protonscr

steamwebhelper Crash Loop

steamclosed Distro Family: UbuntuWeb Component
ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#13129 · opened 2026-04-29 by ThePartyGoat · updated 2026-06-05 · 15 comments · github
TThePartyGoat 2026-04-29 github

Your system information

  • Steam client version (build number or date): 1777411435 (Native deb package)
  • Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): Linux Mint 22.3
  • Opted into Steam client beta?: Yes (tried opting-out of the beta via terminal but the issue persists)
  • Have you checked for system updates?: Yes
  • Steam Logs: https://pastebin.com/sY3GppwF, https://pastebin.com/CVAGzjpr, https://pastebin.com/Bg5wSuKy
  • GPU: Radeon RX 7700 XT (no integrated graphics, Mesa 25.3.5 (git-8418351c7c))

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

steamwebhelper process crashes 3-5 seconds after launching, making the gui not appear at all. The client was updated today (atleast here in Brazil). Seems to be GPU related. None of the options in the crash UI work.

Steps for reproducing this issue:

  1. Launch Steam normally
  2. Wait until steamwebhelper starts
  3. steamwebhelper will crash and steam will attempt to execute it again, creating a loop

Related Issues:

#9383
#13146
#13160

TThePartyGoat 2026-05-02 github

WORKAROUND: Downgrade Steam temporarily until the issue is fixed in a future patch

Guide i used:
https://blog.lightwo.net/steam-client-downgrades-survival-kit.html

TThePartyGoat 2026-05-02 github

The last lines in webhelper-gpu confirm it's a crash and not a normal process termination

[2026-04-29 13:28:18] [2]GpuProcessHost: The GPU process crashed!

DDryfterX 2026-05-03 github

This appears to be the same thing happening in Fedora Asahi Linux Remix with Fedora 44. I have been combing through logs the last few days and can't find anything indicating what the issue is but I suspect it's the same thing as what's going on here. There are no crash dump files and a lot of the Steam log files indicate an issue with XWindow. XWayland logs show no errors. I've been baffled, but I'm starting to see more and more Linux users running into this issue on various distros and hardware. Valve needs to investigate and fix.

The only thing crashing is the actual UI, the steam client stays running. Sometimes the UI will stay running for 5 minutes, other times it will crash every 10 seconds. Games launch and are playable but every time the UI crashes it takes focus from the game. I can provide log files if needed, maybe I'm missing something.

TThePartyGoat 2026-05-03 github

I'm on Xorg. I have a similar issue with the previous update, the Steam UI lags after a few minutes until it completely breaks and becomes a black screen, the steamwebhelper starts consuming a lot of resources during that process. However the client still receives achievement data, and the running games are completely playable. I have to terminate the steamwebhelper process in order for steam to return to normal. But that's an issue with a previous version, i'll make another issue report if the issue persists in a future version.

TThePartyGoat 2026-05-03 github

By "a lot of resources" i mean 6% of the CPU on a single steamwebhelper thread

Ppkillboredom 2026-05-08 github

@DryfterX Ah finally another person experiencing this. If this is happening across distros and on way more normal architectures, I guess it has to be a steam bug NVM downgrading did not fix it. I tried disabling GPU accel but it doesn't resolve the issue

webhelper.txt

cef_log.txt

DDryfterX 2026-05-08 github

@DryfterX Ah finally another person experiencing this. If this is happening across distros and on way more normal architectures, ~I guess it has to be a steam bug~ NVM downgrading did not fix it. I tried disabling GPU accel but it doesn't resolve the issue

webhelper.txt

cef_log.txt

So wait....if downgrading doesn't fix it, then is it Mesa or Wayland? I'm even more confused now.

TThePartyGoat 2026-05-08 github

@DryfterX Ah finally another person experiencing this. If this is happening across distros and on way more normal architectures, ~I guess it has to be a steam bug~ NVM downgrading did not fix it. I tried disabling GPU accel but it doesn't resolve the issue

webhelper.txt

cef_log.txt

slightly different error, same behaviour. seems to be an issue with xorg

DDryfterX 2026-05-09 github

Steam updated today, still same issue. I even tried running Steam with STEAM_DISABLE_WAYLAND=1 steam and thought it was going to work but the store and discussions kept reloading themselves and then the ui crash happened again.

Attaching the whole Steam logs folder in case they are needed. Xorg log shows no issues from what I can tell either.

logs.zip

Ffrenzybiscuit 2026-05-09 github

I'm also experiencing this issue. Any word from Valve on a fix?

DDryfterX 2026-05-10 github

I'm also experiencing this issue. Any word from Valve on a fix?

So far Valve has remained silent from what I can tell.


Let's see if we can find a common denominator among all of this because I'm frustrated and this is the only helpful thing I can do right now.

❯ fastfetch
                   ##  **                     dryfter@macbook-air
                *####****.                    -------------------
                  ###,                        OS: Fedora Linux Asahi Remix 44 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition) aarch64
               ...,/#,,,..                    Host: Mac14,2
          /*,,,,,,,,*,........,,              Kernel: Linux 6.19.14-400.asahi.fc44.aarch64+16k
        ,((((((//*,,,,,,,,,......             Uptime: 6 hours, 22 mins
       ((((((((((((((%............            Packages: 2749 (rpm), 41 (flatpak-system), 1 (flatpak-user), 4 (snap), 1 (brew), 2 (brew-cask)
     ,(((((((((((((((@@(............          Shell: zsh 5.9
    (((((((((((((((((@@@@/............        Display (eDP-1): 2560x1600 @ 1.5x in 13", 60 Hz [Built-in]
  ,((((((((((((((((((@@@@@&*...........       DE: KDE Plasma 6.6.4
 ((((((((((((((((((((@@@@@@@&,...........     WM: KWin (Wayland)
(((((((((((((((((((((@@@&%&@@@%,..........    WM Theme: Marge
 /(((((((((((((((((((@@@&%%&@@@@(........     Theme: Breeze (Marge) [Qt], Breeze-Dark [GTK2], Breeze [GTK3/4]
    ,((((((((((((((((@@@&&@@&/&@@@/..         Icons: Colloid-Dark [Qt], Colloid-Dark [GTK2/3/4]
        /((((((((((((@@@@@@/.../&&            Font: Lexie Readable (10pt) [Qt], Lexie Readable (10pt) [GTK2/3/4]
           .(((((((((@@@@(....                Cursor: breeze (24px)
               /(((((@@#...                   Terminal: yakuake 26.4.0
                  .((&,                       CPU: Apple M2 (8) @ 3.20 GHz
                                              GPU: Apple M2 (10) @ 1.40 GHz [Integrated]
                                              Memory: 6.32 GiB / 7.32 GiB (86%)
                                              Swap: 3.92 GiB / 16.00 GiB (25%)
                                              Disk (/): 271.79 GiB / 345.91 GiB (79%) - btrfs
                                              Local IP (wld0): 192.168.0.157/24
                                              Battery (bq40z651): 80% [AC Connected]
                                              Power Adapter: 35W
                                              Locale: en_US.utf8

Mesa version: 26.06
Xwayland version: 24.1.11

Steam Beta Branch: Stable Client
Steam Version: 1778281814
Steam Client Build Date: Fri, May 8, 2026 6:40 PM UTC -08:00
Steam Web Build Date: Fri, May 8, 2026 6:34 PM UTC -08:00
Steam API Version: SteamClient023

EDIT: RPM installer https://pagure.io/fedora-asahi/steam

TThePartyGoat 2026-05-11 github

this issue is far more common than i expected! hopefully valve will pay attention to this issue due to the amount of people experiencing the same thing

TThePartyGoat 2026-05-11 github

it's going to take a while since there's 3.7k open issues

Jjumph4x 2026-05-14 github

Sameeeeee. Asahi Remix 44 KDE here.

TThePartyGoat 2026-06-05 github

hey, so i formatted my main SSD for multiple bugs i created (yes i managed to break linux mint. not once, but in multiple ways) and the issue disappeared. could've easily been a permission issue since i was having problems with that previously. it's worth checking out that, i dont know which files steam needs permission to, but my best guess it's that's in the home folder

Nothing extracted yet.