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VR Headset released on June 28th 2019.

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No Audio, or audio without vision - hardware problem?

So I have my Valve Index for a while although use it very rarely and it never had any issues and was never abused dropped etc.

Valve Support don't want to help me anymore and send very vague and random tips and tricks I already saw everywhere on the Internet.

From some time ago it started to behave strange - when I open SteamVR randomly I get a session in which I hear sound but, there is no vision - just grey color. Then after Restart Headset function the vision comes back but there is no sound.

You can believe me I did everything I can to my PC, drivers, bios setups, different ports, registry keys, windows settings - all of it.

I ordered original tether cable from Valve - did not change anything, therefore I assume it must be Headset itself.

Any idea why there can be randomly a session with audio but no vision, or more often a session with vision but no sound at all?

I'm desperate enough to open up this whole thing and start investigating everything on the PCBs but if anyone has any clue where to start that would be great! Thanks!

EDIT:
Does it make sense for me to upload some SteamVR system log dumps?
If so:
1. Here is a log file where after restart I had sound without vision: https://files.catbox.moe/a6yoer.txt
2. And here when I restarted above session and got vision back, without audio, and played a bit with some game: https://files.catbox.moe/kgkhhp.txt

Answer this question I have this problem too

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Hey everyone, I'm close to giving up.

New cable, new motherboard, fresh clean reinstall of entire PC - issue is the same.

Logs can be found here:
https://files.catbox.moe/dkgijv.txt

Still seems to cry about:
- [npca110p] ERROR reading chip id after init: [0 0 0] (result: 0)

* [npca110p] Unable to load DSP image (result: 8)

* Followed by: [audio] Nuvoton failed to initialize. May be due to I2S stream fault.

Even after motherboard replacement?

Please let me know if anyone can check this entire topic, dig through these logs and maybe point out what else could be checked and fixed?

Many thanks!

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Have you tried it with a different PC? Audio/Visual data transfer is black magic. Would help narrow down the problem before you start taking things apart.

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Yes, I lent whole Index to a friend of mine and he described same issues. (Although I was not there myself to verify).

Knowing how black magic can data transfer be, just to proof that it's not about software side I will be soon re-installing whole system on my PC from scratch just to verify.

If it would be just broken and not work at all - it would be even easier for me - I would deal with it and call it a day.

The most frustrating part that sometimes there is clean and loud audio - and sometimes just video, so it gives me some kind of stupid hope that it's not THAT broken and somehow I might salvage this device.

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Very helpful! Thank you! Ok, you seem to be having a problem with your "NuvoTon NPCA110P Audio Enhancing Engine" chip. This would cause your audio issues. I don't know if it is a bad chip, or, more likely, there is a broken solder joint making intermittent contact. You'll have to get a look at the motherboard to find out. Post pics back here.

You can follow this guide on how to get to the motherboard:

Valve Index Headset Motherboard Replacement

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That's actually great news, I'll post some motherboard pictures soon.

Do you think that replacing the motherboard would probably fix the issue? They are still available to purchase here in iFixit so that would be really easy for me.

Will get back with more info once I'll open the headset.

Many thanks!

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So new update:

I received motherboard replacement from ifixit and succesfuly replaced it (the old one did not have any signs of any malfunction to the naked eye).

The issue persists - looks like it's not the motherboard issue.

Any chance I can return this mobo now that it seems it was a mistake?

Again had two sessions in which I had either vision or audio - never both.

I could play some game though using bluetooth buds as my audio output - worst case scenario that's the last resort...

If anyone is interested I'm attaching here two new log files from sessions with new mobo:

1. There is sound - https://files.catbox.moe/xn2dr7.txt

2. There is no sound - https://files.catbox.moe/rh7qa8.txt

My plan now is finally to restart the entire PC and install Windows from scratch and see if that makes any difference.

Maybe anyone will find anything else interesting lurking in those log files?

This situation is really weird ;)

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Bart B will be eternally grateful.
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