Okay folks let’s start guessing what’s actually going on that OP here is trying to hide. I’ll kick us off, I’ve got

• OP modified their deck in some way that voids the warranty, broke something, tried to change it back like nothing happened, and now wants a replacement
• OP flashed a custom OS on there that’s not supported and they don’t know how to go back, and Steam support obviously doesn’t support it and it’s not a hardware issue so… tough
• OP broke their deck and is trying to come up with flimsy excuses to get a free replacement, like “Well yeah I mean it’s cracked but it wasn’t working anyway so give me a new one”

I worked in computer repair for 5 years so I’m very familiar with all the excuses people give to get me to replace something under warranty, and these lame excuses and refusal to share all of the issues just reek of something else going on

From everything I’ve seen, The steam deck looks unmodified, with steam OS, and undamaged. I don’t think OP is trying to hide anything but they could just have me fooled.

It looks like they might have actually gotten a faulty deck. I also try not to guess at these things. Why throw doubt on someone having a rough time? If anything I bet it comes down to communication between them and Valve not being as clear as it should be. Even if they swapped the hard drive in it, Valve will still have the steam deck under warranty, you just need to replace the original hard drive back. So I don’t see any modification they could make to void the warranty.

This is fair, but why my eye goes to all the requests for both diagnostic logs and chat logs. Looking at OP’s history, they’re very anti-valve, to the point where I don’t even know why they bought a deck if they’re so annoyed with Valve.

I think for me, working computer repair, I laugh at people like this because they just embody the Flander’s parents meme. “I’ve tried nothing and I’m all out of ideas!” and it’s just so painful at this point. Here’s this person, having honest issues with their deck, they provide no information useful to help anyone diagnose it and then refuse to give any information that might actually be useful. To me, they’re the client who slammed the thing down on my counter and said “IT’S BROKE. FIX IT”.

That’s why I make fun here, because I couldn’t when I worked there. The fact is you do catch more flies with honey, and this person smells and looks like vinegar to me. If you go in with a negative attitude you’re going to get a negative response. When I was deciding warranty claims if something was borderline I would usually try to find an exception or way to help the person out, things go shitty, tech can be confusing, I get that. If someone came in screaming and angry at me I’m focused on getting you out as quickly as possible because you’re being a jerk to me, and so if I see it’s not covered I’m not wasting any time finding an exception for you, get the hell out.

That’s why the chat logs are so important here, how did this person approach the situation? Did they go through troubleshooting steps with the agent? Did they respond to the questions? Were they honest? Or did they go in, lie, yell at the person that the device is stupid and broken and that they demand a new one? At the end of the day you’re dealing with people on the other end, and I’m guessing this person is learning a very important lesson in kindness.

(and I know the comment is coming where someone says “Yeah buuuuut everyone should be treated the same” and I’ll pre-respond to that anyone who says that clearly has never worked food service or retail before and that no one deserves to be emotionally battered over something as trivial as a broken gaming device)

This came out longer than I expected, but hey maybe OP will read it and noodle on how they handled the situation.

Fuck me a lot of you guys needs help. Holy shit. I’m done ,this is not worth it.