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

[TheTjeezY]

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.

[vrabbits]

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.

[MetaQuestSupport]

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.

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