[BUG] Steam Link VR blackscreen + won't connect to PC

[yoyobuae]

Describe the bug
When I try running Steam Link and connect to SteamVR on PC I get a permanent black screen on the Steam Link app. On the PC's side I can see SteamVR launching and "Awaiting for wireless connection" for a while before SteamVR closes. There's no error message to explain what happens.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Install Steam Link APK from SteamVR/drivers/vrlink/resources/android-steamlinkvr-release.apk
2. Launch it
3. Select PC and click connect
4. There's a brief "Connecting to PC" screen displayed on device which then turns into a black display, and on PC SteamVR launches with a "Awaiting wireless connection"
5. After ~20 seconds SteamVR closes. The black display persists on device until Steam Link is force closed.

Expected behavior
Steam Link VR to connect to PC successfully.

System Information (please complete the following information):
Please use the latest Steam beta client and SteamVR beta for your bug reports!

• Steam client version (build number or date): 1773426488
  Steam Beta Branch: Stable Client
  Steam Version: 1773426488
  Steam Client Build Date: Thu, Mar 12, 2026 8:52 PM UTC -08:00
  Steam Web Build Date: Thu, Mar 12, 2026 8:30 PM UTC -08:00
  Steam API Version: SteamClient023

• SteamVR version:
  SteamVR Beta Update
  Apr 8, 2026

• Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu):
  ArchLinux

• Steam runtime diagnostics:
  Steam_runtime_diagnostics.txt

• Steam and SteamVR logs:
  steam-logs.tar.gz

• Minidumps:
  steam-minidumps.tar.gz

Screenshots
If applicable, add screenshots to help explain your problem.

Additional context
Add any other context about the problem here.

[Packetdancer]

Which HMD are you trying to launch Steam Link on?

Whatever's connecting isn't getting to a state in the logs that the model is being recorded by vrlink.

[yoyobuae]

Which HMD are you trying to launch Steam Link on?

Google Pixel 7 Pro, using Monado for Android to be able to run OpenXR apps (ALVR and WiVRn both run).

Similar issue happens with Samsung S10 (also using Monado for Android).

[Packetdancer]

I think I can safely say that's not a configuration we've been testing on, yeah... I'll carve out some time to take a look this coming week.

[yoyobuae]

Monado should just work on most modern Android phones:

1. Install the OpenXR runtime Broker app from Google Play
2. Go to https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/monado/monado/-/artifacts and download either android:inProcessRelease or android:outOfProcessRelease (scroll until you find the most recently built). Install the APK
3. Open the OpenXR runtime broker and make sure Monado is selected
4. Run Steam Link, go thru the pairing process and try launching it in VR mode

[Packetdancer]

...somewhat to my dismay, this actually works (no crashes!) on my personal Samsung S21 with the latest inProcessRelease Monado APK and the android-steamvrlink-release.apk included in the 2.16.2 build, though my ability to test beyond that was admittedly limited due to no controllers connected to the phone. But it connected and I could look around the base VR dashboard space just fine.

I can go dig a Pixel out of the normal Remote Play testing cabinet later to test on a different device, but is there anything else you've got set up that you can think of? I'm assuming you have controllers of some form set up, and I wonder if maybe it's trying to get a handle on those that's causing the crash...

[Packetdancer]

I haven't reproduced this here, but I do have a thought on what might be happening.

Are you comfortable enough with adb to do logcat on the device when you try to run the app? If so, I'd be curious to get the output when you try running the app (perhaps filtered on the com.valvesoftware.steamlinkvr package for sanity's sake). If my suspicion is correct, there'll be something in the log which confirms it. (Specifically, I'm curious what codec the phone is selecting.)

[Packetdancer]

I couldn't repro this on either of the two Pixel devices I tried this on either. Any other details you can provide (e.g. what settings you have on the host side)?

[yoyobuae]

No special settings on the host side.

Attached ADB logs from client side:

com.valvesoftware.steamlinkvr_logs.txt

[Packetdancer]

The third Pixel device I dug up does reproduce this issue. That one lacks an appropriate OpenGLES configuration, and this isn't handled gracefully; the exception that surfaces isn't getting logged or shown to the user. Conversely, the Samsung S21 (since it was still on my desk) does have an appropriate configuration, so everything works fine.

At the very least, this is something we should be informing the user of rather than silently failing.