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Dewelius
New Participant
April 25, 2026
Question

Quest 3 USB Ethernet broken after April 2026 update — IpClient DHCP never starts (RTL8153B)

  • April 25, 2026
  • 14 replies
  • 1448 views

Hi, before the latest Quest OS update (April 2026) I was using Virtual Desktop over Ethernet via a USB-C hub (Baseus CAHUB-CW0G, Realtek RTL8153B chipset) and it worked great. After the update it stopped working completely.

The interface (eth0) shows up and the hub is detected, but the Quest never gets an IP address — it just stays on IPv6 link-local and never connects. Virtual Desktop shows "Not in same local network".

I spent several hours digging into this with ADB and found two things:

  1. The firmware file rtl_nic/rtl8153b-2.fw for the Realtek chip is missing — the driver logs an error on every connection attempt
  2. The DHCP client never actually starts — eth0 comes up but the Quest never sends a DHCP request to get an IPv4 address

I tried everything I could without root: cmd ethernet set-ip-configuration eth0 dhcp, static IP, replugging the hub, different flag values — nothing works because the fix requires system-level access.

This is affecting everyone using Ethernet with Virtual Desktop after this update. The Realtek RTL8153 chipset is by far the most popular one for these hubs so it's a wide impact.

Please restore the missing firmware file and fix the DHCP provisioning for USB Ethernet interfaces. This worked perfectly before the update so it should be a straightforward fix.

Thanks

      14 replies

      SpeedAdrenaline
      New Participant
      April 30, 2026

      hello, I am having the same issue, virtual desktop streamer cannot connect via ethernet cable, has anyone found the solution

       

      MrSunnybones
      New Participant
      April 30, 2026

      Almost certainly the same issue here . Have a Quest 3 connected viab USB to a HP 

      E24d G4 monitor , which has a Network card built in , and had been working fine for the last 10 months or so .. (I connect via VD to a PC in another room) yesterday it just stopped working ..It seems to work for a few seconds when I reboot the quest , but then says no wifi connection (I have wifi switched off normally) and has no internet conection.  Its possible I'm seeing cached information here though as it breaks too quickly for me to test.

      I dont know the exact network chipset inside the monitor so cant confirm its exactly the same issue . Will try it with some other network devices and see 

      -edit- after a bit of testing it looks like the monitor uses a 

      Realtek RTL8153  

      Its annoying as hell when an update breaks something that was working fine .

        wolfie24
        New Participant
        May 1, 2026

        molesto para el usuario, sin apuro para el fabricante, total, ya tiene tu dinero. Esto es algo común en todos los sistemas, me pasó con FS2020, con FS2024, con Win en casi todas sus versiones y con lo que sea sucede igual. Hacen la prueba con un grupo reducido de usuarios, posiblemente con los equipos mas potentes que jamás tendrá el gamer común y si funciona allí "debe" funcionar para todos. Muy molesto y frustrante, como que la vida y el tiempo de los usuarios no tuviese valor alguno

         

        SpeedAdrenaline
        New Participant
        May 1, 2026

        Has anyone found a solution to this issue, 

         

        SpeedAdrenaline
        New Participant
        May 1, 2026

        To all, if you still have this issue, just flip the cable that goes into the headset and it should work, it did it for me. dont know why but it works. 

        SpeedAdrenaline
        New Participant
        May 5, 2026

        What I proposed before of flipping the cable worked but it did not solve the problem since after restart the connection failure comes back. What I finally did was a factory reset, I reinstalled the applications and now it is working correctly, I noticed that the Q3 updated itself to the April 22nd, 2026, version and since then it is working as it is supposed to. In addition, I also switched off the wireless connection which i will not update for the time being. I hope it helps to someone who is struggling with this. 

        kevenma
        Participant
        May 4, 2026

        Really appreciate the technical deep dive!

        I’m seeing the same issue with users of my app, especially for NDI workflows where a stable wired connection is essential. I’ve escalated this to Meta on X (Twitter) to help them see that this regression impacts a wide range of use cases. Thanks again for the research!

        Hopefully, we get a fix soon!

        Escalation thread: https://x.com/kevenma_x/status/2051341869536419850

          duncangroberts
          New Participant
          May 5, 2026

          Yeah having exactly the same issue. Headset just updated, ethernet via the usb-c adapter works until you try and open VD or Steam link and then the connection goes down.

            Maniguet
            New Participant
            May 14, 2026

            Hi there, 

            Thanks to the OP for digging into this issue. 

            To use Virtual Desktop via USB cable I connect the quest 3 to an HP docking station that is connected to the local net. 

            It worked ok until some days ago. 

            I have checked and the docking station uses a similar Realtek chip from the 8153 family. 

            I hope that this is solved soon, but I wouldn't hold my breath...

             

            Maniguet
            New Participant
            May 29, 2026

            I just checked this morning and it is still broken after last update.

            Has anyone got it working?

            WolfMetaQuest3
            New Participant
            May 29, 2026

            No tengo ese problema pero tengo dos sugerencias. Prueba cambiar la red a ipv4 y reinicia el router y los quest. Quizá eso te sea de ayuda

              Huguet
              New Participant
              July 11, 2026

              BINGO!!!!

              that did the trick! I have a Fritzbox 7590Ax router. I switched off IP V6 and with the same hardware setup as before, the Quest were visible again when connected vis USB to my HP G2 docking station.

              Muchas gracias for your help.

                Huguet
                New Participant
                July 4, 2026

                is this still broken?

                 

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