Forum Discussion

Protege

11 months ago

Solved

USB-C Debris in Charging Port - My findings and solutions (in progress)

This stream is for the PCVR users experiencing a screen blackout with the popup saying roughly "USB-C Charging Disabled, please clean charging port".

I have been Meta for about a week at this point. I have been following their every advice and spending my own money to try to resolve this.

The root cause of this issue is with how the device charges. Once the Q3 (any smart phones, basically anything new) gets to 70-80% charged, it lowers the current to better charge the battery and reduce heat. For some reason, Meta is using this current drop as a signal for when a "short" is occurring (I would imagine to protect against the risk of thermal events or overheating to the port) it disables the port and throws the popup.

The first issue is that its detecting something that IS NOT there. This is a "better safe than sorry" solution and they value preventing a lawsuit over customer experience. The headset works fine after acknowledging the popup usually, or just a removal/insertion of the cord resolves it temporarily.

The second issue is that the popup blocks out the ENTIRE SCREEN and its not just a small popup that goes away after 5 seconds, you have to manually acknowledge it (again, covering their butts). It says the USB is disabled, but my Link still works just fine, so its not the entire cable, just the power. If I didn't have to drive blind when Simracing when this popup appeared, I wouldn't even care. I can ignore a small popup, but not a black screen.

I have been using a 3rd party USB A to USB C cable with a PD input on the side, which works wonderfully by itself other than slowly dying over time. If i connect the cable PD port to a power brick, it will also would amazingly, and for eternity as it holds a charge, but this introduces the random popups that ruin my online races every day.

As stated above, I have been working with support and blindly following their directions, and even purchased the Official Link cable for 100 dollars just so they couldn't say that the cable was the issue. With the new cable, it works for Link amazingly well, yes, but it doesn't provide a charge. This is due to most onboard PC USB voltages being 3.3V limited so now playtime is 2.5 hours approximately, assuming I have a full charge at the start, rather than infinite on whatever charge I want.

This is what leads me to believe it has something to do with charging. Even if you use an external battery pack, once the pack is depleted, you will get this issue. If you plug a cable in with nothing on the other end, you might get this issue. Its not a debris issue, its a charging issue and poorly written software that detects this charging change as a hardware failure.

Now with the Meta cable, my issue is that the charging is non-existent, and I need to have a 30W PD as well as data on my USB C cable. My next attempt is to try a USB C pci-e card that has PD capabilities (up to 12V, 2 port at 2.4A (30W) and 2 ports at 3A (45W)) for another $40. I will be installing later this week to see if that fixes the issue or causes more issues. I suspect it will cause the debris issue just like my other cable when the charging current gets to that threshold, although I have been following their suggestions, so maybe this will help to find a more permanent solution. All in with new cables and parts, sitting at around $130 dollars for this.

TheTjeezY
11 months ago
Second card didn’t work either. So PD and USB is still not possible (on my build).
I now added a 3 port USB C and 2 port USB A 3.2 card to my pcie slot. This is the first time I have had a USB C port to use. Used alongside the Meta cable, I started at 60%, raced for four hours, no issues, and ended at 68%. This was seamless once I got the card installed and restarted my computer a few times to get the card to recognize. After testing it a few reboot cycles, it now comes up every time right away and works without question.
I still am upset that the fix was to get an 80 dollar cable and 40 dollar card. So I am also investigating the INIU cable as well. They are sending me a replacement and a label to ship my current one back for testing.

28 Replies

Pegasus1000
Honored Guest
11 months ago
Yes let us know. Also doing sim racing here and its a disaster.
TheTjeezY
Protege
11 months ago
Alright, so I have a few more days of research, support, and investigation under my belt. Below are my updated findings. I am still working with support as well, but no breakthroughs yet.
Regarding non-Meta cables with "power injector" technology, I have discovered that the INIU cable that I frequently use has its own internal "battery management" logic built in. When the headset is charged enough, this cable uses this battery management to lower the charge voltage, which helps the battery charge and remain healthy (great option if you dont need PCVR), but the headset sees this as an issue due to the power dropping (same thing would happen if water/metal shorted two of the pins). Meta added logic to detect this "short" in software V62/V63, and I believe its added to actually protect against overheated ports on the headset that lead to fire and user harm. So although this doesn't actually require a short to occur to get this popup, it also works in a real case, and covers Meta in case of a lawsuit, so they will never remove this popup. Its too valuable for them to sacrifice poor device handling and people using bad cables just for the few PCVR players that are having issues.
So those "smart charging" or power injecting cables will NOT work if they have this smart charging built in. So either a dumb cable with power injecting (i dont think these exist) or a direct connection to a USB C port on the PC/MOBO directly. I do not believe there is going to be a solution to this issue when using the INIU cable, the charging capabilities and the Quest 3 sensing algorithms do not mix well.
Since I do not have USB C ports on my PC, I have been using a USB C to A converter, but USB A doesn't have the same charging capabilities as USB C does (even if its converted right after the MOBO, USB A voltages are 3.3 or 5V only, USB C can utilize 9V, 12V and 20V charging). First thing I need is to add USB C ports, which I will be doing tomorrow, though the board I am installing has a separate power connector to the PSU so it can push more than 5V if a PD device is detected. I will test this with and without the PD capabilities of the board to see how it works, using the Meta cable.
- TheTjeezY
  Protege
  11 months ago
  Test one using the Meta cable, a USB C to A adapter, fully charged Q3 before starting.
  After 2 hours, 80% battery. So essentially full charge since that is all it will allow.
  USB C card gets here tomorrow and will try again to check charge. But no issues with debris pop up. I need to try to run it harder for longer, but I think that Meta is going to win and make it so their cable will be the only one without issues.
- itsGreg
  Explorer
  11 months ago
  I've got usb c ports on my pc.
  I tried it plugged into one of the 20gbps usb c ports on my motherboard and it was fine for a day, (although still discharging but slowly) but today at 40% battery during a race I got the dreaded liquid or debris pop up.
  - MetaStoreHelp
    Community Manager
    11 months ago
    Hello itsGreg !
    
    We understand you have a situation with your headset that it shows error message USB C Liquid or debris detected; We'll help you sort this out as soon as possible.
    
    To address your concern, kindly confirm with me that you tried the following steps.
    
    Clean the charging port through the steps outlined in the following article:
    
    Clean your Meta Quest device
    
    If you have tried this already, please contact us through private message. Please select our name to get to our profile page, or click here: https://metaque.st/CommunitySupport. Next, click "Send a Message" to privately message us! Please remember, you must be signed into the community first to send us a private message.
itsGreg
Explorer
11 months ago
It's terrible. Even if the pop up was over the screen I could cope but to go to black screen in the middle of online races is a joke.
Usually once the pop up has appeared mine won't do it again until the cable is unplugged but once you plug it back in you're on a ticking clock waiting for it to cut out.
I've bought countless cables and chargers, no difference.
It was fixed for me at one of the updates v66 maybe? But came back with later ones.
If I hadn't heard horror stories about the Pimax Crystal light I'd already have switched headsets.
- MetaStoreHelp
  Community Manager
  11 months ago
  Hi itsGreg,
  
  We would love to look into this issue for you. Could you please send us a private message.
  
  Please select our name to get to our profile page, or click here: https://metaque.st/CommunitySupport. Next, click "Send a Message" to privately message us! Please remember, you must be signed into the community first to send us a private message.
  
  We look forward to hearing from you. Have a great day!
- TheTjeezY
  Protege
  11 months ago
  I had the most issues when using the INIU Cable with Power Injector. I reached out to their customer service and they are going to ship me a replacement and take mine in for some tear down and see if there is an issue. I suspect they made updates but the stock that was out in the world from the Quest 3 days dont work anymore so now they are replacing them "as needed" rather than creating scrap cables.
  The best thing you can do is disable all the USB port power saving options, and try to play without charging the headset. It is a hassle but it works. My INIU cable and the Meta cable both work without charging. Havent had issues with either. Once I plug the power into my INIU cable, who knows when but it WILL cause the error.
  New PCIe USB C card comes tonight, and league race tomorrow. So we will see if anything changes between now and then.
TheTjeezY
Protege
11 months ago
Received my USB C card, DOA. Had power, no comms. I have a replacement coming so will try again when that is received.
Instead, I tested the Meta Cable again. This time on my motherboard, since I removed my old USB 3.0 card. I had issues finding a port that would accept Link, but I think that was due to my attempt to get the new PCIe card working. I had no popups over the 1.5 hours, but battery went from 100% to 60% in that time. I do have every single USB port on my motherboard used, so I think when I had my other USB 3.0 Card with only one or two devices on it (one being the Q3) there was enough power to keep it charged a little more.
Summary of findings:
- Meta Cable with USB C to USB A converter to PCIe 3.0 - no issues with popups, 100% to 80% in 1.5 hours
- Meta Cable with USB C to USB A converter to MOBO USB 3.1 - no issues with popups, 100% to 60% in 1.5 hours
- INIU Cable, Meta wall charger to power port - popups randomly ruining my race and others, will charge and hold at 75-80%
- INIU Cable, PD wall charger to power port - Not Tested Yet
- INIU Cable, nothing plugged in to power port - Not Tested Yet (did this in the past and similar results to case 2 of Meta to MOBO, but didnt take any notes)

If anyone has ideas for other things to try, let me know. So far its worth the exchange of less battery life to be able to finish races and not leave angry.
- Anonymous
  11 months ago
  TheTjeezY So, if the headset is reducing the power when the battery gets to 80%, and sensing the power reduction is causing the warning flags. Would a smart charger that gradually reduces the power when the battery is at 75% stop the warning flags, or a rotary dial on the charger to manually turn down the power at 75% so the headset doesn't flag the warning.
  - TheTjeezY
    Protege
    11 months ago
    Anonymous I think that would cause more issues, due to the control of the charge current being something OTHER than the headset itself.
    To break it down, the headset is constantly MONITORING the power input. When plugged into a standard (non-smart) power brick or standard USB port, the headset will take in charge until it reaches ~80%. The HEADSET itself then will throttle the charge current down appropriately as the headset software sees fit.
    When connected to a smart charger or a cable with a built in smart charging, the BRICK/CABLE is the one controlling the power reduction. So from the headset's POV, it is monitoring the charge current and when it drops without the headset commanding it, it would throw the error/popup. Its the "unknown" drop in charge current that is the issue, not the drop itself.
    I think the only way is to maintain a constant power input to the headset, and let the headset manage it. This is fine, if your USB port (or cable) has the juice to keep it charged. So the options are to plug into the USB port directly without a power injector (slow charging, but all i have seen is slow or normal rate of discharging during PCVR), or buy a "power injector" cable that separates the data (to PC) and power lines (to charging brick). The problem is that the "power injector" cables that are available all have a smart charging brick built-in, which works on the earlier Quests and the Q3 original software pre-V62.
    Honestly, the Meta cable is really good, has faster speeds that I had on other cables, and mainly my favorite thing is that I can finish a race without the black screen and wrecking my friends. The only problem on that front is that is doesnt charge at all, and doesnt seem to slow the discharging at all.
    As stated in my previous post, I have a few more tests to run once all my new components get here. I have been able to return most of my purchases thus far and recoup some money, but I cant get rid of my Meta branded cable until I find an alternate solution, so I am out that $80 bucks.
    
    Should have listened to the old addage "Buy once, cry once" and bought this cable to start with and I never would have fallen into this deep rabbit hole...
- OUberLord
  Honored Guest
  11 months ago
  I'm very curious how your testing goes with the card you mentioned once you get the replacement.
  I'm having the exact same problems with the INIU cable now, and I didn't used to since prior to the v62 update that changed the debris/liquid detection logic. There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason as to when I get the error, but when I do that race is ruined.
  I did add a PCI card previously but it just adds ports, and only does 5V2A. If your replacement card works I'd be curious which one you got.
  - TheTjeezY
    Protege
    11 months ago
    Second card didn’t work either. So PD and USB is still not possible (on my build).
    I now added a 3 port USB C and 2 port USB A 3.2 card to my pcie slot. This is the first time I have had a USB C port to use. Used alongside the Meta cable, I started at 60%, raced for four hours, no issues, and ended at 68%. This was seamless once I got the card installed and restarted my computer a few times to get the card to recognize. After testing it a few reboot cycles, it now comes up every time right away and works without question.
    I still am upset that the fix was to get an 80 dollar cable and 40 dollar card. So I am also investigating the INIU cable as well. They are sending me a replacement and a label to ship my current one back for testing.
Pegasus1000
Honored Guest
11 months ago
Ok well your trials have helped me with the problem, so thanks.

Your talk of the computer's USB-C slot got me to try instead of using second part of the cable to go directly to the mains charger, to try instead plugging it into the USB-C slot in the computer. So basically one end of the cable is going to the quest and at the other end one part goes into a USB-3 slot and the other goes into the USB-C slot.

I drove for two hours tonight and also a good bit yesterday with no issues. The battery does go down this way, but slowly. It went from 100% to 81% in the two hours which is totally fine for me. I'll try again tomorrow and see if anything happens as it trickles down past the 80% mark, but for now all is working great, so thanks very much, and hope you sort something out for yourself.
vrabbits
Honored Guest
11 months ago
Same issue here, brand new head set, latest firmware. Headset is a week old, just got it for my birthday on 31st for iracing, tried to get it working today and this same error non stop.
Oculus cable, and 3 differnt ports, same issue. Also noticed if you plug the cable in without the other in in the PC this happens all the time. Why? Why does it matter that a cable is plugged into the headset, but not in the PC? I often turn the headset on with the cable plugged in and then connect it my PC. My Quest 2 has no issue with this Meta USB cable works fine, doesnt matter if its connected or not. The issue seems to follow my new Quest 3. All I wanted to do, was race in VR tonight. Nope, this nutty 512 4k headset is not having it.
- MetaStoreHelp
  Community Manager
  11 months ago
  Hey there vrabbits,
  
  Would you like some help with your debris in charging port issue? We'd like to see if we can help you enjoy the VR racing you were looking forward to.
  
  Simply click on our name to access our profile page or click here. Once there, select 'Send a message' to privately message us. Please note that you must be signed in to the community before sending a private message.
TheTjeezY
Protege
9 months ago
Just wanted to follow up with my findings.
INIU sent me a replacement cable, no improvement. The "power injector" style cables are not possible with the quest 3. Likely to get you to buy their authentic cable instead. Could also be that the data portion of the cable is a USB A to USB C and not USB C on both ends.
I bit the bullet and got the Meta cable, USB C to USB C. Used both a USB C to USB A adapter so i could use a USB A port on my motherboard. No issues, but didnt charge well. I have since added a USB C port and now use that directly. My headset will always work up or down to 80% charge and then just sit there. A few times it has fallen down to 60% charge, but that still works and rarely happens (probably depends on the power needed to render. I did use 600 MBPS before and recently switched to 400 MBPS and both video and dropped frames improved as well.)

Optimal solution for me:
- Oculus cable: USB C to USB C. Do not even try to use the other Power Injector type cables. Spend once, cry once, but actually be able to use your device
- Power settings for USB Ports: On your PC, turn all USB power saving settings to off, change "turn this device off when not in use" to off, etc.
- Dont try to max out encoding bandwidth in the debug tool: stay around 400-500 unless you have a 4090 or something fast af
- Keep the headset charged: make sure you use a USB port on your PC that stays on, or use a different cord plugged into the wall between sessions. This will help in case the headset uses more power than it can charge with during the NEXT session
- Use OCULUS rather than OpenXR: OXR is great, and lets you try to max things out more easily, but its just not worth the hassle of having to tweak it all the time. Oculus mode works very consistently
- Debug tool: Link Sharpening to Normal (or whatever the lowest option is) will take away all the jagged and jumpy things in the distance, doesnt seem to help performance but keeps it looking smooth rather than jagged and jumpy
- Nvidia control panel: I turned pre-rendered frames to 2 instead of the default 1 and i have wayyy less dropped frames and i dont even notice any difference. I think it adds like 4ms of lag but the immersion still increases since im not losing a frame everytime i pass the pits.
- More debug tool: use the Performance Overlay and see what your rendering times are and dropped frames. Could help point you to a hardware issue or a setting somewhere

Sorry if this doesnt help you in your specific problem but its a great start and hopefully helps you find the solution.
TheTjeezY
Protege
8 months ago
Hey everyone that is having issues still,

Just wanted to follow up with my new findings and current setup. This isnt really cord related or USB C disabled related, but I havent had that issue in over two months because I completely changed my strategy on this.

I now use Virtual Desktop to play VR games from my PC. The visuals are amazing compared to the "Oculus" mode or even the Oculus-managed "OpenXR". My PC resources opened up and I went from Low to Off graphics settings at 72FPS to High at 90FPS or Ultra at 80FPS and this was the only change I made. The Virtual Desktop App was purchased on the headset itself, NOT the Steam or PC version.

For connection to my PC, I have a wireless router that is NOT connected to the internet. Its sole purpose is to stream my PCVR to my Q3 via Ethernet/WiFi. The PC is wired into the "PCVRouter" and wirelessly to internet router. My Q3 is then connected with a USB C to C male-male cord, that plugs into a USB C to Ethernet adapter and plug the ethernet cable into the PCVRouter. The adapter also has a PD input on it which I plug into a 60W PD charging brick, which keeps my headset at 100% charge AT ALL TIMES. I can do this wirelessly, but that drains the battery and also adds about 10ms of latency, but the quality DOES NOT DROP compared to wired.
Note: You need to turn off the Wi-Fi on the Q3 and have USB Debugging activated. To do this you have to Enable Developer mode for the Q3 on the mobile app (google will have instructions about developer accounts and stuff) and then activate the USB Debugging mode using Android APK. (I used SideQuest on my PC, plugged the Q3 into the PC directly with USB, and there is a command in SideQuest that does this).
I have a 6" USB C extension cable (with right angle end to reduce port stress) attached to my headset now that always stays connected, and usually I just shut my headset off, leave it plugged into the ethernet adapter and it keeps it fully charged. When I turn it on, I open up the Virtual Desktop app, and its auto-connects to my PC and boom, its up. I have yet to explore the other functionality of the Virtual Desktop app, but I know that some people use passthrough to see their hands and keyboard, etc.

TL;DR - Virtual Desktop >>>> QuestLink
Gimnos
Explorer
6 months ago
Did you ever solve this? I only use the Quest 3 for iRacing and this happens randomly, this week was about the last time I am willing to live with it, I run in league races that are points based and got all the way from last to first, bloody miracle! 3 laps to go and debris warning, so disappointing. Meta seem to just continue ignoring this issue.
- MetaStoreHelp
  Community Manager
  6 months ago
  Hey there Gimnos,
  
  We would love to try and help you with this, especially since it's interfering with your iRacing leagues.
  
  Please could you get in touch through a private message? We'd like to offer some troubleshooting tips.
  
  Simply click on our name to access our profile page or click here. Once there, select 'Send a message' to privately message us. Please note that you must be signed in to the community before sending a private message.
ymerrr
Honored Guest
3 months ago
I found a solution, i was bothered with this same problem all the time. I reselled Q3 to replace it with a Chrystal Light. And now i can simrace all day long !!! TY meta to not react since V63...