Steam Deck owner begs for help with ‘possessed’ handheld

A Steam Deck owner has turned to Reddit for help as his handheld has begun to “scream” whenever he gets near it in a bizarre hardware failure.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I can’t go near my Steam Deck.” Reddit user ContextMenu says in tones that seem both pleading and fearful. This might seem like hyperbole, or a set-up for a prank, but the next few seconds of the video posted to the r/SteamDeck subreddit seems to indicate this is a real problem, as ContextMenu reaches out to his Steam Deck, only for it to emit a high-pitched shriek of apparent protest.

ContextMenu explained that he had turned on his Steam Deck after several days of it being in Sleep Mode. This is not unusual, and at first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but now, as ContextMenu says in his post, “I just started screaming at me out of nowhere and it won’t let me touch it.”

Reddit offers advice to frustrated Steam Deck user

As you might expect from Reddit, some of the replies were humorous or sarcastic, with one user commenting “Damn, yours has a theremin app?” which, to be fair, the noise emitted by the malfunctioning Steam Deck does strongly resemble those made by that peculiar musical instrument.

Reddit

Other users were more helpful, with one comment explaining this was likely a result of something called “hand-to-ground” capacitive coupling. This can be the result of a short, or circuits that are not properly separated or shielded.

The Reddit comment suggested that the Steam Deck had likely developed some sort of defect that was affecting the capacitive touch screen, and when the user’s hand got near the device, the electromagnetic interference of his body was causing the sound when it got near the capacitive touch screen.

So, ContextMenu’s Steam Deck may not be possessed, but it probably does need to be returned to the manufacturer for repair. Perhaps Valve might want to have an old and wise priest on standby to be completely sure, though.