Valve’s new gaming computer/console, the Steam Machine, has generated debate since Valve announced its starting price. While the fledgling piece of gaming hardware has only been in the hands of consumers for less than week, with Valve started shipping for its Machine on June 29th, things like its premium price, lack of 4k native support, and lack of a bundled controller have caused gamers to have negative views of the product. This might come as a bit of a shock, considering the goodwill Valve has been able to generate over the years and the high praise the Steam Deck received at launch, despite some hiccups. Very recently, another blow may have been dealt against the Steam Machine, with a user on Reddit reporting a massive hardware phenomenon being referred to as the “Red Line of Death,” alluding to the Red Ring of Death that once plagued the Xbox 360.
According to the Reddit post, the anonymous user played around with the Steam Machine for approximately 20 minutes. During this time, they played No Man’s Sky for roughly five minutes, after which they installed a system update for the console that required a system reboot. However, the Steam Machine immediately failed to boot up again, displaying a red LED pattern on the bottom right when looking at the hardware straight on. The post clarifies that the game played normally for the five minutes and the update seemed to install just fine — it was after the system reboot that things went wrong and the Machine stopped producing a video output. Valve documentation on the Steam Machine available on a Steam Support page indicates that the red LED pattern presented by the Reddit user indicates that the hardware has experienced GPU failure. While there is some debate about whether the failure experienced by the user is actually indicative of an issue with the GPU or a potential firmware failure, especially given the timing with the update, this has not been officially confirmed.
Steam Machine’s “Red Line of Death” (u/me_hill)
While the Steam Machine is technically a computer instead of a console, this potential hardware failure could be as disastrous as it would be for a more common console. Normally, pieces of hardware like GPUs can simply be swapped out by replacements when dealing with a normal computer. However, unlike standard PCs, the GPU is soldered to the Steam Machine’s motherboard — fixing this issue, should it be a hardware one, would not be easy for the average consumer, requiring the use of warranty and more formal repair services. While this may be an isolated incident, as Valve has yet to announce anything like a recall or a manufacturing defect and this appears to be the first report of an issue like this, the nascency of the gaming computer, as well as the negativity already surrounding it, may further fuel online criticism of the device if similar reports emerge. It also doesn’t help that the look of the failure indicator has reminded gamers of an infamous case of widespread hardware failure: the Xbox 360’s Red Ring of Death. Whether this proves to be an isolated incident or the beginning of a broader issue remains to be seen, but the report has already sparked discussion among early adopters.