[BUG] SteamVR crash on startup/general unreliability

[demonfiren]

Describe the bug
SteamVR failure shortly after first start-up; semi-random failure to detect headset thereafter; occasional failures on wake-up.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Start Steam
2. Start SteamVR
3. Confirm base station detection
4. SteamVR crashes (-203, vrcompositor failure)
5. Restart SteamVR
6. SteamVR fails to detect headset (496)
7. Exit SteamVR and reconnect headset
8. SteamVR may detect headset properly; sometimes freezes Steam entirely requiring process kill

Expected behavior
Clean launch and immediate functionality

System Information (please complete the following information):
Please use the latest Steam beta client and SteamVR beta for your bug reports!

• Steam client version (build number or date): 1782344391, build date Thu, Jun 25, 2026 1:24 AM UTC -08:00
• SteamVR version: Public, updated Jun 18, 2026
• Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): Arch
• Steam runtime diagnostics: diagnostics.txt
• Steam and SteamVR logs: steam-logs.tar.gz
• Minidumps: steam-minidumps.tar.gz

Screenshots
n/a

Additional context
Problem known since first system setup >1y ago; OS and software installed on then-new machine. Various attempts at rectification failed, notably switching mesa versions (this allowed SteamVR to function at all in the past, but it seems downgrades are no longer necessary).