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Has the Rift got a audio design flaw?

flibberflops
Expert Protege
Exactly one year and one day of owning the CV1 and I have got the dreaded "right ear" audio issue which is talked about here...

https://forums.oculus.com/community/discussion/39449/right-side-headphone-stopped-functioning/p1

In my case, it is definately the issue others have reported where if you wiggle the strap you can get the audio to briefly come on (i.e. faulty ribbon cable in the strap).

 Now, I am not the greatest of users of VR. If I put it on twice a week I am having a busy week. Therefore I am a little concerned that the ribbon cable is failing (I presume) just by the action of taking the headset on and off. This obviously should not happen on a "quality product". Its also worrying that more and more people are now reporting this issue.

@Cyber - I am liaising with support to fix my issue, however if/when I get a replacement has the ribbon cable weakness been addressed in newer revisions, or can I expect this to be a Xbox 360 regular failure type thing?

14 REPLIES 14

cybereality
Grand Champion
Please speak with support about getting a replacement. Assuming you are qualified for an RMA (meaning you purchased from Oculus or an authorized retailer) it should be no problem to get a new unit. Thanks.
https://support.oculus.com
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | MSI X370 Titanium | G.Skill 16GB DDR4 3200 | EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 | Corsair Hydro H110i Gigabyte RX Vega 64 x2 | Samsung 960 Evo M.2 500GB | Seagate FireCuda SSHD 2TB | Phanteks ENTHOO EVOLV

falken76
Expert Consultant
I'm sure you have already tried this, but rift is terrible with USB ports.  My HDMI constantly disconnected and switching ports cleared it up a lot.  It feels like it's physical because if I so much as brush my hand against the left side of the rift it disconnects, I re-seat the USB and it works fine for quite some time.  I've had the audio turn off or the mic stops working, a re-seat seems to fix it.  I don't touch the HDMI connection itself.  But this is the most basic of things to try so I am sure you already tried this.  You're lucky, at least support responds to you, now Cybereality won't even respond when I ask for help and I'm still under warranty.

cybereality
Grand Champion
Sorry, @falken76, I was away for a few days. I responded in your thread. I believe there may have been a technical glitch or the email went into spam or something, as we did try to reach out to you immediately and never got a response. You can PM me and we can discuss further if you'd prefer. Thanks.
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | MSI X370 Titanium | G.Skill 16GB DDR4 3200 | EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 | Corsair Hydro H110i Gigabyte RX Vega 64 x2 | Samsung 960 Evo M.2 500GB | Seagate FireCuda SSHD 2TB | Phanteks ENTHOO EVOLV

alj333
Explorer
I've had the same problem. Around 6-8 months old.
Lost audio and bad tracking when not facing the cameras properly.
Confirmed the audio was correct on the PC. tried a second rift on the same cable and the audio was ok.

I'm outside the US, so return involves added freight costs and import duties for a replacement.
Decided to lift the front cover and found the problem. Picture attached.
Only the fabric lens surround has been removed, Nothing else.

Struggling to understand how this occurs. The side strap is fully attached and has not come of at any stage to my knowledge but the ribbon cable feeding the audio and rear sensor has been torn inside the HMD.

The tear around the locating hole indicates the cable had been pulled from the strap side, but the strap is still secure. I can not see how to remove the head strap side, so struggle to see how the kids could have done so.
p73ktkj9y1d1.jpg

DarkTenka
Trustee

alj333 said:
I'm outside the US, so return involves added freight costs and import duties for a replacement.
Decided to lift the front cover and found the problem. Picture attached.
Only the fabric lens surround has been removed, Nothing else.



Oculus ... would have .. given you a pre-paid shipping label that would have covered all shipping costs. Not any more though since you opened it up. =/

In any case I like that someone is opening it up to look at it and hopefully figure out how to DIY solve it, because a bunch of these HMD's are gonne be beyond warranty with the same issue at some point.

If you manage to figure it out, please post a youtube video walkthrough if you don't mind. I'm fairly sure it's going to be greatly appreciated over the next 6-12 months.

alj333
Explorer
I had tried that before opening with another unit. I have to go back through Amazon and get a refund. Oculus will not support to address outside the US. I still have to pay freight and import duties for a replacement. These cost are high enough to warrant attempted repair , worst case keep this one for spare parts. 
Looking to modify to an external cable for the audio and rear leds if there is no way to get spares.

The lens face cover comes off easily with mobile phone tools and a gentle hand.

DarkTenka
Trustee

alj333 said:

I had tried that before opening with another unit. I have to go back through Amazon and get a refund. Oculus will not support to address outside the US. I still have to pay freight and import duties for a replacement. These cost are high enough to warrant attempted repair , worst case keep this one for spare parts. 
Looking to modify to an external cable for the audio and rear leds if there is no way to get spares.

The lens face cover comes off easily with mobile phone tools and a gentle hand.


They do support outside US, I'm in Australia and they gave me a free label to RMA for this exact reason. Though I think it's only different you for you because you went through Amazon, maybe they don't support it then. It would have been ok if you bought directly from Oculus I'm pretty sure.

In any case I'm glad you're opening it up at least. Hope you are successful and can instruct on how to fix eventually.

flibberflops
Expert Protege


Please speak with support about getting a replacement. Assuming you are qualified for an RMA (meaning you purchased from Oculus or an authorized retailer) it should be no problem to get a new unit. Thanks.
https://support.oculus.com



Thanks for the reply Cyber, Oculus Support is already dealing with my warranty issue.

However, that is not the question I asked...

Just to be clear, I believe that it is obvious that the CV1 has a weak audio ribbon cable. My concern is that despite my rift being replaced, if the design is the same it will only be a matter of time before it fails again. Next time will undoubtedly be out of warranty.

 So the question still stands... has the design being upgraded, or will my replacement have the same weak audio cable design?

DarkTenka
Trustee




Please speak with support about getting a replacement. Assuming you are qualified for an RMA (meaning you purchased from Oculus or an authorized retailer) it should be no problem to get a new unit. Thanks.
https://support.oculus.com

 So the question still stands... has the design being upgraded, or will my replacement have the same weak audio cable design?


Would like to know this myself but I think @cybereality may be unable to answer it. I received my replacement unit back in February and have yet to encounter it again so far, however my first unit lost it's right ear after about 8 months usage so I couldn't say for sure that I'm in the clear.