How To Fix Steam Deck Can T Reach The Steam Servers

Troubleshooting Prerequisites

1. Try Airplane, Offline, and Desktop modes

A malfunction in the Steam Deck’s communication modules can prevent it from connecting to its servers. Activating airplane mode, offline mode, or desktop mode should resolve the issue.

Disable/Enable the Wi-Fi

Enable/Disable Airplane Mode

Enable/Disable Offline Mode

Switch to the Desktop Mode

2. Try the User Switcher on the Steam Deck

If the Steam Deck fails to register your login, it will not send the information to the servers, causing an issue. Using the user switcher on the Steam Deck should resolve this problem.

3. Restart the Steam Client, Steam Deck and Router

The Steam Deck can’t connect to its servers because of a communication issue between the device and the router. This problem can be resolved by restarting the Steam client, Steam Deck, and router.

Restart the Steam Client

Restart the Steam Deck

Perform a Cold Restart of the Deck and Router

4. Put the Deck into the Battery Storage Mode

Activating battery storage mode sets all deck hardware modules to their default state. This can fix server issues resulting from hardware malfunctions.

5. Change the Update Channel of the Steam Deck

The Steam Deck cannot connect to its servers due to an OS bug. Changing and updating the Steam Deck’s update channel will resolve this issue.

6. Change the Deck’s Download Region

If the Download Region is set to a problematic or inappropriate server for your location, it can cause connection issues. Accordingly, changing the Download Region of the deck will resolve the problem.

7. Disable Remote Play on the Steam Deck

If Remote Play is enabled on the Steam Deck, it may disrupt the server connection. Disabling Remote Play on the Deck can fix this issue.

8. Change IPv6 and DNS Settings of the Deck

If the Deck’s DNS settings are no longer valid or the DNS servers can’t reach the Steam servers, it may cause the current connection issue. Additionally, if your network isn’t optimized for the IPv6 protocol, it could contribute to the problem. To resolve the issue, disable IPv6 and change the DNS settings on the Steam Deck.

Disable IPv6

Change DNS

9. Disable the Power Saving Feature of the Network Card

If you encounter a server connection issue on the Steam Deck, it may be due to the network card entering sleep state or not waking up from it. To fix this this, disable the power-saving feature of the network card.

10. Change the Router Settings

There can be many router settings that can break communication between the Steam Deck and its servers. Changing these settings will clear the problem. To change these settings, go to the router’s admin portal and log in using your credentials.

Disable the Band Steering

Change the Wi-Fi Encryption

Change the Wireless Mode of the Network

Change the Wi-Fi Channel

Disable 5 GHz and Enable 2.4 GHz

Reset the Router

11. Try on Another Network

The deck will not reach Steam servers if your ISP is restricting the deck’s access to servers. In this case, trying another network will solve the problem.

12. Reset or Reimage the Steam Deck

If the operating system components managing the network communication of the deck are damaged, it can prevent the deck from connecting to the servers. Resetting or reimaging the Steam Deck can resolve this issue. If there’s excess data on your Steam Deck, consider signing out of the Steam account on it and other devices. Then, log back into the Steam account on the Steam Deck to check if this resolves the error. If not, factory resetting the deck is the last resort. This step will erase the data on the deck, so, back up the essentials.