Client cannot start - cannot use steam at all

[lilwhitemouse]

Your system information

• Steam client version (build number or date): 64-bit. steam --version doesn't show a version number and I don't see one in the output
• Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): Debian 11, xfce desktop
• Opted into Steam client beta?: [Yes/No] I don't think so: beta repositories are commented out
• Have you checked for system updates?: [Yes/No] Using latest stable version in repository
• Steam Logs:logs-2024-04-30.tar.gz
• GPU: Nvidia/Intel/AMD Intel

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

Steam is failing to start for me:

When I start steam from the command line, at first it looks promising: steam.sh[540768]: Running Steam on debian 11 64-bit steam.sh[540768]: STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically setup.sh[540921]: Steam runtime environment up-to-date! steam.sh[540768]: Steam client's requirements are satisfied ...

But then errors start to creep in:

Steam Runtime Launch Service: starting steam-runtime-launcher-service Steam Runtime Launch Service: steam-runtime-launcher-service is running pid 541096 steam-runtime-launcher-service[541096]: E: Can't find session bus: Could not connect: Permission denied Steam Runtime Launch Service: steam-runtime-launcher-service pid 541096 exited WARNING: lavapipe is not a conformant vulkan implementation, testing use only. WARNING: lavapipe is not a conformant vulkan implementation, testing use only. Steam Runtime Launch Service: starting steam-runtime-launcher-service Steam Runtime Launch Service: steam-runtime-launcher-service is running pid 541194 steam-runtime-launcher-service[541194]: E: Can't find session bus: Could not connect: Permission denied Steam Runtime Launch Service: steam-runtime-launcher-service pid 541194 exited Steam Runtime Launch Service: starting steam-runtime-launcher-service Steam Runtime Launch Service: steam-runtime-launcher-service is running pid 541195 steam-runtime-launcher-service[541195]: E: Can't find session bus: Could not connect: Permission denied Steam Runtime Launch Service: steam-runtime-launcher-service pid 541195 exited Steam Runtime Launch Service: steam-runtime-launcher-service keeps crashing on startup, disabling steamwebhelper.sh[541198]: === Fri 26 Apr 2024 01:18:55 PM EDT === steamwebhelper.sh[541198]: Starting steamwebhelper under bootstrap sniper steam runtime at /home/gamer/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/steam-runtime-sniper steamwebhelper.sh[541288]: === Fri 26 Apr 2024 01:19:06 PM EDT === steamwebhelper.sh[541288]: Starting steamwebhelper under bootstrap sniper steam runtime at /home/gamer/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/steam-runtime-sniper src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (546) : Failed creating offscreen shared JS context src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (546) : Failed creating offscreen shared JS context 04/26 13:19:06 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1709846872)/tid(540993) assert_20240426131906_29.dmp[541363]: Uploading dump (out-of-process) /tmp/dumps/assert_20240426131906_29.dmp

And then the system opens an error window that says steamwebhelper is not responding and offers to restart steam with a few options, restart the helper, or quit. None of the options get me anywhere.

This started a week ago and I am unable to access Steam on any reasonable basis.

Steps for reproducing this issue:

1. as user gamer type steam

[lilwhitemouse]

assert_20240430105903_28.dmp.gz

Uploaded latest assert dump file as well

[lilwhitemouse]

This is the error window I am getting:

steamwebhelper, a critical Steam component, is not responding. The Steam UI will not be usable. Click here for more information. [...restart options...]

[rcornwell]

I believe I am having the same problem. I am on Ubuntu 22.04. Steam was working just fine a couple days ago. Then it did an update when I started. And it now will not start steamwebhelper. It also seems to be still trying to install the update when it tries to launch the webhelper. I have tried removing steam, the .steam and .local/share/Steam directories and reinstalling and it still is failing. Let me know what log information you need.

I tried it again. Steam installs stuff, then goes to verify install and starts to unpack Steam Linux Runtime container, then it tries to start steamwebhelper, I suspect it is getting stuck in a loop during the install process.

[kuramayouko]

same happens to me yesterday on fedora 39 after steam update, tried to clean the steam runtime tar.xz and cef .pak files inside steam/ubuntu12_64 and steam/ubuntu12_32 , steam downloaded and extracted them right but still steamwebhelper not responding

[rcornwell]

From what I can see on NFS filesystems it appears that the steam-runtime-sniper.tar.xz gets extracted properly. Then it goes to start steamwebhelper, but at the same time starts to extract seam-runtime-sniper.tar.xz again. I've looked at the scripts and can't see any reason why it would do this. Running steam-runtime-sniper.sh with correct arguments extracts the file correctly, a second run with same arguments just starts a run of it. So there is something that makes it think it needs to reinstall stuff.

[Pistos]

I am in a similar state, though I'm not sure it's exactly the same as OP. Some typical output happens (in the terminal window) and then things just hang. No Steam UI windows appear. There are a few steam-related processes started. I tried a bunch of things, including chasing down a probable meaningless error about dbus-launch, but nothing worked. Eventually, I just rebooted, and then the UI was able to start up. However, after closing steam and reopening after that, it is back to being stuck. I imagine rebooting will fix it again, but, of course, needing to reboot every time before starting Steam is not an acceptable state of affairs.

This only started happening after a recent Steam client update a few days ago.

I am using Gentoo, KDE. I can open a separate issue if requested.