Connected via USB dongle (Valve Software Steam Controller Puck, ID 28de:1304)
Description
Every other time (roughly) the Steam Controller is powered on while Steam is open,
Steam crashes and takes the GNOME compositor (Mutter) down with it,
completely freezing the desktop session. No applications can be launched,
the terminal is unresponsive, and keyboard shortcuts stop working.
A full reboot is required to recover the session.
The controller firmware was successfully updated via Windows (dual boot). However Steam
on Linux continues to attempt a firmware update on every other controller
power-on, triggering the crash.
Steps to Reproduce
Boot into Ubuntu 24.04 with Steam open
Power on the Steam Controller
Steam displays firmware update error
Every other occurrence results in complete desktop session freeze
Expected Behavior
Steam should either successfully update firmware or gracefully handle the
failure without crashing the desktop session.
Actual Behavior
Steam Controller firmware routine segfaults, cascading into a Mutter crash
and complete GNOME session freeze requiring reboot.
Relevant Log Output
From journalctl -b -1:
May 21 16:16:19 BATTLESTATION kernel: CSteamControlle[5062]: segfault at 94 ip 00000000f5c17cea sp 00000000df2fd6f0 error 4 in libX11.so.6.4.0[13cea,f5c15000+8f000] likely on CPU 2 (core 2, socket 0)
May 21 21:35:53 BATTLESTATION kernel: mutter-restart-[65039]: segfault at e0 ip 0000556a6e6fd1b5 sp 00007fff8a626d10 error 4 in mutter-restart-helper[11b5,556a6e6fd000+1000] likely on CPU 7 (core 1, socket 0)
May 21 21:35:57 BATTLESTATION gnome-shell[3167]: Gio.IOErrorEnum: An object is already exported for the interface org.kde.StatusNotifierWatcher at /StatusNotifierWatcher
Workaround
Powering on the controller before launching Steam appears to reduce
occurrence frequency. Full session freeze requires reboot to recover.
Additional Notes
udev rules are correctly configured via Valve's official
60-steam-input.rules file. Device permissions show crw-rw-rw-+ confirming
read/write access is properly granted.
System Information
Hardware
Description
Every other time (roughly) the Steam Controller is powered on while Steam is open,
Steam crashes and takes the GNOME compositor (Mutter) down with it,
completely freezing the desktop session. No applications can be launched,
the terminal is unresponsive, and keyboard shortcuts stop working.
A full reboot is required to recover the session.
The controller firmware was successfully updated via Windows (dual boot). However Steam
on Linux continues to attempt a firmware update on every other controller
power-on, triggering the crash.
Steps to Reproduce
Expected Behavior
Steam should either successfully update firmware or gracefully handle the
failure without crashing the desktop session.
Actual Behavior
Steam Controller firmware routine segfaults, cascading into a Mutter crash
and complete GNOME session freeze requiring reboot.
Relevant Log Output
From journalctl -b -1:
May 21 16:16:19 BATTLESTATION kernel: CSteamControlle[5062]: segfault at 94 ip 00000000f5c17cea sp 00000000df2fd6f0 error 4 in libX11.so.6.4.0[13cea,f5c15000+8f000] likely on CPU 2 (core 2, socket 0)
May 21 21:35:53 BATTLESTATION kernel: mutter-restart-[65039]: segfault at e0 ip 0000556a6e6fd1b5 sp 00007fff8a626d10 error 4 in mutter-restart-helper[11b5,556a6e6fd000+1000] likely on CPU 7 (core 1, socket 0)
May 21 21:35:57 BATTLESTATION gnome-shell[3167]: Gio.IOErrorEnum: An object is already exported for the interface org.kde.StatusNotifierWatcher at /StatusNotifierWatcher
Workaround
Powering on the controller before launching Steam appears to reduce
occurrence frequency. Full session freeze requires reboot to recover.
Additional Notes
udev rules are correctly configured via Valve's official
60-steam-input.rules file. Device permissions show crw-rw-rw-+ confirming
read/write access is properly granted.