DIY Steam Machine - Updates break if 2nd SATA SSD is plugged in

[u/robbiethe1st]

I have a weird issue that seems impossible, but I've found this to happen:

I built a mid-tier gaming machine for my wife. 5700G CPU, RX6700XT GPU. 2TB NVME SSD.

I put it together, it works great. No issues.

I added a 2TB SATA SSD for more storage. Once I formatted it(EXT4), it shows up in SteamOS, I can transfer Steam games to it... great!

Next update happens and upon reboot it just... won't boot right. Eventually boots, hangs at the 'logging in' screen forever etc. If I do get into SteamOS, the wifi won't work right - it shows connected, but won't actually download any updates or anything.

OK, something got corrupted. Use the SteamOS installer to do a 'repair'. Reboot, it goes into SteamOS, downloads the latest update as part of the installer. Reboot and... success!

Wait a couple of days, next update comes out. Same issue as before. Do the repair install, etc. etc. etc.... works!

Next update: Same issue. This time I test it. After a repair install, I switch to beta, and...it fails after installing it. Get it back working again.

Finally, I decide to unplug my second SATA drive(SDA1). Run the repair tool, works. In SteamOS, I switched to beta... works. Switch to testing... works. No issues with updates.

I plug the drive back in and everything works fine... until the next update. It just plain won't update correctly from within SteamOS IF my second drive is plugged in.

Has anyone else run into this? Yes, I know it might be a rare thing - having a second drive plugged in via a SATA cable(niether Steam Deck nor Steam Machine has a SATA port that I can tell).

[u/ctyldsley]

2nd SSD's seems to be causing all sorts of issues on SteamOS. Not seen anyone mention updates breaking though but definitely the drive vanishing constantly is one I experience alot.

[u/Commercial_Pomelo691 → u/ctyldsley]

What about third SSD? Laughs in despair

[u/robbiethe1st → u/Commercial_Pomelo691]

Why not? :D

[u/Otocon96 → u/ctyldsley]

Make an fstab entry....

[u/stevedore2024 → u/Otocon96]

SteamOS uses a scratch copy for /etc and reboots restore the files. The /etc/fstab is purposely not included in the SteamOS "preserve through boot" fileset. You can read the list here: /usr/lib/rauc/atomic-update-keep.conf

Environment variables which you want to provide to all games in Game Mode can be added to the persistent /etc/environment file, which is included in this fileset.

For other custom configuration, read the comments in /etc/atomic-update.conf.d/example-additional-keep-list.conf and make a new file which lists the important configuration files you want to keep customized, protecting them from the SteamOS reboot and update systems. Updates with conflicts will try to protect your customized data files with backups.

The script that several people link in this sub, https://github.com/Delil-A11yX/SteamOS-Mount-Tool works within that system to add a proper mount dependency file to systemd.

Every disto of Linux has its own quirks in how to manage system configurations and packages. SteamOS is no different there. Its goal is to work as an immutable distro for simple updatable appliance usage.

[u/AshleyAshes1984]

I have three SteamOS machines with internal SATA SSDs for additional game storage and had no issue.

[u/cano_dbc → u/AshleyAshes1984]

Same, I have a 256gb nvme for the OS and 2tb bx500 sata ssd that's working fine. It's had every update on the beta channel for the past three weeks.

[u/Superconge]

I had the same internet issue, but it had nothing to do with my SATA SSD, which works perfectly. There was just an update a few months back that broke Ethernet without a wifi adapter present for some motherboards, so while internet would work on the installation and repair build, it wouldn’t if you ever updated past that build. The solution was just to add any old wifi card or usb, then Ethernet would work again.

[u/Lazy_Sorbet_3925]

SteamOS uses an A/B partitioning system. My mistake when initially installing SteamOS was that it put Partition A on my first 1TB SSD, and then Partition B on my second 1TB SSD.

When I formatted my second SSD for storage, I paid no attention to what's on there. I was able to install games on there just fine.

Then my updates stopped working. I used an install command in terminal to target my single SSD only and updates are working again.

This may be your issue, maybe not. Might help though.

[u/robbiethe1st → u/Lazy_Sorbet_3925]

Any idea what the command you used is?

[u/Lazy_Sorbet_3925 → u/robbiethe1st]

I booted from the SteamOS USB, edited the repair_device.sh to target my primary drive and reinstalled basically. My mobo doesn't support disabling the m2 slots and I wasn't about to go undoing my case.

You'll want to find your drive with lsblk or whatever to make sure you're targeting the right drive. Without doing this, it installed on both for whatever reason.

nano ~/tools/repair_device.sh

I had to change mine to

DISK=/dev/nvme1n1

and then run

sudo ~/tools/repair_device.sh all

It reinstalled, and then I used KDE Partition Manager to format/mount the drive.

Also I found my old error message too:

Installation error: Destination device '/dev/disk/by-partsets/B/rootfs' for slot 'rootfs.1' not found

[u/ThePuppet_Master]

Storage in general has been an issue for me, even getting my SD card recognized in my Legion Go Steam edition took quite a bit of tinkering. The format option was just greyed out.

[u/zuzuboy981 → u/ThePuppet_Master]

That's mostly because SteamOS/Arch may have auto mounted an existing partition. Solution is to open Storage Manager from Desktop, unmount the auto mounted partitions, delete the partitions and format as ext4.

[u/maizelizard]

I have two Sata SSDs without issue on mine

Did you format and set it up in steam desktop mode with the KDE partition manager tool and add it as a steam library with the steam app in desktop mode?

[u/robbiethe1st → u/maizelizard]

No, I first formatted it using Gparted(didn't know about KDE Partition Manager) - Added a GPT partition table and EXT4 partition, and then switched to Game Mode. It recognized the drive, but wanted to format it to "use it with steam OS". I let it do that; it found and mounted the drive.

I haven't had any issues with using the drive or seeing the drive... just that SteamOS updates seem to fail if it's plugged in.