I am using Oculus Rift (NOT Rift S which I needed to pick as label for this post) for flight simulation. It worked well with my old PC and Prepared3D for years, but with a new high-end PC particularly configured to run the Rift with MSFS I had issues from the very beginning. I figured out that MSFS runs stable in VR when Oculus Rift and its 2 sensors are correctly detected as USB 3. If not, I get PC freezes with persistent implications on system stability. I had longer phases of relative stability when I could achieve USB 3 detection by re-plugging the cable or re-logging in the user. But after some software updates of Windows and Oculus the Rift is now hardly detected as USB 3 at all, it does not work for half a year now.
I tried tons of resolutions together with Meta support, even exchange of the whole device by Meta, it all did not help. Recently I checked USB connectivity of the Rift to my PC with USBView from the Windows SDK tools and compared it to the connectivity to a freshly unpacked gaming PC at a store: It was all identical. The Rift sets up a USB Hub as "Devive Bus Speed: High" and connects the device there, but as "Device Bus Speed: Full (is not SuperSpeed or high".
Now I wonder if a dedicated PCI USB card may be a solution: I see in the forum here several older posts with the same USB 3 connectivity issue but no real solution. Also, older hints for PCI USB cards working with Oculus Rift may be outdated already. So, I want to ask if there are any experiences if this issue can be solved with an USB card and which one I should eventually buy?
Hi @Christian64625 although my system is a lot older than yours, I'm running a Rift CV1 with three sensors which kept dropping from USB-3 to USB-2. So I ended up purchasing one of these
It's worked without fault and cured my USB issues. There may be newer/better cards now but this still works in windows 10 and 11. Note - it is powered, so you'll need a spare SATA cable.
Four Rift CV1s, Quest 2, Quest 3, Lenovo Explorer WMR, GearVR GOOGLE ULTIMATE ACCOUNT
Hey hey @Christian64625, and welcome back to the forums! I know connectivity issues can be so frustrating, especially when they keep you out of VR.
Honestly, it sounds like you probably know more about the Rift than I do. That being said, if you want to share the different troubleshooting steps you've already tried with support, I would be more than happy to check if there are any steps I've got that may have been missed!
You're definitely in the right place for some advice on this now. I hope some other Rift users will spot this thread and chime in if they have any helpful advice or suggestions for you!
Steps tried for troubleshooting: - Update of Windows, Oculus, graphics card drivers - Plugging Rift and sensors to different USB 3 ports - Clean uninstall/reinstall of Oculus Software, 2 times, under a local account or under admin account (it turned out that even after clean uninstall several Oculus-related files and registry keys are left). Oculus re-install on C: or on 😧 - Adding Oculus folder and processes to Avira white list - De-/Re-activate USB devices to update Windows USB drivers - Deactivate motherboard graphics - Running Oculus and MSFS only under Administrator account - Repeated system scans with DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth and sfc /scannow - System performance settings for Oculus app and graphics card set to high - Deactivated USB deactivation during system suspend - Installation of DotNet framework and latest Visual C++ (for whatever reason) - Exchange of Rift plus cable.
My specifications: - MSI PRO Z690-A, PCI 5.0 - Intel i9 12900K - 32 GB DDR5 - Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080Ti - 2 x 1TB Samsung SSD 980 Pro - Using a local account "pilot" (for security reasons) for flight simulation and VR beside the administrator account "admin"
You definitely weren't kidding when you said you tried tons of troubleshooting! Thanks so much for providing the steps you've tried along with your specs.
You've tried just about everything I could find to suggest here. The only other step I have here (that you may already be doing as well) is to make sure when you are connecting to your PC that you connect the USB cable first, then the display port cable to your dedicated GPU.
If the USB still isn't being read correctly as USB 3, then I would suggest reporting an issue with the PC app. Hopefully that can help improve this kind of issue in the future.
Besides that, hopefully some other Rift users will be able to provide helpful suggestions here as well.
Hi @Christian64625 it could be that some of your USB ports are sharing the same internal root hub (bandwidth and power) So a dedicated USB PCI card, powered by a SATA cable may improve the connectivity to the headset.
Four Rift CV1s, Quest 2, Quest 3, Lenovo Explorer WMR, GearVR GOOGLE ULTIMATE ACCOUNT
Thanks, @oculusness, this is exactly were I come from in my thinking. However, obviously not every card is supposed to work with the Rift. And available information looks a bit outdated (e.g. this video, already 6 years old). So I was wondering if there is any advice which PCI card I should best consider?
Hi @Christian64625 although my system is a lot older than yours, I'm running a Rift CV1 with three sensors which kept dropping from USB-3 to USB-2. So I ended up purchasing one of these
It's worked without fault and cured my USB issues. There may be newer/better cards now but this still works in windows 10 and 11. Note - it is powered, so you'll need a spare SATA cable.
Four Rift CV1s, Quest 2, Quest 3, Lenovo Explorer WMR, GearVR GOOGLE ULTIMATE ACCOUNT
Thanks again for this important hint, @oculusness, I will probably give this a try. Encouraging that the CV1 works for you with this card after you had comparable issues.
A question to @BlueberrieSmoothie : I think these potential USB controller issues were never reported in the Oculus Rift system requirements, correct? As I also may consider to move to another VR set like the Oculus Quest 3 because it is USB-C based: Is it possible that I may encounter similar USB connectivity issues with the Quest 3? I already asked support for official USB system requirements, and below is what I got. Is there anything else I need to consider for a successful connection of Quest 3 to USB-C at my PC?
SIGNAL REQUIREMENTS
USB 3.2 Gen 1 Signalling 5 Gbps USB 2 / Backwards-compatible
Thanks soo much, @oculusness and @BlueberrieSmoothie, for providing me with the resolution advice of adding the Inateck card. It worked immediately.
This hint could have saved me 1.5 years of trouble, issue resolution, a new Oculus Rift headset and months of MSFS inactivity! It was the remaining option after I've tried anything else. Honestly, I could not imagine that my expensive brand new high-end PC would require another 20 EUR PCI card to solve this issue. Unbelievable...
So thanks a lot again, I can now enjoy flying my A320 in VR around the virtual globe! 😀 I will mark this branch now as "resolved".
