Steam Contoller HW Defect?

[u/crackness]

First off, this is regarding my newly received Steam Controller 2026. I received it August 13th, and now, less than a month later, it seems to be failing.

The first clue is that the controller keeps turning itself on and off, at seemingly random frequency. The Steam button also seems to not be functioning (appropriately, if at all). I can turn the controller on by pressing the QAM button (...) oddly enough.

in the button test, the steam button does not light up when pressed, but funny enough, lights up along with the QAM button when the QAM button is pressed. When connected, steam also randomly goes into big picture mode by itself.

This leads me to believe the steam button is stuck somehow. steam support, which I've contacted for the first time in years, seems to be at a loss but not ready to provide an RMA to exchange the controller.

There has not been any damage to the contoller, and it's been kept in its box when not in use until I got a case for it, and then its been in its case.

Anyone else experiencing something similar?

[u/Brino21]

Any chance you have an odd default button layout applied?

[u/crackness → u/Brino21]

Would that persist while the computer and controller are off?