Participant

Question

Meta Link freezes after a few seconds

Forum|Forum|7 months ago
March 4, 2026
82 replies
11275 views

After installing latest Meta Horizon Windows app update (85.0.0.239.552), the display inside headset freezes (sometimes goes black, similar to when proximity sensor kicks in, but while still wearing VR headset) after a few seconds after establishing cabled link (official 5m cable). Have to restart PC and re-establish Link to get it to work again, but then same happens after a few seconds. Can still hear audio inside headset, and when using games it seems to do head tracking (monitor screen updates, but not inside headset). This also happens inside the Meta Link view (grey environment with grid floor and ceiling inside VR headset after establishing link).

Firmware in VR headset is also on latest version,

This happened after updating Meta Horizon Windows app on 3rd/4th March. Before this it was working perfect.

Have tested this on 4 different PC's, with 3 different Meta Quest 3 headsets and one Quest Pro, with same result.

Hardware on test PC's:

Windows 11, different i9 processors (13th/14th gen, Intel Core Ultra 9), RTX 5090 laptop, RTX 5070 Ti Desktop, RTX 4090 desktop. 64GB RAM,

NVIDIA GeForce Graphics Drivers 595.71 WHQL driver + latest Windows updates

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SpikeVR31

New Participant

Same for me with Fallout 4... video completely frozen but sound is ok and also character is moving on my computer.
Also playing with usb cable :s
Will test drivers rollback to 591.74, thanks for the hint.

J

jhprovencal

New Participant

Hopefully this helps everyone: Making the changes below as suggested by TomCgcmfc allowed me to fly for 20 minutes without Link crashing. Link has been crashing for weeks now after 5-10 minutes. This is the first try and I'll update regarding future flights. Here are the changes I made: Oculus Debug Tool (ODT) all defaults/zeroes except link settings distortion low, dynamic bitrate encoding enabled, and 750mbps max dynamic bitrate. Update: Since the initial successful flight, I've had 2 more without Link failing. However, I did find that switching from 3d to 2d in the middle of the flight caused Link to fail. TomCgcmfc: Thank you for at least giving me a way to fly my Meta Quest 2 in 3d mode. At least until they correct whatever they did to create this Link problem. Thanks again.

T

TomCgcmfc

Honored Contributor

jhprovencal Great, thanks for letting me know this worked for you. I hope it continues to do so, lol! Cheers.

i9 13900K water cooled, RTX4090, Z790 MB w/wifi6e, 64Gb 6400 ram, 2x2TB SSD, 1000W PSU, Win 11, QPro, Q3, w/Link and Air Link, Vive Pro1 with 2x2.0 base stations, Etsy lens mod and Index Controllers

A

alexkew1

Up and Coming

Downgraded to v591.86 nvidia drivers fixed this for me. Quest Pro (2.1) and Horizon Link (85.x) all up-to-date and using USB cable. Would crash in DCS after 5 mins before downgraded driver

A

alexkew1

Up and Coming

After a few days and no other changes, Link is crashing between 5-40 minutes today, having been fine for over an hour at a time

T

TomCgcmfc

Honored Contributor

I had a +2hr flight with msfs 2024 yesterday with Link without any problems, even with the latest nvidia 595.97 driver. I'm not sure why you are having this issue? Maybe you are overloading your GPU's VRAM. You might want to try reducing your in-game texture settings. Also, I've found that using DDU in safe mode often helps, by properly uninstalling previous drivers and nvidia cache. Google how to do this. Cheers.

i9 13900K water cooled, RTX4090, Z790 MB w/wifi6e, 64Gb 6400 ram, 2x2TB SSD, 1000W PSU, Win 11, QPro, Q3, w/Link and Air Link, Vive Pro1 with 2x2.0 base stations, Etsy lens mod and Index Controllers

F

forthios2026

New Participant

In my case, when I access the PC via cable, the image freezes after a few seconds. I find it incredible that something happens with the MQ link every month. Since I bought them, I haven't been able to use them half the time.

T

TomCgcmfc

Honored Contributor

forthios.2026 All's working fine with both my QPro and Q3 headsets with latest non-beta v85 updates using Link and Air Link. I'm not sure why you are having problems mate. Maybe check your win11 device manager usb's and make sure to turn any power savings OFF on ALL of these because these may cause disconnects. Also, maybe try a different usb3 port. Otherwise, I suggest that you contact meta support including your log files and see if they can help identify what's causing your issue(s).

The only issue I'm currently having with the latest update is with Virtual Desktop (I still occasionally use this app). I'm getting a few black square artifacts in many PCVR games/sims. I'm sure the VD developer will sort this out soon. Cheers.

i9 13900K water cooled, RTX4090, Z790 MB w/wifi6e, 64Gb 6400 ram, 2x2TB SSD, 1000W PSU, Win 11, QPro, Q3, w/Link and Air Link, Vive Pro1 with 2x2.0 base stations, Etsy lens mod and Index Controllers

MRudolf

Participant

In the middle of every PCVR iRacing session for the past 3 days: freeze the headset, while tracking and VR movement continues on the monitor. Luckily, I only ruined my race, not others.

I had the 595.71 drivers. I just rolled back to 591.86. We'll see. I've never seen this before. Q3/512 13700K/64GB/4070Ti/W11P

SRLStage1

New Participant

I had to roll back to 591.74, now it works again in iRacing.

G

Gamist

Participant

Has anyone tried the new 596.21 Nvidia driver with the Meta Quest Link cable to see if it works? I had to roll back to 591.74 previously in order to get it to recognize the connection, but with new games like Pragmata out, I was wondering if the latest 596.21 driver is going to mess up my Quest Link again!

TTVNatashaaaVR

Up and Coming

I would like to know this too if anyone knows.

L

Lellyna

New Participant

this is still not fixed yet on the latest drivers

C

CodeWeaver

New Participant

Confirmed, still crashing on studio driver version 596.36

A

AnasKs

New Participant

will they fix this issue ? i want to play with the link cable since its better in terms of quality and latency compared to wireless, and i cant roll back nvidia driver since i got other non vr games to play, its been 2 months...

MRudolf

Participant

After successfully using 591.86, I'm gonna try the latest (Studio) 610.47 (May 26, 2026). An app I used needed to update the Nvidia driver with the latest Studio (/sadface).

I'll report back with what I find.

Meta Horizon Link Version 85.0.0.306.552 (85.0.0.306.552)

MRudolf

Participant

For iRacing and my scenario: 610. 47 was stable throughout Practice and Race. This was with: Meta Horizon Link Version 85.0.0.306.552 (85.0.0.306.552); Quest 3-512 device is: v2.4.1033, Build 5216847.4360.520 - Jun 3, 2026.

Not sure which updates fixed it though, so, ymmv. ✌️

1

104thCrunch

Participant

Same exact issue as OP described and will try the Nvidia driver rollback soon. I have wasted many hours trying to correct this before I found this thread. I don't know why this issue is not corrected months later, or at the very least, some form of official communication from Meta about the issue to users. So frustrating.

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