Quest 3 Controller Bricked by OTA Firmware Update - No Recovery Options, Only $50 “Fix”

On June 6th, 2025, my Quest 3's right controller abruptly stopped working after briefly reporting a low (but likely incorrect) battery level. It was working perfectly a few days prior. After trying the standard troubleshooting steps, I’ve concluded that the controller was likely bricked by a failed firmware update, and there’s no available way for me to recover it except to pay $50 for a refurbished replacement. Here's what happened:

libosutils
Failed to get real path of file '/data/vendor/misc/sensors/latestfwversion/f43058c4acd3faab', err: No such file or directory
18:48:39.573
SensorService
Failed to read from file /data/vendor/misc/sensors/latestfwversion/f43058c4acd3faab
18:48:39.573
libosutils
Failed to get real path of file '/data/vendor/misc/sensors/batteryinfo/f43058c4acd3faab', err: No such file or directory
18:48:39.573
SensorService
Failed to read from file /data/vendor/misc/sensors/batteryinfo/f43058c4acd3faab

These errors show that the controller is failing to report its firmware version and battery status, and never fully initializes. It can pair, but:

• Doesn’t vibrate during pairing (haptics subsystem never loads)
• Doesn’t send telemetry (battery, firmware, etc.)
• Can’t complete firmware update via OTA

What likely happened:

• Quest v76.1027 began rolling out on June 2, 2025.
• I used the headset on June 4, which likely triggered a silent controller firmware OTA.
• The controller may have shut down during the update due to battery instability.
• This resulted in a corrupted firmware image, leaving the controller stuck in a partial boot state.
• After factory resetting the headset, the controller worked briefly until the headset likely tried to push the firmware update again.
• Now the controller pairs but never becomes usable again.

My support experience:

• I contacted Meta support and was immediately offered the out-of-warranty program. $50 to send in the controller and get a refurb.
• No one reviewed the logs I provided.
• Every email was answered by a new agent, and every escalation request was ignored or redirected back to the same scripted reply.
• I did not cause this issue. Meta pushed an update that bricked my device, and now I’m being asked to pay for their mistake.

What I'm Asking:

All I want is for Meta to repair or replace the controller they broke, without charging me $50 for it. If I had access to the reflashing tools, I could fix this myself in minutes but those tools are not provided externally.

If anyone from Meta is listening: please escalate this to someone who understands firmware. This is a known class of failure and it shouldn’t be offloaded onto customers who had no control over the OTA update process.