Steam won't start after updating

A1asd · 2025-04-04 18:30:23

Hello community!

The day before yesterday I made an update via

yay -Syu

and after that my steam didn't start anymore. I saw that I had graphicscard driver updates (amd radeon) as well as steam updates (as far as I remember) at first it said something about steam-native-runtime-sniper.lock being busy and after killing all processes having to do with steam it didnt start either. Today I moved the Steam folder inside .local/share/Steam to .local/share/Steam.bak and installed steam again after uninstalling in hopes that the newly created Steam folder will work. Well now I don't have the error with steam-native-runtime-sniper.lock anymore, but starting steam hangs with this output

-> % steam
steam.sh[6047]: Running Steam on arch rolling 64-bit
steam.sh[6047]: STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically

(zenity:6116): Gtk-WARNING **: 20:12:43.099: Locale not supported by C library.
        Using the fallback 'C' locale.

after this, nothing is happening.

I also tried to reinstall lib32-libnm and at first steam could update but same error again.
I also tried downgrading mesa to version 24.3.4-1 with this command

sudo pacman -U file:///var/cache/pacman/lib32-mesa-1:24.3.4-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst

The downgrade succeeded but steam would not start
I am lost and don't know what to do. I would be very glad if someone could help me before I have to reinstall arch as a last resort (I red in another post that that fixed the problem for them)

V1del · 2025-04-04 19:27:10

You should take it up on the language offer

locale
locale -a
localectl

steam breaks in various ways if an en_US locale is not generated and likely as well if the language you are actually using is potentially bogus.

A1asd · 2025-04-04 20:12:18

Hey V1del, I appreciate your reply and thanks for the hint
The output for those commands is as follows

-> % locale                                                                                        
locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_MESSAGES to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory
LANG=en_DK.UTF-8
LC_CTYPE="en_DK.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_TIME=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_COLLATE="en_DK.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_MESSAGES="en_DK.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_NAME="en_DK.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_DK.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_MEASUREMENT=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_DK.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=

-> % locale -a
locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_MESSAGES to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_COLLATE to default locale: No such file or directory
C
C.utf8
POSIX
de_DE.utf8

-> % localectl
System Locale: LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
    VC Keymap: de-latin1
   X11 Layout: (unset)

the en_DK stuff in the first output is very interesting to me. After that I trief running steam with LC_All set to de_DE.UTF-8

-> % LC_ALL=de_DE.UTF-8 steam
steam.sh[405914]: Running Steam on arch rolling 64-bit
steam.sh[405914]: STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically

now the warning vanished but still no response after STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically

I just tried to install steam-native-runtime and run steam-native --reset (because of another post after googling "steam stops after STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically")

-> % LC_ALL=de_DE.UTF-8 steam-native --reset
steam.sh[434020]: Running Steam on arch rolling 64-bit
steam.sh[434020]: STEAM_RUNTIME is disabled by the user (this is unsupported)
/usr/bin/zenity: /usr/lib/steam/libcurl.so.4: no version information available (required by /usr/lib/libappstream.so.5)

after that, nothing

Just for fun i enabled the old Steam folder and tried to run steam with LC_ALL set

-> % LC_ALL=de_DE.UTF-8 steam               
steam.sh[615402]: Running Steam on arch rolling 64-bit
steam.sh[615402]: STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically
setup.sh[615457]: Steam runtime environment up-to-date!
steam.sh[615402]: Log already open
steam.sh[615402]: Using supervisor /home/mrjohann/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/amd64/usr/bin/steam-runtime-supervisor
steam-runtime-sniper.sh[615493]: Extracting /home/mrjohann/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/steam-runtime-sniper.tar.xz to /home/mrjohann/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/steam-runtime-sniper.new

is what i got.
When I interrupt with CTRL+C the program continues

^Csteam.sh[615402]: Encountered a problem expanding the sniper runtime, forcing extended file verification.
steam.sh[615402]: Steam client's requirements are satisfied
CProcessEnvironmentManager is ready, 6 preallocated environment variables.
WARNING: setlocale('en_US.UTF-8') failed, using locale: 'C'. International characters may not work.
[2025-04-04 23:00:22] Startup - updater built Apr  2 2025 00:27:22
[2025-04-04 23:00:22] Startup - Steam Client launched with: '/home/mrjohann/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam' '-srt-logger-opened' '-verifyfiles'
Looks like steam didn't shutdown cleanly, scheduling immediate update check
CProcessEnvironmentManager is ready, 6 preallocated environment variables.
WARNING: setlocale('en_US.UTF-8') failed, using locale: 'C'. International characters may not work.
[2025-04-04 23:00:22] Loading cached metrics from disk (/home/mrjohann/.local/share/Steam/package/steam_client_metrics.bin)
[2025-04-04 23:00:22] Using the following download hosts for Public, Realm steamglobal
[2025-04-04 23:00:22] 1. https://client-update.fastly.steamstatic.com, /, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 900, source = 'update_hosts_cached.vdf'
[2025-04-04 23:00:22] 2. https://client-update.akamai.steamstatic.com, /, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 100, source = 'update_hosts_cached.vdf'
[2025-04-04 23:00:22] 3. https://client-update.steamstatic.com, /, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 1, source = 'baked in'
04/04 23:00:22 minidumps folder is set to /tmp/dumps
[2025-04-04 23:00:22] Checking for update on startup
[1970-01-01 01:00:00] Process started with command-line: '/home/mrjohann/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam' '-child-update-ui' '-child-update-ui-socket' '8' '-srt-logger-opened' '-verifyfiles'
[2025-04-04 23:00:22] Checking for available updates...
[2025-04-04 23:00:22] Downloading manifest: https://client-update.fastly.steamstatic.com/steam_client_ubuntu12
04/04 23:00:22 minidumps folder is set to /tmp/dumps
[1970-01-01 01:00:00] Using update UI: xwin
04/04 23:00:22 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(0)/tid(621747)
[2025-04-04 23:00:22] Create window
[2025-04-04 23:00:22] Manifest download: send request
[2025-04-04 23:00:22] Set percent complete: 0
[2025-04-04 23:00:22] Set status message: Checking for available updates...
[2025-04-04 23:00:22] Set percent complete: -1
[2025-04-04 23:00:23] Manifest download: waiting for download to finish
[2025-04-04 23:00:23] Manifest download: finished
[2025-04-04 23:00:23] Download skipped: /steam_client_ubuntu12 version 1743554648, installed version 1743554648, existing pending version 0
[2025-04-04 23:00:23] Nothing to do
[2025-04-04 23:00:23] Verifying installation...
[2025-04-04 23:00:23] Verifying all file checksums
[2025-04-04 23:00:23] Set percent complete: -1
[2025-04-04 23:00:23] Set status message: Verifying installation...
[2025-04-04 23:00:24] Show window
[2025-04-04 23:00:25] Verification complete
UpdateUI: skip show logo
[2025-04-04 23:00:25] Destroy window

Steam logging initialized: directory: /home/mrjohann/.local/share/Steam/logs

[2025-04-04 23:00:25] Shutdown
XRRGetOutputInfo Workaround: initialized with override: 0 real: 0xeee6edc0
XRRGetCrtcInfo Workaround: initialized with override: 0 real: 0xeee6d500
04/04 23:00:25 minidumps folder is set to /tmp/dumps
04/04 23:00:25 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steamsysinfo)/version(1743554648)/tid(621932)
Running query: 1 - GpuTopology
Response: gpu_topology {
  gpus {
    id: 1
    name: "AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (RADV NAVI33)"
    vram_size_bytes: 17163091968
    driver_id: k_EGpuDriverId_MesaRadv
    driver_version_major: 25
    driver_version_minor: 0
    driver_version_patch: 3
  }
  gpus {
    id: 2
    name: "AMD Radeon Graphics (RADV RAPHAEL_MENDOCINO)"
    vram_size_bytes: 11218771968
    driver_id: k_EGpuDriverId_MesaRadv
    driver_version_major: 25
    driver_version_minor: 0
    driver_version_patch: 3
  }
  default_gpu_id: 1
}

Exit code: 0
Saving response to: /tmp/steamFFBNdo - 123 bytes
steamwebhelper.sh[621961]: Using supervisor /home/mrjohann/.steam/root/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/amd64/usr/bin/steam-runtime-supervisor
steamwebhelper.sh[621961]: Starting steamwebhelper under bootstrap sniper steam runtime via /home/mrjohann/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/steam-runtime-sniper.sh
steam-runtime-sniper.sh[621977]: Extracting /home/mrjohann/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/steam-runtime-sniper.tar.xz to /home/mrjohann/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/steam-runtime-sniper.new
Steam Runtime Launch Service: starting steam-runtime-launcher-service
Steam Runtime Launch Service: steam-runtime-launcher-service is running pid 622119
bus_name=com.steampowered.PressureVessel.LaunchAlongsideSteam
src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (672) : Failed creating offscreen shared JS context
src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (672) : Failed creating offscreen shared JS context
04/04 23:00:45 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1743554648)/tid(621746)
assert_20250404230045_25.dmp[623436]: Uploading dump (out-of-process)
/tmp/dumps/assert_20250404230045_25.dmp
assert_20250404230045_25.dmp[623436]: Finished uploading minidump (out-of-process): success = yes
assert_20250404230045_25.dmp[623436]: response: CrashID=bp-39c5637d-98bc-474f-9ba9-b9c0a2250404
assert_20250404230045_25.dmp[623436]: file ''/tmp/dumps/assert_20250404230045_25.dmp'', upload yes: ''CrashID=bp-39c5637d-98bc-474f-9ba9-b9c0a2250404''

After which I get a Steam error window "Steamwebhealper is not responding"

No option here helps and everything leads to Steamwebhelper is not responding

Last edited by A1asd (2025-04-04 21:05:40)

A1asd · 2025-04-06 07:43:23

Yesterday Steam had an update and I installed it.
Sadly that did not fix my problem

qu@rk · 2025-04-06 08:25:12

I think there's another ~/.Steam folder if I remember right. Rename/delete that as well, remove everything steam related. Maybe do a

sudo find / -iname "*steam*"

but be warned this will most likely find a lot of other stuff that has "steam" anywhere in name. So be careful what you remove. Maybe pipe the output to a file and look through said file, identify any Steam leftovers, remove them, reboot, reinstall Steam.

A1asd · Yesterday 16:51:57

I removed every folder I think could be involved, reinstalled steam, steam-native-runtime and mesa. still the same issue, that it just stops

-> % steam
bin_steam.sh[158952]: Setting up Steam content in /home/mrjohann/.local/share/Steam
gio: Setting attribute metadata::trusted not supported
steam.sh[158952]: Running Steam on arch rolling 64-bit
steam.sh[158952]: STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically
setup.sh[159071]: Updating Steam runtime environment...
(zenity:159085): Gtk-WARNING **: 18:47:53.131: Locale not supported by C library.
Using the fallback 'C' locale.
setup.sh[159071]: Forced use of runtime version for 32-bit libcurl-gnutls.so.4

after that i ctrl+c, then run steam again, it's installing and updating
after that again

...
updating
...
[2025-04-07 18:50:58] Download Complete.
[2025-04-07 18:50:58] Saving metrics to disk (/home/mrjohann/.local/share/Steam/package/steam_client_metrics.bin)
[2025-04-07 18:50:58] uninstalled manifest found in /home/mrjohann/.local/share/Steam/package/steam_client_ubuntu12 (1).
[2025-04-07 18:50:58] Extracting package...
[2025-04-07 18:51:02] Installing update...
[2025-04-07 18:51:03] Cleaning up...
[2025-04-07 18:51:03] Update complete, launching...
UpdateUI: skip show logo[2025-04-07 18:51:03] Shutdown
steam.sh[166385]: Restarting Steam by request...
steam.sh[166385]: Running Steam on arch rolling 64-bit
(zenity:170939): Gtk-WARNING **: 18:51:03.410: Locale not supported by C library.
Using the fallback 'C' locale.

mackin_cheese · Yesterday 16:53:26

are you on plasma?

phoric · Yesterday 17:59:11

I ran into this recently as well, or at least something similar. Not sure if this is the same issue though as I don't get the locale warning. In my case Steam is actually starting, but the UI does not appear (on Wayland/Hyprland).

I've worked around it by copying the default .desktop file to my ~/.local/share/applications and modifying it.

desktop-file-install --dir=${HOME}/.local/share/applications /usr/share/applications/steam.desktop

Then edit ~/.local/share/applications/steam.desktop and change this line from true to false:

PrefersNonDefaultGPU=false

Now the UI shows up again when steam is run via the desktop file (i.e. via wofi or other launcher).

Last edited by phoric (Yesterday 18:04:07)

A1asd · Yesterday 18:07:09

@mackin_cheese
yes I am on plasma 6.3.4

@phoric
I just tried that and started steam via double clicking this desktop file. Steam appears in my taskbar for a brief second and then disappears. There is also no systemtray icon

mackin_cheese · Yesterday 18:09:38

It always helps to look at the wiki article of whatever the error is screaming at you. As V1del stated, it's locale. You should take a deeper look into the page cause your solution is in there.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Locale … g_language section 4.1 Make sure your locale is all set before you do what that section states

A1asd · Yesterday 18:35:30

i dont think that thats the issue because steam still freezes even if i start it with LC_ALL set

-> % LC_ALL=de_DE.UTF-8 steam
steam.sh[537917]: Running Steam on arch rolling 64-bit
steam.sh[537917]: STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically

For some reason the system does not recognize my locales i have set up in locale.conf

-> % cat /etc/locale.conf
LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_ADDRESS=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_IDENTIFICATION=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_MEASUREMENT=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_MESSAGES=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_NUMERIC=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_NAME=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_TIME=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_CTYPE=de_DE.UTF-8

I cant get the locales to work but I also think that that might not be the issue, because it does still not work with LC_ALL set as a parameter

edit: yes I deleted ~/.config/plasma-localerc
edit2: With x11 I don't have the locale problem, but steam won't start nevertheless

Last edited by A1asd (Yesterday 18:49:28)

mackin_cheese · Yesterday 18:38:00

i dont think that thats the issue because steam still freezes even if i start it with LC_ALL set

Why don't you just try what the section in that wiki states to do? If you're going to ask for help then follow suggestions in the wiki instead of assuming things won't help. If you try it and it works, great, if not, then we can diagnose further, but we don't know where to continue if you refuse to do what is being suggested.

EDIT: your edit came after i posted so i didn't see that you deleted the file. now that you deleted the file, set the locale again and reboot

Last edited by mackin_cheese (Yesterday 18:41:44)

A1asd · Yesterday 18:53:09

I just rebooted and that actually fixed my locale problem. Steam won't start though. I cannot find any logs either that could hint on what is happening

I just saw in another post that I can use gdb to have a more verbose output. The new output running steam is this

(gdb) run -x steam-native
Starting program: /usr/bin/bash -x steam-native
Downloading 1.09 M separate debug info for /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2
Downloading 714.56 K separate debug info for /usr/lib/libreadline.so.8
Downloading 9.67 M separate debug info for /usr/lib/libc.so.6
[Thread debugging using libthread_db enabled]
Using host libthread_db library "/usr/lib/libthread_db.so.1".
Downloading 1.70 M separate debug info for /usr/lib/libncursesw.so.6
+ export STEAM_RUNTIME=0
+ STEAM_RUNTIME=0
+ export STEAM_RUNTIME_HEAVY=0
+ STEAM_RUNTIME_HEAVY=0
+ export DBUS_FATAL_WARNINGS=0
+ DBUS_FATAL_WARNINGS=0
+ export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/steam:/usr/lib32/steam
+ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/steam:/usr/lib32/steam
+ exec /usr/lib/steam/steam
process 102588 is executing new program: /usr/bin/env
Downloading 146.70 K separate debug info for /usr/bin/env
[Thread debugging using libthread_db enabled]
Using host libthread_db library "/usr/lib/libthread_db.so.1".
process 102588 is executing new program: /usr/bin/bash
[Thread debugging using libthread_db enabled]
Using host libthread_db library "/usr/lib/libthread_db.so.1".
[Detaching after fork from child process 102657]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102658]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102659]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102660]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102661]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102663]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102664]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102665]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102666]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102667]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102670]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102672]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102673]
process 102588 is executing new program: /usr/bin/env
[Thread debugging using libthread_db enabled]
Using host libthread_db library "/usr/lib/libthread_db.so.1".
process 102588 is executing new program: /usr/bin/bash
[Thread debugging using libthread_db enabled]
Using host libthread_db library "/usr/lib/libthread_db.so.1".
[Detaching after fork from child process 102674]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102676]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102677]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102679]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102680]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102683]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102684]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102685]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102687]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102688]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102689]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102690]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102691]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102692]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102693]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102694]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102695]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102696]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102697]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102698]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102699]
steam.sh[102588]: Running Steam on arch rolling 64-bit
steam.sh[102588]: STEAM_RUNTIME is disabled by the user (this is unsupported)
[Detaching after fork from child process 102711]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102715]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102716]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102725]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102726]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102730]
[Detaching after fork from child process 102731]
/usr/bin/zenity: /usr/lib/steam/libcurl.so.4: no version information available (required by /usr/lib/libappstream.so.5)

Seems to me that my steam cannot get a version information using libcurl or something...

edit:
I seem to have libcurl-gnutls installed

-> % sudo pacman -Q libcurl-gnutls
libcurl-gnutls 8.13.0-1

Last edited by A1asd (Yesterday 19:20:52)

Arch Linux

#1 2025-04-04 18:30:23

Steam won't start after updating

#2 2025-04-04 19:27:10

Re: Steam won't start after updating

#3 2025-04-04 20:12:18

Re: Steam won't start after updating

#4 2025-04-06 07:43:23

Re: Steam won't start after updating

#5 2025-04-06 08:25:12

Re: Steam won't start after updating

#6 Yesterday 16:51:57

Re: Steam won't start after updating

#7 Yesterday 16:53:26

Re: Steam won't start after updating

#8 Yesterday 17:59:11

Re: Steam won't start after updating

#9 Yesterday 18:07:09

Re: Steam won't start after updating

#10 Yesterday 18:09:38

Re: Steam won't start after updating

#11 Yesterday 18:35:30

Re: Steam won't start after updating

#12 Yesterday 18:38:00

Re: Steam won't start after updating

#13 Yesterday 18:53:09

Re: Steam won't start after updating

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