Client fails to start: fatal stalled cross-thread pipe

[jandrewlong]

Your system information

• Steam client version (build number or date): 1541819448
• Distribution: Gentoo
• Opted into Steam client beta?: No
• Have you checked for system updates?: Yes

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

The Steam client fails to start. The auto-updater checks for updates, and downloads them, then the client window never appears.

The console output: https://gist.github.com/jandrewlong/32127ce253298cca54d9cc85de4a3937

../common/pipes.cpp (770) : Assertion Failed: fatal stalled cross-thread pipe
../common/pipes.cpp (770) : Assertion Failed: fatal stalled cross-thread pipe
../common/pipes.cpp (770) : Fatal assert failed: ../common/pipes.cpp, line 770.  Application exiting.

../common/pipes.cpp (770) : Fatal assert failed: ../common/pipes.cpp, line 770.  Application exiting.

Steps for reproducing this issue:

1. Try to launch Steam

[dniku]

This issue went away for me after I restarted the Steam client.

[jandrewlong]

When I export PULSE_SERVER=/dev/null, the steam client starts successfully.

[Seegras]

After the latest update, I got that thing too. Beta and non-beta; so it might be related to a system update. System is Debian Sid. Setting PULSE_SERVER=/dev/null doesn't help, and gdb output is pretty inconclusive:

Fri May 15 2020 08:35:16.963210 - steam 1.12.2 startup with PID=240313, config=/home/user/.local/share/Steam/config, runtime=/opt/Games/Steam/SteamApps/common/SteamVR Fri May 15 2020 08:35:16.963260 - vrclient type=VRApplication_SteamWatchdog /data/src/common/pipes.cpp (770) : Assertion Failed: fatal stalled cross-thread pipe /data/src/common/pipes.cpp (770) : Assertion Failed: fatal stalled cross-thread pipe --Type for more, q to quit, c to continue without paging-- continue without paging-- Thread 1 "steam" received signal SIGTRAP, Trace/breakpoint trap. 0xed75f5fd in ?? () from /home/user/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steamclient.so (gdb) (gdb) bt

0 0xed75f5fd in () at /home/user/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steamclient.so

1 0xed75f8c9 in () at /home/user/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steamclient.so

2 0xed750fa8 in () at /home/user/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steamclient.so

3 0xed381d9e in () at /home/user/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steamclient.so

4 0xf2b8ab0f in () at /home/user/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steamui.so

5 0xf2b7775a in () at /home/user/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steamui.so

6 0xf2ab8d74 in () at /home/user/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steamui.so

7 0x56590c60 in RunSteam(int, char**, bool) ()

8 0x56591be3 in ()

9 0x565799ac in ()

10 0xf79b4ef1 in __libc_start_main () at /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libc.so.6

11 0x5657e0b9 in _start ()

I now deleted SteamVR; but the picture remains the same.

Might this have something to do with the upgrade of libc6:i386 on May 11? because that would fit the time frame: https://metadata.ftp-master.debian.org/changelogs//main/g/glibc/glibc_2.30-8_changelog

[Mubelotix]

It happened to me on Ubuntu 21.10. You might want to change that label

[happysmash27]

This suddenly started happening to me, too, also on Gentoo, oddly enough, opted in to the Steam client beta. I've been updating my system a lot lately so would think it is a system update except, well, the issue started in 2018, and I certainly did not have this issue back in 2018.

[MrKich]

Suddenly started to happen to me on ubuntu 22.04. Running "PULSE_SERVER=/dev/null steam" solves problem with launching steam, but removes sound from games.

[agturcz]

The problem still exists. This is from Oxygen Not Included, unity Player.log

src/common/pipes.cpp (883) : fatal stalled cross-thread pipe.
/data/src/common/pipes.cpp 883 fatal stalled cross-thread pipe.Caught fatal signal - signo:5 code:128 errno:0 addr:(nil)
Obtained 34 stack frames.
#0  0x007f3a1a8c8f9d in Breakpad_SteamWriteMiniDumpUsingExceptionInfoWithBuildId
#1  0x007f3a1a751a9e in Steam_ReleaseThreadLocalMemory
#2  0x007f3bc0157bb6 in SteamAPI_Init
#3  0x000000404e74a7 in (wrapper managed-to-native) Steamworks.NativeMethods:SteamAPI_Init ()

[kisak-valve]

Hello @agturcz, if your issue is with running Oxygen Not Included and not with starting the Steam client, then it should be evaluated separately. Please open a new issue report.

[MrKich]

Actually fixed all problems with steam (there was not only sound issues for me, but oom-killer and shader issues, too).

The source of problems was that I had an invalid config in /etc/security/limits.conf file:

* soft stack 1048576
* hard stack 1048576

This sets default stack size for threads to 1Gb (so, for 32-bit environment like steam, you could only have 4 threads with default stack size).

Don't know when I added this two lines to config, but after removing them, everything is working again.

[Patola]

The source of problems was that I had an invalid config in /etc/security/limits.conf file:

* soft stack 1048576
* hard stack 1048576

What's your distro? /etc/security/limits.conf should not work anymore, the limits should be in /etc/systemd/user.conf and /etc/systemd/system.conf nowawayds, odd. Also, it's unusual for a limit that's "too high" prevent things from running correctly, it's usually the ones that are too low that have this effect.

[MrKich]

Distro is ubuntu 22.04

/etc/security/limits.conf works as usual (and file exists).

Also, it's unusual for a limit that's "too high" prevent things from running correctly, it's usually the ones that are too low that have this effect.

Yep, but with 32-bit applications like steam with only 4Gb ram available it is possible :)

[user1-github]

I understand this issue might be caused by some specific distro configuration?

I use Steam Flatpak on Debian 12.1.0 and it crashes during game downloads. It causes my Steam client window to stop responding and then my Gnome Wayland session freezes. Since I didn't experience this issue with Steam Flatpak on other distros, I now suspect this might be caused by some configuration in Debian.