vive Overheating

[amushrow]

I emailed support yesterday, but thought I'd start a topic in case anybody else has seen something similar.

 

Basically, after some amount of time (today I got about an hour) the headset starts to lose tracking. Initially only when you look down, then when your not looking towards one of the base stations, then pretty much all the time unless you close to and looking directly at one of the base stations (presumably not long after that it'll give up altogether).
From the first flickers to being completely unusable is about 5 minutes.
Once the headset has been left off for a little while the tracking works fine again.

 

To reduce variables, the camera has been turned off, bluetooth communication with the base stations disabled, tried different USB ports. Mirrored views on the PC still work, with the headset orientation still working, and the controllers still seem to track perfectly fine so it doesn't seem to be a problem with anything but the headset itself.

 

There is a youtube video of somebody with what seems to be the same problem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqEK_PeMTeM
Where the side sensors stop working until the headset has been cooled (though I'm not sure I can recommend putting toasty electronics in front of any icy air con).

 

I've only had the Vive a few weeks. The first weekend I had it, it was going fine pretty much all day (with lots of people having a go), but recently it doesn't seem to be lasting before it conks out. Yesterday I had about 20 minutes before it started to go. I recall watching some 3D video with it when I first got it (The Day of the Doctor, if you're interested) and it started to flicker the grey screen a little, but I only had one base station sat on my desk so I didn't think anything of it and never sat through the whole thing.

 

It's hard to tell how hot the thing is getting inside, or how hot normal operation is. The faceplate doesn't get hot (except for from my own face) and the front of the Vive is warm, which seems normal. I did check that the cables where in properly and upon removing the HDMI cable the tip of that was pretty hot (I reckon ~70 degrees, but it would be very difficult to tell).
It might not even be an overheating problem as such. Maybe a lose connection on a ribbon cable as the plastic expands slightly or something, or perhaps the electrons are getting tired and taking a break.

[Aidarpro]

I have same problem!

Should i change headset by warranty?

Waiting answers from Vive supporters...

[amushrow]

Some additional info, it seems like the issue is not with the sensors at the side, but the ones in the centre. When the headset starts to lose tracking and flashes, if you hold your hand(s) up in front of the headset so that only the sensors around the edges have sight of the base station then it starts working again.

I'll have to look into it further to find out which specific sensors are causing the fault.

 

Still no response from the email I sent (and no automated response either, which is usually expcected so you know that the email has gone through especially when sending via a web form)

[shenjo]

i have the same problem, when i put my fingers on this sensors. the blinking stops

when it arrives, i was playing flawless in my room, so i know that there is not a reflective area, but when i see a corner it blinks, then as you said, if i keep playing, the blinking appears in more places of the play area.

One thing i see is that when i first got the vive, the ambient temperature its lower than today, i see my cpu temperature increase a lot when playing, i just bought water cooling, when it arrive im going to make another tests and tell you guys

 

[Synthesis]

  

Am I understanding you correctly that you're saying your Vive headset gets unusually hot during use and this seems to correlate with a loss of tracking? This is true for all three of you? Can you each give me the details on your set up: what version of Vive you have (Consumer, Business or Pre) how long it's taking for this to occur and how warm the room is you're playing in? It is summer, so some places can get pretty hot. 

Also, probably a dumb question, but you're using the standard parts from the kit, not a third-party cable or anything, right?

Thanks,

-John C

[amushrow]

My headset doesn't feel any hotter than usual, but then it also seems to be insulated quite well.

Like I said in my first post the outisde of the headset was warm (like normal, I guess) but the HDMI connector (after I took it out of the headset) was really hot.

 

Consumer Vive, all standard, room temperature is about 27 degrees celsius.

The time it takes seems to vary, but I haven't been playing close attention.

[shenjo]

i buy on may at vive official site, i think is the newer version.

im using all the parts that came with the vive, no third-party cables.

my room temperature is about 35-37 degrees celsius. (im buying air coindition for the room, and h60 water cooling for the cpu)

the front of the headset get warmer, its like when you charge and use the cellphone.

im a consumer, me and my 2 daughter use only the vive.

if i start the vive now and start playing, i can only play 10 minutes, because for the blinking grey screen.

[Aidarpro]

I have buy 1 month ago in a popular chain stores.

I don't know which version, but i can say than my vive has 1 cable between headset and linkbox (no 3 cables). Im using all the parts from vive box.

I have not thermometer, about 30-35 C.

 

[MartinMarty]

It is 77.7ºF in my room right now and I had the problem last time I played a couple hours ago.

 

I have the consumer model of Vive that has single cable.

 

In my headset I have the VR Lens Lab lenses and also their cotton cover over the face cushion. Other than that, all stock.

 

 

[echeva]

My room is at 28C, though I used it last summer from late august without problem at the same or higher temperature. My model is consumer, with the old flat 3-wires cable version, but it is not one of the first ones, the lid that covers the plugs in the headset is the hard one.

 

This PC is devoted to VR with only HTC stuff, no third parties' anything. Temperature is low inside the PC box, CPU does not overheat at all, neither GPU does. 

 

When the problem first appeared, it was after more than one hour. Then it took less and less time to appear, up to the point that it was impossible to show a demo to a friend. I reinstalled everything and now it takes again about 1 hour. If I let it resting for a while and restart, the problem starts earlier, maybe 10 mins instead of 1 hour.

 

Last summer, I played sessions of more than 6 hours without stop. And more than 8 hours a day. 

 

If it is related to heat, and it likely is, components get permanently damaged.

 

I'd kindly suggest HTC engineers to execute tests under unusual hot environments.