Update on my Vive: Troubleshooting a defective Vive display 

thank you so much! you have no Idea how much I have searched for a solution to this problem

thanx bumble for the tips . BTW love your videos and your calm introduction.

Thanks! Your video fixed my problem--bad HDMI cable in the original bundle. Replaced that bundle with Vive's new all-in-one cable set (which they should put on all their newly sold machines, since this seems to be a common problem with the original wires).

Hello Bumble my name is Colin and I recently got a vive it is alot of fun but recently it went all black and i could not figure out why i tried a lot of things from a system restore to reinstalling the drivers when we were about to give up and send it in my dad saw this video and it solved our problem your video saved us a month of waiting for the vive to come back. Thank You

Hey Bumble, I wanted to let you know that even after 7 years this video is helpful! I bought a used set about 5 years ago, a cheap refurb. Right away I had issues with a wand not playing well with the headset (turns out it was Kickstarter wand and the rest of the set was new production)...at the time the headset video was working though. Anyway wands cost more then so I put the whole thing on the backer burner...for 4 years (some personal "challenges). Recently I thought I'd try again, even though it's old tech. and bought a new wand that fixed that issue, but now I didn't have video in the headset. I tried running it straight to the video card as suggest, but no luck (or good luck, depending). Thanks to you I knew which cable was slim enough to work. Today I played with my Vive for the first time since buying it! Quality is about on par with the PS4 VR, but hey, it freaking works!. Thanks again man!

Sorry to hear that you've been having this problem. Also sorry you have some guy on tech support that couldn't figure it out before sending out the box that it was simply the cable. From this video you've actually troubleshot this issue more effectively. Welcome back!

Wow! I have the exact same problem right now. I'll order this product and see if it works. Thank you! I was working for hours trying to find out what was wrong. Hopefully this works!

Such a wicked shirt! Glad to hear you could fix your vive also! One more day until fedex delivers and it's going to be my birthday too!

I have a similar problem what's weird if i restart my pc everything works fine but than after a while I have to restart It so idk if mines a cable problem

thanks for the info if I ever have this problem I will refer back to this. thank Bumble.

I was wondering how you got the clip off on the front to check the cable.I did figure out it slides forward to take if off. checked my cables and they could be pushed in a bit. I probably got it pulled out a bit from one of the times stepping on the cable.I now have some cable clips I use when playing to minimize that from happening.

this literally fixed my issue, which pretty much was the same as yours. Thank you so much

Same problem. Thanks for the info

congrats on fixing your vive finally!!! 👌👌👌👌

That's a great suggestion and I can't believe I didn't think of it - to connect the headset to the computer directly using the short HDMI cable that normally goes to the linkbox. I had just bought a 15' ultra thin HDMI cable and tried it out and it didn't work. I was starting to doubt it was a cable issue. But your suggestion proved that the headset worked just fine with the short cable routed directly to my computer. So I bought the cable you suggested - and it makes sense that it would take a better cable with high bandwidth and low latency in this situation - and we'll see what happens. But my hopes are high. On the cable page on Amazon, there are comments from people saying it fixed their HTC Vive issues for them as well. UPDATE: it worked :) Thanks for this video!!!

Had the same issue today. Screen tearing, blackouts and support said it was the headset and to send it in ... warranty expired a few weeks ago and he wouldn’t even give me a ballpark figure for repair and when they said 3-5 days turn around they sent me a message stating about 5 things that would delay it probably. Seemed obvious from everything it was a cable issue as if I hold it forward it’s fine. Ordered a new cable from vive and hopefully that will be it! Oh side note, your vibe videos were one of the first we saw before we got the system and vive... thanks for that.

Had the audio on my headset cut out on me a couple days ago now, at first I thought it was just a botched update to the headset but I've tried everything and nothing has worked. I could play with a headset but I only have a wired headset and I really don't want a wire going down my back and around my front, I could use a Bluetooth receiver/earbud/headphones but I'm not sure how much better or worse that would be.

I have the same problem in Steam VR and Vr Window works fine but nothing on the vive display although the led is green

Every day for weeks I've been trying to fix this issue and I didn't know the cables were modular. I've looked through so many forum posts and all the sorts and this is what helped me fix my vive. Turns out the hdmi cable on the headset was just loose. Biggest facepalm moment of my life.

Im having the same problem with my old vr i bought a hdmi cord it was to thick and when i go in amazon it says it’s unavailable

So I’m actually experiencing a similar problem now, except I tried bypassing the 3-in-1 HDMI with the provided HDMI for the link box, and even when plugged directly into my gpu, the HMD has no display. I’m worried it’s an issue with the actual display or HDMI port on the headset. Has anyone had to go through anything similar?

You rule. This was my problem, too. I've updated everything and done all the trouble-shooting. But it was the cable! I tested it with the HDMI that normally runs from the link box to the PC. I have a spare, fast, 15' HDMI cable, but its ends are too big for the Vive headset. I'm going to follow the link you provided and order the one you used. Thanks for your help!

Has anyone had issues with new vive cables? I got a new cable yesterday, since my old cable was glitching out my display a little bit, but no matter what I updated, restarted, or switched my new cable causes the error “DisplayPort cable is disconnected or no video stream detected.” But for some reason my old cable works fine. Anyone else had this problem that can help?

I’m only having issues with the game surgeon simulator the game shows up on my computer and I can see the boundaries in my headset and hear sound but I can’t see the game. any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks for the update! Honestly, it's pretty obnoxious that they were suggesting it was your video card. The most expensive single component of most gaming PCs and that's what they're suggesting you replace? And then the problem turns out to be a cable--arguable the least expensive part of most gaming PCs. Well, anyway--alls well that ends well!

i bought the cord that you linked in the description and it didnt fix the problem??

I'm taking my vive back to the store. to many headaches htc rolled this out to soon. I guess they needed some money. this vive seems to be one headache after another, it's not consumer ready yet. thanks for the video and good luck.

I just got my vive yesterday, WAS SO PUMPED TO FLY LIKE SUPERMAN ON GOOGLE EARTH! Setup, everything worked, green lights, tracking, perfect, could see google earth on my screen as I turned the headset, looked so good, until I tried putting the headset on. NOTHING, pure darkness. I was up until 4am troubleshooting, trying different cables between linkbox and computer, graphics cards, drivers, usb's, reinstalls, restarts, unplugging all monitors, everything that I could research or think of... but. I haven't tried this. I boxed that bioatch up and was about to send back.... I'm gonna try this right NOW, I'll update you after I attempt this! Wish me luck lol

thankyou for the great solution ... its awesome !!

I've had my vive for 3 days. After roughly 24 hours of play time the display died. :/

can someone tell me if this works?

Does this mean you need 2 hdmi inputs in your graphics card ?

I had this EXACT problem starting with my VIVE yesterday. It blacks out if I step on the cord. Lose audio. I actually have this _same problem_ with my Oculus DK2. I did what you did and just bought a cheap HDMI cord but its just a mess. So Im ordering a new 3-in-1 cable for $40 and hopefully its the new slimmer version.

This happened to me and what I did was just unpluged everything in the vr and got the dust out by blowing or using a microfiber.

I got my Vive last week and this was my exact problem. They insisted I repackage the entire thing and send it to the supplier even though it is just the 3-in-1 cable that is defective. Long story short, I am now Vive-less and waiting for them to send me a replacement unit (what a waste! The entire unit works except for the cable. I will never understand big companies)

hey, so I got the new cable from your description about 2-3 days ago and that seemed to fix the issue for a little but it started happening again even thought i just got a new cable. now I have to keep the NEW cable in a certain position or it will go black screen. pls help

This is the second time it happend to me I keep on thinking it’s water damage but I wipe all of the sweat off after I play so it shouldn’t do that

Hopefully this works i just ordered the cable. It was fine for a year but then about a month ago it was some times static or grey and today it was just all static then orange lines on it then black i tried updating which worked for 10 minutes before static then black and then i turned it of then on then unplugged and replugged didn’t work. Hopefully the cable works! The cable always had a bend in it that looked like it twisted the wires the wrong way but i never thought anything of it.

Man, htc customer service sucks! That why I returned my vive...fyi my local micro center is now selling vives with extended warranty $200 to 300 extra and it covers everything and no hassle...pretty tempting. Good vids by the way.

I have these green and red vertical lines on my red lens. So i tried replacing the hdmi cable as you suggested, but the problem still remains. I even changed the USB cable. The problem is that these lines come randomly and it stays forever. When i start the HMD sometimes, it isnt there but after a couple of mins they come back. Do you have any suggestions? I'm losing my mind here sincei'm in india and there is no real tech support for VR here.

So it looks like my 3-in-1 cable is dead after 3 weeks and HTC doesn't want to replace it. I don't feel I should have to spend another $40 to replace a cable the failed that fast.

Your a Life Saver

Vive headgear has a green light but no image on screen. Steam shows games on the operator screen but not on the vive headset any idea?

im getting 2 or 3 red dots in the upper right side of the vision. its not anything on the lense and its not appearing on my laptop screen when mirroring. is this also a 3in1 cable issue with hdmi?

My vive stutters momentarily during DCS world missions, but not in elite dangerous. Do you think that the hdmi cable could be the issue here?

i just recently got a problem on my htc vive that i cant seem to figure out..whenever i launch steamvr i get a red led light and i get no display on the headset but when i remove the hdmi from either the gpu or on the top of the headset the mirror vr on my desktop shows the vr home and shows my headset and bases connected but as soon as i plug any hdmi back in they disconnect and the icons become greyed out ive done all the trouble shoot steps to no avail...i also used the small hdmi directly into the headset and it didnt work sadly so im wondering if its the hdmi port in the headset itself that isnt working.

I have noticed he has the old 3 in one cable, the new vive that i own came with a single indistinguishable 3 in 1 cable, i also have this issue and am going to be purchasing a hdmi cable soon, seeming how common this is i dont think it wise to buy a new 3 in 1 with all the effort until this problem is properly solved by htc something i recommend to the people who are not sure if they want to pay out the exorbitant fee of $45 usd as opposed to a $15 cheep fix that may or may not end up being a better choice in the long run as the chance of the 3 in 1 failing is now common along htc's production.

i literally got mine out of the box and this is the problem ;---; maan

I get error 208 ever since I got the vive 3 weeks ago, any suggestions.

This is a pretty common issue HTC is having. Their 3-in-1 cables are not great quality. In fact, I currently have nearly the same issue with mine where I just reboot my PC and I can get the HDMI to link to the headset again. Eventually the cable will fail altogether, but until then rebooting seems to work for me at least if anyone else has a similar issue.

I've had this happen to me a couple times. I turned off computer, unplugged Vive box, and plugged power adapter back into it.

Guys just an FWI it doesn’t have to be the one connected to the vive... it can be the short one connected to the PC that needs to be changed

Every few months I play vr and I always forget the thing I do which I just spend 1 hour on figuring out again. I just have to plug my stuff directly into my pc.

Had the same problem thanks

Wow, there are a lot of people with the same problem as me. My headset just doesn't light up inside even though everything's green and VR games are tracking OK, playing sound and showing up fine on the computer display window. I'm worried that it's not the 3 in 1 cable though, because I tried the short hdmi cable directly to the headset without going through the linkbox, but nup, everything was still dark.

This scares me, it's not a cheap gear, and I saw quite a few people that had problems with their Vive, pixels dying on the screen, malfunctioning parts, really makes me want to wait awhile to make a purchase. Did you had any problems with your Rift?

Nice video man

Does a fix like this break the warranty of the headset? Of course it shouldn't but it's HTC so who knows. Also really happy you got it fixed!

I wish HTC would just simply send you another cable rather than the RMA process. I hope HTC sees your video that could perhaps generate some change since we're all early adopters and VIPs that are important to the future of their products as well as VR in general.

DUDE!!! My vive is doing the same thing to me. I cant believe they are sending us defective pieces. I am going to head home right now to try and fix it.

THX SO MUCH

Well mine showed a redish orange screen idk what todo man I’m trying to use my vr for 2 days TvT

I disassembled mine and it was actually a corrosion on a display cable.

Thanks love you you helped fix mine like and sub

That cable is an entire foot shorter than the tether.

Another one is to make sure your headset is connected to the GPU with no hdmi to display port

Man, that sucks. Surely HTC can send you a replacement 3-in-1 cable and let you return yours once you receive it. I know their support sucks, but after you specifically asked to send in the cable with the link box... I'd hit them hard, find someone high up in HTC you can tweet, maybe Valve can put you in touch with someone. This video is incredibly bad press for them.

HELP PLEASE - i bought the vive brand new 1 week ago and a new MSI GT72VR 6GR Dominator Pro it has everything i need to play top games gtx 1070 intel i7 i love golf and to play this in vr which i have on my ps4 is the best feeling ever i relly dont want to going to the trouble of getting a refund having over friends would be great fun but the game just keeps freezing most of my other vr games work a wonder but the likes of this the golf club vr, episode 1-call of starseed, the rise of captian longbeard and vanshing relms always seem to freeze on me and i have to quit my vive or sometimes restart my whole computer!! i tryd to reinstall 5 times i bought mini display cables still doesnt change i tryed reinstalling my drivers and there 375.63 im not a big techy so i tried a few things with changing the physx to the gtx 1070 but it has an option to put it too the gpu some people say roll back your drivers on forums and some people say u need to connect the headset certian ways with different cables but why does all the rest of my games work and not the ones that i relly want to play which i mentioned can someone who understands me please tell me what to do it would relly be appreciated :(

for me it goes black or cross-eyed rather it just mirrors the image and it physically hurts my head lol. thanks for the advice.

thanks. waiting on my Vive... really hope im not unlucky like you :P

Hi, I'm having this issue on the cosmos elite, I'm stating this because the cosmos elite uses DPI'll tell you my results.

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾 thank you bro good stuff I'm having the same problems right now

Epyx911 had the same problem look him up on RU-vid

this is happening to me

Cord didn't work for me. It got 100 times worse.

Lol, is that shirt from The Mountain?

1 don't buy it from gamestop 2 that cord did not fix the missing vision..

That must've been annoying

When you said you had to talk to support to RMA, I smirked. I've been there, it's not fun. When you said they told you to send your link box and refused to take your 3-in-1 cable, I shook my head. When you said they sent it back and blamed it on your video card, I said out loud "you fucking pieces of shit" I mean think about it, if you didn't know any better you would have spent hundreds of dollars on a new video card and the issue still would have been there. This could have gone a bad, bad way. Their Vive support is the absolute fucking worst.

Get onto them now dude, send them your video and get you cable replaced fro free under warranty. That sucks when support cant even take a clients suggestion and check your cable as well as your link box. Id be spewing chips over this. The unit is expensive kit and should be supported fully by the manufacturer. Pester them, the squeaky hinge is the one that gets the oil.

i love u

Harambe :(

This is a story about how HTC support is incompetent.