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Use this guide to safely remove and replace a worn out or dead battery in a Steam Deck LCD.
For your safety, turn on your Steam Deck and allow the battery to fully discharge before starting this procedure. A charged lithium-ion polymer battery can be very dangerous if accidentally punctured. Heating a charged battery is a fire hazard. If your battery looks puffy or swollen, take extra precautions.
Note: The Steam Deck's battery is strongly adhered, requiring repeated heating and prying cycles. The heat produced by an iOpener may not be sufficient to loosen the adhesive, so a heat gun (or, alternatively, a hair dryer) is recommended for this procedure.
Remember: follow general electrostatic discharge (ESD) safety procedures while repairing your device.
Don't reuse the battery after it's been removed, as doing so is a potential safety hazard. Replace it with a new battery.
Note: Valve started shipping Steam Deck LCDs with refreshed internal designs in early 2023. Your Steam Deck may look different than the one depicted in the photos, but the procedure is very similar. Remove the back cover to check what version you have. An original Steam Deck will have a metallic motherboard shield and a fan with square sides, as seen here. A refreshed Steam Deck will have a black motherboard shield and a fan with curved sides, as seen here. Find Steam Deck OLED guides here.
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Unplug any cables connected to your Steam Deck.
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crwdns2935267:0crwdne2935267:0FixMat$36.95
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Use a Phillips driver to remove the eight screws securing the back cover:
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Four 9.5 mm screws
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Four 5.8 mm screws
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Insert an opening pick into the thin gap between the back cover and the front shell, along the edge of one of the grips.
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Pry up on the back cover to release it from the locking clips.
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Grip the back cover at the opening you just created and pull it up and away from the device to unclip the long edges.
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Remove the back cover.
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crwdns2935267:0crwdne2935267:0Tweezers$4.99
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Use a pair of tweezers to remove the piece of foil tape covering the hidden screw on the board shield.
Use some heat here from a hairdryer to make this part easier.
If you screw up here you can replace the little aluminium square with some aluminium tape from Amazon. No less than 50 microns thick, slightly thicker is fine. and the square is 13mm both ways.
Thanks for that Matt, i destroyed the original tape and i had no solution since i read your comment.
there are other new version of board shield from 2023.
Is it alright to use the deck without the tape?
You should not. This is EM shielding to protect your processor and ram from radio waves in the air
I found out my 3 Weeks new Steam Deck is a old Version... gg. Valve...
wenn ich aluminium foile benutze, womit soll ich sie dann verkleben?
If we have the new version with the black shield, how do we access the SSD?
I need this part, does anyone know where to get it?
PSA: The only purpose of steps 5–8 is to enable you to disconnect the battery, which is not essential. I skipped steps 5–8 and did not have any trouble with the repair.
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Use a Phillips driver to remove the three screws securing the board shield:
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One 3.4 mm screw
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Two 3.7 mm screws
The procedure ended here for me, used an ifixit PH 00 bit on the screw behind the aluminium tape, bit wouldnt bite too great, one wrong twist and the screw was stripped. Not sure who or what initially screwed in that particular screw as the rest of the screws on the shield were fine, but boy is it in there tight. So now i have a stripped screw and a botched ssd replacement, don't think valve will let me RMA for this, but i'll give it a try and update accordingly.
Any updates? Did they let you RMA?
I found one screw to be ridiculously tight too, managed to undo it without stripping thanks to reading your comment beforehand and going extra careful. Not going to lie, it was a tense moment :D
Andy HL -
I'm stuck in the same place. I haven't fully stripped it, but I can tell you that if I try and make it budge it will strip. The thing is massively overtightened. The driver fit fine, the metal just gives way before the screw will budge.
I think the tendency is to go too small on the screwdriver bits because you're working on small electronics.
I used the PH1 bit on the screw under the foil and the PH0 bit for the two remaining screws without any problems.
What does this shield actually do? Some kind of magnetic protection?
if I had to replace the key (R2) and that's it, can I directly remove it or do I have to act here on the motherboard too?
have you gotten an answer yet? trying to change mines as well but dont wanna do too much to the deck
briaNN -
button Not key, i’m sorry
I used the ifixit tools and used the 00 PH for these screws with no issue
If only swapping the SSD, it is not necessary to remove the top left 3.7mm screw. The heat shield is flexible enough that you can move it out of the way to access the SSD screw. For me this was necessary as the 3.7mm screw was completely unmovable and quickly stripped.
FYI there is a little pin on the cover that slots into the board. It is located near the top screw. I needed that to be inserted for the cover to go back down properly.
For anyone who may have stripped a 3.7mm screw, Steam Support states it's M1.6 diameter with a 0.35 thread pitch and a 3mm length. Hopefully that'll help anyone trying to locate a replacement screw. Hoping iFixIt can make an internal screws kit as they're kinda hard to find the right one online.
Did valve change the shield recently as my new 64gb deck has a black shield with no hidden screw.
Yes there's a new hardware revision out there that some people are getting. Consider stopping at this point and putting your deck back together if you have one of these new hardware revisions (the fan is quite different as well to the pictures) until iFixit has an updated repair guide.
Simon M. -
There are only 2 screws now, but be careful taking the shield off, because there are still thermal pads under it sticking it to a heat pipe.
Are they m2 3.7mm screws? I am looking to replace mine because they instantly stripped and I had to remove them with needle nose pliers because they were over tightened.
I need this piece, can someone help me where can I find it please?
Hi, is it possible to buy these shields somewhere? I am extremely interested in buying a replacement.
The refreshed model 1030 has 2 T6 torx screws instead of Philips
Model 1030 is the OLED version, which we have separate guides for! See here: Steam Deck OLED
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Remove the board shield.
When putting back on, run a pick along the edge of the shield between the wires to make sure nothing is pinching and the wires are clear of the shield before screwing down.
During reassembly, ensure that the fan cable lays on the side of the board shield and isn't pinched underneath.
Are you saying that the fan cable should be positioned above the board shield instead of being pressed down by it? Just like the image shows, where it 'lays on the side of the board shield'?
Necesito esta pieza la mía no la traía se ve que se la quitaro
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Grip the battery cable by its pull tab and pull it directly away from the motherboard to disconnect it.
After fully reassembling my device I found that my battery was not showing any stats anymore. I couldn't start the device without being plugged in, however if I restarted it would stay on even if my power cable was detached. Battery showed 0%. It turns out I had not fully reinserted the battery cable at this stage during reassembly. MAKE SURE YOU PUSH IT ALL THE WAY BACK IN!
Awesome thanks for this tip!
It is helpful to lift up gently with a the tapered end of a spudger underneath the tucked-in portion of the battery cable, creating a bit of flex in the cable before pulling on the pull tab. I found that without doing so, the fabric pull-tab simply tore off of the cable under light-to-moderate force (the fabric itself ripped cleanly across, like a paper towel). Careful, gentle pressure with a spudger can be used to remove the plug by prying gently on the rear ridge of the plastic plug (not the wire!) if this happens.
This is exactly what happened to me. Maybe it was a pull tab previously, mine was a ribbon cable that tore - captured the image here: https://www.ianwootten.co.uk/2022/11/22/...
This was the best approach (and I feel safest for the wiring) for me. Mostly push pressure on the plastic ridge with some minor pull tension on the fabric.
Victor -
I found it less scary and easier to remove the battery connection by using a fingernail on the ridge and pushing it off the connector. I felt like pulling on the battery cable was too harsh.
Yeah, pulling cables like these is usually ill advice. They might be fine if it's a new device, but for old devices that have been sitting there for years, there's a good chance the connector has grown brittle and the cable might just come off separately (something I learnt the hard way).
skzm -
I second this approach. For me, the cable felt way to flimsy and the connector wouldn't budge even under moderate force. Except I used the flat end of a spudger to "scrape" it out.
Misza -
Upon plugging the battery back in, I found it easy to use two spudgers- one on each side- to pull/push the connector back into it's port. Be careful to not put any pressure on the battery wires themselves.
When reconnecting the battery cable, you'll know when it's inserted and power is restored, because the white LED will illuminate at the top of the Deck near the power button. You should be able to see it while you're reconnecting the battery cable
This is only true if you haven't put the deck into battery storage mode as directed.
Why not just let the battery discharge completely and then not have to disconnect it?
Completely discharging a battery reduces its lifespan. It's completely unnecessary.
Because no lipo battery is ever completely discharged -- you would not be able to recharge it if it was. There will always be enough power left in it to cause damage if shorted even if it isn't charged enough to power up the device it's connected to.
I would personally not recommend pulling the tab. It doesn’t apply force at the correct angle. You should revise these instructions to advise using a combination of pulling on the tab, and careful pressure on the connector towards the right of the mainboard to carefully work it out.
Using the pull tab alone could cause problems if not done extremely carefully.
This part was wayyyyy easier than I anticipated and I worried for nothing because I used the ifixit spudger to push it out a bit and then I literally used my finger nail and was able to slide it right off. Dont be afraid, its not that difficult and its not that delicate to break if you do it patiently
I inserted the cable very firmly with a spunger, being careful not to press down too hard on the cables, and even tried redoing it, but I don't see any LED illumination. I am now unable to boot the deck into the boot manager. Any additional tips?
What is the risk of not unplugging the battery? Just curious!
Once I was changing termal paste on my Windows based expensive tablet PC... And I was so scared to disconnect any cables (there was many of them), so I did it all with battery connected (I didn't even knew where is battery cable). When I tried to put board shield back... it didn't go right into needed place... and short circuit some small component. It flashed. That was the end of my repair. Dudies from repair service later told me that multiple components fried including CPU, so repairing is too hard. That's what can happen if you don't disconnect battery.
To pull the battery out I used my spunger, but the batter had actually not space to be pulled out completely. I needed to lift the cable up with the spunger to get the cable fully out. When plugging it in again I had to press the battery down kinda hard so it would fit again. This was really scary and I recommand using two spunger as someone said above.
Does it have to be a clean fingernail?
I disagree with the order here: I think the battery should be disconnected right after step 4. You can do that before touching anything else by gently pulling the pull tab to the right.
If all you want to do is to disconnect and reconnect your battery (because your Steam Deck is not booting up... again...) then with a bit of finesse, luck and a flat plastic tool you can even push it back in without removing the shield. Make sure it went all the way back in.
Be very careful with this tab, it rips easily!
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Use the pointed end of a spudger to lift up the small locking flap on the audio cable's ZIF connector.
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crwdns2935267:0crwdne2935267:0Tweezers$4.99
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Use a pair of tweezers to slide the cable out of its connector.
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Carefully peel the audio cable off of the battery.
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Use the pointed end of a spudger to lift up the small locking flap on the button board cable's ZIF connector.
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Use a pair of tweezers to slide the cable out of its connector.
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Carefully peel the button board cable off of the battery.
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crwdns2935267:0crwdne2935267:0Plastic Cards$2.99
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Use a pair of scissors to cut a plastic card in half, longways.
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Round over any sharp corners, as they could scrape or puncture the battery.
Start with more cards than you think you'll need! I shattered one of the cut cards while cutting adhesive that wasn't quite hot enough (my battery was puffy, so I was afraid to heat it more than absolutely necessary). Also, REMOVE THE CARDS before reheating. They melt.
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Use a heat gun to heat the adhesive underneath the battery for 1-2 minutes.
Warning, be very careful with the heat gun or you can damage other components such as the left trigger or screen underneath. I would love to see that warning added to the the guide. Especially if you're having a hard time to get the glue to soften at all. Because you can easily cause heat damage without meaning to
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Insert an uncut plastic card between the top edge of the battery and the frame.
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Insert a second plastic card between the right edge of the battery and the frame.
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Insert one of the cut plastic cards under the battery near its bottom right edge.
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Push the card in to slice the battery adhesive, wiggling it side-to-side as you go.
I used a flat wooden coffee stirrer instead of a plastic card, and the effect was very good.（我用了一根扁平的木制的咖啡搅拌棒代替塑料卡，效果非常好。）
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Insert the second cut plastic card under the battery near its bottom left edge.
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Push the card in to slice the battery adhesive, wiggling it side-to-side as you go.
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Insert a plastic card along the bottom edge of the battery to pry the battery away from the frame.
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Lift the battery up, away from the Steam Deck to fully separate it from all adhesive.
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If you're having trouble, repeat the heating and prying process around all edges until the battery becomes loose.
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Remove the battery.
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Dampen a lint-free cloth with some isopropyl alcohol (>90%) and use it to remove any remaining adhesive from the battery well. Don't use too much—avoid dripping any through the cutouts in the frame.
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Peel and discard one side of protective liners on the new adhesives and apply them to the new battery, using your old battery as a reference for where they should adhere.
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Peel and discard the remaining side of adhesive liners. Lay the battery in place and press firmly.
Anleitung ist TOP. 3/4 Stunde zum Austausch gebraucht.
¿Is it possible to place a steam deck OLED battery on a common steam deck or is it bigger and doesnt fit?
The Steam Deck LCD and Steam Deck OLED batteries are different sizes and unfortunately incompatible.
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To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
Take your e-waste to an R2 or e-Stewards certified recycler.
Repair didn’t go as planned? Try some basic troubleshooting, or ask our Steam Deck answers community for help.
To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
Take your e-waste to an R2 or e-Stewards certified recycler.
Repair didn’t go as planned? Try some basic troubleshooting, or ask our Steam Deck answers community for help.
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Is it safe to apply small amounts of >90% isopropyl alcohol under the battery to loosen the adhesive bond? Or would that drip into the screen or other components and potentially cause damage?
Your mileage may vary. Isopropyl alcohol may be an effective method to loosen the adhesive, but you run the risk of excess leaking onto or into the display or other components, due to the cutouts on the battery tray. Your second sentence is spot-on, hence the recommendation to carefully use heat instead.
Why couldn’t they of used pull tabs for the adhesive so this process would not be so difficult and tedious. It would also be less risk of over heating the battery/steam deck or puncturing the battery. This is really the only design choice I can criticize of the steam deck. Pull tabs would of made this a repair the average person could achieve.
I feel like patience is everything in this scenario I mean. Just take your time and relax & it will all be ok ! When dealing with particular situations like this just take you're time simple as that I promise. Especially, since Ifixit.com has some of the best guides EVER!!
It seems crazy to me that they made this process so difficult, surely battery is one of (if not THE) most common things that you'll need to eventually replace? I suppose they must have been limited by what they could achieve?
Having just done a Battery Replacement on the Steam Deck the amount of adhesive is a bit high the use of Pull Tabs would have been wonderful. Thanks iFixit and Valve for making the process easier.
I have a question if battery health is a 22%. Will a new battery fix it or is there something wrong with the board.
Most probably battery replacement will fix it. Especially if you really see short battery time and you could observe that it shrink after heavy using of Steam Deck.
However, it's possible that it's some false error, so if battery works fine for you, I wouldn't bother. Also, if battery health dropped quickly, it might indicate overheating
Why they made this so difficult? We are in 2023, this device uses a very small battery in my opinion, it should be more or lesse the double of current size, and it's very difficult to replace it.
10/10 not too bad a job at all.
For me I found the original adhesive was to the left and right of the gaps you jam the cards in, so going in diagonally was the way to do it easily.
Only used a heat gun for 2 minutes and was eventually successful with gentle prying.
Everything was as expected.
Directions that come with the new battery direct to charge to 100% and leave on charge for 2h, then fully discharge until off, finally charge once more to 100%.
The adhesive definitely fought valiantly, but in the end I was victorious after a little bit of patience and my trusty heat gun. Not gonna lie, I was getting a little frustrated, but it was all worth it in the end. Everything else was a breeze, and I now finally get to use my Steam Deck which had just been sitting there as a paperweight since the first batch got sent out. Huzzah!
Avant de commencer le tutoriel, j'avoue que je craignais de ne plus avoir de SteamDeck à la fin ! Mais finalement les étapes sont très bien expliquées, et avec un peu de patience et de soin, tout se passe plutôt bien. L'étape du décollage de la batterie prend un peu de temps, mais au final, ça s'est fait plus rapidement que je ne le pensais. Mission totalement réussie pour moi :) Longue vie au Steamdeck....
If your Steam Deck won't charge or turn on, you might need to disconnect your battery and then plug it back in.
I thought my battery had gone completely dead but when I plugged the battery back in, the Steam Deck would then accept a charge.
My Deck wouldn't accept at charge or respond at all prior to disconnecting the battery.
Make sure to try this trick before completely removing your battery.
Thanks iFixit for making these guides.
Duane Degn - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0