flashing grey screen

[Aidarpro]

So, it looks i found deside of this problem.

I handed over to service centre and they to replacement motherboard of HMD.

Then I used it about 2 weeks without grey screen. But i dont sure, becouse the reason is more cool temperature in the room. My sessions was continuos to 2 hours. I will be testing for 2-3 weeks then set status for this topic to Solved.

[MartinMarty]

 If they are replacing the motherboard of your HMD, I hope they actually made an engineering change to correct the problem. My replacement HMD did not take long to develop the same problem. I have been running with the sensor occluded ever since, but I may try taking the tape off now that it is winter. I suspect that your initial success may be due to the cooler temperatures.

 

I think (hope) the web site is just broken. I hope they are not trying to rewrite the history of this long outstanding problem. If you go to the front page you can access the entire conversation, so I think they are not. Otherwise, that would be very very bad .

[Petters27]

Just bought a HTC Vive and right on 20min mark the grey screen starts showing and gets progressively worse.

jfc what a rip off.

[MartinMarty]

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wrote:

Just bought a HTC Vive and right on 20min mark the grey screen starts showing and gets progressively worse.

 

jfc what a rip off.

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Welcome .

 

I don't speak for Vive and I don't think it is right that they have basically just ignored all of us with this problem, even though they tried for a while, until Google bought into HTC. Since the beginning, I've tried to keep cool and let them work it out, but I guess that was the wrong approach because the non-squeaky wheel got absolutely no grease. I figured they would have come up with a hardware fix for all of us by now but they haven't. Also, as Christmas approached I have to say I considered screaming my head off on every retail web site to tell people not to buy this thing because they would get no support.

 

But the fact is, I can't get that worked up about it because I have been running perfectly fine with the one sensor taped over since July. Sure it looks stupid and Vive is expensive and by rights, they owe us a fix and all that. I just don't have the time or the energy to fight about it and I have played all kinds of games and experiences and had a great time with my stupid looking bandaged Vive.

 

I would only advise you to please try the workaround while you are pursuing a real solution with Vive support. Don't just sit there and be mad because you will really be missing out on a lot of fun for no real reason.

[Synthesis]

We haven't heard from you in a while. You still have my direct email as well as our support email address. Your original headset was taken for testing (although we were unable to replicate the issue ourselves here) and we sent you a replacement one along with replacement 3-in-1 cables. We extensively tested everything we sent to you make sure that there was nothing wrong with any of it.

Please contact us directly if you feel you need additional support.

Thank you,

-John C

[MartinMarty]

Hi John,

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

I am still running the 3-in-1 cable and replacement HMD that you guys sent me. I have not tried it without the bandage since it got cold outside, but when I first received it, I soon had the same problem as before so I put the bandage on and continued playing VR.

 

What is AMAZING is that you were never able to recreate the problem with mine and/or other "problematic" (intentionally not saying "bad") HMDs that you received. I don't understand that at all, other than to say then the problem must be environmental, but what is there but heat, humidity and perhaps static electricity?

 

What I expected to happen was that you guys would get a few of the "problematic" HMDs in your hands and figure out what the problem is and come up with a hardware fix and then give people replacements, including me. I never saw where this happened and everybody stopped talking so I assumed somebody from above told us to zip it.

 

As for me running tests, the spirit is willing but the body is not able. I do not like climbing up ladders to try to achieve perfect alignment between the base stations. It is too hard and too dangerous and it hurts my back. I cannot afford to fall down and get hurt. I am 52 years old and I break easier than when I was younger. I installed that red/green alignment utility you told me about and struggled with it for a while and read their documentation repeatedly before I realized that with a fixed angle out the front of the base stations, the room/placement has to be perfect to get the beams to line up at the top AND put the downward beams in the center of the play area. And that was after drilling more holes in my walls.

 

Have you guys ever tried to install this in a real room using the actual mounts that come in the box? If not, it might be enlightening.

 

I found this on the web page for the alignment plugin: "Simply align the front facing 'laser' to the center of your play area, and the top 'laser' with the other base station while the basestations are powered off."

 

Simply?

 

After playing around for entirely too long and achieving only horrible alignment, it occurred to me that those two things are never going to happen simultaneously. This would  only be possible if you had a square, empty room. In real life, the perimeter of my room is full of furniture and hardware. So I can choose between having the top "lasers" point at the other base station (if I could get the angle low enough on the mounting bracket) or having the bottom "lasers" point at the middle of the play area, but not both.  i.e. The play area is not centered in the room so we cannot have both.

 

That's all I've got. I don't want to work on this anymore. I just want somebody to fix it and send me the fix. I cannot believe you have not been able to recreate the problem (I don't mean that I think you are lying - I just mean it is inconceivable) with all the people who have had this problem, and new ones are still coming in. Wait 'til after Christmas, if these things sell, which I hope they still are, we're going to have a whole new batch of grey-out customers. If not then, in the Spring, just the way it happened to me.

 

Thanks,

-Marty

[xiaolongma]

It should be very easy to reproduce—just turn up the heat! I can reliably reproduce the problem by heating up my room above 76F; and complete fix it by cooling down below 74F. It is so easy that it is not a problem for me anymore. But you guys need to fix the hardware. Add a fan or something.

[Aidarpro]

Hi everyone!

So, 40 days have passed since i got my HMD (replaced motherboard of HMD) from service centre in Moscow.

I playing everyday for 2-3 hours, and i don't get grey screen.

When i just plug hmd to AC when it cold, i dont get grey screen anywhere. Then, if i have playing for ~1 hour, and HMD get hot, i get grey screen when position of my HMD over PC table and very close to it. Perhaps, reflections of objects on the table, interrupt beam trajectory, and i think it's normal reason and not is not attribute of malfunctions. I expect any heated HMD be losing tracking in similar cases.

Now, I am satisfied with the result. But i spand a lot of time and power for find decided. I should was ask for help to service centre, not community.

Thanks for everyone, who tested and shared own results and search this problem.

, did you to HTC service center?

 

[MartinMarty]

Hi @aidapro

 

Yes, they sent me a new 3-in-1 cable and swapped out my HMD months ago. The replacement started having the same prolem after a short period of time so I went back to using my old fix. 

 

Thanks,

-Marty

[Swarmo]

I had this issue persisting the other day. I couldn't figure out why it was happening, until I checked the base stations. Someone had put greasy finger prints all over the face of one of the base stations. I'm pretty sure the finger prints were causing reflecting issues from the lights in the room, or maybe just obstructing the signals.

 

I cleaned the face of the base station, made sure it was pointing in the correct direction and it worked. The only thing I changed was the cleaning of the base station face. 

 

Hope this helps someone.