One of the most common issues that many of the Meta Quest 2 and the Meta Quest 3 users face or will eventually face is the black screen issue. Also known as the Black Screen of Death, this issue has plagued several Meta Quest headsets.
Similar to the Blue Screen of Death that is common on Windows PCs, there are many reasons why the Black Screen might appear on your Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest 3. Read on to learn different ways to resolve the issue.
How to Fix Black Screen On Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest 3
The black screen of death on Meta Quest 2 and 3 can be a headache for a lot of people. It can get worse when you might want to be playing a game or use the Meta Quest headset for something.
The good part is that there are many solutions that you can follow to solve this issue.
Why Does the Black Screen Issue Appear on Meta Quest 2 and 3?
The Black Screen issue for VR headsets can be caused due to many reasons. Some reasons could be battery charging issues, battery problems, software updates, and the like. So, if you have a Meta Quest 2 or 3 with a black screen issue, you can follow these troubleshooting steps.
Perform a Forced Restart Of Your Meta Quest Headset
Sometimes temporary bigs can use the Meta Quest headset to display a black screen. So, what you can do best is try to forcefully restart your Meta Quest headset. Follow these steps to perform a forced restart.
- Grab your Meta Quest headset.
- Now press and hold the power button.
- Keep the power button pressed for 10 seconds.
- The Headset will now be powered off.
- Now, wait around for 30 to 40 seconds.
- Finally, press and hold the power button until the headset powers itself on.
The time taken for the headset to power itself on will vary from headset to headset. One thing to remember during this process is to make sure that your Meta Quest headset has enough battery power, otherwise the forced restart will not occur.
Ensure That Your Meta Quest VR Headset Has Enough Charge
The battery percent of your VR headset is important. if the battery level is empty, then the headset will decide to not power up. If your Meta Wuest’s battery is between 15 and 20%, it is recommended that you at least have a 50% battery if you intend to use the device.
Also, always use a charger and USB cable that works perfectly with your Meta Quest so that you do not have issues with charging. If your headset doesn’t charge, you could use another cable and power adaptor. If it still doesn’t charge, you might want to check the device’s battery and probably get it replaced.
Pull Up The Oculus Menu
The black screen on your Meta Quest headset can also be caused due to the UI elements not loading up properly. The best solution for this kind of issue would be to simply invoke the Oculus Menu on your Meta Quest headset.
On your Meta Quest controller, you will see the Oculus button. Simply press the button to open up the Oculus Menu. if the menu opens up, close it back and your Meta Quest’s UI should now appear and everything should work as it normally should.
Clean Your Proximity Sensors
A lot of devices like your smartphones and the Meta Quest make use of various sensors. One sensor that will usually disable and enable the display is your Proximity Sensor. If the Proximity Sensor of your Meta Quest 3 has some dirt, or dust or is being blocked by something, it can cause the sensor to be activated and thus blacken out your display.
Make sure to clean up the sensors of your Meta Quest 3. You can use a dry and soft cloth to clean out any first or dust that might be present on the sensor.
Leave The Headset Plugged In
One other troubleshooting method that you can follow is to leave the headset plugged into its power source. Why would you need to do this? Well, there can be a possibility that an update might have been downloaded to your headset and it is probably completing the installation of the said update.
The best duration that you can leave the headset plugged into its power source is anywhere between 30 minutes to even a couple of hours. The UI of the Meta Quest headset should suddenly be displayed.
Check the Oculus App
One way to control and manage your Meta Quest headset is by using the Oculus app which is available on Android as well as iOS devices. This app comes in handy as it provides you notifications right away if any updates might be getting installed on your Meta Quest headsets.
If there are updates, let Meta Quest complete installing the updates, and then try to use the headset and see if the black screen appears or not.
Perform a Factory Reset
The last method to solve this issue is to simply go ahead and perform a factory reset for your Meta Quest 2 and 3. Here are the steps that you need to follow to perform a factory reset for your Meta Quest.
Reset via the Oculus App
- Launch the Oculus app on your Android or iOS device.
- Tap on the Devices option.
- Now, navigate and select your Meta Quest headset.
- Now choose headset Settings followed by Advanced Settings and then Factory Reset.
- Finally, choose Reset.
- The Meta Quest headset will now begin the factory reset process. This will take some time.
Reset Using Meta Quest Headset
- Hold the Power and Volume down buttons on your Meta Quest headset.
- Keep the buttons pressed until the boot screen of your headset loads up.
- Now, you will see the boot screen menu show up.
- Using the Volume buttons on the headset, navigate to the Factory Reset option.
- Use the power button to select Yes for the Factory Reset option.
- The headset will now begin the factory reset. It will take some time since it has to erase everything stored on the headset.
If after performing a factory reset the black screen issue doesn’t appear, that would mean that the issue has been resolved. However, if the issue persists, you might want to get it checked up by Meta itself to see whether they can solve the issue at their level.
Closing Thoughts
This concludes the guide on how you can solve and fix the issue of the black screen appearing on your Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest 3.
If you have questions or queries or have a solution that can help fix this issue, feel free to comment them down below.
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I have been noticing the black screen problem when squeezing the goggles to adjust position. That pressure seems to cause an immediate black screen which I have attributed to internal shorting or activation of button contacts. Or it could even be blocking of the position sensors with my hand. It is not generally repeatable but recurs randomly with goggle shape distortion.