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Panzermk2
New Participant
November 12, 2020
Solved

White horizontal stripe across screen while using link

Headset seems to work fine stand-alone.  I use the headset with IRacing, and often (not always) get a translucent horizontal stripe across the screen after about 15 minutes or so.  It doesn't feel like the headset is overheating.  This doesn't show up on the screen mirror on PC, or if I "mirror" with the debug tool.  Is this likely a failing display or is there somewhere else I should look?

    PokebertAnswer
    Participant
    March 20, 2023

    UPDATE: POSSIBLE WORKAROUND/FIX USING REGISTRY EDITOR

    As I theorized above, this issue does NOT occur for those who use Air Link. Air Link uses HEVC and uses 1 slice for its encoding, whereas wired Link uses H.264 and 5 slices for encoding. Whenever the white bar issue occurs, it is very likely the final 5th slice experiencing an error in the encoding. If you pay close attention when this occurs, you will likely notice it only occurs in the bottom slice of the screen.

    To use this workaround, open Command Prompt and use the following:

    • reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Oculus\RemoteHeadset" /v "numSlices" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f

    I will be experimenting with this for the next few weeks to make sure  I do not get the white bar issue!

    Original Post on REVISITED thread:

    I have noticed that this is related to the horizontal encoding slices that are visible only through the Link Cable. A very easy stopgap solution would be to offer a toggle in the OculusDebugTool that allows us to turn OFF these encoding slices. Additionally, the encoding slices do not appear with Air Link and thus the issue has almost never occurred wirelessly according to both personal experience and these threads.

    View in thread

    1125 replies

    Show previous replies
    Khunem
    New Participant
    December 21, 2021

    Same, as fyte said, manually started the service, played 3 more hours without any issue today, will continue testing. Thanks a lot ❤️

    BreakfastBuddie
    New Participant
    January 2, 2022

    I fixed this (for now... seems to come back randomly) by going into geforce experience and doing a CLEAN reinstall of my drivers (theres a checkbox for that, make sure you do custom installation instead of express)

    Xerberuz
    Participant
    January 3, 2022

    After trying multiple things, I seem to have fixed it on my pc by changing the bitrate to 350 in the oculus debug tool.  The tool is located in C:\Program Files\Oculus\Support\oculus-diagnostics.  Make sure you run it as admin and that you close it after the change and reopen it to confirm that the change took place.  Hope this works for everyone.

    Xerberuz
    Participant
    January 5, 2022

    So after being gone for hours after changing the bitrate, the stripe came back last night :(.  I uninstalled the oculus software and deleted all oculus temp files and the ones in the app data folder and is back to being gone.  Will report back if it comes back.  This is really frustrating.  Is like sometimes a small change gets rid of it temporarily and then is back.

      kodizmdq
      New Participant
      January 6, 2022

      Please FIX THIS, Ques2 is unusable for PCVR with this problem. I was telling everyone about how awesome the Quest and Quest 2 are, (yes I have both) and now its broken, and you dont fix it.   maybe if we all the users do our part on social nets, the NSP score goes down and they look eventually this problem and start solving it. 

      The white stripes beggins to show at random times, sometimes at the first minute .... sometimes at 10 minutes after the encoding started. stripes and artifacts everywhere. Can not recomend it anymore. It was amazing one time, now its time to save for a Valve Index or and HP VR one.

      Poiju
      New Participant
      January 6, 2022

      I've tried multiple, suggested fixes in this thread. We need a work around or at minimum, a better response. Ryanality 

      benji94
      Participant
      January 15, 2022

      I've read through this entire thread and have found it both enlightening as well as disturbing that this problem has been going on for so very long.  I don't have the technical expertise to solve it myself but I thought at least I'd offer my latest experience with this issue that might give some insight for the technical geeks (and I use the term with the utmost respect) that are working on it.

       

      First my current system:  i7-6700K overclocked @4.5; FE RTX3090 GPU (latest driver 497.29); 32GB RAM; WINDOWS 10 HOME 64 bit (ver. 21H2); and Oculus Quest 2.

       

      I principally use the headset for iRacing via the official Oculus link cable and I've only had the issue occur when in iRacing.  I don't ever recall seeing it in any of the other Oculus PCVR games/apps though honestly haven't been in many long enough to say if it develops or not.

       

      I've had this issue occur, seemingly randomly, awhile back, I think sometime in mid 2020 is my best guess.  At that time my gpu was an RTX2080 Super.  When it occurred I would play around with the bitrate settings in the ODT and, if seemed, to solve the problem.  At least for awhile.  And then maybe weeks later it would happen again.  I would adjust the settings, reboot everything, and then I'd be fine for awhile.  This led me to believe it was in someway connected to bitrate settings.

       

      Then the issue disappeared for me for quite awhile.  About a year ago I was lucky enough to snag an RTX3090.  All was fine and the issue didn't develop for me all last year as I recall.

       

      I hadn't updated the Nvidia drivers since last summer so I just recently decided it was well past time to update.  On 1/6 I updated to the current Nvidia driver ver 497.29.  By the way, I don't install GeoForce Experience software and always run Display Device Uninstaller (DDU) in safe mode prior to any GPU driver updates).

       

      (An aside:  I learned the hard way to always use DDU.  When I first got my Quest 2 and after it was updated to run 90 fps I was unable to get it to run more than 72 fps.  I engaged in the Oculus Support boogey woogey shuffle for nearly two months which included every Oculus suggestion mentioned in this thread, most of them multiple times, as well as Oculus replacing the headset, and trying different cables, USB ports, and on and on.  It kept getting bumped up the Oculus Support ladder until FINALLY a fellow had me run DDU and THEN reinstall the graphics drives.  BINGO! that worked and I was able to use the headset at any fps setting I desired.  Just thought I'd include it hear in case it might save others the aggravation I went through.)

       

      Now back to the original programming....after I updated the Nvidia drivers all was fine UNTIL about 3 or 4 days after 1/6 there was a WINDOWS update.  The very next day I saw the white horizontal band begin to form on the bottom of my headset display while in an iRacing session.  Hmmm...haven't seen that in awhile I thought but ok I'll just adjust the bitrate down.  Nope...didn't work.

       

      I then embarked on days and days of testing.  I tested the bitrate settings from default to max at 50 point increments.  No change.  I tested Oculus fps settings from 72 fps to 120 fps.  No change.  Within each fps setting I tested each and every pixel density setting from 1.0 to max.  No change.  I investigated possible heating issues with the headset and my pc, as best as I could anyway....all is running cool as far as I could see.  I ran DDU and reinstalled the previous Nvidia drivers.  No change.  I ran DDU and reinstalled the current drivers.  No change.  I rebooted the Oculus headset and reinstalled my Oculus software.  Nope...no change.

       

      At some point I found this thread, read through every single page and tried every suggestion that I hadn't already tried..  No change.

       

      What was especially frustrating is how random the problem is.  I could be in a race server and the problem wouldn't develop.  Change to a different server about an hour later and then it would.  I started to wonder if it was a connection issue of some sort and checked me internet connection and modem.  Everything checked out ok, again as far as my meager skills allowed.

       

      I was at the point where there were only two options, either live with it and wait for Oculus to finally figure it out and correct it with an update OR employ the workaround posted by "fyte" which seems to working for some.

       

      So day before yesterday (1/13) I ran two different practice sessions each about an hour or so long.  In each session the problem occurred as usual at around the 45 minute mark or so (and gets progressively worse from there).  I finished around 11 pm and as I was shutting down my pc there was the notification that there was another windows update.  Ok, so what's new???....I chose "update and shut down" and walked away.

       

      Yesterday (1/14) morning I fired everything up and ran another practice session.  The white band never appeared.  Strange, I thought, but then maybe I hadn't run long enough so I didn't think much of it.  Then, last evening I ran a 3 hour race.  All the while expecting the white horizontal band to appear..  IT NEVER DID!!!  All was fine for the entire session.  I couldn't believe it.  And I had made absolutely no changes to ANY of the Oculus settings.

       

      So today I ran another long practice session and it still hasn't developed!

       

      Obviously, I need to do more sessions to be sure but it sure looks like there is some correlation between Windows 10 updates and this issue occurring.  For me, it didn't start until after an update and then it went away after another update.

       

      Sorry for the length of this but I felt that the details are important.  With any luck it will at least give some insight to those who know a ton more than I do about all the sorcery that makes all this stuff work.  I'll follow up if it crops up again but in the meantime I'm going to keep a close watch as well as a log of when any updates occur with Windows, Oculus, and GPU drivers.

       

       

        Xerberuz
        Participant
        January 15, 2022

        Thanks so much for the detailed post.  I have a similar setup as yours and have gotten it to work with Fyte’s work around, but I will check if going back to the normal oculus drivers and support files and updating windows works for me.  Thanks again.

        WildMarshmellow
        New Participant
        January 18, 2022

        I am having this same issue just got my headset today. im running a 2070Rtx with quest 2. was playing VRChat when it started after about 15min

        Anonymous
        January 18, 2022

        I've definitely had this issue and had it go away after uninstalling SteamVR. I mainly do SimRacing so having it appear with the link after 15 minutes is bizarre. Whats more bizarre is if I look at the band with dark underneath it, it looks like a swirly smoke animated texture?

        Removing SteamVR has fixed it completely for me for several weeks, but I briefly reinstalled SteamVR and it showed up again. Some sort of link there, even when SteamVR isnt open that is causing the issue?

          Xerberuz
          Participant
          January 18, 2022

          Interesting, Does it matter which SteamVR (beta or not) is installed?

          Anonymous
          January 18, 2022

          I didnt try a beta of it, only the release on Steam. Im not willing to risk it as it can get highly annoying. When it was happening, I could get it to go away for a couple of minutes by quickly hitting the power button on the Quest2 and back on, but thats really problematic during a race. It seems to go away with quick scene changes, so it must be something software and not actually hardware related.

           

          Kaptastic4wd
          New Participant
          January 19, 2022

          Had my headset for only a few days now. Yesterday I got Link working with the cable, got SteamVR up and did some Pavlov. Worked good. Then today, a few minutes after getting into some Tripp using the Link, I noticed the white bar on the bottom. Found this thread and messed with some stuff including debug settings, nothing worked. Fortunately, I decided to try just opting into Public Test Channel and that seemed to do the trick. For now. Figured I'd post if it may help someone else.

          StunWar
          New Participant
          January 19, 2022

          Dang, I tried that too but it didint work…. Hopefully it holds out for you though! I just wish this issue would get patched. I’m probably going to return my quest in the next few days if I can’t find a work around. 

          Kaptastic4wd
          New Participant
          January 20, 2022

          What do ya know. It's back within a minute of getting into the big white room interface when ya open link. I'm Uninstaller and reinstalling oculus on the PC to see what happens.

          HptmAtomiK
          HptmAtomiK
          Participant
          January 24, 2022

          Have any of you submitted a support ticket and reported all this? I started one a week or so ago and Oculus support acted like they never heard of this issue. I am currently going through the support process now, submitting diagnostic logs, etc. I suggest you all do the same, en masse.

          I can't believe this has been going on for years now...

          Xerberuz
          Participant
          January 24, 2022

          That is not true, they have heard of this issue.  I had submitted a ticket a few months back, they had me do all of the usual logs and delete all oculus stuff in safe mode, and originally it worked but came back a month or so later.  My request number was 3528370.

            benji94
            Participant
            January 24, 2022

            Hi.  Just popped in to see if any positive developments.  Doesn't look like it unfortunately.

            This issue has not reoccurred for me.  I've been in the headset for 3 and 4 hours at a time over the last couple of weeks and its been perfect.  Ran the iRacing 24 Hours of Daytona, via Link, and it was flawless throughout.

             

            A short re-cap...the issue began for me the day after a windows update about 3 weeks ago now.  I never considered that the update might be related to the problem.  I spent the next week extensively testing every setting I could think of (see my long post) along with the usual Oculus support instructions (i.e. wipe everything out and start over, etc. etc. etc.), and anything else I could think of.  None of it made a difference.

            Then there was another Windows update one evening as I shut down my machine (about a week to ten days after the previous one).  The very next day, without any other changes to the headset settings or my system, the problem disappeared as suddenly as it started.  Haven't had the issue since that latest update.

             

            It seems to me there is a 'clue' to the issue in my experience with this but I don't have the expertise to understand what it might be.  Maybe Windows and Oculus (with Link) are not playing well together under certain conditions???  A memory leak of some kind between Windows and the headset???

             

            That Oculus support isn't able, or willing, to figure it out and provide guidance may indicate that it actually isn't an Oculus problem per se, or at least not one they have the ability to offer a solution for.  Just a wild guess!

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