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The Official Oculus Link cable is not working for me. Anyone else have this issue?

TuSwab
Honored Guest
My third-party cable works perfectly fine but I cannot enable Oculus Link with the $80 cable that I just received. The oculus software will detect that the quest is plugged in to my USB-C port, yet I get no pop up to turn on Oculus Link and It wont work manually either because the quest doesnt know its plugged in. 

I've submitted 2 support tickets with no response. I've also posted on reddit and I found that there are other users with this exact problem. They have also submitted tickets with no response. I'm about to send it back for a refund, but I really want this cable to work.
137 REPLIES 137

h.r.gargi
Heroic Explorer

enigma01 said:


kilogold said:
Your report confirms one thing. The signal request from the Link cable must be spoofed into a regular (copper) USB connection in order for a Thunderbolt3 port to emit the appropriate power response to the cable.


So why does my official Oculus cable work when connected to my Thunderbolt 3 backwards then (angled connector into PC), and other owners in this thread have reported the same?


This sounds strange. For me it works on my USB C Port only if I plug it into the headset first and then into the computer. If it is put into the computer first it causes a compatibility mode on the controller I can see in the device manager. Definitely a driver issue. 
Using a USB A to C active adapter ( I have this one https://www.angelbird.com/prod/usb-a-c-adapter-1817/) it works instantly and stable. 
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enigma01
Trustee

h.r.gargi said:

This sounds strange. For me it works on my USB C Port only if I plug it into the headset first and then into the computer. If it is put into the computer first it causes a compatibility mode on the controller I can see in the device manager. Definitely a driver issue. 


I tried that on mine also but made no difference for me, I still got the 'PC not detected' message within the headset. If I connected the angled connector into my PC it works, doesn't matter matter what order of connecting to PC or headset I take. Whatever cable end I connect to the PC or headset I always see these devices on my PC:

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h.r.gargi said:
Using a USB A to C active adapter ( I have this one https://www.angelbird.com/prod/usb-a-c-adapter-1817/) it works instantly and stable. 


I never purchased this cable with the intention of having to mess around with extenders or adapters etc, or having to connect it backwards and having several inches of cable stuck out the side of the headset. 

Both myself and three two others within this thread @Xerold and @ticklemedaly have reported the official cable working with Link when connected to Thunderbolt with the angled end connected to PC. So I think this shows this theory not correct:?


kilogold said:

Your report confirms one thing. The signal request from the Link cable must be spoofed into a regular (copper) USB connection in order for a Thunderbolt3 port to emit the appropriate power response to the cable.

Looks like the only way we (the consumers) can force the power output for the optic cable to match the output of a copper cable is by using adapters. Your last 100% success is due to having a full-copper setup (cable + adapter), making the machine consistently output the required power to drive the cable.



Myself and two others have had the cable working connected with angled end into the PC, with no adapters being used. 

MidnightDisplay
Explorer

enigma01 said:

Myself and two others have had the cable working connected with angled end into the PC, with no adapters being used. 



And then there's myself, who can't get it to run no matter which end I connect to the PC.

@kilogold 's theory about the fibre optic cable having a lower power draw seems plausible.
The cable worked when connected through a small bit of copper in the A to C adapter. Albeit, with a lot of stutter, but that is very likely down to the adapter bottleneck.

Hope they release V13 soon, and that one fixes the drivers for Thunderbolt. Hate to fiddle adapters and velcro ties for the Amazon cable.

MLTBlackDragon
Honored Guest
Hey guys,

I've ordered the Quest and I came across this thread online.

After reading a few of the comments, I think I might have a solution worth trying to fix the issue, especially on laptops.

On your left lower screen you have "Type here to search" type in "Display" and select "Display Settings"

Then scroll down all the way and just under "Multiple displays" select "Graphics settings"

Once there, click on Browse and select where the Oculus is stored, you want the main icon that launches the oculus app, not any shortcut.

Once you've added that, select "Options" and then select "High Performance"

And Voilá.

I suspect that the original link cable is detecting your "Power saving GPU" instead of your "High performance GPU".

For example, it might be reading through an Intel(R) HD Graphics 530 GPU instead of a Nvidia GTX 1080Ti and hence not detecting the device correctly.

Please do let me know if this works because once my Quest arrives, I would love for it to be problem free!

Evolvic
Adventurer
Hi everyone,

I had the exact same issue as most people in this thread and nothing worked.....until I tried something different.
Just for some background, I was plugging my headset into my Gigabyte Aero 15x v8 laptop through its usb-c thunderbolt 3 port and the pc Oculus app was mostly detecting that the headset was attached but the quest itself showed nothing, it just sat there in its home environment.
The link worked fine using a 3rd party cable plugged into a usb 3 port on the laptop so I know that it worked with the laptop, just not with the official Link cable.

After trying everything else I decided to try one last thing....switch off developer mode and then reboot your headset, the reboot is the important bit as just switching dev mode off in the app isn’t enough.
Anyway after doing these 2 steps and letting the headset reboot I then plugged the official Link cable back into the Quest and the pc and boom!!....everything works perfectly now.

I realise this might still not be the fix for some people but its worth giving it a shot because if you are like me then nothing else worked.....this absolutely did!

I hope it helps!

enigma01
Trustee

Evolvic said:
After trying everything else I decided to try one last thing....switch off developer mode and then reboot your headset, the reboot is the important bit as just switching dev mode off in the app isn’t enough.


I can’t try this as I don’t even have dev mode enabled. 

Evolvic
Adventurer

enigma01 said:


Evolvic said:
After trying everything else I decided to try one last thing....switch off developer mode and then reboot your headset, the reboot is the important bit as just switching dev mode off in the app isn’t enough.


I can’t try this as I don’t even have dev mode enabled. 


Sorry buddy, I realise that this might not be applicable to everyone.
I hope you find a solution that works for you.

yanickpaquette
Honored Guest
Surprise.
Reversing the cable, That is plugging the L shape plug in the computer and that Straight one In the Quest, makes the Cable finally work! It's a bit odd with that wire sticking out of the headset, but hey, better that than to deal with Occulus amazingly inefficient costumer service.

Anonymous
Not applicable

enigma01 said:


kilogold said:
Your report confirms one thing. The signal request from the Link cable must be spoofed into a regular (copper) USB connection in order for a Thunderbolt3 port to emit the appropriate power response to the cable.


So why does my official Oculus cable work when connected to my Thunderbolt 3 backwards then (angled connector into PC), and other owners in this thread have reported the same?




Surprise.
Reversing the cable, That is plugging the L shape plug in the computer and that Straight one In the Quest, makes the Cable finally work! It's a bit odd with that wire sticking out of the headset, but hey, better that than to deal with Occulus amazingly inefficient costumer service.


I need to know how consistent that result is.
If you do this 10 times, are you saying you successfully connected all 10 times?
I tried reconnecting 6 times, it only connected twice....
I'm not the only one:



enigma01 said:

Myself and two others have had the cable working connected with angled end into the PC, with no adapters being used. 



And then there's myself, who can't get it to run no matter which end I connect to the PC. 


So if it indeed works consistently for you - @enigma01 @Xerold @tic@ticklemedaly
It would be helpful to share your machine make/model/year (I'm assuming these are all laptops)

enigma01
Trustee

kilogold said:
It would be helpful to share your machine make/model/year (I'm assuming these are all laptops)


Yep, I've tried more than 10 times and has worked every time. It takes a little longer to launch into Oculus home with the official cable than my cheap cable actually, but once launched and in Oculus home and gaming I see no performance difference. 

My laptop is an Acer Triton 500 PT515-51-7565 Year 2019 (RTX 2080 Max Q Version)

I have today received a reply from Oculus email support. They offered to RMA for a replacement, they made no mention of any possibility of Thunderbolt incompatibility or driver / software issue etc.