Steam deck owners should be able to get a new case of dbrand this week. Unfortunately, a problem with Project Killswitch stopped the case from launching. dbrand made a sudden announcement on twitter and then a longer Reddit post that broke down the “million dollar bug” followed.
If you’re just interested in what happens when you’ve ordered a case from dbrand, you can jump to the following bullet points shared on the company’s Reddit post on the situation. After the list, we’ll dive into the gist of what caused the problems. In short, people who placed an order for a Killswitch can either get a refund or a replacement.
dbrand’s plans for Project Killswitch
- All orders currently placed are still being shipped.
- We’re moving from a magnetic mount to a mechanical locking system for the kickstand (and all future accessories). This requires a conversion of our existing production lines and is expected to take some time.
- Once the conversion is complete, Every single customer who bought a magnetic kill switch gets one Free case and stand replacement. We expect these to be sent out in January. These replacement parts are fully compatible with the existing Travel Cover, Skin, Stick Grips & Tempered Glass. When you receive your replacement, you are under no obligation to return the magnetic version.
- Now you might be wondering why we are replacing each and every one and not just the ones affecting Delta fan owners.
- While this issue seems to only affect units with a delta fan, it’s not easy to diagnose yourself which fan you have. Even if If you’re sure you have a delta fan, you might not really notice the problem: during a low-rpm scenario, the fan motor has plenty of leeway to compensate for the sidestand’s magnetic interference.
- We suspect this is what happened with the original findings of The Vergine. This particular editor may have had a delta fan and when the stand was fitted there was a momentary loss of fan speed which then caused the fan to kick higher into the programmed curve and overcompensate with the motor overhead available.
- Ultimately every self-diagnosis can lead to the wrong conclusion that you have a Huaying fan. To be on the safe side and to fully handle the uncertainty in this issue, we’d rather just replace every unit out there.
- Whether you are a Huaying fan or not, we do not recommend using the magnetic stand. Instead, keep it on your fridge as a reminder of our failure.
- To make it clear again everything BUT the stand is safe to use.
The root cause of the problems with Project Killswitch is related to the magnets used to attach a kickstand to the case. The Verge noticed that the case’s magnetic stand was slowing down the Steam Deck’s fan. The outlet contacted dbrand, and the two worked together to determine the cause of the peculiar problem, along with some help from well-known YouTuber Dave2D.
The Verge shared a video of the Delta fan being affected by the Killswitch stand.
It seems that the magnetic stand only affects Steam deck devices with a delta fan. The problem is that people can’t tell if their device has a Huaying fan (which doesn’t seem to be affected by the magnets) or a Delta fan without opening their vapor deck. That’s not a sensible measure for dbrand to ask people to do, so the company treats all orders the same way instead.
Project Killswitch consists of a case, handles, and other components that protect the Steam Deck. Even if your Steam deck has a delta fan, it shouldn’t be affected by any part of a killswitch case other than the magnetic kickstand mount.
dbrand will move away from a magnetic mount in the future and opt for a mechanical locking system instead. Everyone who has ordered a case from dbrand will receive a new Killswitch, regardless of whether their Steam Deck is affected by the magnetic mount.
Those who ordered ahead of Sunday’s private launch can either get a replacement case and stand, or a refund.
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