Hello Friends, Last month exactly on the same date I have purchased my 2nd Base Station 2.0 from one of the reputed sellers of eBay because these things are very overpriced in India, You may be surprised but a single base station 2.0 costs here in India now is USD 450, Anyway, When I bought my first Base Station 2.0 on 20 May 2021 here in India itself then luckily I got that in USD 310 but this time I choose a route of import myself to get my 2nd one from eBay and the seller was looking very good with lots of positive reviews so finally we made a deal in USD 155 + USD 33 for shipping via USPS and just earlier today I receive the package paid USD 82 to custom duty charges to the delivery guy so in total it cost me USD 270 including everything and I was so happy to it finally after a month in some decent price as compare to India but as soon as turn it on it flashes blue light first then goes on to green for some time and then start blinking Red…Does anyone have any idea what could be the problem? Is it an internal hardware issue or something related to firmware? If it is a hardware issue then just tell me and I am ready to throw it from the top floor of my building Because I have had this wish for a long time if in case I got scammed…Ordered so many gadgets before outside India with risk but I am always lucky to get a nice working product but I don’t have a good feeling this time with this Base Station 2.0 unless someone here with God powers to fix this issue.
Below is a screenshot of something I did to check the firmware thing but nothing tried anything in that regard yet.
They might be on the same Channel 1 by default and thus conflicting. Trying pushing once into the tiny hole back at one of stations to change it e.g. to Channel 2.
Well, I just tried something out now with that firmware thing by following a post on Reddit which I shared below and noticed when I remove that firmware.bin file and replace it with lighthouse_tx_htc_2_0-calibration-rescue-244.bin which I found at the path below
And by following the process I just replug the power cable then there are no lights blinking it’s like nothing is happening and it stays in completely off mode, no motor vibration also so again I just connect the micro USB cable and then hold that back button for 5-10 seconds to get into that base station drive and check which file is there now and it’s the same which I deleted earlier firmware.bin but fortunately before doing all this process I took the original file backup which was having the same name firmware.bin so I just deleted this one and pasted the original and plug the power cable and Base station turned On again like before but with the same issue.
The confusion is what exactly happened when I replace that original file firmware.bin with lighthouse_tx_htc_2_0-calibration-rescue-244.bin
Anyway, these are the list of file I can see in that folder shown in the screenshot below so I will try more with other files also to see what Impact it make.
Just an update FYI, I tried all the files which have lighthouse_tx_htc_2_0 from the folder but none of them were even able to turn on lh2 so I put back the original file again and it’s turning ON there so got a thought in mind now to get that firmware file from working lh2 and try it on this non-working lh2 but other mind says don’t even think about it otherwise you have to activate the 9-Axis Tracking mode in Pi tool
IMHO it’s a defective unit so you should contact your eBay seller and see if you can get a replacement OR if it’s under warranty you should check into that.
Reasoning: It would be detected with any version of the firmware. LH are essentially passive devices. If one works fine and the other doesn’t it cannot be any PC level config issue as the files required to detect are the same. You have also eliminated channel conflicts.
PS: I would add that a single LH on a Pimax is quite decent. We have sensors on the side that allow reasonable tracking on a single LH that is still superior to 9axis mode.
Sorry to tell you in my opinion that LH 2.0 is faulty. In the recording it does not seem to emit laser light, on the other hand when you turn on you hear the “hiss” of the engine? I had a similar problem with a 2.0 base station and the red led was blinking. There is nothing to do, being just bought you have to process an RMA. The firmware thing, it cannot be updated via USB, I have already experienced a lot about it and it is impossible. All those tutorials are for V1.0 base stations and you will only get a full brick.
My case was the engine, when starting the engine could not be heard and the beep or hiss that they usually emit if you are close is quite remarkable. Although the laser light was much dimmer than the other base station it worked well. Since when I recorded with the camera of the mobile the 2 lasers were emitting the infrared light. But in your case it may be the laser that does not emit light.
This is what I sent to the valve technical service and they processed the RMA. But of course I bought them on the steam page and they sent me another one before I sent them the one that was damaged.
Actually, the unit I bought from that eBay seller was barely used one but I still created a return request even though that seller clearly mentioned there was no return accepted and after my request and all supported photos of the shipping and product box sellers got convinced that this package was mishandled in shipping and he opens up a claim with the shipper with the evidence that I provided and he also said In best case scenario if the shipper approves the claim, then I will get the full refund in about a week with no need to return the product. Honestly, I didn’t expect that I will get any good response from that eBay seller but the way he responded to my request and working on it is really commendable but still, I don’t think that shipper will approve any claim made by the seller but let’s see what happen next
Yes just to check I turn it ON now and noticed I hear the “hiss” of the engine but In my previous video the light blinking pattern was completely different but in this video, I feel the green light is trying to do something maybe it’s trying to connect or pair? Have no idea what this pattern change of light blinking describes to anything but just to document it I did record it now in a completely dark environment. Check the link below and let me know what is your thoughts on it. Thanks
The 2 infrared lights are not shown. That already indicates hardware failure. The flashing blue LED indicates that it is stabilizing to emit the correct position sweeps, when it turns green it means that everything is correct. For example, when an LH is either 1.0 or 2.0 that has a green LED and you move it or tap it, it will begin to blink blue until it stabilizes again. And the red led already indicates a fault.
Here is the official valve information about it: Steam Support :: Index Base Station & Lighthouse Tracking
In your case, everything seems to indicate that the 2 infrared light emitters are not working and I believe that this is not damaged by packaging and transport. The seller already knew what he was selling and that his condition was not correct.
Can the seller offer a purchase invoice? to know how old it is and if it has a manufacturer’s warranty. In case he does not accept the return. But surely the ebay support center will mediate for you to get your money back.
Well, check the screenshot below this is what happened between me and the eBay seller yet and what you said I just give a thought on it and you may be right because the seller immediately agreed that it’s happened because the package was mishandled in shipping just by seeing the photos which I sent to him. Maybe some kind of tricks by eBay sellers doing these days to provide refunds to buyers from shippers for their faulty products by making a reason of package mishandling. I will wait and see what happens next and what that seller does from now on otherwise will always have the option to involve the eBay support center in it however I have never been in this type of situation before with any of my order where I need any help from eBay support center so will be a good experience to understand how eBay to support center handles such matters. Thanks for your time and straight to the point responses mate
Something got to my notice while reading on the link you shared, I just saw there Valve recommends turning the power management feature ON if we are not in a shared tracking space but I don’t see any base station option in steamvr setting from where I can make it ON…check he screenshot below and please let me know If I am missing something there because now after all this I really don’t want my one and only base station to get into some problem in near future
That is the problem with combining Pimax as HMD and valve or HTC base stations. You lose control of LH energy. This energy control can only be done by bluetooth integrated in the HMD of valve Index or in the linkbox of HTC but Pinax does not have that bluetooth in particular. That has been another losing fight for me.
Red blinking LED means a hardware failure of an internal test (of some kind). You might find some detailed info in the log, if you find the log, but v2 bases are completely undocumented, so I would not put much hope into that.
Which channel it is on, does not have any impact on the failure. Conflicting channels make the tracked objects confused, but the lighthouses are fine being on the same channel.
What you flashed on your base is the firmware for the LH v1, so it will not work at all.
Because I have had this wish for a long time if in case I got scammed…Ordered so many gadgets before outside India with risk but I am always lucky to get a nice working product but I don’t have a good feeling this time with this Base Station 2.0 unless someone here with God powers to fix this issue.
