Hardware
DIY fix for controller disconnects on the internal puck (EMI tape fix)
I reviewed Valve's RMA’d units & what they did for this issue, then I decided to do it myself. I am now happy to confirm that I was able to apply the same fix. I no longer have any disconnection issue when using the internal puck with Steam controller!
Total cost should be $15 or less. You need a Torx screwdriver to open SM. If you don’t have it, you will need to buy that as well. Note that this requires opening your Steam Machine. You risk damaging it and may void your warranty. Do it at your own risk. Unplug the power first.
What you need:
You will need a Torx T9h screwdriver (I used T9H on iFixit set and it fits perfectly, but someone reported that it is T8 - double check), You will also need an EMI shielding tape. I purchased the EMI tape from Amazon but most should work. Make sure it is double-conductive, this means sticky side is also conductive. Search for "double Conductive EMI shielding tape". This is the one I used https://a.co/d/03vY7hfH If you find a cheaper one, it should work as well.
The issue:
This is an interference issue. The internal puck's antenna cable picks up electrical noise from nearby components, and you'll be shielding it with conductive EMI tape grounded to the heatsink. Only tape the cable sections shown in the pictures. Also remember that you will need to ground it, meaning that the tape should "touch" the heatsink in this case. Just wrapping the cable will not work.
The fix steps:
Using Torx screwdriver, remove the back cover (2 screws) and the 4 rubber feet. Then remove these 2 screws (Picture 1). Then pull out the internal board of SM from the case. It is heavy, so be very careful.
Picture 2 shows the 2.4 GHz antenna cable you’ll be working on. It’s on the front-right side when facing the Steam Machine from the front.
Disconnect the antenna connector (Picture 3). Be very gentle: lift straight up gently and never pull on the cable.
Wrap the cable with tape as shown in Picture 4, then reseat the cable and reconnect it. Make sure the tape does not contact any part of the PCB. Otherwise you will short and damage your Steam machine.
Apply a larger piece of tape as shown in Picture 5. Cut it halfway up from the bottom so it conforms better.
Use a credit card to press the tape firmly into the heatsink gap (Picture 6). The tape must be grounded, so make sure both pieces are well stuck to bare heatsink metal. Keep the conductive tape away from exposed board components.
The remaining pictures show the finished state.
Results: The last picture is a stress test: CPU at 90°C, fan over 1600 RPM, controller connected through the internal receiver the whole time. It’s been running for hours with zero disconnects. Before the fix, I couldn’t play this long without one. I’ll update if anything changes but I am very hopeful.
Update: It has been 14 days and I have been using my Steam Machine every day. I have not had a single disconnection. So, I can confirm it is fixed.
I also applied the tape on the other side (left side) where you have the Bluetooth antenna. Just applied the tape over the cable, and did not wrap the connector side. I think this also helped because I am getting much better reception consistently at less than -60 dBm being away more than 4 meters.
Youre a genius if this is truly fixed. I was thinking of trying this eventually if I had the time but im glad you got to it first. Reminds me of the switch 1. First few months of those units had joy-con disconnection problems if your hand covers them or put it behind your back and someone found out if you put conductive foam somewhere in it, it fixed the problem because the bluetooth antenna had no grounding. I did it back in the day and it worked. Thanks so much for this, I'm going to try it
just did it on mine. Works well. No more random disconnects or sporadic signal jumps. I have my machine behind my TV and have consistent Good/Ok signal now. Before it was unplayable without using the controller puck
Dude please post your ko-fi or make that Amazon link an affiliate link before I order because you are a fucking superstar for posting this. I knew this was going to be ultra simple and RMA’ing would be stupid to apply some tape.
It worked for me! No disconnects since then. Thank you so much for showing this :)
Update: I tried literally everything to get the controller disconnected. Even without being in line of sight it stays connected from 8m away. I can move my legs freely now and rest the controller on them without losing the connection. Also playing heavy games doesn’t have any impact anymore. This wasn’t possible before. I’m a very happy man now
Thought so, well I shelled out 10 local of tape... Today it got an update and it just seems to be doing this only when the Steam Machine is working; playing a game.
We watch movies on it and with our streaming apps it doesn't disconnect, but they also don't force any load on it. That with the RF issues in mind. I think it has the one has to do with the other.
Why can I contiously use my controller with an internet app and as soon as HD2 gets a enemy spawn and explosions it drops connections mid fight.
I do have the option to RMA it, but if this fixes it. I rather do that myself - I kinda was hoping Valve would make an hardware solution and that you could DIY it yourself.
I honestly doubt. Tape I am using is good for high temp up to 120 Celsius I believe. Where we apply the tape is further away from the die. No way temp would reach those levels on that part of the heatsink. We should be good
Just one thing I want to warn you about. You need to make sure the tape does not touch pcb there. This tape is conductive so it might seriously damage your steam machine
Got my SM the other week and started having this issue.
Giving this a shot. Random question, where did you see that valve was doing this to people’s machine as a fix? I was literally going try and research if someone opened one after RMAing it for this.
I'm curious to see a post-RMA repair as well. I mentioned the switch 1 joy con problem somewhere above. I remember when people sent them back for repair then opened them up, all they did was do the same at-home fix with the conductive foam. Curious if valve does the same
Thanks, ordered a roll from Amazon, been using the external puck for 3 weeks. Simple fix and avoid the nightmare of sending it back for RMA. Already got the tools I need when I swapped the M2 😎
Played for a bit, no disconnects. Will test in anger later 🤞
Thanks again 😎 dBm already better than external, so got high hopes 🥳
Edit. Went with a slightly less invasive fix (see pic) covers cable and is grounded into the metalwork, did not disconnect to wrap cable. Played an hour on Cyberpunk 2077 no issues, previously 2-3 times in 30 minutes
Looks really good. Thanks for reporting back. Just a reminder that this tape is conductive, so should be avoided to touch any part of PCB or other connections.
Could be the placement of my machine, right on top of my AV Receiver, but this fix has not shown any improvements after I installed it. Confirmed my tape is double conductive with my multimeter. Huh.
Edit: I'm testing it now, the lack of improvement was only stated based off signal strength. If there are no disconnects then I'm fine with it. Will report when more testing is done.
So reporting in again with said news, though according to the comments it could be just me. I'm getting disconnects constantly tonight while play a not very intensive game. Shame. I'll maybe open her up in the morning and see about redoing my work.
FWIW my signal strength is still garbage BUT I haven't had any disconnects in-game. This is after having received my unit back from Valve for an RMA for this issue. See my original thread here which was posted before OP's.
Thank you so much. I did the fix. Now it works like a charm. I received my Steam Machine a week ago from EU warehouse and facing too many disconnection day one. Now it is solid as rock. No more disconnection.
Solved it for me as well! I seriously appreciate your post and effort. Finally, no more disconnects on the couch, no matter what position or if any legs/arms are in the way. Absolutely rock solid connection with the most demanding games (e.g. Expedition 33).
(I put some electrical tape around the PCB to protect it from any shorting around the antenna connector area)
Also have this issue and was disappointed that Valve's solution was to send it in or just use the puck. Idk how this big of an issue was missed in their testing.
Awesome to see a real fix. I'll definitely be giving it a shot.
May have missed it because at 4ft away, at a desk the internal puck gave me excellent signal strength. However when sat 10ft (3m) away the strength dropped to weak then disconnect. External puck is a work around, at least no disconnects. Ordered the tape last night, hopefully land today. Many thanks to the OP for posting this 😎
Tried this on mine. No disconnect issues just weak signal strength 10 ft away on the couch.. no improvement in signal quality but oh well, still seems to work fine. Thanks for the writeup!
Yup, this solved it for me. I wasn’t in a perfect position anyway (as the machine is mostly behind a tv panel) but even so, the connection would drop if I raised my leg in front of the controller. Now, no more drops.
Just reporting that I got my steam machine 3 days ago, and this issue seems to be fixed. Haven’t had any issues with the internal controller connector.
Wrong - data points are valid both ways. You need to know the good, and the bad, to make sense of the data.
1 bad out of 100,000 good? Useless data, not significantly significant.
1 bad out of 10? Extremely value.
1 bad, but you don't know how many good? Well...how do you determine if it's valuable data, or not? You can't. You have to have both sides of the story to draw a conclusion.
The rate of occurrence of an issue does nothing to help the people that have it. It’s helpful for Valve and future purchasers, but not for the user with the issue.
/u/freestylemaster correction to your guide - it is a T8 screwdriver, not T9, per the iFixIt guide. A T9 would work, but there's a chance its too big and causes some stripping of the screwhead.
Some people used to be so oblivious. I used to be able to tell people their phones were about to ring, and my old speakers on my computer would start buzzing a second or two before a call came through.
I learned that lesson big time when my first cell phone was too close to a theater light board (ETC Express, for any sparkies around here) during tech rehearsal. Rebooted it.
Kept my phone in the greenroom for the rest of the run, lol
Heh, this reminds me of my undergrad wireless ethical hacking class. We used a cordless phone (remember those!?) to prove how the "find" functionality worked on 900 MHz.
If you get the notification, that means it does get disconnected.
I would double check how you applied the tape. If you have a multimeter, it is better. I haven’t gotten a single notification about disconnection for over 20 hours of gaming so far. Before the fix, I would start seeing the notification and eventually disconnection after 15 mins or so.
No I have not done this fix yet! Sorry… I mean currently, I keep getting the disconnect msg pop up, it’s annoying! But it never actually disconnects. Going to try to do this fix
Oh I see. Well, unfortunately when you see that notification, you are going to notice it during gaming. Worth trying the fix since this is Valve themselves doing it
Yes, I think out of all the “controller disconnected” pop ups, I think maybe twice it actually disconnected. But Mainly just an annoying msg. So if this fix eliminates the nagging msgs, then I’ll be super glad.
Tape just came in today (1/2" as it was a lot cheaper in Canada) and did this in about 15 minutes or so - Looking forward to seeing how it works over the next few days. Thanks OP.
Depends when you got it. Apparently recent machines fixed the issue. I got mine about a month after launch and it still had the issue. I've put mine in direct line of site and it still disconnected so Im going to try this fix
If you ever open it up, check the antenna wire and see if theres anything on it to fix the connection issue. I wonder if there was an inconsistency with manufacturing and thats why some had the issue and some dont
The antenna feed lines should be a coaxial cable already with the single conductor in the middle and shielding on the outside. It's possible some of them were just improperly terminated or not properly grounded or otherwise defective somehow.
First wave owner, I had this issue, and had my SM sent in to Valve for an RMA, which I got back last week. This is definitely an issue, perhaps intermittent, but it's not a single-digit number of affected machines.
Thanks! Was this based on the pictures I posted in my thread from yesterday? I know a few people asked for pictures after the RMA, and some specifically commented on this EMI tape.
What are the exact symptoms of the controller disconnect issue? I'm having an intermittent issue with my Xbox controller where I don't get a message stating it has disconnected, but the controller no longer works. I have to go to Bluetooth and remove the controller, then over to the Pair Controller interface to readd the controller before it works again.
Xbox controller+ Linux = terrible connection stability and missing inputs oftet Use 8bitdo Bluetooth adapter to do Bluetooth work instead of linux. But you'll lose screenshot button support if you cared
Bonjour, ma machine sera de retour RMA dans 1 ou 2 jours. Je vous enverrez des photos avant / après. UPS l’a enlevée lundi. Ré expediée par Steam aujourd’hui Jeudi. A suivre ...
Adding that I just did this fix yesterday. Fast and easy. Just be careful to discharge static constantly before touching the internals. Seems to be working great now.
Any chance you could do an imgur library and post it?
I've seen too many essential posts like this one disappear from the internet, with the imgur library, there'd be at least a backup in case this post is lost.
Was the connection "striped" for you so that you could move the controller back and forth and get low quality connection and normal quality. Since I have to use the puck to get any kind of gaming unless I position myself into some very precise islands of connectivity.
My Bluetooth speaker got a cracking sound when connecting to SM. Do you think this will solve this problem too? Before that my speaker connected to Surface Pro, not a single cracking sound over 5 years.
I've noticed the issue myself but it doesn't actually affect me while I'm in a game. Mostly just annoying that I know it's happening. Have you noticed it? Get progressively worse over time or as you play longer?
I gotta try this myself. I have taken my Steam Machine apart before. This should be moderately easy to do. Any possibility to link the specific EMI tape or any copper from Amazon will do?
Update 23/10-2026 I have now ordered some EMI tejp that was recommended with double conducting. I will be testing this around next week.
That was the one thing I wanted to comment on that I think is missing in this otherwise great post - I've similarly wrecked these sorts of connectors in the past even with the "be very careful" instructions. Rather than pulling on them with your fingers, it's always best to use a spudger tool like this to pop them out right at the connection point (taken from iFixit):
These connectors aren't particularly complex, so with a little effort you might be able to get the cable back in there without having to pay Valve $112 - it'll look a little banged up if you need to pry it open and clamp it back shut (possibly with a bit of electrical tape), but it'll work just the same.
I did a slightly different mod, as I wanted to try and use something I had in the house.
I cut up a coaxial cable, took the metal sleeve of it, put it over the antenna cable, and then out heat shrink over it the PCB end. The var end I taped to the heat sink with some aluminum tape (not double conductive). Signal didn't improve, but no disconnects. Normally if I game from the couch and I'm using my laptop, the laptop screen would be enough to cause disconnects. I've used it for an hour there without disconnections.
I'm all about helping people out. But ffs , this shouldn't be something anyone needs to do. Valve is maybe the best company at poor planning and communication. All of their hardware seems like just a side project level attempt. I guess keep cashing that steam store % check. 🙄
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u/zach3582 15d ago
Youre a genius if this is truly fixed. I was thinking of trying this eventually if I had the time but im glad you got to it first. Reminds me of the switch 1. First few months of those units had joy-con disconnection problems if your hand covers them or put it behind your back and someone found out if you put conductive foam somewhere in it, it fixed the problem because the bluetooth antenna had no grounding. I did it back in the day and it worked. Thanks so much for this, I'm going to try it