description. open a support ticket w/ steam, no one here can tell you what to do - most people aren't even owning theirs yet.
"most people aren't even owning theirs yet" Dude, a lot of ppl have theirs already at least the lcd module

The wifi is different on the OLED models.

Lil B_999 21 Nov, 2023 @ 6:53am

Originally posted by Mahjik:
Originally posted by Lil B_999:
"most people aren't even owning theirs yet" Dude, a lot of ppl have theirs already at least the lcd module

The wifi is different on the OLED models.

Oled models have better connectivity than lcd models bc of wifi hardware upgrade

Mahjik 21 Nov, 2023 @ 6:56am

Originally posted by Lil B_999:
Originally posted by Mahjik:

The wifi is different on the OLED models.
Oled models have better connectivity than lcd models bc of wifi hardware upgrade

Yes, which means comparing the LCD models doesn't directly relate to the OLED models. i.e. does this user have a hardware problem, or are all OLED users having wifi issues. As rlh445 mentioned, most OLEDs are still shipping so it will be a bit before we start seeing a lot of them in use.

thetargos 21 Nov, 2023 @ 7:11am

Originally posted by DoomTheRobot:
Working: https://pastebin.com/bAsHYJrU
Not working: https://pastebin.com/gW3BbESe

Based on the output of these, seems that upon request by the router to change the transmit power, the association is lost, as there is association with the AP.

Lil B_999 21 Nov, 2023 @ 7:15am

Originally posted by Mahjik:
Originally posted by Lil B_999:
Oled models have better connectivity than lcd models bc of wifi hardware upgrade

Yes, which means comparing the LCD models doesn't directly relate to the OLED models. i.e. does this user have a hardware problem, or are all OLED users having wifi issues. As rlh445 mentioned, most OLEDs are still shipping so it will be a bit before we start seeing a lot of them in use.

True, plan to get Oled if worth it along to sit beside my original lcd 256 gig one

#10

Lil B_999 21 Nov, 2023 @ 7:16am

Go to Steam Support, there you will find help :)

#11

Rodomar705 21 Nov, 2023 @ 8:38am

Originally posted by DoomTheRobot:
I apologize in advance if I missed anything or if it doesn't provide sufficient information. I am not well versed in the terminal.

Regardless, here are two of the logs. First one is when WiFi was working. Second one is when it wasn't.

Working: https://pastebin.com/bAsHYJrU
Not working: https://pastebin.com/gW3BbESe

Something makes it fails access the network with PREV_AUTH_NOT_VALID. The rest of the log doesn't really tell much more. I guess your only option is Steam support. Probably other crap hidden in firmware, as always.

#12

rlh445 21 Nov, 2023 @ 11:28am

Originally posted by Lil B_999:
Originally posted by rlh445:
wifi module would be my guess based on the description. open a support ticket w/ steam, no one here can tell you what to do - most people aren't even owning theirs yet.
"most people aren't even owning theirs yet" Dude, a lot of ppl have theirs already at least the lcd module

nah mate, most aren't having theirs, period. check any amount of threads on social media.

#13

DoomTheRobot 21 Nov, 2023 @ 12:16pm

Originally posted by deaddoof:
Is your SSID hidden?

It is not.

Originally posted by Rodomar705:
Something makes it fails access the network with PREV_AUTH_NOT_VALID. The rest of the log doesn't really tell much more. I guess your only option is Steam support. Probably other crap hidden in firmware, as always.

I'll do that, thanks for the support.

#14