Problems Getting Steam Running

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1

I’ve been trying to get Steam running on my new Manjaro Cinnamon build with very mixed results.

I managed to get it running once and tested some games then on reboot the Steam Client would not load, either in (Native) or (Runtime) variants.

I tried uninstalling and re-installing the steam packages to no avail.

After looking for help online I first did steam --reset - This didn’t help, so I went to the next step and renamed my ~/,steam' and '~/.local/share/Steam directories.

I then ran it again and this time it loaded up, so I installed a few games again and tested them through. Performance was lacklustre, so I tweaked the CPU power performance and rebooted. 1 game was looking better but another was still not great so I tried switching a proton version and it crashed, so I went for a reboot.

On reboot, once more the Steam client would not start.

I ran steam --reset and it then started… once. After exiting and trying to start normally it just stopped again, now it’s not starting with steam --reset again and I seem to be back at the beginning.

When I run steam my output looks like this (on steam --reset)…

/home/keith/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh: line 487: no match: ssfn*
steam.sh[13348]: Running Steam on manjarolinux 23.0.0 64-bit
steam.sh[13348]: STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically
setup.sh[13425]: Steam runtime environment up-to-date!
steam.sh[13348]: Steam client's requirements are satisfied
[2023-06-29 22:28:54] Startup - updater built Jun 21 2023 21:17:38
[2023-06-29 22:28:54] Startup - Steam Client launched with: '/home/keith/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam' '--reset'
06/29 22:28:54 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1687386907)/tid(13493)
Looks like steam didn't shutdown cleanly, scheduling immediate update check
[2023-06-29 22:28:54] Loading cached metrics from disk (/home/keith/.local/share/Steam/package/steam_client_metrics.bin)
[2023-06-29 22:28:54] Using the following download hosts for Public, Realm steamglobal
[2023-06-29 22:28:54] 1. https://client-update.akamai.steamstatic.com, /, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 1000, source = 'update_hosts_cached.vdf'
[2023-06-29 22:28:54] 2. https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com, /client/, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 1, source = 'update_hosts_cached.vdf'
[2023-06-29 22:28:54] 3. http://media.steampowered.com, /client/, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 1, source = 'baked in'
[2023-06-29 22:28:54] Checking for update on startup
[2023-06-29 22:28:54] Checking for available updates...
[2023-06-29 22:28:54] Downloading manifest: https://client-update.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam_client_ubuntu12
[2023-06-29 22:28:54] Manifest download: send request
[2023-06-29 22:28:54] Manifest download: waiting for download to finish
[2023-06-29 22:28:54] Manifest download: finished
[2023-06-29 22:28:54] Download skipped: /steam_client_ubuntu12 version 1687386907, installed version 1687386907, existing pending version 0
[2023-06-29 22:28:54] Nothing to do
[2023-06-29 22:28:54] Verifying installation...
[2023-06-29 22:28:54] Performing checksum verification of executable files
[2023-06-29 22:28:55] Verification complete

(process:13493): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 22:28:55.064: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(process:13493): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 22:28:55.064: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
XRRGetOutputInfo Workaround: initialized with override: 0 real: 0xe4d31db0
XRRGetCrtcInfo Workaround: initialized with override: 0 real: 0xe4d30500
GetWin32Stats: display was not open yet, good
Loaded SDL version 3.0.0-1782-g214d5daa3
/usr/share/themes/Adapta-Nokto-Maia/gtk-2.0/common-dark.rc:1425: error: unexpected identifier 'direction', expected character '}'
/usr/share/themes/Adapta-Nokto-Maia/gtk-2.0/3rd-party-dark.rc:475: error: invalid string constant "toolbar", expected valid string constant
GetWin32Stats: display was not open yet, good
steamwebhelper.sh[13562]: Runtime for steamwebhelper: defaulting to /home/keith/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/steam-runtime-heavy
steamwebhelper.sh[13562]: glibc >= 2.34, partially disabling sandbox until CEF supports clone3()
CAppInfoCacheReadFromDiskThread took 11 milliseconds to initialize
src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (529) : Failed creating offscreen shared JS context
src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (529) : Failed creating offscreen shared JS context
src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (529) : Fatal assert; application exiting
src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (529) : Fatal assert; application exiting
06/29 22:29:26 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1687386907)/tid(13493)
assert_20230629222927_31.dmp[13822]: Uploading dump (out-of-process)
/tmp/dumps/assert_20230629222927_31.dmp
_ExitOnFatalAssert
    ~  assert_20230629222927_31.dmp[13822]: Finished uploading minidump (out-of-process): success = yes                     ✔  34s  
assert_20230629222927_31.dmp[13822]: response: CrashID=bp-6cfdff34-5d73-4dc0-9367-9b0ea2230629
assert_20230629222927_31.dmp[13822]: file ''/tmp/dumps/assert_20230629222927_31.dmp'', upload yes: ''CrashID=bp-6cfdff34-5d73-4dc0-9367-9b0ea2230629''

Here’s my INXI…

System:
  Host: PLATINUM Kernel: 6.1.31-2-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64
    Desktop: Cinnamon v: 5.6.8 Distro: Manjaro Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: ASUS product: N/A v: N/A serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: PRIME Z690-P D4 v: Rev 1.xx
    serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends v: 1008
    date: 01/13/2022
CPU:
  Info: 6-core model: 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12600 bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    cache: L2: 7.5 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 3075 min/max: 800/6100 cores: 1: 3300 2: 3300 3: 3300
    4: 3300 5: 3300 6: 3300 7: 600 8: 3300 9: 3300 10: 3300 11: 3300 12: 3300
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Alder Lake-S GT1 [UHD Graphics 770] driver: i915 v: kernel
  Device-2: Microsoft LifeCam Studio
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid,uvcvideo type: USB
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.8 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    dri: iris gpu: i915 resolution: 1: 5120x2880~60Hz 2: 5120x2880~30Hz
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 23.0.4 renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 770
    (ADL-S GT1)
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Alder Lake-S HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
  Device-2: Microsoft LifeCam Studio
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid,uvcvideo type: USB
  API: ALSA v: k6.1.31-2-MANJARO status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PulseAudio v: 16.1 status: active
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE driver: r8169
  IF: enp5s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: 04:42:1a:e9:5a:c5
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel Volume Management Device NVMe RAID Controller driver: vmd
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 9.1 TiB used: 3.25 TiB (35.7%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 980 PRO 500GB
    size: 465.76 GiB
  ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 980 PRO 1TB size: 931.51 GiB
  ID-3: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD40EZRZ-22GXCB0
    size: 3.64 TiB
  ID-4: /dev/sdb vendor: Western Digital model: WD40EZRZ-00GXCB0
    size: 3.64 TiB
  ID-5: /dev/sdc vendor: Samsung model: SSD 850 EVO 500GB size: 465.76 GiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 465.47 GiB used: 207.9 GiB (44.7%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 598.8 MiB used: 2.4 MiB (0.4%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sdc1
  ID-3: /home size: 465.47 GiB used: 207.9 GiB (44.7%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
  ID-4: /var/log size: 465.47 GiB used: 207.9 GiB (44.7%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 47.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
  Processes: 378 Uptime: 24m Memory: available: 31.1 GiB
  used: 5.29 GiB (17.0%) Shell: Zsh inxi: 3.3.27

I have just done a full uninstall of the Steam packages (steam linux-steam-integration steam-native-runtime), renamed my steam directroies again (as noted above), then a reboot and then ran pacman -S steam with the following output…

resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (2) game-devices-udev-0.21-1  steam-1.0.0.78-1

Total Installed Size:  3.85 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] 
(2/2) checking keys in keyring                                                       [################################################] 100%
(2/2) checking package integrity                                                     [################################################] 100%
(2/2) loading package files                                                          [################################################] 100%
(2/2) checking for file conflicts                                                    [################################################] 100%
(2/2) checking available disk space                                                  [################################################] 100%
:: Processing package changes...
(1/2) installing game-devices-udev                                                   [################################################] 100%
(2/2) installing steam                                                               [################################################] 100%
Optional dependencies for steam
    steam-native-runtime: steam native runtime support
    vulkan-driver: packaged vulkan driver [installed]
    lib32-vulkan-driver: packaged vulkan driver (32 bit) [installed]
    lib32-libappindicator-gtk2: added tray icon functionality [installed]
    xdg-desktop-portal: required for steam-runtime-urlopen to open some URLs [installed]
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/4) Reloading device manager configuration...
(2/4) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
(3/4) Updating icon theme caches...
(4/4) Updating the desktop file MIME type cache...

On clicking the icon on the desktop various dialogs appeared, updating and installing parts of the Steam client and then everything went quiet again. Attempting to run from the command line is providing the same output as above. Not sure where to go from here - It feels like the package is broken.

This article on the Arch Wiki is potentially similar: [Solved] Steam crashes with assertion error on 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' / Newbie Corner / Arch Linux Forums
And this: [SOLVED] Steam GUI runs in background except after thorough reinstall / Multimedia and Games / Arch Linux Forums
Which is linking to this: Steam Hangs on Startup · Issue #9658 · ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux · GitHub

FYI: I’ve now tried all the parameter overrides on the GitHub article - none of them worked for me. The only thing I haven’t tried is removing flatpak which isn’t really an option for me as I have essential Flatpak only software.

UPDATE: Also tried changing my screen scaling to 100% in case that was a factor - no change. Since this began though, it now reliably fails all of the time… (sigh)

THE FLATPAK OPTION:
For my final attempt to get it working I tried installing the Flatpak version of Steam. Nothing happened, so I tried to run it on the command line with flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam and I got this…

bwrap: Can't make symlink at /home/keith/Music: File exists (Fix for this was setting my media directories [link below]).

When I finally got the flatpak version to spin up I had EXACTLY the same result as the Manjaro package. This doesn’t surprise me, as I suspect that the issue actually kicks in once STeam has updated itself over the internet, as when resetting or removing my dirs I go through the process of the starting and updating dialogs.

I have no will to live remaining with this and am considering giving up here. This is working fine both on my Manjaro KDE install and on LInux Mint (Cinnamon) so I am somewhat befuddled.

2

(RE: Arch WIKI Link - This is marked as Solved, but removing flatpak isn’t really a solution…)

3

Maybe this is something you should dive deeper into. I have read that having multiple monitors with different refresh rate can cause problems.

Edit
Have you tried running it in wayland? You don’t have Nvidia so maybe that will solve everything?

4

It’s never been a problem for me before and it was working fine on my KDE Manjaro a few weeks back, Fedora last week and Mint 3 days ago (I’ve been putting myself about a bit lately…)

I’m using Cinnamon on this one, so I’m not sure Wayland is an option. Interestingly, there’s another post that almost followed me immediately that looks almost an identical issue: Steam isn't running after reinstalling - #5 by whm1974

Updating my KDE install and seeing if that falls over could be an interesting experiment.

5

Mb, I missed that part.

Never the less, try disconnecting one monitor and see if you can cause any crashes.

Edit

Were you running wayland then? xD

6

Fedora was running Wayland (I deleted it a few days ago after really not getting along well with it at all and wanting Manjaro back) - My KDE Manjaro is not running Wayland, I think. Wayland and high res monitors do not play too well together in many cases yet so I try to avoid it wherever possible.

I’ve added some more links to the post above - 1 more from the Arch Wiki and another from Github - It looks like there may be issues with Steam itself. If the package has been updated recently then that would explain the issue.

Is there any way to force install an earlier package version with pacman?

(This is a silly question I know but I think I may be hosed without an older version) I may be able to pull something out of the cache on the KDE partition…?

7

This prob wont help at all but this is my working install on KDE

pamac info steam                                                                                                                                                                                     ✔ 
Name                  : steam
Version               : 1.0.0.78-1
Description           : Valve's digital software delivery system
URL                   : https://steampowered.com/
Licenses              : custom
Repository            : multilib
Installed Size        : 4,0 MB
Groups                : --
Depends On            : bash desktop-file-utils diffutils hicolor-icon-theme curl dbus freetype2 gdk-pixbuf2 ttf-font zenity lsb-release nss usbutils xorg-xrandr vulkan-icd-loader lsof python steam-devices
                        libxcrypt-compat lib32-libgl lib32-gcc-libs lib32-libx11 lib32-libxss lib32-alsa-plugins lib32-libgpg-error lib32-nss lib32-vulkan-icd-loader lib32-libxcrypt-compat
Optional Dependencies : steam-native-runtime: steam native runtime support
                        vulkan-driver: packaged vulkan driver [Installed]
                        lib32-vulkan-driver: packaged vulkan driver (32 bit) [Installed]
                        lib32-libappindicator-gtk2: added tray icon functionality [Installed]
                        xdg-desktop-portal: required for steam-runtime-urlopen to open some URLs [Installed]
Required By           : --
Optional For          : --
Provides              : --
Replaces              : steam-manjaro
Conflicts With        : steam-manjaro
Packager              : Mark Wagie <mark@manjaro.org>
Build Date            : Tue 09 May 2023 10:28:19 PM CEST
Install Date          : Sun 04 Jun 2023 01:06:36 PM CEST
Install Reason        : Explicitly installed
Validated By          : Signature
Backup files          : --
8

What’s your GPU?

Looking at the Github post I think Intel features (which is me all over as a general non-gamer)

9 
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GA102 [GeForce RTX 3090] driver: nvidia v: 530.41.03
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.8 with: Xwayland v: 23.1.1 driver: X:
    loaded: nvidia gpu: nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 530.41.03 renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX
    3090/PCIe/SSE2
10

I have a Nvidia GTX 970. So this shouldn’t be an issue.

11

I’ve hammered it this morning on my Manjaro KDE partition and that’s working fine on the same hardware.

Name                  : steam
Version               : 1.0.0.78-1
Description           : Valve's digital software delivery system
URL                   : https://steampowered.com/
Licences              : custom
Repository            : multilib
Installed Size        : 4.0 MB
Groups                : --
Depends On            : bash desktop-file-utils diffutils hicolor-icon-theme curl dbus freetype2 gdk-pixbuf2 ttf-font zenity lsb-release nss usbutils xorg-xrandr vulkan-icd-loader
                        lsof python steam-devices libxcrypt-compat lib32-libgl lib32-gcc-libs lib32-libx11 lib32-libxss lib32-alsa-plugins lib32-libgpg-error lib32-nss
                        lib32-vulkan-icd-loader lib32-libxcrypt-compat
Optional Dependencies : steam-native-runtime: steam native runtime support [Installed]
                        vulkan-driver: packaged vulkan driver [Installed]
                        lib32-vulkan-driver: packaged vulkan driver (32 bit) [Installed]
                        lib32-libappindicator-gtk2: added tray icon functionality [Installed]
                        xdg-desktop-portal: required for steam-runtime-urlopen to open some URLs [Installed]
Required By           : steam-native-runtime
Optional For          : --
Provides              : --
Replaces              : steam-manjaro
Conflicts With        : steam-manjaro
Packager              : Mark Wagie <mark@manjaro.org>
Build Date            : Tue 09 May 2023 21:28:19 BST
Install Date          : Fri 30 Jun 2023 08:14:08 BST
Install Reason        : Explicitly installed
Validated By          : Signature
Backup files          : --
12

Or GPU isn’t a factor. Window Manager etc. might be though - there’s distinct differences between KDE, XFCE and Cinnamon in that.

My graphics inxi for the (working) KDE partition…

Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Alder Lake-S GT1 [UHD Graphics 770] driver: i915 v: kernel
  Device-2: Microsoft LifeCam Studio
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid,uvcvideo type: USB
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.8 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    dri: iris gpu: i915 resolution: 1: 3840x2160~60Hz 2: 3840x2160~30Hz
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 23.0.4 renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 770
    (ADL-S GT1)

And for Cinnamon…

Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Alder Lake-S GT1 [UHD Graphics 770] driver: i915 v: kernel
  Device-2: Microsoft LifeCam Studio
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid,uvcvideo type: USB
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.8 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    dri: iris gpu: i915 resolution: 1: 5120x2880~60Hz 2: 5120x2880~30Hz
  API: OpenGL Message: Unable to show GL data. Required tool glxinfo
    missing.

@whm1974 - What DE and Window Manager are you using? Can you post the graphics part of your inxi? (inxi --full)

13

Xfce. Here:

System:
  Host: Bill-PC Kernel: 6.3.5-2-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: Xfce
    v: 4.18.1 Distro: Manjaro Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASRock model: Z87 Pro3 serial: <superuser required>
    BIOS: American Megatrends v: P2.90 date: 07/11/2014
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: Intel Core i5-4670 bits: 64 type: MCP cache:
    L2: 1024 KiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1024 min/max: 800/3800 cores: 1: 800 2: 799 3: 1700
    4: 800
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GM204 [GeForce GTX 970] driver: nvidia v: 530.41.03
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.8 with: Xwayland v: 23.1.1 driver: X:
    loaded: nvidia gpu: nvidia resolution: 2560x1600~60Hz
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 530.41.03 renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX
    970/PCIe/SSE2
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 8 Series/C220 Series High Definition Audio
    driver: snd_hda_intel
  Device-2: NVIDIA GM204 High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
  API: ALSA v: k6.3.5-2-MANJARO status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PulseAudio v: 16.1 status: active
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I217-V driver: e1000e
  IF: enp0s25 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: bc:5f:f4:bc:59:9e
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.75 TiB used: 611.23 GiB (34.2%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Crucial model: CT960M500SSD1 size: 894.25 GiB
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Crucial model: CT960M500SSD1 size: 894.25 GiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 54.7 GiB used: 12.9 GiB (23.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb1
  ID-2: /home size: 823.15 GiB used: 598.33 GiB (72.7%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sdb6
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 50.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 41 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 35%
Info:
  Processes: 209 Uptime: 9h 28m Memory: available: 15.55 GiB
  used: 3.38 GiB (21.7%) Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.27
14

Hmmm - Not seeing any obvious commonalitites here, other than just not working

15

Fixed the weird error under THE FLATPAK OPTION by looking here: bwrap: Can't make symlink at $HOME/Music: File exists · Issue #1971 · flatpak/flatpak · GitHub

Seems just SymLinking my media directories isn’t enough - kind of makes sense.

Flatpak steam also fails to work though.

16

I reformatted the drive and installed Manjaro KDE. Selected X11 over Wayland at Login and Steam now works. For reason with Wayland Steam will not display. Couldn’t login to my system either. Had to use X11.

17

I’ve just rolled back a TimeShift backup to 2 days ago.

Steam has worked on 3 startup attempts but only intermittently (which is why I started trying to get it more reliable in the first place).

So far it’s probably started 50% of the time. I’ve just updated the *.desktop files to execute in terminal mode so at least I can see what’s going on rather than just waiting for a few minutes to see if it will actually start.

When it was working I tweaked some Steam settings in the settings menu to reduce potential load but I may have made things worse as the last 3 attempts have failed - Running steam-native (with my altered *.desktop files) then loaded up once - I reset the settings and restarted and it crashed again.

Following System Monitor is interesting too as you can see the process startup, 5 steamwebhelper instances pop up, then it will either go away or actually start. Whether using Steam (Runtime) or Steam (Native) seems to make no difference.

What is very odd is that the more you start it the less likely it is to work - I’ve spun it up 8 times now since it last successfully started and I’m considering timeshifting again, but I’m not sure what benefit that will get me; at this point I’m considering giving up on Steam for Linux entirely and just using Windows for games. I can set up a gaming Linux partition, but I’m already running 4 OSes - Ky KDE partition is too small for gaming really.

19

This was weird - I’ve had some positive loading but I can’t find out why - It makes little sense, but here’s what happened…

I just updated docker-desktop and then shut it down.

I then managed to start steam 4 times in a row. Not just without error, but quickly. I considered that possibly docker was interfering in the background somewhere, despite no containers running. Docker desktop uses qemu in the background … maybe?

1 cautious TimeShift backup, CPU perf. tweak with CPU Power GUI and reboot later my woes re-emerged.

Steps taken…

  1. Prevent Steam (Runtime) from trying to run on startup (at least for now) - Without the terminal I have no idea what it’s doing.
  2. Start Docker Desktop, remove the “Start on sign in” option, and then exit docker from the context menu.

Steam is now starting quickly and reliably again (twice) and I’m now getting solid 4K gaming performance at 60Hz on Pillars of Eternity on my Intel Integrated GPU.

On reboot my woes have returned (again) - Docker is definitely not running this time.

6 attempts to start Steam have all failed.

Reset both Docker desktops startup Command (pretty sure that doesn’t do anything though) AND added Steam back to the Startup Applications.

Another reboot but still no success initially.

Startup speed when starting Steam is definitely a thing here, which suggests that something is blocking the Steam startup process, which leads to a timeout of some kind. The question is… what?

I tried again about 5 minutes later (after starting and closing docker again like a good luck charm) and now it’s running (and well) again - I can stop and start it repeatedly.

This suggests something (maybe or maybe not docker desktop related) causing blockers at startup time. After a while or some twiddling Steam becomes “unlocked”

20

Try disabling both and then look through your processes if there is still something starting in the background after reboot.

I remember reading on the Arch steam wiki in the past that running or installing steam-native should more or less never be done because it creates a lot of strange errors.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Steam/Troubleshooting#Steam_native_runtime

22

I don’t use native but it is installed - I tried removing it in the uninstall test cycles yesterday and it seemed to make no difference.

The docker thing is seriously weird.

I can reproduce, with pretty much 90% plus surety that if I start up, with Steam set to run at startup (It will fail but silently) then after around 30 seconds I manually start docker desktop then close it all down steam will run like a charm.

I’ve tried disabling all the Startup applications (except Steam) and that made no difference at all. I have run some tests to see whether it’s actually the closing of docker desktop that’s helping or that it was started - I wondered whether DD is waking up something that Steam needs to run which it’s failing to kick itself.

This theory holds true.

It’s not closing Docker Desktop that gets Steam working, it’s actually running it.

I wonder if it’s not actually docker desktop that’s helping directly but a dependency that it kicks off. I wonder whether steam needs to use this or tries to kick it but it won’t respond? (I am purely guessing at this point)

I’ve now set my Startup applications so that Docker Desktop starts after 15 seconds, with Steam starting at 2 (expecting it to fail that early on) - This seems to kick them both into touch and then, as long as you give it a minute or so, you can then reliable and rapidly start Steam!

It’s an odd workaround but, after 3 days testing it does work