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No Sound from Rift Headphones after Playing a few Minutes

Oimann
Explorer

Hi,

i have the Problem, that the Sound of my Rift Headphones doenst work after some time. When I start Oculus Home the Sound out of the Headphones is fine. Somtimes after 5 Minutes, sometimes after 1 hour, the Headphones stop working. If i restart Oculus Home, the Sound is back again. Using my own Headphones with my Soundcard, there is no Problem.

Is this a known issue? Any work around to fix it?  

88 REPLIES 88

TFWPrimus
Explorer
I haven't had much time to look into this issue further. It does happen to me every time I try to use the Rift. I'm tempted to try plugging the HMD USB cable into a USB 2.0 port to see if that changes anything. I'm really not sure what it could be.

I imagine it's some kind of USB driver conflict or something. Resetting the Oculus software resets the drivers as far as I know. The question is what would cause an audio driver to cut out after a few minutes. Maybe has something to do with power savings but that doesn't really make sense.

One thing I noticed is that now that my Rift is plugged in my main monitor never goes off due to inactivity like it used to. Even when nobody has been using the computer for hours.

Anwar89
Honored Guest
Update: I fixed my sound issue cutting out! I went to device manager and right clicked on my VIA HD device and chose look for new updates and did automatic search, a driver began downloading for a windows 10 version, so now my VIA HD says win 10 next to it, my oculus sound is working great now thankfully! Hope this helps fellow rifters 🙂

olejorgenb
Honored Guest
Maybe worth a shot: https://forums.oculus.com/vip/discussion/comment/385592/#Comment_385592

melkorthegreat
Honored Guest
I'm suffering from this too.

alungd
Honored Guest
Yeah I have this issue as well. First I only noticed it with Elite Dangerous, where of course the sound doesn't work at all unless you change the default windows playback device to be the rift headphones, but even then it will cut out at a random time. But I also get it with other apps and games (just had it with Farlands) where it cuts out and the only way to get it back is to disable the rift headphones playback device and re-enable. I think restarting Home also fixes it.

Also I have noticed some static after playing for a while as well, not sure if that's related but it can be really annoying. Don't think its hardware as it works great for a while, It does sound like a software/driver issue..

MrPark94
Protege
i sometimes have only audio from 1 side in the headphones.. i have the inateck recomendend usb 3.0 hub.
sometimes switching from usb port helps. but sometimes not.
i also sometimes get the cant reach oculus services,youre oculus may be updating message.. i think that is related..becausse when i get that messaga,the problem with the audio starts again.
any ideas how to fix this.. its driving me crazy..tx in advance

haapavuo
Protege
Same issue here. Loosing sound after playing a few minutes of Dead & Buried. Had to leave several lobbies because of this... Really annoying. PLEASE FIX IT OCULUS.

haapavuo
Protege
Still happens on my Windows 10. I have my Oculus Rift connected to an external POWERED USB 3.0 hub which has no problems with other devices. I was playing SportsBar VR for about 15 minutes today and lost sound.

Bigtime88
Protege
I have the same intermittent problem but my feeling is it's because I'm using a PCIe USB3 card rather than having a really up to date system with plenty of USB3 sockets

SirGrumpyBear
Explorer


Update 2 - These two items most likely will help you with a definitive answer to the sound failing problem.

  1. Cable worn issue - When I first got my rift, I used extension cables no problem. After my HMD cable was getting worn/mangled  near where it connects to the headstrap from general use it caused the degradation to reach a point where the signal wasn't strong enough to use extension cables. Eventually even without extension cables it would fail. I ordered a new cable (yeah I know $50 ish) and I can now use extension cables again no problem.
  2. Static issue - I noticed that with my brand new cable and not even using extension cables my sound would randomly stop, the oculus software would register the alert headset not connected error. I finally connected this part of the problem to being static buildup/discharge from moving around. I took a 12 gauge stranded wire I had laying around (yeah I am a total geek, and the size of it isn't very important. Just need to make sure it is as flexible as your HMD cable.) I connected that to a ground wire source (I have an unfinished basement I connected it to my metal beam). I ran the wire along the HMD cable and occasionally connected it via black electrical tape every 2 foot ish. At the headset end I looped it through the little loop that is on the left side of the headset strap triangle and then removed some of the wires insulation at the end. I finally took an existing typical ground strap that you use for computer repair and connected the wire of that with electrical tape to my grounding wire. The strap then I put on my left wrist while playing. No more sound drops even when using my extension cables for the HMD side. I can easily play robo-recall without the grounding wire getting in the way.

Update - At this time, I have found that removing the extension cables has solved this problem for the time being.


Has there been any definitive fix for this issue yet? I have the same problem with my sound only in Oculus HMD stops working during gameplay. If I return to Oculus home, you still cant hear anything like the fireplace. Although if bring up a web browser and play a youtube video outside of the headset my speakers work. Inside the headset no sound. I have all the latest drivers and I can workaround the problem by restarting Oculus Software. But this solution sucks as you have no idea when during the game the sound is going to die.

Here are my pc setup details and how I have my sensors and headset laid out:

Windows 10 Pro 64Bit installed on C: (500 GB Samsung EVO 850)
Oculus installed on my separate drive all by itself F: (500 GB Samsung EVO 850)
Nvidia Geforce GTX 980 Ti - Oculus HMD plugged in - with extension cable
32 GB of RAM
intel core i7 6700k
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z170X Gaming 3 (link here: http://www.gigabyte.us/Motherboard/GA-Z170X-Gaming-3-rev-10#ov)
Inateck PCIE card 4 port - HMD USB Connection connected - with extension cable
Inateck PCIE card 5 port - Left Rear Oculus Sensor
Back of PC motherboard USB 3.0 - Left Front Oculus Sensor 
Front of PC motherboard USB 2.0 - Right Front Oculus Sensor
Back of PC Keyboard/Mouse USB ports - keyboard and mouse
I have nothing else plugged into usb ports
I have tried all variations of the Realtek HD audio manager and ended up just simply disabling it from ever starting up.
I have disabled the soundblaster audio software completely from starting up.
I have tried running a separate brand/chipset of a second PCIE usb expansion card and it did not work either.
I have tried moving the sensors around to other ports and have found no combination that works long term.
I have updated my motherboards BIOS to the latest version.

Any other suggestions?