The Steam Machine has only been available for just over a week, and one early user is already reporting a “red line of death.”
The system’s front-facing LED can be used to showcase a variety of hardware issues, and a blinking red bar on the right half of the light indicates a GPU failure.
Reddit user me_hill posted the picture to the Steam Machine sub – as spotted by Digital Foundry – and commenters are already referring to the issue as the “red line of death,” referencing the infamous Red Ring of Death that indicated a hardware failure on the original Xbox 360 console.
The OP went on to share their experience with the device, saying, “Got five minutes of No Man’s Sky in, then I installed the update the machine had available and it bricked itself.”
They go on to reassure those waiting to purchase, saying, “If you’re still in the queue, look on the bright side: they’re presumably going to iron this crap out.”
“Thank you for beta testing for the rest of us,” one user replies.
The Steam Support website shows what the system’s various LED patterns mean, again indicating that this user has suffered a GPU failure — possibly the worst and most fatal issue for a Steam Machine to have, as repair is potentially impossible.
The issue appears to be uncommon, as this is the only reported instance of it so far, but many users are in a queue to receive ordered machines.
Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida recently said, “Am I going back to PS4 days?” upon trying the Steam Machine. He was critical of the recommended 1080p output and 3D performance. This follows the news that the Steam Machine would be priced at over $1,000, which is ‘significantly more’ than Valve originally wanted to charge.
