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White Static Flashes in Rift S

misfitpunish3r
Honored Guest
Hello all,

Wanted to post this in the forums to see of anyone else is having a similar issue, in hopes that I'm not the only one or perhaps someone has already contacted Oculus to see if it's a software issue or not.

I'm having intermittent white (kind of like static) flashes every now and then. They're completely at random and happen in Oculus home and all the VR games I've tried with it (Marvel Powers United, Onward, Blade and Sorcery, Beat Saber)

Any info (other than "I'm not having any issues at all") is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
415 REPLIES 415

Borscht4eVR
Heroic Explorer
Just a guess here based on personal observations - the issue appears to be exacerbated by heat.

If I unplug my headset and leave it so for the night, the first 30-60 min of subsequent use tend to be free of any problems. But once the headset gets nice and toasty, the issues start to pile up at increasing rate.

Also noticed more frequent problems on warm days and in bright VR scenes. For example, playing Alien Isolation in VR (dark scenes) after the headset was sufficiently cooled, will often lend 60 min of play with no issues. But if I jump into something bright, like Talos Principle, I get noise in the first 20 min of play.

Can anyone confirm this? Or perhaps provide evidence to the contrary, so I'm not barking up the wrong tree?

lensmandave
Superstar


Just a guess here based on personal observations - the issue appears to be exacerbated by heat.

If I unplug my headset and leave it so for the night, the first 30-60 min of subsequent use tend to be free of any problems. But once the headset gets nice and toasty, the issues start to pile up at increasing rate.

Also noticed more frequent problems on warm days and in bright VR scenes. For example, playing Alien Isolation in VR (dark scenes) after the headset was sufficiently cooled, will often lend 60 min of play with no issues. But if I jump into something bright, like Talos Principle, I get noise in the first 20 min of play.

Can anyone confirm this? Or perhaps provide evidence to the contrary, so I'm not barking up the wrong tree?


Wrong tree I think. I've had a flash seconds after putting on the headset while still in Home. Other times one may turn up a couple of hours later.
Intel Core i7 6700K @ 4.5GHz. Asus-Z170-PRO MB - Nvidia RTX 3080 ti - 16GB DDR4 2666MHZ HYPERX SAVAGE.

mashermets
Explorer
I'd agree I just had one minutes after putting hmd on. We just have to wait for them to sort it with an update, be nice to know what causes it tho : /

mashermets
Explorer
I normally get a couple an hour I had loads in half hour playing euro truck sim 2 last night. 

MowTin
Expert Trustee

mhajii210 said:

Guys just try to be patient. I know we all want the static flashes to go away but obviously if it was an easy fix Oculus would have fixed it by now. You will drive yourself crazy if you keep attempting to fix it yourself. I replaced my cable and it made no difference. I've pretty much given up as far as trying to correct it from my end and I'm waiting now for Oculus to release a firmware update that will hopefully reduce or resolve the static flashes.


But I've seen these issues before. When I tried to use an HDM to displayport adapter with my cv1 I got those kinds of issues. The problem had to do with the quality of the adapter and the cable. 

It's possible that Lenovo / Oculus just used cheap parts. There's no fix for that. Unless, they develop a new cable that does a better job transmitting the signal. 
i7 9700k 3090 rtx   CV1, Rift-S, Index, G2

mhajii210
Expert Protege

MowTin said:


mhajii210 said:

Guys just try to be patient. I know we all want the static flashes to go away but obviously if it was an easy fix Oculus would have fixed it by now. You will drive yourself crazy if you keep attempting to fix it yourself. I replaced my cable and it made no difference. I've pretty much given up as far as trying to correct it from my end and I'm waiting now for Oculus to release a firmware update that will hopefully reduce or resolve the static flashes.


But I've seen these issues before. When I tried to use an HDM to displayport adapter with my cv1 I got those kinds of issues. The problem had to do with the quality of the adapter and the cable. 

It's possible that Lenovo / Oculus just used cheap parts. There's no fix for that. Unless, they develop a new cable that does a better job transmitting the signal. 


I definitely agree that Oculus should release an official statement and provide an update as far as what they have found, what they're still looking into, and what they are going to do about it. At this time, without any information from Oculus, it's possible it's a hardware or software problem. It's pretty sad to be still just as clueless as we were a month ago, but that's the reality of the situation. For me I usually get 1-2 static flashes early on in Fallout 4 VR (so not a heat issue), and 1-2 per hour from then on. I've only seen the static flashes while playing Fallout 4 VR, and I haven't tested it with any other game. Since my static flashes are not that frequent, I'm tolerating it and waiting patiently. If they were happening more often though, I would have definitely returned the headset. 

mhajii210
Expert Protege
Guys one thing I was thinking about... is there any way to turn off the monitor once the headset is connected to see if that gets rid of the static flashes? I know I can unplug the monitor, but is there a way to do it inside Windows 10 to test? I know people were having problems with a dual monitor set-up, and they solved their black screen problems by disabling the secondary monitor. It seems the Rift S is really pushing things too hard. 

Anonymous
Not applicable

mhajii210 said:

Guys one thing I was thinking about... is there any way to turn off the monitor once the headset is connected to see if that gets rid of the static flashes? I know I can unplug the monitor, but is there a way to do it inside Windows 10 to test? I know people were having problems with a dual monitor set-up, and they solved their black screen problems by disabling the secondary monitor. It seems the Rift S is really pushing things too hard. 

Yep I certainly can not run my secondary monitor whilst using Rift S due to black screen issue, with it disabled no problem at all. Keep hoping it will get fixed in an update , will see. Support seemed to think I would be a rare case.

hashcheck
Protege
I am running second monitor and new unit arrived not flashes so far. All running from a laptop fullsize DVI and HDMI connections. Helios 500 gtx1070. Not sure why my flashes stopped maybe something in background. I did put all oculus services to high in task manager 

Mnemonic
Protege

hashcheck said:

I am running second monitor and new unit arrived not flashes so far. 


Please try it for a day / two, before writing "no flashes so far", it's pretty much every day for me "no flashes so far" before there are flashes. Flashes are very random, sometimes they are there within minutes, sometimes after an hour or more.