Lighthouses on but cannot track, headset constantly in a searching state.

[Blaze]

I just got my valve index headset in last Monday and have had constant issues with tracking. It originally started as controllers losing tracking from the headset, but it has now evolved to neither base stations wireless being recognized by the headset. This causes a constant grey screen effect.

I have updated my graphics card drivers, windows, bluetooth drivers, motherboard BIOS. I only have my keyboard, mouse and the Bluetooth dongle needed for the wireless connection with all those devices connected though 2.0 slots. The only device using my 3.0 USBs is my headset.

I have followed all of the steam supports steps to try and fix tracking or connection issues to no success. I have moved my base stations all around the room, I tried using a paper clip to hit the reset button. I tried removed the headset device when it was connected to try to reinstall it. I manually updated the firmware via the exe file within steam vr.

Every once in a while as i'm trying to fix the connection, the headset will say it needs an update and tries to reinstall the wireless receiver. It says it is successful but it still has these issues. I have updated all my controllers and base stations when I first got the hardware a week ago.

I am at a complete loss of how to fix this, and I do have a ticket open with steam support but it has been nearly two days without any response after sending an entire system report. Can anyone help?

Hardware specs:
Index HMD
Win 10
I7 6700k
24 gigs ram
Asus Z170 A

[Bob Loblaw]

Which model headset? Get it working wired first, then switch to wireless... troubleshoot only one thing at a time.

[Blaze]

It is the valve index, it only comes with the 2.0 base stations. I can't wire those up as I do not have cables.

[Softb0oi]

MAKE SURE there are no mirrors... thats the issues i had with the base stations

[Blaze]

There are no mirrors in my room at all, I have double checked all of the environmental settings steam support recommends. These are the error messages from the system report from steam vr

Sat Oct 09 2021 10:23:56.701 - lighthouse: LHR-8BEC0EF3 H: Unexpected sample before sync by 374.218ms S-2
Sat Oct 09 2021 10:23:56.701 - lighthouse: LHR-8BEC0EF3 H: Unexpected sample before sync by 374.218ms S-2
Sat Oct 09 2021 10:23:56.701 - lighthouse: LHR-8BEC0EF3 H: Unexpected sample before sync by 374.208ms S-2
Sat Oct 09 2021 10:23:56.701 - lighthouse: LHR-8BEC0EF3 H: Unexpected sample before sync by 374.190ms S-2
Sat Oct 09 2021 10:23:56.701 - lighthouse: LHR-8BEC0EF3 H: Unexpected sample before sync by 374.133ms S-2
Sat Oct 09 2021 10:23:56.701 - lighthouse: LHR-8BEC0EF3 H: Unexpected sample before sync by 374.133ms S-2
Sat Oct 09 2021 10:23:56.701 - lighthouse: LHR-8BEC0EF3 H: Unexpected sample before sync by 374.112ms S-2
Sat Oct 09 2021 10:23:56.702 - lighthouse: LHR-8BEC0EF3 H: Unexpected sample before sync by 374.100ms S-2
Sat Oct 09 2021 10:23:56.702 - lighthouse: LHR-8BEC0EF3 H: Unexpected sample before sync by 374.070ms S-2
Sat Oct 09 2021 10:23:56.705 - lighthouse: LHR-8BEC0EF3 H: Unexpected backwards sync by 373.575ms S-11

[Softb0oi]

idk man all i can say is too contact steam support and try and get new light houses

[Bob Loblaw]

Sorry I see now you said you had index the first time, I thought you might have vive wireless and that wireless can often have a problem that looks like tracking. FYI the 2.0 base stations wouldn't wire together because they don't sync, they don't need to see each other either. I wonder what that "unexpected backwards sync" error is. They should still work even if you turn bluetooth off, I think that's just necessary for automatic power management.

Do you have a steady green light on the lighthouses? They both have the curved front face?

Mirrors are just one source of reflections, there's also plate glass windows and doors, pictures, glossy posterboard, glossy floors or walls.

Try unplugging one base station and face the other and see if it tracks... see if they will work individually.

[Blaze]

They do both have a steady green light on the front and they both have a curved face. They both have twin steady red light behind the curved glass as I believe those are the lasers. I have a window but I keep the blinds closed so I don't know how it would reflect.

They are able to work individually as one or both of them seem to connect for a few moments, and the headset will track probably for a few seconds before it loses track and says that it is searching for the light houses again even thought I put the headset on a table in the dead center of the play space. The controllers are giving a similar tracking issue of only staying connected for a few moments even the base stations aren't tracking.

[Bob Loblaw]

The index has bluetooth built in. What's your bluetooth dongle for? Try a test without it.

If that table has a glossy surface, I'd cover it and re-test.

The few seconds thing is odd, usually an indicator of USB issues not tracking issues. I'd also go into SteamVR settings and disable the HMD camera and see if things got any better (probably not the issue, but when troubleshooting I prefer to break it down to basics before adding complications).

If you have any non-basic USB things plugged in (uncommon wireless mouse, rad gaming keyboard), do a test without them.

[Blaze]

I just unplugged ever device from my computer so that the only things plugged in was the internet, and the USB for the headset. It still had the same issue of not finding any base stations or controllers. I have have a corsair mouse and keyboard with the icue software. I have no reflective surfaces that would seem to cause issues. I have disabled the HMB camera on the headset and it always has been.

As for USB i have tried using different 3.0 ports and using different 2.0 ports in the past.

When I load into steam vr, it sometimes says there is a Bluetooth connection error, and sometimes it makes me re download a wireless receiver update, could it be possible I just got a faulty headset?

[Bob Loblaw]

Corsair ICUE made my list of offenders, for stuttering. These reddit guys say it was taking down USB. Definitely test without it.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/250820/discussions/2/3059618578284042016/?tscn=1628008876
https://www.reddit.com/r/ValveIndex/comments/g3y5h2/issues_with_corsairs_icue_software/
https://forum.corsair.com/forums/topic/142053-cue-and-steam-incompatibility-amp-controller-freezing-issue-fix/

[Blaze]

Uninstalled ICUE software and ran a test. No fix as Headset still in a grey screen and still spits out some Bluetooth errors. I read though your other options and i have

1. main montior is 4k monitor, but no game windows are showing
2. uninstalled icue software and other lighing software.
3. No GPU monitoring apps are installed
4. My m.2 is NAND, nothing on the store page says NVMe
5. Changed in my BIOS to PCI-e 3.0
6: not using a riftS or OVR
7: I dont have an AMD card

Probably should have listed this above but my spec are,
Index HMD
Win 10
I7 6700k
24 gigs ram
Asus Z170 A

[Bob Loblaw]

The bluetooth errors don't concern me much because the headset should be able to track fine even in a zero bluetooth environment. Only if the headset was tracking fine and the problem was limited to controller issues would I troubleshoot bluetooth, but I don't think that's the case here.

Asus Z170 A... possible fixes in this thread (and those it links to):
https://www.reddit.com/r/ValveIndex/comments/fk8moc/psa_tracking_issues_with_asus_motherboards_let_me/

I just skimmed it, looks like ASUS auto overclocking might be an issue, one guy got a fix by downclocking his RAM. One guy replaced his motherboard. One guy fixed it with a certain USB card. One guy changed the ASUS BIOS energy/performance profile (post #33 on the steam discussion). I quit reading, there are probably other solutions as well there.

[Bob Loblaw]

Also, you might try the HMD on a USB 2.0 slot. The 3.0 bandwidth is only needed when the HMD camera is active, otherwise a 2.0 is enough.

[Blaze]

So after like two hours of smooth playtime, the xmp seemed to be the problem! I guess it overclocks the ram or something.

I just turned it off and the VR ran smoothly. I do have a USB card coming in so I may test that later on if I find I need xmp. Now to reinstall icue and slowly return to a normal set up lol

Thanks man!