SteamVR crashes immediately upon start up; "SteamVR has encountered a critical error". No error code. Steam Support utterly unhelpful. Please help.

[ThePaSch]

I'm at my wit's end with this one. I have legit been dealing with this issue for months. I can not use any VR headset or application whatsoever - I've tried on a HTC Vive, and now, after acquiring one, I've tried on a Valve Index, but it's the same ♥♥♥♥ every time. Steam Support has nothing to suggest but "please run this scan for the tenth time to see if something changed since the last nine times we've instructed you to run this scan", and "have you tried reinstalling your drivers again? perhaps the tenth time will work?", and has repeatedly ignored my pleas to please escalate this issue to someone with in-depth knowledge because we're clearly not getting anywhere here.

So my last resort is... online forums. Gulp.

Anyway - here's the deal. SteamVR crashes reliably after launching it if a headset is connected. This happens regardless of which headset is connected - as I've said above, it happens with both my HTC Vive and my Valve Index. The error message is always the same: "SteamVR has encountered a critical error." At this point, my only options are to either to restart SteamVR or to quit SteamVR. No amount of restarting either SteamVR or my machine fixes the issue (believe me - I've tried longer than I'm comfortable to admit).

In vrserver.log, the crash is always premeditated by the following line:

Failed Watchdog timeout in thread server_main in CVRServer::UpdateAudioDevices after 11.985882 seconds. Aborting.

This, naturally, led me to disconnecting and reconnecting everything that's remotely related to audio, reinstalling my audio drivers several times, and trying with no audio devices connected whatsoever apart from the SteamVR driver. None of it has worked.

I've tried the following things:

• Reinstalling all drivers: Graphics, Audio, Chipset, SteamVR
  
• Trying all available USB ports on my device
  
• Trying to switch to PC audio as opposed to headset audio
  
• Trying with both a Valve Index and a HTC Vive
  
• Reinstalling Steam several times
  
• Reinstalling SteamVR several times
  
• Uninstalling and reinstalling SteamVR drivers several times (through the developer settings)
  
• Disconnecting all audio devices connected to my computer and attempting to launch SteamVR in that state
  
• Reconnecting all audio devices connected to my computer
  
• Disabling, uninstalling, reinstalling my antivirus software
  
• Providing Steam Support with several MSINFO and DXDIAG logs, to no avail

The only thing I haven't tried is completely reinstalling Windows. This may be my last available resort if this issue can't be solved through any other way. I'll add that this issue first popped up on a relatively fresh install anyway - I only recently reinstalled Windows on my computer about 9 months ago; the issue first popped up 6 months ago, and hasn't resolved since.

I truly am desperate here. If there's anything that could still be done, I'd be incredibly appreciative of any ideas. If anyone knows a way to contact SteamVR developers directly, I'd also be happy to hear about it.

My hardware specs are as follows:

Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080Ti (default clock)
AMD Ryzen 9 3900x (default clock)
MSI B450-A Pro Motherboard
32GB DDR4-3200 CL14 Memory
Windows 10 Pro v1903 (Build 18362.239)

[BOLL]

Hrm. Sounds like you've had an adventure indeed. I'll be difficult and ask you even more questions, hah.

1. Windows version?
   
2. Hardware specs?
   
3. Any additional anti-virus or anti-malware software installed?
   
4. Any hardware tweaking software installed? e.g. MSI Afterburner
   
5. Any game overlay software installed? e.g. Overwolf

Guess that is it for now 🤔

[ThePaSch]

Thanks for the response! I did forget to mention my specs... I'll add them to the OP.

Origineel geplaatst door BOLL:

1. Windows version?
   
2. Hardware specs?
   
3. Any additional anti-virus or anti-malware software installed?
   
4. Any hardware tweaking software installed? e.g. MSI Afterburner
   
5. Any game overlay software installed? e.g. Overwolf

Guess that is it for now 🤔

My hardware specs are as follows:

Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080Ti (default clock)
AMD Ryzen 9 3900x (default clock)
MSI B450-A Pro Motherboard
32GB DDR4-3200 CL14 Memory
Windows 10 Pro v1903 (Build 18362.239)

Drivers have just been updated to their latest version today (that's video, audio, and chipset).

I have MBAM as an on-demand scanner (so no active protection), and ESET NOD32 with active protection running. I've already tried disabling those though, that didn't solve the problem either. I'm adding this to the OP though, since that's a thing I tried and didn't mention!

I did have MSI Afterburner installed, though that's no longer the case. Apart from that, only AMD Ryzen Master, which holds my CPU performance profiles.

No overlay software.

[BOLL]

Hrm. Usually what we hear about is the things I mentioned causing issues, also Razer controller software and I think at some point Logitech software?

It's a bit messy really, and you'd think they could add checks for all these compatibility if they are known and common problems. I'm far from an expert on this, I mostly see what other post about said software, hopefully someone will chime in. It's a big and scary post though 😅

You did say you recently reinstalled Windows, did you try and get VR running with the least amount of software installed possible? That would basically be GPU drivers + Steam and SteamVR? Possibly a network driver if needed.

[ThePaSch]

Origineel geplaatst door BOLL:

You did say you recently reinstalled Windows, did you try and get VR running with the least amount of software installed possible? That would basically be GPU drivers + Steam and SteamVR? Possibly a network driver if needed.

I'm... slowly coming to terms with the fact that this is probably the only thing I can do at this point. I first tried using VR about three to four months after reinstalling Windows; and at that point, my entire set-up and software library was basically already established. It's slowly looking like I'll have to start from scratch, install each piece of software one-by-one, and then check at which point the whole thing starts to fall apart - if it even does.