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Oculus Rifts stop working

UPDATE: Company fixes expired software certificate that left VR headsets inoperable for the better part of a day

Original Story 07/03/18:Oculus Rift users have largely had to settle for actual reality today, as a problem with the headsets' software certification is preventing owners from launching software.

"We're aware of an issue impacting people's ability to use Rift's software, and we're working to fix the problem," the company said in a Twitter post shortly after noon Eastern time.

In a thread on Oculus' official forums about four hours later, an Oculus staffer confirmed the root of the ongoing problem.

"This is an issue with our software certification that we're still actively working on," staffer ShowbizDonkey said. "For security, we use a certificate to ensure that the software you receive actually comes from Oculus. That certificate has expired, and we're looking at a few different ways to resolve the issue."

While a number of forum posters and other users reported "fixing" the issue by rolling back their system clocks, that can cause other problems and Oculus has recommended people wait until they provide an official fix for their software.

Update 08/03/18: Shortly before 9 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday, Oculus released a patch to address the problem, some 20 hours after it first acknowledged the issue on Twitter. The company is also promising $15 in Oculus store credit to affected users.

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Brendan Sinclair avatar
Brendan Sinclair: Brendan joined GamesIndustry.biz in 2012. Based in Toronto, Ontario, he was previously senior news editor at GameSpot.
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