Is Your Valve Index Not Turning On? (Try These Fixes!)

We understand the frustration when your Valve Index not turning on, and you can’t really see anything through the headset or SteamVR. 

Don’t worry–you’re not alone and we got the fixes!

The first thing to do is identify whether the Valve Index is not turning on, or simply the picture is not there because of a GPU connection issue.

That’s why we recommend taking a look at the front of the headset to see whether there is a light indication meaning that the headset is “ON”.

Whatever the problem is, we’re getting this fixed!

Valve Index Not Turning On – 7 Quick Ways to Fix!

Note: If your Valve Index is turning on, but you experience issues with your base stations or the controller, find specialized steps deeper in the guide.

1. Inspect the Power Connection

The Valve Index uses a trident cable that combines audio, video, data, and power into one wire to prevent clutter and provide accessibility. 

If your Valve Index headset is not turning on, you must inspect the “Power Barrel Plug”, which is unlike a standard USB-A cable end that plugs into a USB-A power adapter.

Instead, the Valve Index uses a circular-shaped power cable end, which connects to your provided power adapter. It’s crucial to ensure that the connection is tight.

If needed, disconnect the cable and reconnect it to ensure that the cables are securely clipped together. 

How to Know if Valve Index is Working?

The primary indication that the Valve Index headset is turned on is the two blue lights on the front, meaning that the device is receiving power.

To justify that your headset is working, open SteamVR on your PC through Steam’s Library, and the view of your Valve Index will show.

If your headset is not turning on, or you can’t see anything, continue reading…

2. Try via a Different Power Source

If you’re confident that the barrel plug from your Valve Index is connected securely to the power adapter, maybe the reason why the headset is not working is due to the outlet.

If your electrical source is weak or non-functioning, there is a high chance that the problem comes from there.

There are two consecutive things you can try:

• Unplug the power adapter from the outlet, wait for 30–60 seconds, and reconnect the adapter securely.
• Connect the power adapter of your Valve Index to a different outlet in your home that is proven to work.

Still no indication of your Valve Index working? Continue reading…

3. Disconnect Third-Party Plugs

It’s critical to plug the power adapter of your Valve Index directly into the wall outlet, bypassing all sorts of extenders, power dividers, or smart plugs.

We understand that it may be challenging to supply your headset with power, especially if you have no available power source near your play area.

However, rerouting the voltage through an extender may be the sole reason why the headset is not turning on, even if connected correctly.

So, just to test, bring your headset near an outlet, and connect it directly without any extenders!

4. Try a Different USB 3.0 PC Port

Well, even if your Valve Index is receiving power and working, it may seem like the device is not working if SteamVR can’t detect the headset. 

That’s where the USB 3.0 connection from the Trident cable comes into play.

If you’ve connected the headset to the USB port on your PC that is not working or is “suspended”, SteamVR will not be able to detect your Valve Index, hence the picture will be black.

So, the first thing to do is connect the USB-A end of the trident cable to a different USB port on the PC (preferably on the back), directly into the motherboard.

The front USB ports are typically hooked to the computer chassis, and when not wired properly, they are probably not working.

Computer USB Ports Not Working:

If you didn’t know, Windows can put USB ports to “sleep” if they are not frequently used to save power consumption.

So, if that’s the case, no matter what you plug into them won’t work unless you manually disable the USB Suspend Setting.

Here’s how to disable the USB Suspend Setting on Windows 10/11:

1. Click the Start menu from the Windows Taskbar.
2. Type “Edit Power Plan” and click the first option.
3. Select the “Change advanced power settings”.
4. Expand the “USB settings” tab from the options.
5. Also, expand “USB selective suspend setting”.
6. Then, click on “Enabled” and set it to “Disabled”.
7. Finally, click “Apply” and then “OK” before exiting.

Note: When ready, reconnect the USB-A 3.0 end of the trident cable and/or try multiple different ports on your PC.

5. Refresh SteamVR’s USB Devices

Another potential reason why Valve Index not turning on or not showing anything is because the SteamVR is not detecting the headset.

Sometimes, this simply happens due to a bug in the software or Windows’s Device Manager.

However, there are two solutions that you could attempt:

• Open SteamVR to check whether the headset icon shows up. If not, go to Settings → Developer → Remove all SteamVR USB devices.
• If your headset is still not detected, open Windows’s Device Manager, and click the blue magnifying glass icon on the top “Scan for hardware changes”.

The bottom line is that if Windows does not detect your headset, nor SteamVR will.

You can check if Windows sees your headset by expanding the “Universal Serial Bus controllers” tab in the Device Manager.

If not, then there is a connection problem, so reconnect the headset.

6. Check DisplayPort & GPU Driver

If your Valve Index is showing a black screen, this doesn’t mean the device is not turning on, rather the connection to the GPU is not working.

The GPU is your video card, and one of the ends from the trident cable is DisplayPort, meant to be connected to your PC’s graphics card.

How to Check GPU Connection?

In many cases, on the back of your PC, you may have 2 x DisplayPort outputs. One from your GPU and another one from your built-in CPU from the motherboard.

Hence, it’s vital to verify that you’ve connected your Valve Index to the correct port.

How to Update Your GPU Driver?

Well, another potential problem for black screens on Valve Index would be your graphics driver, especially if you’re rocking an outdated version.

Here’s how to update your GPU driver in minutes:

1. Go to AMD or NVidia, as per your GPU brand.
2. Fill in the details for the specific graphics card.
3. Download the installation (.exe) executable file.
4. Run the installation and follow the instructions.

Your PC display may go pitch black for a few seconds, which is entirely normal during GPU driver update/installation.

When everything is ready, reconnect your Valve Index and check.

7. Test the Valve Index on a Different PC

If nothing works and your Valve Index won’t turn on or show a picture regardless of what you try, perhaps the problem is on a software level on your PC’s side. 

So, if you have another computer that you can install SteamVR on and hook up the Valve Index to test on, it would answer a lot of burning questions.

In case your Valve Index starts working as intended on a different PC, you probably have a defective USB port, or Windows-related issues.

Well, if the Valve Index is not turning on even on a different computer, you must seek help from Valve Support.

Maybe your unit is defective, so checking your warranty is also recommended.

Valve Index Base Station Not Turning On – Why & How to Fix?

There are only two reasons why the Valve Index base stations wouldn’t turn on–they either don’t receive power, or the units are defective, which is unlikely. 

So, you need to perform pretty much the same troubleshooting as we’ve gone through with the Valve Index, which typically involves:

• Check the barrel plug connections on both sides.
• Reconnect the base stations from the wall outlet.
• Connect both stations directly to the wall outlets.

If you see any color on your Valve Index base stations, this means that they receive power, so the problem is not in the supply.

No light means the device is not receiving power or is faulty.

Valve Index Controller Not Turning On – Quick Ways to Fix?

Well, if the controllers are not working or not turning on, either SteamVR is not detecting them or they are simply not charged. 

Hence, the troubleshooting involves simple steps:

• Try charging your controllers through a wall socket.
• Try charging the controllers through a PC USB port.
• Replace the USB-C charging wire with a tested one.
• Clean both USB-C charging ports using a toothpick.
• Restart “SteamVR” and scan for hardware changes.
• Hold both controller’s System buttons for ~5 seconds.
• Allow your controllers to fully charge for ~20 minutes.

Keep in mind that no light on your Valve Index controllers generally means the battery is dead.

The controller needs to be in solid green, which means that it’s connected to the Index headset.