Hi there,
Before I begin, here is a little background information on my hardware:
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z97M-DS3H
RAM: 16GB DDR3 Dual Channel (2 x 4GB Module in Slots 1 and 2, with an additional 8GB Module in Slot 3 added later on)
CPU: Intel I7-4790k (Socket 1150) Running at 4.40GHz
Cooler: Corsair H105 All-in-One
GPU: ASUS NVIDIA GTX 760, 2GB VRAM with Direct CUII Cooler (I know this is not really suitable for VR but I will get to that in a minute)
PSU: Corsair RM650 Gold+ Modular Supply
Miscellaneous: Also running my case fans with an NZXT Grid+ (v2) fan controller
As I mentioned above, I understand that my PC is far from the latest or greatest configuration but apart from the GPU it meets the minimum requirements for VR. And despite the fact that the GPU is pretty poor by today's standards, I am aware from looking at other forum posts that other people have been able to run their headsets with this GPU (on lowest settings). My intention was to get the Rift S now to firstly check whether the fixed IPD of the headset would be suitable for me, but also so that I could play some light VR now and hopefully get by long enough to upgrade my GPU when the next generation of NVidia or AMD cards launch (hopefully later this year). Anyway, onto the problem at hand...
I purchased a new Oculus Rift S from Overclockers on 10/04/2020, though this didn't arrive until 30/04/2020 (not Overclockers fault at all, just a long wait for stock from Oculus given current lockdown). Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to try the headset out until the evening of 03/05/2020.
After installing the Oculus Software and following the instructions to attach the headset, I did so and was informed that a firmware update was required. Up until this point there had been no issues whatsoever; the DisplayPort and USB 3 connections were both green and remained that way as long as the headset was plugged in. I proceeded to update the firmware and upon completing the update and launching into the Oculus software for the first time, I was greeted by an error message stating: "DisplayPort Connection Not Working". At first I thought I probably just need to restart my computer but after doing so this didn't fix anything. I unplugged and re-plugged my headset in and both the DisplayPort and USB icons would go green for about 3-5 seconds before suddenly the "DisplayPort Connection not Working" error would come up again.
I did a Google search for the issue, as well as looked around the forum, to see if there was an easy fix for the problem and came across many suggestions, the following of which I tried initially:
I then saw a post saying that reinstalling Windows 10 had worked for some people so I backed everything up to a spare HDD and completely wiped my primary drives and re-installed a fresh copy of Windows 10 Pro 64Bit. After installing all updates and the latest drivers again, I installed Oculus and still got the same issues!
I started to poke around the oculus diagnostics folder and tried launching the debug tool. I noted that running the Scene View showed that the inside out tracking was working perfectly fine and the headset was tracking the locations of the controllers (though no boundary was set). I toggled the visibility of the console and took a look at the debug code to see if there was anything obvious. I noted that a fairly persistent error involved NVDirectDisplay. This looked to be something to do with the NVIDIA drivers so I searched Google to see if anyone else had encountered a similar problem and found this post (https://forums.oculusvr.com/community/discussion/75763/rift-s-black-screen, Post #29) where the suggestion was made to try the NVIDIA 417.71 drivers. I figured I had nothing to lose so I downloaded them and after using Driver Display Uninstall, I proceeded to install the 417.71 drivers.
I rebooted into the latest Oculus software and... No error message! USB3 and DisplayPort are both Green. I launched the Device Setup and popped the headset on and the backlight came on. But that is all it does! The backlight comes on, sound plays for about 3 seconds before crashing and then the screen flashes white and the backlight turns off. After a little while the backlight will come on again and the process repeats... From looking at the debug console, it looks like the headset encounters an error and restarts in a loop. I have tried installing other NVIDIA drivers but any ones which are later that the 417.71 version don't even launch the backlight. I have even installed SteamVR and run the tutorial to see if that would work but it doesn't. Thought it does show on my main monitor what the headset should be seeing and the tracking is definitely working as it renders the controllers and tracks head movements perfectly! It just doesn't display anything at all in the headset...
I think I have reached the point where I have no idea how to proceed! I know that my GPU is very weak and will undoubtedly need to be replaced to get a good VR experience, however I had been hoping to hold off a while for this. I don't really know whether my headset is faulty or if simply purchasing a new GPU would fix it. I don't really want to buy a new GPU only to find out that this was not the solution but I can't see any other way to verify the issue? I am also not entirely sure how to start off the RMA procedure with Overclockers as the purchase is within the last 14 days so I assume any return would be handled this way rather than direct with Oculus?
Apologies for the long post but any help/support/suggestions would be much appreciated!
Before I begin, here is a little background information on my hardware:
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z97M-DS3H
RAM: 16GB DDR3 Dual Channel (2 x 4GB Module in Slots 1 and 2, with an additional 8GB Module in Slot 3 added later on)
CPU: Intel I7-4790k (Socket 1150) Running at 4.40GHz
Cooler: Corsair H105 All-in-One
GPU: ASUS NVIDIA GTX 760, 2GB VRAM with Direct CUII Cooler (I know this is not really suitable for VR but I will get to that in a minute)
PSU: Corsair RM650 Gold+ Modular Supply
Miscellaneous: Also running my case fans with an NZXT Grid+ (v2) fan controller
As I mentioned above, I understand that my PC is far from the latest or greatest configuration but apart from the GPU it meets the minimum requirements for VR. And despite the fact that the GPU is pretty poor by today's standards, I am aware from looking at other forum posts that other people have been able to run their headsets with this GPU (on lowest settings). My intention was to get the Rift S now to firstly check whether the fixed IPD of the headset would be suitable for me, but also so that I could play some light VR now and hopefully get by long enough to upgrade my GPU when the next generation of NVidia or AMD cards launch (hopefully later this year). Anyway, onto the problem at hand...
I purchased a new Oculus Rift S from Overclockers on 10/04/2020, though this didn't arrive until 30/04/2020 (not Overclockers fault at all, just a long wait for stock from Oculus given current lockdown). Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to try the headset out until the evening of 03/05/2020.
After installing the Oculus Software and following the instructions to attach the headset, I did so and was informed that a firmware update was required. Up until this point there had been no issues whatsoever; the DisplayPort and USB 3 connections were both green and remained that way as long as the headset was plugged in. I proceeded to update the firmware and upon completing the update and launching into the Oculus software for the first time, I was greeted by an error message stating: "DisplayPort Connection Not Working". At first I thought I probably just need to restart my computer but after doing so this didn't fix anything. I unplugged and re-plugged my headset in and both the DisplayPort and USB icons would go green for about 3-5 seconds before suddenly the "DisplayPort Connection not Working" error would come up again.
I did a Google search for the issue, as well as looked around the forum, to see if there was an easy fix for the problem and came across many suggestions, the following of which I tried initially:
- In accordance with Oculus' own help section, I have unplugged the headset and plugged the USB in first, waiting for 5 seconds and for the USB icon to go green before plugging in the DisplayPort. This simply caused the error message to appear.
- Again, as per Oculus' support page, I tried going to the Settings>Beta>Restart Oculus, but no luck.
- I have repaired the Oculus Software by downloading a new installer from their site and selecting the repair option just to make sure that there was no issues with the install. This has not worked either.
- I have enrolled in the Oculus Public Test Beta Channel and installed the updated software, drivers and firmware but the error continued to persist.
- I navigated to the Oculus install location and the Oculus-Diagnostics folder to re-install the drivers (both for the public beta version and latest release version) but this made no difference.
- I have tried to plug the headset into every USB3 port on my computer (6 total). Each of them works for the USB3 connection but in all of them the DisplayPort error appears. I only have one DisplayPort on my GPU so cannot try any others.
- I've removed the face gasket and unplugged and re-inserted the cable into the headset multiple times but to no avail.
- I have fully updated Windows 10 64-bit through Windows Update as well as using the update tool to ensure that I am up to date. This has had no effect.
- I have updated all of my hardware drivers using Driver Easy Update and checking my hardware manufacturer's sites. Again this has not had any effect.
- I have uninstalled and re-installed my USB3 drivers through device manager as this seems to have fixed issues for some but unfortunately has made no difference to me.
- I have made sure that I am using the latest NVIDIA Drivers (version 445.87 at the time of writing).
- I have gone into device manager and right-clicked>properties on all of my USB devices to set power management to not allow devices to sleep. I have also gone to the Windows power plan and ensured this setting is turned off there for my current plan (high-performance).
I then saw a post saying that reinstalling Windows 10 had worked for some people so I backed everything up to a spare HDD and completely wiped my primary drives and re-installed a fresh copy of Windows 10 Pro 64Bit. After installing all updates and the latest drivers again, I installed Oculus and still got the same issues!
I started to poke around the oculus diagnostics folder and tried launching the debug tool. I noted that running the Scene View showed that the inside out tracking was working perfectly fine and the headset was tracking the locations of the controllers (though no boundary was set). I toggled the visibility of the console and took a look at the debug code to see if there was anything obvious. I noted that a fairly persistent error involved NVDirectDisplay. This looked to be something to do with the NVIDIA drivers so I searched Google to see if anyone else had encountered a similar problem and found this post (https://forums.oculusvr.com/community/discussion/75763/rift-s-black-screen, Post #29) where the suggestion was made to try the NVIDIA 417.71 drivers. I figured I had nothing to lose so I downloaded them and after using Driver Display Uninstall, I proceeded to install the 417.71 drivers.
I rebooted into the latest Oculus software and... No error message! USB3 and DisplayPort are both Green. I launched the Device Setup and popped the headset on and the backlight came on. But that is all it does! The backlight comes on, sound plays for about 3 seconds before crashing and then the screen flashes white and the backlight turns off. After a little while the backlight will come on again and the process repeats... From looking at the debug console, it looks like the headset encounters an error and restarts in a loop. I have tried installing other NVIDIA drivers but any ones which are later that the 417.71 version don't even launch the backlight. I have even installed SteamVR and run the tutorial to see if that would work but it doesn't. Thought it does show on my main monitor what the headset should be seeing and the tracking is definitely working as it renders the controllers and tracks head movements perfectly! It just doesn't display anything at all in the headset...
I think I have reached the point where I have no idea how to proceed! I know that my GPU is very weak and will undoubtedly need to be replaced to get a good VR experience, however I had been hoping to hold off a while for this. I don't really know whether my headset is faulty or if simply purchasing a new GPU would fix it. I don't really want to buy a new GPU only to find out that this was not the solution but I can't see any other way to verify the issue? I am also not entirely sure how to start off the RMA procedure with Overclockers as the purchase is within the last 14 days so I assume any return would be handled this way rather than direct with Oculus?
Apologies for the long post but any help/support/suggestions would be much appreciated!
My card isn't compatible with the firmware update. Thanks for the suggestion though, I hadn't even considered there might be firmware to install that isn't included in the driver updates from NVIDIA!