If you’re anything like me, the Steam Deck is the perfect portable/at-home hybrid console. Yes, I still love my Nintendo Switch, but when I want to play something a little more graphically intensive or jump into a multiplayer session of Sun Haven with my wife, using the Steam Deck with a dock is one of the best feelings in the world. That is, until you just get a black screen with nothing showing up on the TV.
How To Get Your Steam Deck Dock To Work Again
While this is going to be a bit more common with 3rd Party Docks, like JSAUX products, this issue can persist on the official Steam Deck dock, so let’s learn how to fix it and get back into the game. There are a few different things you can try, so let’s start it off with the first option: the unplug everything method.
You’ll want to unplug any cords from the back of your dock, and start plugging them back into the hardware in this particular order:
- HDMI Cord
- Power Cord
- Steam Deck Power
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If you do this, it should send the signal directly to your TV, and you should be back in business. While this method does work fairly often, there is still a chance that you may still see nothing on your screen. It’s time to jump into the next step, which is giving your Steam Deck a proper restart. But first, make sure you unplug it from the dock.
If you press the Steam Button on your Deck, or the option shown in the corner if you’re using another controller, you’ll want to navigate down to Power. Once you’ve gotten there, press A to access the next menu, and select Restart Steam Deck from the available options. Wait for your console to restart, and then plug it back into the dock. Wait and see if that worked, and you’ll hopefully be ready to go.
If that didn’t work, there is a final step, and this one has worked without flaw for me, personally. You’ll want to make sure that you’ve saved any progress if you’re playing a game and exit out of it because we’re going to be doing a Force Restart to get the display to work again. You’ll want to keep your Steam Deck plugged into the Dock for this method, as well.
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Once you have finished up any business that you may have been doing on the Deck, you’ll want to find and hold the Power Button to forcefully turn it off. You’ll need to wait until you hear the Steam Deck Startup Chime, and then wait for it to happen again. Once you hear the Startup Chime two times, you can remove your finger from the power button, and give it a tap to boot it up again.
It may take a little while for the Steam Deck to power back on, as it will likely need to rebuild its cache, but once this process is done, you should have an image on your screen once again. This happens to me on a fairly regular basis, so I’ve learned that this method is my personal favorite to ensure I can always get my Deck on the big screen.
The best part is this will even work if you’ve installed Windows 10/11 on the Deck, so you can play games like MapleStory and even Runescape on the big screen. If you want to learn more helpful tips about the Steam Deck, make sure that you check out our section below, so you’re always ready to get your hands on something new.
