In this article, I would be giving steps on How to Factory Reset your Steam Deck. A recent survey that took place on Wispform would determine about 94% of survey participants had a steam deck in 2022.
This Valve corporation gaming device that was launched on February 25th 2022, might be a newcomer to the scene, but it is quickly becoming very popular, especially amongst Nintendo users. This is most like because this handheld carries some amazing features, has a decent battery life and a solid performance, and you can connect it directly to a monitor.
Steam Deck Reset
However, despite its many positives, the steam deck has experienced its very own share of issues, which is not so surprising considering the fact that the device is a newcomer in the market. In particular, tons of users have noted that the device breaks during tinkering or emulation.
Fortunately, if you have been faced with issues on your steam Deck, you would be able to perform a reboot or reset to get it working once again. By Factory resetting your steam, you would be able to fix most of the regular problems, and following these instructions, should be your very first port of call right before you resort to contacting Valve concerning a replacement handheld.
How do you Restart Your Steam Deck?
Before you choose to reset your Steam Deck, you are expected to note that restoring it to the Factory Settings would erase all the data that is on your Steam Deck as well as all your installed games, operating systems, user info, and applications.
Therefore, it is best that you try and restart your steam Deck first before choosing to reset it if you have encountered an issues. Just like a PC, a restart would usually clear up issues without forcing you to reinstall all your data.
- Find the Power Button on the Steam Deck
- After that, press and then hold this power button for a minimum of 12 seconds. You may need to hold it down for as long as 20 seconds.
- Leave the console off for about five minutes
- Once the five minutes have been up, you can press and then hold the power button in other to switch the steam Deck back on.
Once it has been switched back on, it would restart and that should have any minor issues handled. If, though, your problem persists, then performing a factory reset may be the next step.
Steps for Factory Reset
If you have been facing issues with fixing your steam Deck with a reboot, you might need to try a factory reset.
- Download a Special recovery image right from the Steam Store to your computer. You would require a USB Stick with a minimum of 8GB of storage space, and it’s worth it noting that any existing contents of that stick and it would be erased from the process.
- If you are now making use of a windows computer, you would need to use the Rufus utility. Using Rufus, you would choose the recovery file and place it right into your USB. Afterward, select “close” and safely eject your USB.
If you are making use of a Linux or Mac, the process would be very different. You would be required to make use of Balena Etcher to put this recovery file right into your USB. Linux Users can choose to alternatively make use of the command line:
You should be able to locate the file in the download folder: cd: /home/USERNAME/Downloads
Set /dev/sdX to your USB.
- Making use of a hub or USB-C adapter, plug your boot disk right into your steam Deck.
- Hold the Steam Deck’s “Volume Down” and “Power buttons” Simultaneously. Stop when you hear a noise; that indicates that you are being taken into the “Boot Manager” menu.
- When you have finally gotten to the menu, select the boot from the “EFI” USB. Your Screen would go black for some minutes.
- Once it has been booted properly, you would see a desktop layout. Navigate it straight to your trackpad and then trigger.
- Select factory reset/re-image steam deck option straight from this screen.
Once you have completed the reset, you would be offered access to your Steam Deck, and the issues that you are facing should have been resolved. If this fails to work, contact valve support for more assistance.
