What You Should Know Before You Fix Your Steam Deck

With the Steam Deck, Valve has established a new competitor in the handheld gaming space that was previously dominated by Nintendo. They’ve done so with a device that, while not perfect, features design choices that clearly show a care for repairability. 

Even though Valve’s own pre-release teardown expressed a stance of “Don’t do this at home”—mainly due to the impact it has on drop protection—opening and fixing the Steam Deck yourself is neither overly complicated nor dangerous. You can even get genuine replacement parts or Fix Kits for your repair due to Valve teaming up with iFixit for DIY repair solutions. Oh, and we even have an affordable toolkit tailor-made for the Steam Deck.

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Still, there are some aspects and considerations you should take into account before disassembling your handheld gaming companion to make sure the fix is as quick and smooth as possible. 

Two and a Half Versions

After the release of the Steam Deck in 2022, Valve followed up with an improved and more powerful version, the Steam Deck OLED, the following year. While the original Steam Deck already did a lot of things right, the Steam Deck OLED features some noteworthy improvements in repairability, bringing the score up to a 9/10 on our repairability scorecard.

What you might not know, however, is that Valve started shipping Steam Decks with a refreshed internal design in early 2023. How do you identify which version you have? Well, the date you bought your Steam Deck might give you an idea, but to be sure, you need to open it up. 

The difference is clearly noticeable in the shape of the fan, the motherboard shield and the cable routing. The initial production run of the “Original” Steam Deck LCD features a metallic motherboard shield, a fan with square sides, and an interconnect cable connecting the audio daughterboard and motherboard routed across the battery. With the “Refreshed” Steam Deck LCD, this cable was combined with the microphone cable. Additionally, the newer version comes with a black motherboard shield and a fan with curved sides.

While the changes are mostly minor, it is essential to know which one you have before approaching the repair, as some parts—like the fan—are incompatible between the variants. It also helps to not get confused during the repair as the pictures in the repair guide might look different from what you see before you. 

Before You Start

Alright, now that you know which version you have, it is time to prepare your repair. 

Discharge the battery on your Steam Deck below 25% to reduce any risks in case you accidentally puncture the battery. If you replace the battery, it’s even recommended to fully discharge it, as there will be some heat involved in getting it loose.

Valve also recommends putting your Steam Deck into battery storage mode within the BIOS before the repair.

Additionally, you should make sure to remove the microSD card, if you have one installed. Otherwise you might end up with a microSD broken in half once you open up the back, which might dampen your excitement for the repair.

In case this repair is a SSD swap or upgrade, make sure you have the right type of SSD, namely a M.2 2230. It’s a bit of an uncommon form factor, but perfect for the limited space inside a handheld gaming computer. You should also have a USB-Stick at hand as it is needed for reinstalling SteamOS on the new drive. Thankfully, Steam has prepared a helpful page with instructions on how to do this.

If it’s the thumbsticks that need replacing and you have a Steam Deck LCD, make sure you get the right model of the replacement stick. That’s because each Steam Deck LCD ships with one of two different models of thumbsticks, Type A or Type B. Although nearly identical, capacitive touch capability relies on the correct type being installed.

To identify which replacement thumbsticks you need, navigate to Settings, look for System and check the Steam Deck Controller ID. If the Controller ID starts with “MEDA” your Steam Deck uses Type A thumbsticks; if the Controller ID starts with “MHDA” it uses Type B thumbsticks.

Fixing Steam Decks, generally

Other than that, thumbstick replacements on the Steam Deck LCD (and OLED) are actually pretty straightforward. After getting the back plate off, you just need to remove the motherboard shield, disconnect the battery and you’re ready to disconnect the left and/or right thumbstick. After unscrewing the module the thumbstick is located on, you can just take it out. Even if you’re taking it slow, the process shouldn’t take up more than an hour. Make sure to calibrate your thumbsticks afterwards for peak accuracy!

The SSD replacement procedure is even quicker, as you have direct access to the part after opening up the device. Just do the same thing you’d do with a NVMe in a laptop or PC: unscrew it and slide it out. You should transfer the heat shielding, though, unless you want some toasted files. We also recommend disconnecting the battery first thing, like always when working with a battery-powered device. On the OLED version, you have to take care of an interconnect cable, but it doesn’t create too much interference.

In comparison, both display and battery replacement is more involved and necessitate some heat to loosen glue. Still, upgrading your screen from a glossy to the non-glossy premium one might be worth it for you if you’re playing on the go often. Just note that installing a Steam Deck OLED screen in a LCD model won’t work.

For screen repairs on the OLED version, you can use an iOpener or a heat gun to apply controlled heat to the top edge. The heat should allow you to create a gap between screen and frame by pulling on the screen with a suction cup. Be careful when slicing the adhesive of the screen and don’t insert the opening pick deeper than 3 mm on the bottom and top edge and 5 mm on the left and right edge. Again: Take your time, don’t rush. After slicing all the adhesive, you’ll just need to disconnect the ZIF connector, which can be fiddly for first-time fixers, but shouldn’t be a big issue.

On the Steam Deck LCD, you unfortunately need to go through the back to get to the display, which makes it a two to three hour repair and requires removing the motherboard. Oh, and you need to make sure that you have the matching display flex cable. Upgrading the screen therefore means swapping out the display flex cable as well, but if you are using an equivalent replacement, you should be able to reuse the existing one.

This brings us to the toughest repair nut to crack with the Steam Deck, no matter your version: the battery. It’s a bit of a test of patience as there’s no shortcut using isopropyl alcohol in this case. That’s because there are holes in the frame underneath the battery, which could lead to the solvent coming into contact with the screen—a big no-no.

Instead, be prepared for a lengthy prying session with a thin plastic tool, like plastic cards, in combination with directed heat. It’s nothing too terrifying—as long as the battery is discharged and you don’t use any metal tools—but it requires patience. However, we certainly hope that Valve will be able to implement a less forceful process in future iterations of the Steam Deck.

What did I miss? What’s a tip you would give someone trying to fix a Steam Deck, either generally or specific to a particular model? Comment below or tag us on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram)!