(SOLUTION: I just figured out the problem and the solution, So uh simply my steam deck OLED dosent give enough power to the keyboard, To fix this, ill connect my deck charger to my docking station 24/7 to give the dock enough power)
Hi so i recently bought a docking station (unofficial, i dont think this is the problem, cuz u will see why) and i noticed a very weird and specific problem lol
When i plug it in to my steam deck, then plug in my mechanicial keyboard, my whole dock turns off, and plugging littererly anything else wouldnt cause this
But to prove its not my steam deck i plugged the dock into my phone with it connected to my keyboard and it works???
And even weirder it only happens when i plug my mechanical keyboard, i tried every usb i have, i tried putting cables into the other ports (hdmi, ethernet, charger) all of them didnt do this, i even tried plugging in other keyboards and it worked, but only if i plug my and my brothers mechanical keyboard it dosent work (both of these keyboards are the same btw) and my mechanicial keyboard didnt have the cable fixed on so i tried a different usb a to usb c and it didnt work again
And, i used to use a regular usb hub since i didnt know the docking station existed and the keyboard works there???
But 1 more thing, i dont use normal steamOS, i use cachyos deckify which is like steamOS but faster and stuff, im mentioning it cause theres a slim chance its from my os but prob not since i used that usb hub for a bit when i installed the os and it didnt have this issue, when i got my dock this issue started
Sorry if this post is long, but when i was writing this i did a little more testing and if i unplug and replug my keyboard multiple times it works but it only works until the dock is not in use (ig: turned off, unplugged, etc) and i tried plugging in my charger with my keyboard plugged and it also worked but it dosent feel safe having my charger plugged in 24/7
Thats all i have to say, this post is so long, but TL:DR my keyboard shuts off my dock if plugged in and i wanna find a way to stop the problem permanetly.
Edit 1: some ppl are getting confused by thinking the steam deck turns off, No, The steamdeck dosent turn off, when the keyboard is plugged in the docking station acts like its not connected at all
You wrote a lot of words without giving a single detail. Pretty impressive.
- Which dock is it?
- What mechanical keyboard is it?
- Is it going to sleep or just turning off?
- Did you check your journalctl to see what the last error messages were?
- Have you contacted the cachyos community about it?
- Have you checked the cachyos bug list?
forgot to put detail lol
“Which dock is it” My dock is
“What mechanicial keyboard is it?” Keyboard: https://store974.com/collections/chimera-rgb-mechanical-keyboards
“Is it going to sleep or just turning off?” The steam deck itself isnt turning off, just the docking station
“Did you check your journalctl to see what the last error messages were?” Dont think journalctl is gonna help cuz only the docking station turns off
“Have you contacted the cachyos community about it?” Oops forgot to, gonna try later
“Have you checked the cachyos bug list?” I forgot to check aswell
Hope this helps
What happens if you do:
Deck – docking station – regular usb hub – mechanical keyboard
My docking station usb c port only accepts input
When you plug your mechanical keyboard in, your steam deck shuts off, right? If you unplug it again, does it instantly come back to life or do you need to press the power button? Does it resume from suspend or actually boot from scratch?
Are you using the dock with a mains power connection (e.g. for charging)? The keyboard might require more voltage than the Steam deck can provide.
Does your keyboard have any of its own USB ports on the side? Having another “hub” connected to your main hub might be confusing it in some way.
It dosent shut off, just the docking station turns off
No i only connect it to mains if its on low battery
No the keyboard connects to the dock
As others have said, it’s probably that the deck +keyboard is taking too much power, so it’s powering off your keyboard. I use a 65w charger for my dock so that there’s extra power available.
If you plug the Deck charger into the dock, then plug the Deck and keyboard into the dock, it works, right?
If so, the problem is that the Deck does not provide enough power for both the dock and the keyboard.
I have my charger plugged into the dock 24/7 with no problems.
Oh, then i might try plugging it in 24/7 as a last resort
BTW, buying the official dock may not solve your problem. I have the official dock. When the Deck battery gets low, it does not provide enough power for both the dock and one of my keyboards.
Wait ill try to charge the steam deck to 100 and plugging the keyboard in a sec
My first instinct is some weird power delivery issue. Your phone wouldn’t need as much power as the Deck. Do you have a more powerful charger you can test? Or can you substitute the Deck with a laptop?
No, The strongest charger i own is the steam deck charger (that comes with the steam deck) Cuz i dont need a super strong charger, i dont have a laptop cuz the steamdeck is kinda like it
Does your mechanical keyboard have a lot of RGB? Might be that it draws too much power for the Steam Deck Dock to handle?
I already tried turning off the rgb, didnt work
