I had massive problems from the beginning to get the two controllers of the HTC Vive connected to the rest of the system. At least I’m not alone, and there’s a little workaround for this problem, but more on that later.
First, my symptoms:
- The two controllers do not connect by themselves
- The LEDs on the controllers are white, blue, green or flashing.
- The LEDs on the controllers are green but not connected.
- The controllers automatically switch off again after a few seconds.
- When connecting manually, the software says “successfully connected” but this is not the case.
- Firmware updates obviously don’t work
My unsuccessful attempts to fix the problem:
- Move all USB devices from 3.0 ports to 2.0 ports
- Remove all other USB devices so that only the Vive is connected.
- so-called Lighthouse-unpairall
- Reinstall Steam
- Open Steam as Administrator
- Disable Windows Power Management for Vive
- Uninstalling the USB driver
- ….
Workaround:
The controllers can be synchronized via USB by switching them off (stay on the menu button for a long time) and connecting them to the PC via USB until they light up green in the SteamVR. Then switch on the controller (press menu button – beep) and disconnect the USB cable. The controller now connects with a 1/4 chance. Repeat the same with the second controller. That almost always worked for me, but it was quite annoying.
Solution:
On Reddit, some people reported that a special USB 3.0 PCI-E card had solved their problems with the HTC Vive: Inateck KTU3FR
Since even the HTC support couldn’t present me with a solution after three weeks and the same pointless answers, I decided to try the USB 3.0 card and Voila! It all works the way it should. The controllers now connect automatically and without problems when SteamVR starts.
I hope the map will also help you with your HTC Vive problems.