Introduction
Use this guide to replace the cooling fan in your Steam Deck LCD, or remove it for cleaning.
Remember: follow general electrostatic discharge (ESD) safety procedures while repairing your device.
Note: Valve started shipping Steam Decks with refreshed internal designs in early 2023. Your Steam Deck may look different than the one depicted in the photos, but the procedure is the same. The Steam Deck's fan design differs between versions. Before ordering a replacement fan, remove the back cover of your Steam Deck 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.
What you need
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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.)
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.
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.
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.
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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
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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
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
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
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.
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?
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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 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
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.
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.
I need this piece, can someone help me where can I find it please?
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Remove the board shield.
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?
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Use a pair of tweezers to remove the sticker from the top edge of the fan.
You don't need to remove the sticker entirely from the heat sink, just the side where it sticks to the fan. At least on mine, the black sticker was 80% on the heat sink, so it was much easier to just peel off the thin strip from the fan
If you complete step 10 (removal of heatsink) first you can lift the sticker off of the fan very easily by putting gentle lifting pressure from below the heatpipe. By using the heatpipe to disperse the lifting pressure it reduces the chances of ripping.
I let my steamdeck discharge battery from full to 25% using a high-resource loading screen to apply load (prior to repair), which also had the added benefit of warming all the adhesive in the unit. Made things amazingly easy to work on. -
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Use a pair of tweezers to grip the edges of the fan connector and pull up to disconnect it from the motherboard.
I had a much easier time grabbing the connector from a length-wise direction rather than trying to grab it from the sides as shown in the photos.
the part that no one ever mentions in this step is what direction do these cables go when you are adding the new fan. I am a tech noob and this was my first time tinkering with anything so I was clueless and scared that I would connect it wrong. If its not fitting then you probably have the cable facing the wrong side. The cables showing the colored wire needs to face towards the left and the connectors are to the right.
100%. I came here to say the same thing. I almost broke the connection on the motherboard trying to get it to fit before realizing I needed to twist the connector 180 degrees. It would be good to note this in the instructions themselves so people don't assume (as I did) that the connector was already oriented correctly.
Alex P. -
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Use a Phillips driver to remove the two 3.7 mm screws securing the fan.
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Remove the fan.
I would like to buy this replacement part - but it's sold out - for months. No pre order possible. I'm disappointed ☹️
Just checked and they're out of stock again. At least the Notify Me button has returned though. Hope you can get one soon.
I had the same issue but have just bought one. I hope they're still in stock, and that you get a notification about me replying to your comment, so you can get one now too. Looking forward to quiet Steam Decking!
I have the version with the black heatsink plate, which has the %#*@ Delta fan... when are you going to release a version of the Huaying fan for this version of the Deck? I need her
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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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22 Comments
Hi ifixit Team, as the cooler seems to be a non factory one: how does it compare noise wise to the standard Steam Deck cooler, which is unbearably loud?
To those asking, you want a huaying fan as opposed to a delta fan. The delta is terribly bad with its acoustics.
is this the delta or huaying?
Just completed my "fix" thanks to iFixit and this guide. I replaced my noisy delta fan with a huaying model. It's a very straight forward process and I recommend it to anyone that's ever done any fixes on an electronic that they've owned. For reference, I had already upgraded the SSD in my Steam deck and I've done SMD soldering on keyboards.
Personally I think this is a poor guide, as it makes you damage the metal shield just to disconnect the battery. You can easily leave the shield in place, and after peeling off the black sticker, tilt the fan upwards (bottom first) to slide it out. This avoids a lot of complication, and you are only touching the fan connector which isn't near anything electrically risky and should contain no power if the deck has been shutdown.
I'm guessing you never dropped a conductive screw into a device still under power. Even without removing the shield there are exposed electronic components on the left, one bad move and you'll be replacing more than a fan. Also the shield is not damaged in any way, it's just a piece of foil tape that's partially removed.
Just replaced mine and the differance from delta to this one is huuuuge. The guide was clear and helped immensly, thanks so much!
I got a silent fan and the guide was very helpful. Difference is night and day!
I bought one in the last available batch from iFixit and it was a Huaying fan.
Could you please provide the detail of the fan? I need sth. like a data sheet, which can help me replace it by my own. Although the guide itself is a big help, I do not think I could do all of the work without knowing the data. I certainly do not want to write a negative review on this page Steam Deck (Original Model) Fan , but like I said before your information dose not help.
And I guess I will not get any answers from the official or the community. And it turns out that you said you were open, but the fact is the opposite. It is just open for us to buy from the same market (yours) without the possibilities to compare with other parts through price or the quality.
You can just search the serial number of the fan online. It's not like it's hidden. PWM fans also aren't too complicated, and the power requirements are listed. The issue is that this fan uses a custom housing so the only one that fits without modifications will probably be one of these models. I've seen a lot of third party sellers selling the huaying fan, give it a try if you don't need a warranty.
Yo I just ordered the right R1 bumper and it comes with a new button board siiiick I am sooo stoked I dint think it came with the button board also!! YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!!
I got the fan a couple of months ago and there is no obvious brand, but I can confirm it is quiet. Assuming they are still sourcing that fan, it should be effective in quieting the high pitched noise that the delta fan was causing.
Just received my kit and got to work right away. The process, while following this guide, was very straightforward. I've never done any kind of repairs like this myself before, but with the tools supplied it was all straightforward. I found I didn't need to remove the heatsink sticker, just pulled it up on one side, and similarly only needed to peel back the foil cover half way.
The new fan I received from iFixit is so much better. My old one was rumbling and making loads of noise. What I didn't realise before was that it may also not have been working very well in general, because this new one is not only much quieter, but also seems to spin up less often. I gave it a good test by stressing the Deck a little more to make sure the fan was working - it really is just that much quieter and seemingly more efficient.
All in all, really glad I chose to do this finally. I had this issue since day 1 and I've had my Deck for over a year now, so it's out of warranty. Glad it's finally sorted!
Weirdly enough the two 3.7mm screws shown in step 6 were completely absent from my deck (first gen / not refresh) when I opened it up. Tried to search the web if that was common or not, but so far I haven't found anyone else with that issue. As the deck worked fine before and there are a usually total of five screws holding the metal shield in place anyway, it shouldn't be an issue. But will post here again if anything goes wrong.
Mainly posting this here in case anyone else comes to the comments (given that fan replacement is probably one of the most common fixes) trying to find out if they lost two screws or if it was valve ;)
