Intermittent "'steamwebhelper' is not responding" error on Fedora 40 KDE Plasma spin

[GhostCoder22]

[The following is system information provided by "Info Center"]
Operating System: Fedora Linux 40
KDE Plasma Version: 6.0.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.2.0
Qt Version: 6.7.0
Kernel Version: 6.8.10-300.fc40.x86_64 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 4 × Intel® Core™ i3-7100U CPU @ 2.40GHz
Memory: 15.4 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: Mesa Intel® HD Graphics 620
Storage Device: 1 TB 5200 RPM Hard Drive.

Steam Version: 1709846872
Steam Beta Branch: Stable Client
A system update occurred yesterday.
I have not opted into Steam client beta.
My GPU is Intel.

Since my chosen Linux distro is Fedora and after reporting the following directly through Steam for Linux last night, I was advised to report bugs here citing Steam for Linux "is only supported on the latest version of 64-bit Ubuntu LTS with Unity, Gnome, or KDE desktops".

Anyways, I'd like to report a crash when starting Steam for Linux lasdt night, this one pertaining Steam's steamwebhelper component. My chosen operating system is Fedora 39 KDE Plasma Spin.

Just after a system update and rebooting my laptop, I went to start Steam only to find the error

"steamwebhelper, a critical Steam component, is not responding. The Steam UI will not be usable."

Out of the 5 options, I've chosen option #1 "Restart Steam", which did cause Steam to restart normally.

This error has occurred once or twice previously after completely replacing Windows 10 with Fedora.

I don't have any security software installed, nor do I use VPN except on very rare occasions (but I currently don't have any VPN software installed either).

I do not know the steps for reproducing this issue at this time

steam-logs.tar.gz

[smcv]

This doesn't look like the same issue as any of the previous reports of the same symptom. @kisak-valve, it might be good to retitle this to say "Intermittent "Steamwebhelper is not responding" error...", to distinguish it from reports where the steamwebhelper is crashing every time.

The container runtime is starting up successfully.

@GhostCoder22, are you confident that the attached logs are from a time when the steamwebhelper was not working, or might they have come from a time when the steamwebhelper had successfully restarted?

If you see this intermittent bug again, it would be useful if you can capture logs before restarting the steamwebhelper, so that we can be sure that the logs we're seeing are correlated with the failure.

Text from the attached `steamwebhelper.log`

[0309/205639.684469:ERROR:context.cc(100)] The browser_subprocess_path directory (./steamwebhelper) is not an absolute path. Defaulting to empty.
[0309/205639.719167:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: UserID with value: 0
[0309/205639.719241:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: BuildID with value: 1709756822
[0309/205639.719247:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: SteamUniverse with value: Public
[0309/205639.719252:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: Vendor with value: Valve
[0309/205639.719257:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: Platform with value: Linux
[0309/205639.719884:INFO:crash_reporting.cc(239)] Crash reporting enabled for process: browser
[0309/205639.721542:WARNING:task_impl.cc(32)] No task runner for threadId 0
[0309/205639.722831:WARNING:task_impl.cc(32)] No task runner for threadId 0
[0309/205639.756102:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: UserID with value: 0
[0309/205639.756221:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: BuildID with value: 1709846872
[0309/205639.756226:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: SteamUniverse with value: Public
[0309/205639.756231:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: Vendor with value: Valve
[0309/205639.756236:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: Platform with value: Linux
[0309/205639.756893:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: UserID with value: 0
[0309/205639.756998:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: BuildID with value: 1709846872
[0309/205639.757004:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: SteamUniverse with value: Public
[0309/205639.757009:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: Vendor with value: Valve
[0309/205639.757013:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: Platform with value: Linux
Gtk-Message: 20:56:40.079: Failed to load module "colorreload-gtk-module"
Gtk-Message: 20:56:40.080: Failed to load module "window-decorations-gtk-module"
Gtk-Message: 20:56:40.080: Failed to load module "appmenu-gtk-module"
[0309/205640.102939:INFO:crash_reporting.cc(262)] Crash reporting enabled for process: gpu-process
[0309/205640.203666:WARNING:sandbox_linux.cc(385)] InitializeSandbox() called with multiple threads in process gpu-process.
[0309/205640.500334:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: UserID with value: 0
[0309/205640.541158:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: BuildID with value: 1709846872
[0309/205640.541194:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: SteamUniverse with value: Public
[0309/205640.541207:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: Vendor with value: Valve
[0309/205640.541218:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: Platform with value: Linux
[0309/205640.544398:INFO:crash_reporting.cc(239)] Crash reporting enabled for process: utility
[0309/205640.641154:INFO:crash_reporting.cc(262)] Crash reporting enabled for process: utility
[0309/205640.723519:INFO:crash_reporting.cc(262)] Crash reporting enabled for process: renderer
Requested Force create but SharedObjectMutex already created
Invalid browser dimensions: 0 x 0
src/webhelper/html_chrome.cpp (3435) : CefCurrentlyOn( TID_UI )
failed to create drawable
failed to create drawable
[0309/205648.599800:INFO:crash_reporting.cc(262)] Crash reporting enabled for process: renderer
[0309/205648.733131:ERROR:gl_surface_presentation_helper.cc(260)] GetVSyncParametersIfAvailable() failed for 1 times!
[0309/205648.739683:ERROR:gl_surface_presentation_helper.cc(260)] GetVSyncParametersIfAvailable() failed for 2 times!
[0309/205649.115543:ERROR:gl_surface_presentation_helper.cc(260)] GetVSyncParametersIfAvailable() failed for 3 times!
[0309/205654.663095:INFO:crash_reporting.cc(262)] Crash reporting enabled for process: renderer
[0309/205710.468181:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: UserID with value: 0
[0309/205710.468363:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: BuildID with value: 1709846872
[0309/205710.468374:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: SteamUniverse with value: Public
[0309/205710.468383:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: Vendor with value: Valve
[0309/205710.468391:WARNING:crash_reporting.cc(278)] Failed to set crash key: Platform with value: Linux
[0309/205710.469989:INFO:crash_reporting.cc(239)] Crash reporting enabled for process: utility
[0309/210550.704390:INFO:crash_reporting.cc(262)] Crash reporting enabled for process: renderer
[0309/235215.224865:INFO:crash_reporting.cc(262)] Crash reporting enabled for process: renderer
[0310/145159.609224:INFO:crash_reporting.cc(262)] Crash reporting enabled for process: renderer
src/webhelper/html_chrome.cpp (3435) : CefCurrentlyOn( TID_UI )
Invalid browser dimensions: 0 x 0
Invalid browser dimensions: 0 x 0
src/webhelper/html_chrome.cpp (3435) : CefCurrentlyOn( TID_UI )
[0310/145317.346480:INFO:crash_reporting.cc(262)] Crash reporting enabled for process: renderer
src/webhelper/html_chrome.cpp (3435) : CefCurrentlyOn( TID_UI )
Invalid browser dimensions: 0 x 0
src/webhelper/browsercomposer_gl.cpp (2092) : hPreviousSibling == 0
[0310/145330.023300:WARNING:connection.cc(41)] X error received.  Request: DestroyWindowRequest, Error: WindowError{.sequence = 17185, .bad_value = 35651677, .minor_opcode = 0, .major_opcode = 4}
[0310/150430.460512:WARNING:connection.cc(41)] X error received.  Request: DestroyWindowRequest, Error: WindowError{.sequence = 22007, .bad_value = 35651673, .minor_opcode = 0, .major_opcode = 4}

The only error message I see there that does not look similar to one that I see on a working system is src/webhelper/browsercomposer_gl.cpp (2092) : hPreviousSibling == 0. Perhaps that means something to a Steam developer?

[GhostCoder22]

I've just had yet another crash, and this time I managed to find the steamwebhelper.log file on my Fedora distro installation to be examined. Fedora's Problem Reporting app reports the error in the following screenshot:

Would whatever has been causing these unexpected crashes like the one reported here also cause these random intermittent "'steamwebhelper' is not responding" errors?

steamwebhelper.log

[GhostCoder22]

steamwebhelper crashed yet again, but this time after updating Steam. Here is yet another steamwebhelper crash log:
steamwebhelper.log

[smcv]

Would whatever has been causing these unexpected crashes like the one reported here also cause these random intermittent "'steamwebhelper' is not responding" errors?

Yes. If the steamwebhelper crashes, for any reason, then that will have two effects:

1. Steam will no longer be able to communicate with the steamwebhelper. The Steam user interface will disappear or freeze, and eventually the "'steamwebhelper' is not responding" error message will pop up.
2. If your OS has a crash reporting mechanism, it will see the crash and respond to it by trying to report it.

In your more recent logs, the situation looks similar to what I said in #10606 (comment), although with different messages logged. The container runtime is starting up correctly, and steamwebhelper starts, but then it crashes.

(That means I am unable to help with this further, because the part of the process that I'm involved with developing is working correctly; probably only a steamwebhelper developer within Valve would be able to diagnose or solve steamwebhelper crashes.)

[DanMan]

Steam ("steamwebhelper killed by SIGTRAP") keeps crashing for me on Fedora 41 w/ Nvidia, too. It drags the whole Gnome Shell down with it. When it happens, it's always when I re-focus the Steam client with the mouse while it's sitting behind my currently active window. Has been happening for weeks if not months now.

Steam Beta Branch: Steam Beta Update
Steam Version: 1734743608
Steam Client Build Date: Sat, Dec 21 02:01 UTC -08:00
Steam Web Build Date: Fri, Dec 20 22:57 UTC -08:00
Steam API Version: SteamClient021