Steam crashes every 2-3 minutes due to CGamepadAPITask assertion failure on AMD RX 6650 XT

Summary

Steam consistently crashes approximately 2-3 minutes after launch with Assertion Failed: Illegal termination of worker thread 'CGamepadAPITask::Run' in threadtools.cpp line 3745. This occurs regardless of whether any gamepad/controller is connected. Additionally, Steam's CEF GPU process crashes and falls back to software rendering (--use-gl=disabled) within the same timeframe, causing the UI to freeze before the final crash.

System Information

• OS: Windows 10 Home 64-bit (Build 19045, 22H2)
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1400 Quad-Core
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT (8GB) — Vendor ID: 4098, Device ID: 29679
• GPU Driver: 32.0.21043.5001 (Adrenalin 26.3.1, dated 2026-03-03)
• RAM: 48GB DDR4-2400 (3x 16GB Kingston)
• Motherboard: ASUS PRIME B350M-A
• Steam Version: 1774577504 (Beta channel)
• Previous Steam Version: 1773426488 (Stable) — same issue

Steps to Reproduce

1. Launch Steam (with or without launch parameters)
2. Log in and wait on the Library page
3. Browse between different games in the Library
4. After approximately 2-3 minutes, the UI freezes and Steam crashes

Crash Logs

webhelper.txt — CEF GPU process crash and fallback

[2026-03-29 00:40:21] Browser - launching child process with: "steamwebhelper.exe" --type=gpu-process --disable-gpu-sandbox --use-gl=disabled --gpu-vendor-id=4098 --gpu-device-id=29679 --gpu-driver-version=32.0.21043.5001

The GPU process starts normally, then crashes within ~2 minutes. CEF automatically restarts it with --use-gl=disabled (software rendering fallback). After this fallback, the UI becomes extremely slow and eventually leads to the main crash.

webhelper.txt — Final crash

[2026-03-29 00:42:03] Quit message loop
[2026-03-29 00:42:03] Shutdown
[2026-03-29 00:42:03] src\tier0\threadtools.cpp (3745) : Assertion Failed: Illegal termination of worker thread 'CGamepadAPITask::Run'

webhelper.txt — Invalid browser dimensions (occurs every session)

[2026-03-29 00:38:29] Invalid browser dimensions: 0 x 0
[2026-03-29 00:38:35] Invalid browser dimensions: 0 x 0

gameoverlay_ui.txt — Overlay pipe stall (when Overlay is enabled)

src\common\pipes.cpp (900) : fatal stalled cross-thread pipe.
src\common\pipes.cpp (900) : Fatal assert; application exiting

Timeline of a typical session

00:00  Steam launches, GPU process starts normally
00:06  UI loads, Library page renders correctly
02:00  CEF GPU process crashes, restarts with --use-gl=disabled
02:30  UI becomes sluggish, page transitions freeze
03:00  CGamepadAPITask::Run assertion failure → Steam crashes

What I've tried (none of these resolved the crash)

Key observations

1. CGamepadAPITask crashes even with NO controllers connected — Bluetooth removed, no USB controllers, Steam Input disabled
2. CEF GPU crash and CGamepadAPITask crash appear to be correlated — both happen within the same 2-3 minute window every session
3. Games launched via steam -applaunch <appid> work fine — the crash only affects the Steam UI, running games are unaffected
4. The issue is specific to AMD RX 6650 XT (device_id 29679) — CEF consistently blacklists this GPU and falls back to software rendering

Crash dumps

Multiple crash dumps are available in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\dumps\:

• crash_steam.exe_20260329004159_1.dmp
• crash_steam.exe_20260329001905_1.dmp
• crash_steam.exe_20260329001255_1.dmp
• crash_steam.exe_20260329000358_1.dmp
• crash_steamwebhelper.exe_20260329000523_1.dmp
• assert_steam.exe_20260329003913_1.dmp
• assert_steam.exe_20260329003640_1.dmp
• assert_steam.exe_20260329001622_1.dmp
• assert_steam.exe_20260329001011_1.dmp

Expected behavior

Steam should not crash due to CGamepadAPITask when no gamepad is connected. The CEF GPU process should not repeatedly crash and fall back to software rendering on AMD RX 6650 XT with the latest drivers.

steam_crash_dumps.zip