How to fix Oculus HDMI connection issues (“No HDMI Connection” error)

Today I want to write a short post about a rather common issue that I read about Oculus Rift devices and that I had myself in the past. It all regards the HDMI connection: Oculus runtime says that the device is unplugged from HDMI when it actually is plugged it. Panic. What should we do?

It has happened to me as well. I wrote this post trying to help all of you that are having the same problem I had so that you can fix it faster than me.

The first solutions that I’ll provide you are the classical ones that every robotic monkey could provide you, that is:

1. Double check if your HDMI connector is actually inserted well into the HDMI port of your graphics card. Once to a colleague of mine, the connector seemed completely inserted, but it was only 90% inserted… so it seemed in, but actually it was not doing a proper contact. So, double check it, just to be sure;
2. Remove and re-insert your HDMI connector (thanks to Sam W for having suggested me this trick);

The first thing I try before any of those is unplug and replug, seems to fix it 9/10 times

— VR Sam W (@vr_sam) January 26, 2018

3. Double check your HDMI connector and cable to see if there are issues with them (they’re bent, broken or such);
4. Kill Oculus server and restart it. Just look for it in your Task Manager and kill it mercilessly. Oculus has another service, the server launcher, that will restart your server when needed, so don’t worry;
5. Restart your PC and see if that fixes the issue. I know, this is the typical “IT guy” solution, but, hey, it may work;
6. Update your graphics card drivers: another old classic, but I’ve read that in a good number of cases, it fixed the problem;
7. Remove some of the devices that you have attached to your USB ports and see if the problem persists;
8. If you have multiple screens, try to leave only one screen attached;
9. Try using another HDMI port, if you have one. You can also try another graphics port, provided that you have an adapter. A user on the Oculus Forums reported having overcome the issue by attaching its HMD to the Displayport port of his graphics card and using an HDMI-to-DisplayPort adapter. Another one solved using the DVI;
10. Try uninstalling and re-installing all the Oculus software;
11. If the problem came out after some Windows or driver update, try rolling back these updates. This solved the problem for some people as well.

If you have tried these all, there are is another trick that you can try. It saved my life some time ago… and it is a variant of the above point 1. When my Rift arrived, it had the problem of the HDMI connection that didn’t get detected, but actually, it was perfectly inserted into the graphics card port. The headset had the symptom that the internal led was orange (so, the headset was in standby mode) and when I tried to occlude the light sensor with my finger, simulating the user wearing the headset, it didn’t become white (active mode), but it unlit. And the most annoying thing is that this problem was completely random, popping out only some days… when I spent a lot of time trying to plug the HDMI connector in and out of my graphics card. So annoying.

This went on until my buddy Gianni found the solution browsing the web: it was indeed the HDMI connector, but not the one going into the PC, but the one going into the headset. This problem may happen if the HDMI connection inside the headset becomes loose. So, what you have to do? Most of the time it is enough to push firmly the cable that enters the headset so that to push the internal connector towards its internal port. If this doesn’t work, you have to remove the facial interface of your Rift, until you clearly see the connector. At this moment, unplug it, check that it is ok and firmly plug it again, then re-assemble again your Rift. Everything should work again, now.

If even this doesn’t help you in solving your problems with HDMI, I do not know how to help you further, sorry. I did my best. Try contacting Oculus support! If this helped you, I’m very glad to have been useful to you! If you want to help me back, please subscribe to my newsletter to support this little VR magazine! Cheers!

(Header image by Oculus, modified by me)