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Oculus Rift S Blinking to Black Screen

Gamist
Honored Guest
So my Oculus Rift S was working great for months since I purchased it back in April this year and I was playing with it a lot.  Then I got really involved in some Total War games for about a month, but afterwards I wanted to play some VR again.  So I booted up my Rift S and Oculus said there was an update so as always I applied it, and after it was done I put the headset on and everything starts booting up normally.  It goes to my custom Oculus home area, and after about 30 seconds the lenses go black, but only for about 3 seconds and then I can see my home area again.  But after another 30 seconds it goes black again, except this time it doesn't come back on.

I can still hear all the sounds and music playing from the Oculus home area, but the lenses are just black.  Now here are the things I've tried to remedy this problem.

-Unplugged and replugged in the USB and Display - It comes back on but does the blinking black screen again and then nothing.
-Unplugged and replugged in the cable in the headset again to see if it was loose - It didn't fix it.
-Uninstalled and reinstalled the Oculus Software - Nope, nothing changed.
-Checked to make sure it was getting enough power when it was connected - Yep, plenty of power, but still doesn't work.
-Double checked to make sure that Power Saving was not shutting off any of my ports to USB or display - Nope it's all good, but still doesn't work.

This seems to have happened ever since the last firmware update, but I can't be sure.  I have searched for this problem in numerous places online and have not seemed to find anyone else who's had this exact problem.  The only thing I'm sure of is that every time I reset my Oculus to try and fix it, it will always do the two blinks to black screen as I described above.  30 seconds blink to black for 3 seconds, and then screen back on for another 30 seconds, and then permanent black screen with audio.

I've done my best to describe this problem, and I seriously hate to think that my Oculus is dead after only a few months of fun ownership.  I had a hard time even finding a Rift S during this pandemic, and I hate the idea of trying to spend the money on a replacement.
9 REPLIES 9

mav360
Explorer
I`ve recently had this exact same issue, its sometimes after longer periods of play, its not consistent, some times a few minutes or maybe 20 or 30 mins, screen goes black, comes back and then dies completely. I have a call logged with Oculus support and have sent plenty of diagnostics to them, they have requested my headset and lead to be sent to them for replacement. Mine is still within warranty period like yours would be so if it is a hardware issue I would be confident Oculus support will assist you in replacing the headset.

I dont have a fix for your issue im afraid, but definitely recommend you log a call with Oculus Support and after some analysis and diagnostics i`m sure they will help out.

Kiddo_Kris
Honored Guest
exactly same problem with you. black screen after about 30s of use and the graphic back again for another 30

regis_limare
Honored Guest
same problem since the last update, it's really annoying 

C0d3k1d
Honored Guest
im having the same problem. im sure its some shitty oculus update

mav360
Explorer
Looking at the comments coming in, thinking this is definitely a software update issue rather than a hardware problem?!

Anonymous
Not applicable
I'm having the exact same problem. It works well when I'm in the oculus home and then when I go into a game it goes black, then back to normal, and then it goes black again but this time it is permanent. Hopefully an oculus dev can get in here and help us out lmao.

TheMike956
Explorer
Hi,

Check my topic on this forum, I have done a lot steps trying to fix it. The only soultion for me which have helped is replacing the cable.

If you know someone with a working headset, try asking their cable for some time and then make a decision on purchasing your own replacement.

KICKASSHERO
Protege
try this from our old posts >>>>>>>>>

'after update no video on RIFT CV1 HMD (solved)'

ranruyPosts: 3 
 NerveGear
July 28 edited July 28
I found a solution to my problem where the video isn't showing. I can't post the link because I haven't been around on here long error nonsense.  Just google  - Oculus app update 1.39 might lock you out of using it if you`re on Windows 7 reddit - and it should be the first link. There's a guy on there that has instructions to download and replace the oculus-runtime folder and the oculus-dash folder. Hopefully this will help others having this problem

<<<<<<
**** Check for WINDOWS 10 runtimes, or save a copy from a fresh install before the updates if you still have a legacy installer. Make sure to stop the Oculus service before replacing files, and restart service once finished files.
REPLACE YOUR RUNTIME FILES, THE LINKS ARE IN THE REDIT POSTS WHEN YOU FIND IT. 
Try it and see if it works, if its is truly the updates that is crashing everyone's headsets.
 My family and friends like the VR experience but I will never ever in my life recommend Oculus due to these forced updates that breaks systems and leaves the broken!

Scrollwing
Honored Guest

I know this is a kinda old thread, but since you said in the original post that you haven't been able to find anyone with this exact problem, I thought I'd chime in. I am having the EXACT same problem. I can play for about 5 minutes, then the screen blinks to a black screen before shutting off for about 3 seconds. It comes back on for a few seconds before blinking to black and shutting off again.

 

The head and hand tacking still works. I was able to climb a ladder blind thanks to my wife guiding me by watching the game on my monitor, which was kinda fun. I took off the headset, covered the sensor with my thumb, and was able to move the headset around in game, and even navigate to the exit button in game without wearing the headset. So hands and head tracking is definitely still there.

 

I've tried pretty much everything in this thread and every other thread I can find with similar problems. This is the only thread I found with the exact same problem I'm having and I still have no idea what to do to fix this.

 

I'm 100% sure it's a software problem. This is the first time I've used my Rift S since it's last update early December, but in November alone I played about 30 hours of Legendary Tales, and everything worked fine.

 

If I shut down the oculus app and start it again the headset works again for about 5 minutes. I've also noticed that it only blacks out like this in game (including oculus home), but if your just on the oculus dashboard it doesn't seem to black out. I have mine set to not open home on launch, and it never blacked out. I sat there for a good 30 minutes with a timer while watching youtube and waiting. It never blacked out.

 

I played Legendary Tales, Electronauts, Blade & Sorcery, The Forest (in steamVR mode), and into the Radius on steam. I played A Township Tale on both Oculus and SteamVR. And I sat in the Oculus home. All caused the same thing.