protonscr

Steam crash loop

steamclosed Window managerDistro Family: ArchWeb Component
ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#13439 · opened 2026-07-24 by Habaja1 · updated 2026-07-26 · 8 comments · github
HHabaja1 2026-07-24 github

Your system information

  • Steam client version (build number or date): 1784778118 (build Jul 23 2026)
  • Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): CachyOS x84-64
  • Opted into Steam client beta?: No
  • Have you checked for system updates?: Yes, fully up to date
  • Steam Logs: see below
  • GPU: AMD (RX 9060 XT 16g)

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

Expected: Steam launches normally and stays open, showing library page.

Actual: steamwebhelper crashes repeatedly (startcount=0, startcount=1, startcount=2...), roughly every 10 seconds, indefinitely. The Steam UI does briefly appear each time, but crashes and restarts within a few seconds before it's usable. This happens identically on both the native pacman install and the Flatpak install (com.valvesoftware.Steam).

What I have tried (none of these fixed it):

  • Clearing the htmlcache (~/.local/share/Steam/config/htmlcache)
  • Switching away from the Breeze-Dark GTK2 theme (unrelated parse errors were present in logs but not the cause)
  • GTK2_RC_FILES=/dev/null steam
  • steam -cef-disable-gpu -cef-force-present -no-cef-sandbox
  • env -u WAYLAND_DISPLAY steam
  • Full reinstall via pacman (pacman -R steam then reinstall)
  • Full reinstall via Flatpak
  • Ruled out OOM kill via dmesg/journal: confirmed genuine repeated SIGSEGV via coredumpctl list steamwebhelper (70+ crashes logged)

each did not stop crashes from happening. However, when i tried to run via a pure x11 session with XFCE Steam started up normally. this confirms my suspision that libwayland has something to do with this, therefore i tested it on niri as well for it to also enter a crash loop.

System package versions:

  • wayland 1.25.0-1.1 (installed 2026-07-02, built 2026-04-21)
  • Mesa/RADV 26.1.5

This looks related to #13240 (steamwebhelper crash loop on NVIDIA Blackwell, also reproducing on both native and Flatpak) but with a different fault: that report shows a SIGTRAP/NOTREACHED() inside libcef.so, mine is a SIGSEGV inside libwayland-client.so. Possibly two symptoms of the same underlying regression in the bundled CEF/webhelper against very recent Wayland/Mesa versions.

Steps for reproducing this issue:

  1. Install Steam (native or Flatpak) on CachyOS with an AMD RDNA4 GPU and wayland 1.25.0
  2. Log into any Wayland session (tested: KDE Plasma/KWin, Niri)
  3. Run steam
  4. Observe steamwebhelper crash-loop with SIGSEGV in libwayland-client.so.0.25.0 every ~10 seconds
  5. Compare: same install under a pure X11 session (e.g. XFCE/Xorg) works with no crash

Steam logs:

steam-logs.tar.gz

HHabaja1 2026-07-24 github

Something else to add:

i tried KDE Plasma first, and steam had this bug on there. Then i tried niri, for it to have the bug there as well. Then i tried XFCE via Xorg and steam works perfectly.

LLampadaDiLegno 2026-07-25 github

i have the same problem, but for me it happens when i try to open either steam settings or game properties, i have not tested for any other window yet, i also tried what you tried and it didnt work

Mmaclightning2 2026-07-26 github

Similar problem with Steam Flatpak on Artix Linux (runit). The UI, when left alone, is shown from first login to displaying the library as well as the promotion window just fine. However, UI crashes whenever a mouse click happens within it, or when mouse hovers over the STORE-LIBRARY-COMMUNITY tab area.
Logs provide:

Gdk: gdk_wayland_display_get_wl_display: assertion 'GDK_IS_WAYLAND_DISPLAY (display)' failed

Running the Flatpak via the terminal yields...

sh: line 1: lsb_release: command not found

... right before the UI disappears, after which it attempts to recover and crashes again into a loop. Curiously, Steam Flatpak works just fine on HerbstluftWM which is an X environment. No settings have been touched prior to switching to Labwc. From what the user above said, this bug seems to appear only under Wayland (KDE, Labwc, Niri etc.) but not X (HerbstluftWM, Xfce etc.). Games themselves run just fine under both graphical stacks.

NNjill 2026-07-26 github

+1, same issue as people above. Swapping from WAYLAND to X11 still gives same issue with errors such as: 'Gdk: gdk_wayland_display_get_wl_display: assertion 'GDK_IS_WAYLAND_DISPLAY (display)' failed' + 'steamwebhelper crashes repeatedly (startcount=0, startcount=1, startcount=2'

HHabaja1 2026-07-26 github

Update: I found out what was causing it. I was using ibus and it recommended Me to put a bunch of stuff in shell, one of those switching all GTK applications to Wayland to make it work. This caused the crash loop, as after removing it from the shell config steam worked like normal again.

Mmaclightning2 2026-07-26 github

a bunch of stuff in shell, one of those switching all GTK applications to Wayland to make it work

Post the changes.

HHabaja1 2026-07-26 github

a bunch of stuff in shell, one of those switching all GTK applications to Wayland to make it work

Post the changes.

Yeah I’m sorry that was vague here is what I put in:

GTK_IM_MODULE=wayland
XMODIFIERS=@im=ibus
QT_IM_MODULES=wayland;ibus
QT_IM_MODULE=ibus

Kkisak-valve maintainer 2026-07-26 github

Hello @Habaja1, this reads like you went to https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/IBus and promptly shot yourself in the foot. This is a documentation issue on the distro side that should be discussed and resolved over there.

Nothing extracted yet.