Flashing White Vertical Lines, Green Sparkles, then Screen Goes Black, and Indicator Light Turns Solid Red. Not Good

[MyNameIs]

(Reposted from Pimax reddit forum)

Was in the middle of playing a game today with my 5K XR when the image suddenly distorted–flashing vertical white lines, one on each side of the screen, and flashing green dots, which from my past experience with 2D gaming, tend to indicate a bad video card.

I shut everything down and rebooted and got the same thing again, same distortion, which then goes completely black and the indicator light on my headset goes from green to red.

I’ve already replaced the Pimax cable once because of the bad snow effect. I … don’t think that’s what I’m seeing now. I’m afraid it might be the headset’s onboard video. (Needless to say, everything looks fine on my Samsung monitor via HDMI.)

Things I’ve tried:

Uninstalled/reinstalled Pitools

Reflashed the correct firmware

Uninstalled/reinstalled Nvidia drivers

Switched USB ports

Switched DisplayPorts on my video card (haven’t unplugged cable to the HMD yet but it’s on my list. Pretty sure that isn’t the issue.)

Now what? Any suggestions?

I will file a ticket with support, but I must be out of warranty by now so I’m not sure what they’ll do to help me. Might be time to move onto the Vive Pro 2.

[Heliosurge]

Do you have another PC you can test the headset on?

Support should be able to setup a Teamviewer session to get a better idea what is going on.

Do you get this condition immediately now or is it once the headset connects? Before loading a game/steamvr you should be able to put the headset on and see the pimax logo screen in tge headset.

[MyNameIs]

Thanks for responding, Heliosurge!

I get the distorted image as soon as the headset comes on. In other words, over the Pimax logo.

Unfortunately I don’t have another PC with a DisplayPort to test. Just laptops with HDMI. I should see if I have my old (sparkly) cable to see if swapping it out makes a difference, but I’m pretty sure I tossed it when I got the replacement.

[Heliosurge]

Your very welcome. It might be an idea to try reseating the cable. With it occuring on the logo screen might not be a good sign. Though with it using a wall 12v plug might even be something like the adapter having an issue.

If you have a friend whom you can test the headset on would be great as it can help to eliminate another possible issue being something in your pc; if the issue is present 9n another system even if not strong enough to game on.

[MyNameIs]

It’s the cable. I reseated it and the picture came back again, clear, with no distortion. But when I looked up, which moved the cable slightly, the distortion came back, and then the headset lost the video signal again. Looking down brought the signal back, but after a minute or two the distortion stayed and wouldn’t go away. It’s weird. The green light is on, Pitools says everything is okay, SteamVR isn’t reporting any issues … but the screen is totally dark. No image at all.

If I move the cable around, I can get the image to come back, but moving again will cut off the signal. This is the cable I bought I think less than a year ago to replace the FIRST cable that went bad on me. Now I have to buy a whole new cable? This is ridiculous. Heliosurge, how can I get Pimax to send me a new cable? I paid out of pocket for the first replacement because I didn’t want to deal with customer service and waiting forever for the new cable, etc. But I’m not buying another cable again

[hammerhead_gal]

hi
Please give me your tickets number so that i can check the issue with the support.

[MyNameIs]

Thanks for responding, hammerhead_gal. I don’t have a ticket number but I will take whatever steps I need to get one.

UPDATE: I managed to get the signal back with zero distortion by bending the cable at the point that it inserts into the headset sharply downward–like an upside down “L”–and taping it at that point to the side of my Pimax. I’m not confident that this solution will last forever, but for right now it works. I hope the fact that this restores the signal doesn’t indicate a hardware issue with the port itself. Only way to check is to get another replacement cable so I am going to definitely file a ticket with Pimax and hope for the best. Will update this thread or start another when I get a definitive answer from the company one way or the other.

[DrWilken]

I have just discovered the same issue with my 8KX cable (which is by no means new as I’m one of the early pre-order customers) right near where it plugs into the headset.

Might just be a weak part of the cable (that part of the cable seems very similar to the one used on the 5K+ though I haven’t checked them side by side) due to the strain relief right after the plug (that’s very often where cables go bad).

Ordered a new one on Amazon and will probably RMA the original one if it works.

I’d like to keep a spare handy…