Link Box Failure

[qc777y]

Hey,

I have seen almost nothing for information on this issue, so I thought I would just start a thread on it. I purchased the Cosmos probably around late January. I've absolutely loved the product, despite a lot of negative things I hear. Running the beta software, the tracking is awesome. I still can't wait to expand on my VR rig with the external tracking faceplate and Index Controllers, but I think the Cosmos controllers are significantly better to use than the original Vive controllers. Anyways, I've been using my headset quite a bit in the last month and it's always been solid. Suddenly, after about 10 minutes into a session and about a month of use on the headset, my link box fails. Display goes dark, green light on the Vive Pro style link box goes dark, and there's nothing I can do to get it going again. I was pretty quick to diagnose it as the link box, considering that it should display a green light as long as the AC power is present regardless of being connected to a computer or headset. All my internet research turned up "Just bypass the link box" but this isn't the Vive Original, and it has a single proprietary cable to the headset.

Another interesting piece to this ordeal, was I bypassed the warranty and went straight to baking the PCB in the oven. When I opened it up, I saw absolutely no indication of damage. Nothing was burnt, all of the solder looked solid, and the only thing I was able to come up with was that some chip failed. My oven reflow attempt was fruitless, all I managed to do was make my kitchen smell a little weird. I do much prefer the new style converter box and it's "always on" design without a power button, because in my opinion buttons and switches are just another point for failure.  I purchased the new "Converter" style box, and that works fine. It is significantly smaller, so I'm hoping there's fewer components capable of failing. 

To sum up my actual question, how many people have seen this or something like this with the Vive Pro style Link Box, or even the Converter style link box?

[HackPerception]

 

@qc777y - I'm glad you were able to isolate it to the linkbox, is much trickier to isolate to the 2nd gen linkboxes because of the I/O changeup. I'd probably have recommend to try and warranty RMA the linkbox before baking the board to see if you could have gotten it replaced under warranty.

We made a limited run of "always on" Pro/Cosmos linkboxes for enterprise and arcade customers that were made available via our enterprise team. Otherwise, the "off button" is actually really helpful - albeit it may seem like a UX mistake. The on/off state of the linkbox prevents the HMD from getting permanently damaged from power surges. For instance, if your power went off, then switched back on with a surge - the linkbox defaulting to "off" by default prevents that surge from reaching the HMD.