Piplay can't find my Pimax 4K

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1

I received my Pimax 4K, installed Piplay (latest version, 1.1.74) and then Piplay can’t find my Pimax 4K. It keeps searching, but it does nothing. It doesn’t even update the firmware.

I’m running on Windows 10 x64 and Nvidia GTX1070 (already updated the Nvidia drivers).

I checked the firmware and it was the correct version (1.0.0.194). However, since Piplay didn’t find the goggles, I tried updating the firmware manually, just in case. It made no difference.

Then, I tried installing an older version of Piplay and it didn’t help either.

Then, I tried changing the firmware for an older version (international_1.0.0.180) to match the firmware with the older Piplay. It didn’t work and it created all sort of weird crashes (in loop fashion, didn’ stop until I hit ctrl+alt+del).

Then, I uninstalled Piplay again (did it several times), uninstalled all the associated software (Java, K-lite codec pack, Microsoft Visual C++… etc), cleaned Windows’ register and installed again the latest version of Piplay (1.1.74) and the latest version of firmware (1.0.0.194). It didn’t work either.

Between these steps I did other tests, had other problems that I sorted out, etc, but anything that I did helped in any way. Piplay kept searching for the device (at best) and din’t find it even after a whole night searching for it (I left the computer on all night long with Piplay searching, just in case).

During all these tests and actions, the display of the goggles didn’t light up for one single second, which seems strange.

Please, could you help me out here? I also sent you a skype message, it starts like this (just so you know it is me):

"Hello,

I am trying to install my Pimax 4 but it is being imposible. Piplay didn’t detect the goggles."

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

2

You’ve done so many things that you’ve probably fucked your system.
Good luck now.
Next time install piplay and that’s all.
It should work.

I wait until my computer is started then i plugged the pimax (usb and hdmi).
If the pimax is already plugged most of the time the driver fails when i start piplay.
I wait until the driver recognized the Pimax then i start piplay.
I have 100% succes with this method.

The error is to do what you’ve done.

3

Oh, you’re such a smart-ass, tell us more, we may learn something :laughing:

I did that at the very beginning and later I tried both things several times. This ain’t the problem. If you are here to help, you’re welcome. If you are here to fuck with other people’s businesses, I would appreciate that you get lost asap.

4

By the way, I also tried in another computer with a completely different setup and the result was exactly the same.

5

I think he was just trying to help, you might find few people are willing to spend the time helping you with chat like that.

So your message is if you can fix my problem then i am willing to hear but if not fuck of. What a twat.

I sincerely hope your piplay software fucks you up all day :slight_smile:

6

It didn’t seem to me that he was trying to help. He talked to me like I was stupid, ironically wished me luck , told me that the error was to do what I have done and assumed that everything I did was nonsense. This is being very rude and disrespectful, at least in my country. It felt like he stepped in to call me stupid, which is not help at all. If he wrote with respect (like everybody usually does, including me), I wouldn’t have replied like I did.

As for you, I’m sorry you see things like that, but I think that your interpretation of what happened above is very wrong.

7

See I read his message completely different. If you read some of the posts on here, you would know the poster has experienced similar issues and is talking from a place of his own frustration, and his advice is right. And he got there through a helish journey with the software.
You just read it like he was talking to you as if you were stupid. Honestly change the tone in your head to something more soothing.
The piplay community is small (unlike steam) and if your going to throw help back in peoples face then good luck,because you have one buggy piece of software that when works is amazing and when does not can be a mind fuck.

8

Have you tried turning the power switch on the display of while piplay is running ? Then back on ?

9

Thank you for the input, Feranti. Yes, I did try before posting and I tried now again, just in case. I also tried what gp20 recommends and all sort of variants before I opened this thread.

I hope you see that I’m trying to be constructive here (aside from the above rant and misunderstanding or whatever it is) and not throwing help back in people’s face. The easiest (and probably fastest) solution would be to do the RMA. However, I opened this thread so we can all benefit: if we find the solution, we will all benefit from the gained knowledge. I’ve been an active member in forums for 15 years and shared and learned a lot, so I think that the same can also happen here.

Now, back to business, I would like to provide some background and an update:

  • The initial installation on my computer was done following a step by step guide that is posted in a VR forum in which I am an active member. This guide helped a lot of people install their Pimax headsets and it worked for them, at least up to the point where they got their headsets detected by Piplay. As far as we know, I am the only user that didn’t have his headset detected by Piplay after following this step by step guide.

  • Before installing Piplay, I checked that the integrated graphics were disabled and that the Nvidia drivers were updated according to the explanation on the Piplay download post by Pimax staff.

  • I allowed Piplay and piservice to connect freely through my network (Windows Firewall exception added).

  • During the whole process and the later tests, I disabled the anti-virus, just in case it would interfere with something.

  • The headset is correctly detected by my computer and the computer installs the drivers whenever it needs to (the first time I plugged it in and every time after I deleted the device from “devices” in windows’ control panel).

  • The LED lights work correctly: green for ON, off for OFF, 3 led’s fast blinking for DFU mode.

  • The display hasn’t led up so far (during all the tests and different computers).

  • When I open Piplay with the goggles NOT connected, I get 3 notifications that say “Piplay Tips Server connecting”, but it seems unable to connect. After that, I get another notification that says “Pimax Device is disconnected”.

  • I tried plugging the goggles to 4 or 5 USB ports of my computer, both 2.0 and 3.0.

  • I tried installing the headset in my computer (Windows 10 + Nvidia), a friend’s computer (Windows 10 + ATI) and another friend’s computer (Windows 7 + Nvidia). All three times with the same result: Piplay cannot detect the headset and keeps searching indefinitely.

  • I read in a post in this forum that updating the STMicroelectronics DFU driver could help. I tried for a couple of hours (searching the web, downloading tools, etc), but I couldn’t find how to do it. Maybe if I do it it helps in some way. Does anyone know how to do this?

  • I also read in the same thread that updating the Microsoft common runtime could also help, but I couldn’t do it either.

Please, could you provide some ideas? Thank you very much in advance

10

I just got an input from a member of the other VR forum that is just having the same problem than I do, although his headset worked fine for a few days up to now: the problem may be caused because of a failure of the HDMI management. When we plug or unplug the HDMI cable, the computer doesn’t notice. However, if we plug or unplug the USB, the computer does notice, and also everything works fine through the USB cable (firmware updates and all).

Maybe Piplay can’t find the headset because it can’t detect that the HDMI cable is plugged in.

11

it seems to be recognising the usb and not the hdmi, if i just plug my usb in, the computer recognizes it.

Sorry to say, it sounds faulty.

you have done all the thing’s that need to be done, and it still not working. faulty !

bummer.

1 Like
12

Sometimes when Piplay give me the message Searching the device, i enter to Piplay Settings Device to change the IPD adjustment and turn on cool colors and suddently the device is found and working properly.

13

Whenever piplay cannot find my device I start task manager and iin services I make sure OVRService (if installed) is stopped and then I right click on PiServiceLauncher and select “restart”. The HDM is always found then.

14

Do not necropost please. This thread is from 16 november 2016 and they discuss VERY OLD PIMAX version.

15

Sorry never realised in the Pimax world 5 months was considered VERY OLD! But even today many people still have the connection problem so I thought my tip would help them.