My experience with the repair of the Linux handheld Steam Deck

I got the Steam Deck from Valve in 2022 and have enjoyed playing with it ever since. The concept of a handheld gaming console running Linux and being powerful enough to play most of the games from my Steam library really excites me up to this day.

Beside the Steam Deck being a cool Linux handheld console, the hardware engineering is quite sustainable compared to similar gaming consoles. You can literally replace every part of the gaming console by your own if the part is available for sale.

iFixit provides a lot of tutorials how-to replace all of the hardware. You can find a detailed overview on their Website:

https://de.ifixit.com/Device/Steam_Deck

Unfortunately my Steam Deck fell and the "left button board" broke. Most of the hardware like bumber buttons are in stock at iFixit's Website but the left bumber board isn't available.

For such scenarios Valve gives you a Plan B. Click on "Steam-Support" within the Steam client. Afterwards click on "Hardware" and then on the Steam Deck in the list of devices. You're then able to contact the Steam support.

After reaching out to the Steam support they asked me to provide several things like a device input test (Steam Deck Settings > Controler > Test Device Inputs)

I also had to tell them that it was my fault that the key board broke, and that it was not a problem that has persisted since I bought the Steam Deck.

After a short period of time they gave me RMA instruction and additionally an address in Prague. I followed their instructions and sent the Steam Deck to Valve's repair center.

Once the Steam Deck arrived it took them 2-3 days for repair and 2 more days for sending it back to my home address.

Beside the shipping costs I didn't have to pay a cent. Wow!

In the end, I'm glad to have my Steam deck back, although I would have liked to do the repair myself.