Oculus App Wants Me to Update Again

If you want to sentinel Bigscreen's movies in VR but tin not get the Oculus Rift Due south to work, because of Display Port and USB 3.0 problems, there is a solution, but information technology does not come from Oculus Support.

Bigscreen and Paramount Pictures signed a multi-year agreement to distribute movies in Virtual Reality, and the first movies were distributed through the platform mid-December, with a  new batch of films being presented this Jan, including  Star Trek Beyond (2016), Star Expedition Into Darkness (2013), Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) all in 3D, and Interstellar (2014) in 2D. Next this January, its all 3D, with Transformers: The Last Knight (2017), Ghost in the Shell (2017), Terminator Genisys (2015) and Top Gun (1986).

The problem, though, is that, starting mid-Dec, many users, from consumers to content creators using the VR headset, take not been able to use their Oculus Rift  Due south to watch movies or do annihilation else, considering a software update forced by Oculus bricked thousands (numbers are not known) of headsets, and Oculus Support has no clue on how or when the problem will be solved.

Suddenly, PCs that worked with the Oculus Rift S without problems started to take USB iii.0 ports that would not work, DisplayPort faulty connections and constant "Restart Your Oculus Software" warnings. Using the Rift S became an intolerable lottery, in the exact calendar month that newcomers to Oculus VR opened their Christmas gifts, only to discover they had a $400 paperweight instead of a passport to virtual worlds. And to all this Oculus said cipher!

Oculus made it incommunicable, for many users, to sentinel Paramount Pictures movies using Bigscreen

Oculus, we've a problem

In fact, it appears equally Oculus does not want to admit publicly there is a problem, looking at the manner Oculus Support deals with the complaints from users. I experienced that myself, every bit my Oculus Rift S stopped working equally information technology should after the said update, and information technology became unbearable on December 20^th, when I got in touch with Oculus. I have spent the last month exchanging emails with Oculus Back up, sending them logs of my PC, posting in the forums, and getting in bear on with Oculus PR people, to try to find a solution.

The proposition from Oculus was a long listing of troubleshooting steps that are the usual things whatever PC savvy user does outset, and in this case they do not piece of work, of if they do, they will do and so momentarily and non solve the problem. Online, assist was not much amend, with the usual trolls, and suggestions like "remove your USB connectedness, wait v seconds and plug it in again to gear up the problem".

Others suggested that the problem was the USB 3.0 ports in many PCs, that practice not offer enough power to the Oculus Rift S, and the miracle solution announced was a PCI-east card with USB  three.0 ports, powered directly from the PSU. Oculus, apparently, fifty-fifty suggested a specific brand, the simply one that would work. Some other users suggested reinstalling Windows, buying a new motherboard or even a whole new figurer. Some others even said that using a PC VR headset is not something the common mortal can exercise, and you need to be an experienced PC user to be able to employ VR. They are wrong!

Many of the suggestions made past Oculus Support or available online contradict what one sees using the tools available in Windows

Oculus Support and hearsay

Following advice online is dangerous these days, and the paragraph above is a good instance, as if people believe in miracles or witchcraft, merely the solutions from Oculus were non better. Here are some of the suggestions:

• "Right now the workaround is to completely unplug the Rift Southward, restart the software, and plug information technology back in. I realize that is not and so convenient, but at least information technology allows use of the device."
• "We have heard from some customers that reverting to a previous Windows version corrected the problem. That might not be the best solution for anybody, but if it's possible, please try and let us know if it made a difference."
• "Try opting into the latest Public Examination Channel build of the Oculus software. We've included updates that should assist. If you are already opted in, please try opting out."

None of these solutions worked, and when I told Oculus Support I would not go back to a previous update of Windows 10, equally my install of the latest version, 1909, predates the start of the issues with the Oculus Rift South, and that their indication that "nosotros have heard from some customers" was not very reassuring, considering the misinformation already online, they had no reply to me. Apparently, they don't accept a clue.

Suddenly,  USB iii.0 ports in many computers stopped being recognized by the Oculus app

My VR PC now has 18 USB ports

Nevertheless, the trouble exists, as Oculus Back up has confirmed me in our exchange of emails, with notes equally these:

• "From what you are describing, this sounds like a known issue with the latest update of the Oculus software, which causes repeated restart messages. Nosotros are working on a fix for this but don't have an ETA correct now, and with the holidays, there will likely exist a delay in implementing it."
• "I do apologize for the lack of updates on this issue. The holidays slowed things downwards, but we are still working on the problem."
• "I wanted to let yous know that we take been testing some improvements to the software in the PTC. Could you try installing that update (version 13.0) and see if at that place is improvement?"
• "I am sad to hear that this update has non helped with the trouble. We are working hard to go this fixed, and it would be very helpful if you could send me a new set of logs with version 13 installed so we have more than data."

Having decided to try all solutions to better sympathise what was wrong, I acquired an USB-C to USB A adapter to my graphics carte du jour port, which should work, and it didn't. Then I bought a powered PCI-E USB three.0 expansion card, equally suggested, and information technology did not piece of work. At present, thank you to Oculus, I've a PC with a total of xviii USB ports, 14 of those USB 3.0 or USB 3.i… and the Rift S still did non piece of work, giving me a variety of error messages. In despair, I tried the Rift S in iii different computers:

• Intel i7–9700K/32GB RAM/RTX 2070/ NVMe SSD, SATA SSD/ Windows 10 Pro v 1909
• Intel i7–4770/16GB RAM/GTX 970/SATA SSD, HDD/ Windows x Pro v 1903
• AMD Ryzen nine 3900X/16GB RAM/RTX 2070/ NVMe SSD, SATA SSD / Windows ten Pro v 1909

and it didn't work, not even in the AMD car, which was congenital with a fresh install of Windows mid-December. The logical decision was articulate: this has to be a trouble with the software from Oculus, which worked fine with the Intel machines for more one year, first with the Rift and then with the Rift S (aside some initial problems when the Rift S was launched, in May 2019), hardware that the Oculus app says "is non compatible with Oculus".

The update that introduced Facebook functions to Oculus also brought Anarchy to what was, more or less, a stable platform

Oculus will not revert to a previous version

During the terminal three weeks I suggested to Oculus Support, multiple times, that they should let users to revert to a previous working version of the Oculus app –  software companies do it when something goes wrong – , while they would ready, internally, whatever caused the problem. I was told this:

• "While we are still working on a permanent fix for the problem, we practice look to the customs for other interim solutions that have worked.
• Nosotros do take this very seriously, and I can assure y'all that nosotros're trying to correct this issue. Unfortunately in that location is no fashion to revert to a previous version of the software.
• There has been another contempo update to version 13.0 in the PTC, so if you lot have a chance, please check it out and allow me know if there is any improvement."

That was my concluding contact with Oculus Support, every bit I don't see them solving the consequence, for reasons no 1 understands. The problem, though, has been solved, and information technology is, as many take said online, not a problem on the side of the users, but a problem that Oculus created, with its recent updates. I found the solution online, at Reddit, provided by a user named PoringOP, under the title: "Rift S Display Port Not Found Gear up: Driver Rollback & Detailed Instructions for Noobs & TL;DR for pr0s. :3".  She wrote this note with the solution: "Here'south what I did in a super mega like shooting fish in a barrel tutorial for people of all walks of reckoner nerdom (or lack thereof) initially reformatted & expanded from KevyB's comment in another mail service."

Finally, a solution… on Reddit

The solution, which is uncomplicated to follow,  reverts your Oculus Rift S to a previous firmware and makes the Oculus Rift S work again, something that Oculus Support has not been able to with their continued updates. The comments from those who take tried the solution confirm that it is working.

1 user, Potaso2, wrote this: "It was never a USB power effect… because I take tried EVERYTHING , including buying USB Expansion cards (the best 1 recommended by many), tried using USB Type C adapters, tried adding additional power using a USB y cablevision adapter, tried reinstalling, unplugging and reconnecting every cablevision possible. I even re-installed WINDOWS from scratch! Zippo would work. My Oculus worked fine prior to the update. Unfortunately, the app car updated to v12 and my headsets firmware to 2.2 and so I (any many others) got s****** until I was able to gyre dorsum the update back to 2.1/i.43."

The solution published past PoringOP stops the Oculus app from updating from Oculus, which, for at present, is the best solution anyone can find until Oculus Back up understands that they really have a problem, and determine to practise something nigh information technology. The multiple comments online practise suggest that many users are returning their Oculus Rift S, unable to go it to piece of work, which is really a compassion, because when information technology works, the Rift Due south is one of the most affordable solutions to enter the world of PC VR, even more then at present, as the presence of Vive in the consumer market place for VR seems doomed.

I am back in VR land now

Since activating the solution, I've rebooted, shutdown and powered up my PC multiple times, and  the green lights on my Oculus Rift Due south go along to glow, instead of those pesky error messages that kept me going under my desk to disconnect cables and connect them again, following Oculus Support suggestions. I was able, finally, after i month, to become back to work and go through the backlog of titles I've here to write near, with some exciting narratives that can only be told in VR, which I will cover in the coming weeks.

This Oculus Rift S problem is also affecting content creators, who use the Rift South to view their builds, so information technology is non only a consumer problem. Many of the complaints seen online come from the community of artists, as the abiding errors transform regular workflows in a lottery, as you never know if the Rift Southward will work or even if it volition not stop in the middle of something important. I've seen all types of errors appear, during the last month, some of them documented in the images that illustrate this article.

For those who don't want to miss the next cinema sessions from Bigscreen and Paramount Pictures, a solution to get your Rift S working again is waiting for you online. Just follow the link and in a few minutes, with the explanations given past PoringOP, you'll regain the access to virtual worlds. The last news on Oculus Support online, which I am monitoring, suggest they don't accept a inkling, yet.

At that place is a side effect to this, though: until Oculus finds a solution, yous tin can not download apps from the Oculus Shop. Only y'all can download apps from Steam or Vive, and then merely forget the Oculus Store for now, or else they will update your Rift Southward and probably brick information technology again…

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Source: https://www.provideocoalition.com/oculus-bricked-the-oculus-rift-s-here-is-how-to-fix-it/