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How to fix Gear VR not launching when phone is plugged in?

Anonymous
Not applicable
Hello fellow VR explorers  :smile: 

I have a question - one that has been asked (kind of), but rarely at that.
What happens to me, is that after I plug the phone in, OCCASIONALLY the Oculus connection sound will be heard.
Whether it does or doesn't, doesn't matter. It still only shows a black screen and a small white "x" in the left hand bottom corner.
When disconnecting the phone from the Gear VR, I get a brief "Calibrating Gear VR" message, and then the display returns to the home screen.

My Gear VR does not work on my phone (which is a Galaxy S6), but it seems to working flawlessly with a friends Galaxy Note.
So I can at least establish that the problem is within the phone. 

Solutions I've tried so far:

Soft reset the phone
Hard reset the phone
Update the phone to newest android build
Apply more pressure when plugging in the phone to the Gear
"Wiggling" the phone when plugging in
Installing custom roms / old android builds

Absolutely nothing is working and I've gone to EVERY phone repair shop to request assistance, but they all just didn't know either.

ANY HELP IS VERY, VERY, appreciated.
1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

Anonymous
Not applicable
The results are in:

Best Buy's Samsung representative allowed me to (after much convincing) test my Gear VR on different devices. As it turns out, it was actually an error within the Gear VR, allowing it to only work on the Note 4. So yes, my Gear VR was defective, and I had it replaced with a brand new one for no cost and everything is now working as intended.

Note to future viewers:
IF THE GEAR VR NEVER BOOTS UP, EVEN AFTER INSTALLATION, THE GEAR VR IS DEFECTIVE.

Case closed.

View solution in original post

68 REPLIES 68

Anonymous
Not applicable
Quick update: Called Samsung support. They said (even after telling them my Gear VR headset worked on a Note 4 with no problems) that I need to visit a Best Buy, where they can test my Gear on other Samsung Galaxy phones themselves to establish that it is in fact, not on the headset's end.

They gave me no more information as to what will be done to fix my issue.

Anonymous
Not applicable
Which version of the Gear VR do you have?

 I'm pretty sure the version you got that works with the Note 4 isn't the same as the version that works with the S6. They have a different gear vr because the Note 4 and S6 are different sizes.

Anonymous
Not applicable
From what I was aware, there is the innovator and consumer. I have the cconsumer version. I am aware that the innovator is limited while the consumer is available for muliple Galaxy devices including Note 4 AND my Galaxy S6.

Thanks for trying to help though!

Anonymous
Not applicable
This is such a huge question very recently. Why is this not being solved?
Anyway, I am listening to Samsung support and going to get my headset tested on even more devices at Best Buy. Posting results here.

Jinnisaurus
Expert Protege
MaiNaym said:


This is such a huge question very recently. Why is this not being solved?
Anyway, I am listening to Samsung support and going to get my headset tested on even more devices at Best Buy. Posting results here.


Just a question. has ur phone on gear vr worked before?

Anonymous
Not applicable
The results are in:

Best Buy's Samsung representative allowed me to (after much convincing) test my Gear VR on different devices. As it turns out, it was actually an error within the Gear VR, allowing it to only work on the Note 4. So yes, my Gear VR was defective, and I had it replaced with a brand new one for no cost and everything is now working as intended.

Note to future viewers:
IF THE GEAR VR NEVER BOOTS UP, EVEN AFTER INSTALLATION, THE GEAR VR IS DEFECTIVE.

Case closed.

chinoy
Explorer
people are mixing up the gear vr made only for the note 4 with the new gear vr made for the s6 and s7

Anonymous
Not applicable
I can assure you, the Gear VR I previously had was the Consumer Edition. The Innovator Edition only worked on Note 4, as mine (the Consumer Edition) was supposed to work on Note 4 and Galaxy S6/S7. The problem was ithat simply didn't, and declared defective.

vovo
Honored Guest
My Consumer Edition Gear VR is now doing the same thing. I also noticed the white x on the corner and it moved from one corner to the other. I know the problem is not with the Gear VR as I have two of them and two S6s as well. The wife phone works fine with either Gear VR, mine doesn't work with neither.

So it's either a software or hardware problem with my phone. Stock, no root. Tried uninstalling/reinstalling the Oculus software and noticed that a couple apps could not be uninstalled.

I get two kinds of errors, and none of it is with the power cord attached. One error is the "calibrating Gear VR" screen. Which I noticed gets calibrated sometimes but just for a second and then freezes again. The other is the BSOD with the white x on the lower corners. One at a time. Tried pressing the x with no luck, maybe need a third hand and pen to do it.

For a while I thought the Gyroscope on the phone was borked but I learned that the Gyro is in the headset. And the headset works fine with another phone. So maybe the "calibrating gear vr" is not the problem but something else is slowing the cpu so much that the message is just a consequence of the freeze, not a cause. I dunno.

I have the two com.falsebook apps but I haven't done a hard reset as it doesn't seem to matter.

My next move will be to back up my wife's app and install on mine. In the mean time, this is a problem that both Samsung and Oculus need to look into as my Gear VR was working fine until not too long ago. Consumer Edition!