protonscr

[BUG] SteamVR crash on startup/general unreliability

steamvropen bug
ValveSoftware/SteamVR-for-Linux#911 · opened 2026-06-25 by demonfiren · updated 2026-07-31 · 2 comments · github
Ddemonfiren 2026-06-25 github

Describe the bug
SteamVR failure shortly after first start-up; semi-random failure to detect headset thereafter; occasional failures on wake-up.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

  1. Start Steam
  2. Start SteamVR
  3. Confirm base station detection
  4. SteamVR crashes (-203, vrcompositor failure)
  5. Restart SteamVR
  6. SteamVR fails to detect headset (496)
  7. Exit SteamVR and reconnect headset
  8. SteamVR may detect headset properly; sometimes freezes Steam entirely requiring process kill

Expected behavior
Clean launch and immediate functionality

System Information (please complete the following information):
Please use the latest Steam beta client and SteamVR beta for your bug reports!

  • Steam client version (build number or date): 1782344391, build date Thu, Jun 25, 2026 1:24 AM UTC -08:00
  • SteamVR version: Public, updated Jun 18, 2026 (chosen because public was more recent than beta; same general symptoms on beta)
  • Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): Arch
  • Steam runtime diagnostics: diagnostics.txt
  • Steam and SteamVR logs: steam-logs.tar.gz
  • Minidumps: steam-minidumps.tar.gz

Screenshots
n/a

Additional context
Problem known since first system setup >1y ago; OS and software installed on then-new machine. Various attempts at rectification failed, notably switching mesa versions (this allowed SteamVR to function at all in the past, but it seems downgrades are no longer necessary).

PPacketdancer 2026-07-30 github

Whups, did NOT mean to accidentally click the close while I was typing up a comment!

Anyway. I'm not able to repro this on my Arch install, but the logs look suspiciously like another bug I'm looking into. One of the upcoming beta builds adds a bunch more debug logging on startup, some of it focused on the aforementioned bug; when that beta's out, I'd love to have you run it and see if the additional logging flags it as the same core problem.

Ddemonfiren 2026-07-31 github

Whups, did NOT mean to accidentally click the close while I was typing up a comment!

Anyway. I'm not able to repro this on my Arch install, but the logs look suspiciously like another bug I'm looking into. One of the upcoming beta builds adds a bunch more debug logging on startup, some of it focused on the aforementioned bug; when that beta's out, I'd love to have you run it and see if the additional logging flags it as the same core problem.

Understood; I switched off SteamVR in the meantime but I'll check back in a month or so, I presume the relevant build will be out by then.

Nothing extracted yet.