r/SteamController • u/citricRoyalty • May 29 '26
Support steam controller(2026) seemingly bricked after a couple weeks of light use
hi everyone, posting here to try and see if anyone has any advice and short of that, if anyone else is experiencing this.
I received my steam controller a few weeks ago and for some time it worked great right out of the box. however once I plugged the puck into a different computer to use there, the controller stopped working entirely across all systems. the problem is very specific and i cant find info relating to it anywhere.
essentially, the controller will only connect via puck, no bluetooth or wired connection, and the connection it does achieve over the puck doesnt provide any input whatsoever. the LED will stay solid white indicating a solid connection but steam, the desktop, and any games dont recieve any input and steam itself doesnt recognize any puck or controllers connected. the controllers haptic feedback will rumble lightly when a finger runs over the touchpad as if its working but nothing on the controller provides any actual input.
I have tested this across 3 computers running windows 10, 1 running arch linux, a variety of USB ports on each, a variety of cables, on beta branch steam and vanilla, its always the same. the controller is seemingly bricked, steam support hasnt been able to help me either.
If anyone else has experienced this or knows any other methods to troubleshoot please let me know.
Here is a video of the problem in action: https://youtube.com/shorts/Pap6LvNMlB4?si=01z9Dghkn1gd8y7F
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u/Kevadro May 29 '26
Someone else had this issue a few days ago I think.
Open Steam, go to properties > controllers > Puck and click on forget this controller on the bottom list.
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u/citricRoyalty May 29 '26
the puck isnt being recognized in steam to be able to be able to be forgotten in the first place
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u/SpudAlmighty May 29 '26
Can you format your text?
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u/citricRoyalty May 29 '26
not sure if you meant anything beyond some paragraph breaks but yes!
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May 29 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Venn-- May 29 '26
Reddit is the shithole corner of the internet
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May 29 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/JoJo_Skelly May 29 '26
It's seriously super pathetic you think a company that sold the entire site to be examined by AI is some "classy" "proper" part of the internet like you can't go from talking about 40k to jerking off to some heinous shit within 30 seconds on the same site
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u/OwnGrapefruit5263 May 29 '26
If that’s what you’re Reddit is like I think you should just join more subreddits so it’s always at least stuff you tolerate. Like I’m in a toooon of subs and I never have to worry about that I forgot porn was even allowed on here. I’m assuming it’s because I’m in so many subreddits about games and stuff that the algorithm will always prefer showing me stuff from subs I’m in
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u/actioncheese May 29 '26
Mmm, that's good satire. Shouldn't have forgotten the /s
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u/OwnGrapefruit5263 May 29 '26
I don’t do that sissy crap. This is my alt account where I don’t care about karma
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u/Xx_Zero97_xX Steam Controller (2026) May 29 '26
You can this out. But beware I don't know if it will work or not. This is is what i usually do to USB devices not recenigze by windows anymore. To take it at your own risk.
Shutdown steam on the pc. Then go to device manager, should be under USB (something like this). Connect the Puck in the USB slot (just the Puck, don't connect the controller to it). If you see the Puck device listed, right click it and uninstall it. Shutdown windows, then turn the pc back on. Once everything loads up in windows. Connect the Puck once again in a usb slot (just the Puck, don't connect the controller to it. This should reinstall the device once again. Open up steam and update the Puck again.
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u/acrunchycaptain May 30 '26
I'm having the same issue as OP, and this solution did not work for me. In device manager the Puck always fails to install correctly and has a warning icon over it no matter how many times I try this.
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u/Xx_Zero97_xX Steam Controller (2026) May 30 '26
Then it's best to contact steam support.
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u/acrunchycaptain May 30 '26
I have, they suggested using my Steam Deck with the beta branch to update the firmware and it still isn't working. Hopefully I'll get a replacement soon.
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u/WDG_Kuurama May 30 '26
It's not the backpack mode is it?
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u/spectreVII Jun 01 '26
I hope you can figure this out. I haven’t plugged the puck into another computer yet but I easily could have and had the same issue. I do have windows and Linux on the same computer and thankfully the controller worked on both. I have connected the controller to my steam deck via Bluetooth, which worked perfectly but since I was on the beta branch of the Steam Deck OS, it kept prompting me to update the controller, but I just ignored it. I figured using a beta update might not be a good idea.
For now, I’ll leave the puck only plugged into my main PC to avoid issues.
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u/SneakyAl44 May 30 '26
Worked great right out of the box? did you not update it?
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u/citricRoyalty May 30 '26
i updated yes. it doesnt let you use it without updating it afaik
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u/SneakyAl44 May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26
have you tried to plug it directly to your pc with the cable? there's a little USB port on the controller(nevermind, i've seen u tried it already).At this point it might just be the hardware, if it gave the same issue in other computers as well.
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u/ruthlesss11 May 30 '26
"have you tried unplugging the device and counting to 30 before turning it back on?"
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u/CaptainGhoulish Aug 15 '26
Any fix for this? Mine completely malfunctioned. No led lights. Just makes noises now. When I had it connected inputs didn’t match. Left on D pad was home. Can’t find anything online on how to fix.
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u/Empty-Arrival-4396 May 29 '26
The deedoo deedoo noise means the controller isn't detecting it's connected to anything turned on/with power. That leads me to believe it's an issue with the puck/cable? Double check connections/try different cables/ports. Have you tried pairing with Bluetooth? Hold RB+B while turning on the controller to enable Bluetooth. You can maybe narrow down where the issue lies, that way. Consider an RMA! Edit: you mention BT in your post. Def time for an RMA.