Right side audio issues, take care while under warranty

LopinRD

So a common issue with the Rift over time is losing audio on the right side when moving the strap. Its an internal problem with the strap/ribbon connection.

Im out of warranty by a month so i got my RMA rejected logically.... Ive taken care of this thing a LOT, since i saved a LOT to buy it first day. Used 6 hours weekly max, in seated games (racing sims etc) ocasionally Onwards. Noone else uses it, its always stored safely. And i still got this issue, so im confident it wasnt wear or abuse or anything.

While i dont regret buying it, i do regret trying out new tech without checking the support it would have. Now im out without the stock audio option, cant buy the parts, cant send it for repairs, cant pay for repairs. Gotta use headphones and be done with it and hope i dont lose the rear led tracking since its the same ribbon for audio and tracking....

I dont know if its fair or not, but as a consumer who made a sacrifice first day to support and enjoy this thing, i didnt expect it to have this ending.... 

I can only wish for you guys to take advantage of the warranty if you ever notice anything with it in regards of audio doing anything funny on the right side while moving the strap on your head. I know some of my friends are getting ready to send them to RMA due to weird colors or lens markings or anything they find since they are almost out of warranty and they know im not kidding when i tell them about this issue.

For those outside warranty with this problem, ill take a week to study how the rift is opened and ill find a technician to help me check and fix the ribbon. Ill make a review on anything i see that would indicate why or how it fails. Lots of pics will be taken along with detailed guide of how to fix it..... if i get to fix it....

Thanks to the guys in support, no thanks to the upper guys on the chain who dont have a helping hand for people who suffer from this issue and wont ever get help with it.

snowdog

You would have thought that they would have some sort of extended warranty for these audio issues or would allow RMAs for them. Luckily I'm in the UK so we have a 2 year warranty on these things. I have to say that for a country that stereotypically takes everyone to court every five minutes the consumer protection in the US is pretty piss poor. 

LopinRD

snowdog said:

You would have thought that they would have some sort of extended warranty for these audio issues or would allow RMAs for them. Luckily I'm in the UK so we have a 2 year warranty on these things. I have to say that for a country that stereotypically takes everyone to court every five minutes the consumer protection in the US is pretty piss poor. 

You are lucky, when i read about the EU having that, i was envious to say the least lol. I know for SURE than on my next VR headset i will look into this further, i wont buy again if this s... is gonna be like this (no parts for sale, no repairs outside warranty, cant even pay for it, 1 year warranty, no extensions offered.)

Sharpfish

is this in no way user fixable? is it embedded in the strap that wraps around the back (so basically sealed in at the factory?). Any way to avoid it (less stretching of strap?). I had a vive wand go out in the short time I had it, and I fixed it (ribbon cable becomes disconnected internally with a hit to the wall.. *ahem*) that was annoying but at least fixable.

flexy123

It is "in theory" fixable but even for someone with soldering/electronics skills, it would be a PITA.
What happens is that the ribbon which goes from some internal connector in the Rift then inside the headstrap and then around the rift breaks....most of the time (not sure here, tho) somewhere close to the connector in the Rift near one of the boards. The ribbon also powers the LEDs in the back of the device.

https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/qqqE2EpKdMHliU4r.huge

First, it's a major PITA to even open the strap (at least as I see it), with a high risk to rip out the ribbon and break even more.

One would need to find where the ribbon broke, and then bridge-over the broken traces (the ribbon carries 5 traces) with something like a flat cable like a network cable. Whether this is even solderable at all is questionable, since plastic melts. There is only ONE person (somewhere here on the forum or reddit) who managed to do this and who could fix his rift by making such a "bridge". There is another person who did a very elaborate job, but he couldn't fix it, despite his job looking pretty "pro". (I guess he missed where the ribbon actually broke).

Also..there may be some other far-fetched ways to the fix the broken ribbon, maybe with the help of transparent adhesive tape and conductive silver paint. I COULD see this being possible, but this is just theory.

EliteSPA

In Europe is 2 years warranty, mine has been replaced 2 weeks ago, I had it since May 2016, I think you have the right for a replacemente cause its a known issue. I had the same problem as you, good luck man!

cleanupdisc

You can still buy the oculus headphone earplugs? Or you are able to use a third party headset right? Are both of those options?

Aqokka

This is going to make me paranoid. My right ear doesn't work so I can see myself demoing this 15 months down the line and people being "This is cool, but only half the audio works"

flexy123

cleanupdisc said:

You can still buy the oculus headphone earplugs? Or you are able to use a third party headset right? Are both of those options?

No, actually you can not use the Oculus Earplugs because they also use the internal USB sound on the same connection as the original headphones. And it's the internal connection itself which is borked, not the speakers. But you can of course use ANY other type of normal headphones/earplugs and then use the sound output from your PC.

If I had to do it again, I would use a standard extension cable for audio (which you can get everywhere), zip-tie it to the normal Rift cable for about the same length, so the output connector for speakers would come out somewhere within arm's reach to easily connect external headphones.

Better solution (of course all this assumes you're out of warranty and you have some basic DIY skills): Connect the audio extension from the PC to the original Rift headphones, respective mod these and add a headphone plug to them.

BoxDroppingManApe

Managed to get mine replaced a couple of weeks before the warrenty ended, so I dodged a bit of a bullet there.

idimmu

Eh, thankfully I live in the UK, so 2 year warrenty for manufactor faults thank god, if it lasts 2 years without breaking, I wont be quite so heart broken if it does die after that. Will of had a good run.

lecris_tr

Good evening, I bought various viewers and all have the same problem, first to the right and then also to the left.
I have an out-of-warranty viewer, I opened it and unfortunately there is no good news, the side strap is heat sealed and the flexible cable inside breaks punctually on the fold, it is impossible to weld unless losing the movement of the right belt and therefore the adjustment is not as comfortable as before. What's worse, for the one under warranty I sent all the documentation to open an RMA for over a month, sent 8 reminder emails and no one has deigned to answer me. Will they be waiting for the guarantee to expire?