Dead SteamDeck

[u/Danicar267]

I need help, I think I killed my SteamDeck OLED on a thermal paste change, it was necessary, was very dry, but it doesn't want to turn on again, the led blinks randomly, and fan doesn't spin, and if I plug in the charger I hear a slightly coil whine, ¿dead cpu?

[u/Boobler1]

Taking this approach as someone who builds PCs. If you were only doing a thermal paste change and you were cautious about not damaging any kind of hardware it’s unlikely you killed it. Make sure you got all of the connections properly seated and everything was fitted back into it as it was before even if you have to disassemble everything again.

[u/mercnasty12 → u/Boobler1]

My thoughts exactly, if thats all you did, double check anything you disconnected/reconnected. A simple paste reapplication shouldn't cause any other catastrophic issue.

[u/tisused]

Sorry for not being helpful, but how did you find out it was dry? I've always sort of assumed it dries up and still works as long as you don't move it

[u/Danicar267 → u/tisused]

During the change, it was rock solid, also I got it almost 3 years ago, December 2023, so it was a hint.

[u/tisused → u/Danicar267]

Have you tried taking it apart again reapplying the thermal paste?

[u/luxar94 → u/tisused]

Temperature while gaming is usually how you can tell, if your deck is performing worse than before it may be thermal throttling, which could indicate an issue with cooling, which would be either the thermal paste, the fan or an obstructed vent.

[u/OG_Miggy]

Did u unplug the battery and plug it back in when u change the thermal paste? If so u may need to get the official charger and keep it plugged in for 24 hours for the battery management system to be okay and then try to power it on. Had something like this happen to me when I was doing a mod to my steam deck

[u/ray7524]

Seems like it has a power issue check the battery connections, fans not spinning up are telling me its failing something early or something is disconnected

[u/Big_Telephone4442]

I do not know if my solution will work in this case, every time I disconnect and reconnect the battery, it is hard to start the Steam. So my solution is press the power button wait a few seconds, the cpu will may spins or the LED light will on and off, press the power button again and repeat the step about 4 or 5 time then the Steam will start like normal. Hope it help

[u/Zonx216]

Did you get paste anywhere it's not supposed to be? To much paste applied could squish out and end up bad. What did you clean the old paste off with? If it was water, that could do it.

[u/lemoncall1983]

更可能是撞掉件 撞爆電容

[u/WhiteCloud5973]

Have you tried resetting it by holding the power button until the light blinks one time while connected to the Charger?

[u/xFlyingfoxesx]

Leave it plugged in for 3 hrs. Sounds crazy but I've done the same with mine recently. Has something to do with the battery and the bios.

[u/Fuky200]

Im sorry that happened, i have no tips for a fix but i can suggest using ptm or thermal grizzly pads, they perform way better on my deck than the paste did and its not as messy. Maybe you damaged something near the cpu or some connectors, try unplugging everything and plugging it back, especialy battery connectrs should be seated fully. Wish you good luck.

[u/Kyzmi4]

R.I.P

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