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Use this guide to replace the quick access button and its membrane in your Steam Deck LCD.
Remember: follow general electrostatic discharge (ESD) safety procedures while repairing your device.
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Power down your Steam Deck and unplug any cables.
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Use a Phillips driver to remove the eight screws securing the back cover:
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Four coarse thread 9.5 mm-long screws
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Four fine thread 5.8 mm-long screws
there should be a picture of the SD card slot at the start of every Steam Deck teardown. i know the note is there but i generally use the pictures to guide me and forgetting to remove the SD card is a very critical step
I agree, I just broke mine...
What is the the #1 philips used for? Only the #0 is mentioned in the instructions.
I wish they would specify which size to use for which screws.
Mark D -
I found it easiest to use a PH1 for the red screws, and PH0 for the rest (including the internals.)
Be careful you can strip the screws take your time
I use PH00 bit
I used the PH1 bit for this. You can use smaller bits but ideally there should be no play of the bit in the screw head.
are there playstation replacements (circle,square,cross,triangle)
I used the ifixit tools and used the 00 size for the screws on the back.
I've completed the guide and found it very helpful!
I think somewhere in this part it would be helpful to name the size of the correct Phillips driver to use:
Use a Phillips driver to remove the eight screws securing the back cover:
Four 9.5 mm screws
Four 5.8 mm screws
I used the PH1 for the 9.5mm screws and PH00 for the 5.8mm screws. The PH0 wanted to strip one of the small ones.
FYI - 512gb version has blue threadlocker on the Orange screws.
Just a point for knowledge sake, the Four 5.8mm screws on this step are factory installed with a version of locktite. Not sure why but there will be slight resistance when removing the first time.
Stripped two of the 5.8mm screws, feel pretty dumb, now I'm stuck at step 2 of 43 :|
The screw bit that came with my fix kit just stripped the screws of my steam deck. I guess I should've just sent it in...
Model 1030 SteamDeck uses Torque #6 (CR-V T6) 5.0mm for all 8 screws making it far less likely to damage the screw heads.
Model 1030 is the OLED version, which we have separate guides for! See here: Steam Deck OLED
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Insert an opening pick into the thin gap between the back cover and the front shell, along the edge of the right grip.
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Pry up on the back cover to release it from the locking clips.
I found it easiest to start this process at the top of the device near the fan exit.
second that and inserting the pick in the bottom middle and sliding the pick to each side
Sub -
I also found the top near the fan exit to be easier
Thank you for this tip, it definitely was easy starting at the top instead of by the bumper/triggers. After I opened the top I did the bottom and then it was way easier to gently open the sides. be very careful and go slowly to make sure that none of the clips are damaged
Luis B -
this as suggested above:
1. open the top
2. open the bottom
3.gently open the sides
same; i pried from the top of the screen area. I was unable to find an opening on the side
I also started from the middle of the deck and worked my way out since I couldn't get a grip with the pick on the deck's side grips. Since this is a common step for pretty much all guides for opening the deck I think it's also worth noting that you should be careful not to bend the trims/seams where the front and back covers meet with the pick. When I first opened my deck you can definitely see where I nudged the pick in between the covers since I was probably using too much force on the pick itself.
It would be useful to note here that if you want to insert the little blue triangular iFixit opening picks into the right side along the edge, there isn't actually a gap as the directions say, at least not on newer Decks. You'll be making the initial gap using the pick. Brace it on something because you will need to use enough downward force that you're flexing the pick a bit and it'll probably be digging into the skin of a bare hand. With enough force suddenly it will make a click and go in just a bit, and then you're in business.
plastic picks didnt work for me but finger males did the job on prying this open
I found it easiest to open starting with R1 or L1 buttons and proceeding to the center of the top edge
This step was the hardest by far. First I didn't find an opening at the sides, and it did take a really long time until I finally got it open... Then, when I had the one side opening open it didn't just pop out, I needed to slide all the way to the other side with the pick and open everything. I guess they made it even more drop resistant.
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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.
If you have an SD card, you will want to take it out. I followed the guide and didn't think about the SD card I had inside. When I went to snap the case back on it clapped shut on the exposed SD card, shearing it in half and leaving the bottom half stuck in the SD card slot. I am still endeavoring to get it out.
you can use the case that comes with the steam deck to support it once the lid is removed
Luis Barbosa (Armored Saint) - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
You can get the pry pick inserted easier if you start in the gap for the shoulder buttons. A lego brick separator works well here
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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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Place the flat end of a spudger onto the inside edge of the trigger's right clip.
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Pivot the trigger clip out, away, and up from the peg to unlatch it.
This is unnecessary on the revised Model 1030 if you only need to access the Quick Access button. Jump to Step 13.
Model 1030 is the OLED version, which we have separate guides for! See here: Steam Deck OLED
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Remove the right trigger.
This is by far the hardest part of the entire assembly. I don't know if its because I dropped mine but the trigger takes an incredible amount of force to get off, don't be afraid to break it. I still have no idea how to put the trigger back on, it just wont budge.
In case the spring gets lost, it's 19 mm long with about 14 coils.
Thank you this is helpful
reconbot -
When putting this back on be sure to note the instructions for reassembly above. Catch the outer peg, align the inner one, and push. Having a flashlight on the inner peg helped me get it lined up.
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Use a Phillips driver to remove the three 5.2 mm screws securing the right trigger bracket.
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Remove the right trigger bracket.
The right bumper button on my switch deck stopped working after the deck was accidentally dropped from 5ft. When I got to this step of the instructions, I was able to see that the momentary switch that the button triggers had been bent backwards from the impact, making it difficult for the button to trigger the switch. I bent the switch back to its original position, which fixed the mechanical problem. Unfortunately the solder joints for the switch cracked when I pressed the switch forward. I re-flowed the solder joints with a tiny Weber iron that I filed down to a narrow point. The button works properly now.
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Use the pointed end of a spudger to lift up the small locking flap on the thumbstick 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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Use a Phillips driver to remove the three 5.2 mm screws securing the thumbstick.
This is unnecessary if you only need to access the Quick Access button on the revised Model 1030. Jump to step 16.
Model 1030 is the OLED version, which we have separate guides for! See here: Steam Deck OLED
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Remove the right thumbstick.
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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.
On the revised Model 1030 it is all black and you will need to raise the ribbon slightly to remove it. Don’t just try to pull it backwards as there is a notched retainer.
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Use the pointed end of a spudger to lift up the small locking flap on the button board interconnect cable's ZIF connector.
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Use a pair of tweezers to slide the cable out of its connector.
Be very mindful of this cable during re-assembly, if this cable isn't fully seated properly the deck will turn on slowly and not be able to recognize any inputs besides the touch screen.
Hmm, I wonder if this is my problem. I replaced my case with the Clear JSAUX one. Everything went fairly well, until I closed it up and noticed none of my buttons worked anymore. By "seated properly", how do you tell? When I look at it, it looks the same as the picture, with the white line showing
Eric, flip up the white locking flap and remove the cable. Then reinsert the cable — it should go in smoothly with no resistance, hence its name (ZIF = "Zero Insertion Force") — if you feel resistance, there might be something blocking the cable or its connection. If it slides in smoothly, make sure it bottoms out evenly and isn't at an odd angle. If everything looks good, your problem is probably elsewhere.
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If any connectors are covered with tape, use a pair of tweezers to remove it.
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Use the pointed end of a spudger to lift up the small locking flaps on the rest of the button board ZIF connectors. Use a pair of tweezers to slide the cables out of their connectors:
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Disconnect the action buttons cable.
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Disconnect the touchpad board cable.
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Disconnect the touchpad cable.
Be especially careful disconnecting and reconnecting the touchpad cable. It is short and can pull out on the touchpad side fairly easily. Reconnecting it requires splitting open the touchpad itself which is difficult to do without damaging the springs.
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Use the pointed end of a spudger to lift up on the haptics cable to disconnect it.
Personally, i think this should just be a suggested step, since the connector is different and requires more force to disconnect than the ribbon cable connectors and you can leave this connected and lay the board over to the side without disconnecting this and still access the buttons.
I agree with Peter on this. I tried fixing my right bumper before ordering a replacement and during disassembly I followed these instructions exactly and still broke the bracket that holds the haptics connector. Luckily my haptics seem to still be working after putting it back together but I have a feeling it will disconnect on its own after some time and I will be needing a whole new button board.
I did this very carefully and the bracket still broke
I broke the down part of the bracket as well. Glued it back on with some crazy glue applied with a wooden toothpick (to make sure to not touch anything else). Haptics still working. Next time I don't think I'll remove that connector.
Leave the haptic connector on and just move the button board out of the way. You will likely brake the haptic connector bracket by trying to remove it.
I agree with everyone above. Attempting to disconnect the haptics is not worth it as it breaks extremely easily
Please remove this step. It is virtually impossible to remove this without breaking the housing and it's ultimately not necessary.
Wish I had seen this beforehand. My right connector just broke off. Ughhh.
This also screwed up my haptics as it basically fell apart as soon as it was touched
Can this just be soldered back on or do I need a new button board? Because I have looked online and they seem impossible to find.
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Use a Phillips driver to disconnect the four screws securing the right button board:
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Three 5.2 mm screws
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One 3.9 mm screw
Once again, for the revised Model 1030, all of these screws are T6 of varying sizes, nothing like the original. Use your favourite way of keeping track of where to return the screws in their correct holes.
Model 1030 is the OLED version, which we have separate guides for! See here: Steam Deck OLED
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Remove the right button board.
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Use a pair of tweezers to remove the quick access button membrane.
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Use a pair of tweezers to remove the quick access button.
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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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My all buttons not working just touch screen,volume and power button works
Kindly guide me which thing is faulty
Why did I imagine just popping the back of the case off and getting right at it? lol
Can I just pay a professional to do this for me? Does someone certified offer this service?
