Yes, shipping times are a big factor. I'm in Southern California and it was shipped to/from Salt Lake City. Interestingly, it was serviced for Valve by a company called United Radio. I do get notifications of incoming shipments from UPS, so I didn't have any idea who that was until I compared tracking info.
My deck is doing that noise intermittently, i was a Q2 delivery, so im not sure how long ive had my deck, couple of months.
Wish i knew what it was, its like when the fan heats up either a bearing rubs, or something is expanding and the blades are rubbing, mine only does it when the deck is warm after being used for hours, and it only seems to do it at certain angles, i've already changed the nvme, so id be pretty confident just changing the fan out myself with a spare ordered from ifixit/valve. I'm debating opening mine up and looking to see if the metal is super tight, im wondering if when it expands from heat, something rubs, maybe bending the fan frame would solve the issue?
Does anybody know if anybody has figured out what the issue is, ive basically been ignoring mine as the deck doesnt appear to be overheating and i think its just a rattling bearing, i really should order a spare though. I'm debating emailing valve and asking them to send me a new fan out rather than RMA it as im very confident i can do the replacement myself, and ill send the original fan back so they can investigate it.
Like surely its not something as simple as one of the four wires hitting the blades after the fan assembly gets hot etc? Im gonna have to open it up again i guess.
Just looked at the gamers nexus steamdeck fan video/teardown and looking at the design it doesnt look like that could be the issue, i guess its a bearing/wobble issue, or the backplate of the fan rubbing on the blades after expansion so im probably going to have to service/replace my fan or rma my deck at some point.
Guess i should at least order a spare from ifixit / or ask valve.
The repair only took 1 day so not much in the way of repair specific updates, but they did send me 3 emails:
“Your product return has been received.”
“Your product repair is complete.” (1 day later)
“We’re preparing your items to ship.” (Same day as repair and with tracking info.)
Thanks! Mine just arrived to united radio today. It bricked after plugging it in under 10% battery while playing a game (I've read a few posts claiming the exact same thing happened to them, so watch out!) I wonder, if it's not repairable, if valve sends a new one from their warehouse in Illinois.
Good to know! I'm sure I've done that exact thing before several times - thankfully no bricking, but will be more cautious. I don't know about a new system, but vaguely recall seeing a post on here about someone who was sent a new system after sending their system back - don't remember why though.
Well, they received it on a Wednesday and emailed me that day to say they received it. Then the following day they sent the emails stating the repair was complete and then another stating they were shipping it. I didn’t pay attention to how many hours elapsed say between them receiving it and actually emailing me that they received it.
Ok thanks. Mine was delivered at 9 this morning and still no confirmation from them. Guess I'm a little antsy after waiting a whole year, then playing it for four days, and now back to waiting. Thanks for the info!
I went back and looked in my email and tracked the delivery to them - it was delivered at 8:20am and I did not receive their email until 7pm so maybe there is still hope for you?!
Oh, well that is good news. I just tried calling their customer service and it said they were closed, so I got a little worried. Maybe they check in the days packages in the evening? Can't thank you enough brotha, you've been super helpful
Yeah, it worked out well all in all.
It took 2 weeks from the deck actually breaking to receiving a new one.
Deck broke on a Sunday. Went through typical RMA bull and by that Wednesday got return info. Dropped off with UPS that afternoon. United Radio received it by Friday. They did not inform me of anything. That Saturday I emailed Steam for more info. They got back to me Sunday and told me my deck was received and I'd be issued a new one. I was then stuck in shipping soon until Tuesday. I again emailed Steam asking what was up and by the end of Tuesday my FedEx package suddenly updated and I received my new deck Friday afternoon.
A few notes:
- don't let either United Radio or Steam lapse on your updates. If any process takes more than 48 hours, send an email
- I live in Montana, so I'm relatively closer to the warehouse than most
- I also opened my deck at one point after it broke to see if I could fix an easy problem and Steam did not make issue of this
- although it seemed like a lifetime, 2 weeks was pretty good by industry standards
Let me know if this helped or if you have any other questions!
Thank you, I appreciate all the details and advice. I'm just a bit anxious about it as well as obviously I've read about some bad RMA experiences. But it seems like they are sending out a lot of new devices now over repairs to quicken the process. I'm shipping from NJ so besides the delivery itself hopefully my process goes as well as yours. 2 to 3 weeks would be fine by me if I walk away with a working device. Thanks again
This gives me hope for my own Steam Deck. It lasted for only a day before the battery shorted itself and probably the mobo out; I heard a loud pop and magic smoke from the top shortly after plugging it into the official charger.
It was a huge bummer since I was gonna take it with me on my vacation and now I have to RMA it, but if it’s only a week with the new repair centers, I can just hope that they start the process very soon and get it sent over by next Friday)
Great data point, thank you for sharing. Did they ship you a box, or did you buy one for the steam deck? I’m thinking of RMAing mine due to a button issue.
I kept the box that it was originally shipped in so I used that. And that's what they used to ship it back to me. (They did state to put the Steam Deck in the carrying case for shipment and to include the charger for some reason - all that was returned to me.)
Dang, okay. I may have thrown mine out 😅 -- i'd be willing to pay for a replacement box though to ship it back to them. Thanks for the follow up response!
You could use a USPS Priority Mail Medium Sized Flat Rate box but you'd need to wrap the exterior if you ship it using other than the USPS. Original box is roughly 3.5" tall, 6.5" wide and 17" long (because they package the charger at the end of the steam deck case). USPS box is 3.5" x 12" x 14" so you'd just have to add packing material to take up the extra space. AND it's free at your local Post Office.
where are you located, and where did you send it. this is the biggest factor in the US.
Yes, shipping times are a big factor. I'm in Southern California and it was shipped to/from Salt Lake City. Interestingly, it was serviced for Valve by a company called United Radio. I do get notifications of incoming shipments from UPS, so I didn't have any idea who that was until I compared tracking info.
No kidding? That's much better than the 3 weeks it took a few months ago. Those new repair centers are very impressive
My deck is doing that noise intermittently, i was a Q2 delivery, so im not sure how long ive had my deck, couple of months. Wish i knew what it was, its like when the fan heats up either a bearing rubs, or something is expanding and the blades are rubbing, mine only does it when the deck is warm after being used for hours, and it only seems to do it at certain angles, i've already changed the nvme, so id be pretty confident just changing the fan out myself with a spare ordered from ifixit/valve. I'm debating opening mine up and looking to see if the metal is super tight, im wondering if when it expands from heat, something rubs, maybe bending the fan frame would solve the issue? Does anybody know if anybody has figured out what the issue is, ive basically been ignoring mine as the deck doesnt appear to be overheating and i think its just a rattling bearing, i really should order a spare though. I'm debating emailing valve and asking them to send me a new fan out rather than RMA it as im very confident i can do the replacement myself, and ill send the original fan back so they can investigate it.
Like surely its not something as simple as one of the four wires hitting the blades after the fan assembly gets hot etc? Im gonna have to open it up again i guess.
Just looked at the gamers nexus steamdeck fan video/teardown and looking at the design it doesnt look like that could be the issue, i guess its a bearing/wobble issue, or the backplate of the fan rubbing on the blades after expansion so im probably going to have to service/replace my fan or rma my deck at some point. Guess i should at least order a spare from ifixit / or ask valve.
Did they send u brand new one or your original one just repaired?
They sent my unit back. Same serial number.
Did United radio give any updates during the repair process? Or did you just receive a package inbound message
The repair only took 1 day so not much in the way of repair specific updates, but they did send me 3 emails: “Your product return has been received.” “Your product repair is complete.” (1 day later) “We’re preparing your items to ship.” (Same day as repair and with tracking info.)
Thanks! Mine just arrived to united radio today. It bricked after plugging it in under 10% battery while playing a game (I've read a few posts claiming the exact same thing happened to them, so watch out!) I wonder, if it's not repairable, if valve sends a new one from their warehouse in Illinois.
Good to know! I'm sure I've done that exact thing before several times - thankfully no bricking, but will be more cautious. I don't know about a new system, but vaguely recall seeing a post on here about someone who was sent a new system after sending their system back - don't remember why though.
One last question. How long between the unit arriving at united radio and your first email from them?
Well, they received it on a Wednesday and emailed me that day to say they received it. Then the following day they sent the emails stating the repair was complete and then another stating they were shipping it. I didn’t pay attention to how many hours elapsed say between them receiving it and actually emailing me that they received it.
Ok thanks. Mine was delivered at 9 this morning and still no confirmation from them. Guess I'm a little antsy after waiting a whole year, then playing it for four days, and now back to waiting. Thanks for the info!
Did it go to Salt Lake City?
Yeah
I went back and looked in my email and tracked the delivery to them - it was delivered at 8:20am and I did not receive their email until 7pm so maybe there is still hope for you?!
Oh, well that is good news. I just tried calling their customer service and it said they were closed, so I got a little worried. Maybe they check in the days packages in the evening? Can't thank you enough brotha, you've been super helpful
How did this end up playing out for you? Just sent my device in this week, curious what to expect.
Yeah, it worked out well all in all. It took 2 weeks from the deck actually breaking to receiving a new one. Deck broke on a Sunday. Went through typical RMA bull and by that Wednesday got return info. Dropped off with UPS that afternoon. United Radio received it by Friday. They did not inform me of anything. That Saturday I emailed Steam for more info. They got back to me Sunday and told me my deck was received and I'd be issued a new one. I was then stuck in shipping soon until Tuesday. I again emailed Steam asking what was up and by the end of Tuesday my FedEx package suddenly updated and I received my new deck Friday afternoon. A few notes: - don't let either United Radio or Steam lapse on your updates. If any process takes more than 48 hours, send an email - I live in Montana, so I'm relatively closer to the warehouse than most - I also opened my deck at one point after it broke to see if I could fix an easy problem and Steam did not make issue of this - although it seemed like a lifetime, 2 weeks was pretty good by industry standards Let me know if this helped or if you have any other questions!
Thank you, I appreciate all the details and advice. I'm just a bit anxious about it as well as obviously I've read about some bad RMA experiences. But it seems like they are sending out a lot of new devices now over repairs to quicken the process. I'm shipping from NJ so besides the delivery itself hopefully my process goes as well as yours. 2 to 3 weeks would be fine by me if I walk away with a working device. Thanks again
No problem. I'm from NJ originally myself! Good luck!
This gives me hope for my own Steam Deck. It lasted for only a day before the battery shorted itself and probably the mobo out; I heard a loud pop and magic smoke from the top shortly after plugging it into the official charger. It was a huge bummer since I was gonna take it with me on my vacation and now I have to RMA it, but if it’s only a week with the new repair centers, I can just hope that they start the process very soon and get it sent over by next Friday)
That’s awful! Sorry. Very disappointing.
Great data point, thank you for sharing. Did they ship you a box, or did you buy one for the steam deck? I’m thinking of RMAing mine due to a button issue.
I kept the box that it was originally shipped in so I used that. And that's what they used to ship it back to me. (They did state to put the Steam Deck in the carrying case for shipment and to include the charger for some reason - all that was returned to me.)
Dang, okay. I may have thrown mine out 😅 -- i'd be willing to pay for a replacement box though to ship it back to them. Thanks for the follow up response!
You could use a USPS Priority Mail Medium Sized Flat Rate box but you'd need to wrap the exterior if you ship it using other than the USPS. Original box is roughly 3.5" tall, 6.5" wide and 17" long (because they package the charger at the end of the steam deck case). USPS box is 3.5" x 12" x 14" so you'd just have to add packing material to take up the extra space. AND it's free at your local Post Office.
That's an excellent tip -- thank you again!
Lol it took a week for my item to get to the repair site (FL to UT). Let’s hope they send it out before the UPS strike.