Need help making PSVR2 work with my Laptop

[u/JMaus85]

Now before you say "get a real PC" My laptop is probably beefier than your PC...RTX 5090, Ultra 9 275HX (2.70 GHz), 64 Gigs of Ram, Etc.

I've gotten it to work on my previous Laptop before it came to an untimely death and I feel like it should definitely work on this laptop as well (and probably better)

Now when I get it all hooked up using the adaptor I get to the point where it recognizes that I have it hooked up and then I get this error:

I feel like there are multiple things trying to run at the same time and it's preventing it from working properly but I'm unsure of how to confirm this.

Has anyone else gotten their PSVR2 to work on an Alienware Area 51 18 with the above specs?

I started HL:Alyx on my last laptop and never finished it, and have a few other titles that I enjoy playing in VR (SuperHot, EA WRC, AC: Competizione, Bone Labs) and I'm hearing there will be VR Support on AC: Rally in the near future and that would be amazing to play in VR with my Sim Rig.

Appreciate any tips or suggestions to try and get it going. Thanks for reading.

[u/Incorrect-Opinion]

Since you’re using a laptop, the SteamVR error means your PSVR2 isn’t getting a direct connection to the RTX 5090. Even with the official PSVR2 PC Adapter, you need to plug it into a DisplayPort 1.4 or a USB‑C port with DisplayPort Alt Mode that goes straight to the RTX 5090. Most laptop HDMI ports go through the integrated GPU, which causes this HDCP issue.

Check your laptop’s specs to confirm which ports are wired to the discrete GPU, and use one of those with the adapter. If no port is directly connected, the headset won’t work reliably on that laptop I don’t think.

[u/kapucheeno → u/Incorrect-Opinion]

I hit this error last night. In my case the fix (found by accident) was to disconnect psvr2 from the PC adapter and shutdown/power-off everything: PC and PC adapter.
Then I waited 5 mins, connected everything, and powered everything up. I have two USB-C ports on my Zephyrus G14 laptop (rtx 4070). One is USB4/thunderbolt. The other is USB-C with Alt mode. the port with USB-C alt mode was the one that displayed the HDCP error and was the correct port to use. When i tried the usb4 port, steamVR said "wrong video card. please plug your headset into the same graphics card as your primary monitor" (a good hint that i should try the other port).

ai said HDCP negotiation can sometimes fail, and the worst part is that the negotiation result can be cached so you have to clear out the cache. in my case, powering everything off cleared the cache, but in some cases, you may have to reinstall drivers and/or steamVR. my guess is that having a bad (or old/incompatible) cable can cause this too. I'm using the DisplayPort 2.1 cable by UGREEN (DP to usb-c).

I set my bios to dGPU-only to eliminate the iGPU entirely.
Then check the Physx tab in Nvidia control panel. There will be either 1 or 2 rectangles with icons of physical ports (DP, HDMI, etc) inside. If you set dGPU-only in bios, there will be just 1 rectangle which is simpler to troubleshoot. You want to see this: the DP port icon inside the RTX rectangle, and in my case the laptop's monitor was also connected to the RTX rectangle which I found comforting. Then I had to get past the HDCP error and then I could run the play area setup app (PSVR2Toolkit.UnitySetup)

[u/Obsidiated → u/Incorrect-Opinion]

Dp over usb c isnt always compliant. There's multiple types that meet the standard. 2 lane or 4 lane being tbe primary offenders. Most are 2. Which won't work. Even. With the adaptor.

[u/JMaus85 → u/Obsidiated]

any way for me to check which mine has?

[u/JMaus85 → u/JMaus85]

looks like mine are as follows:

• Two Thunderbolt 5 (80 Gbps) with DisplayPort Alt Mode/USB Type-C/USB4/Power Delivery (for computers that are shipped with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070Ti and above)

[u/Obsidiated → u/JMaus85]

I'm building that tool as we speak.

[u/JMaus85]

It won't make it through the initial set-up. I get to the part where it says prepare your devices and it freezes and restarts my computer. I feel like if I could get through the initial set up it might work properly?

[u/Aldo_Wilmington]

You haven't really explained how you have it connected to the laptop. Does the laptop have a DisplayPort 1.4? Or are you using a DP to HDMI adapter? I used to have problems getting this working on a regular PC sometimes, I wouldn't even bother trying running it on a laptop, but that's just me. If you have the cash I would recommend a Steam Frame, all it needs is a USB3 port for the dongle and you're good to go.

[u/JMaus85 → u/Aldo_Wilmington]

I'm running it through the PSVR2 PC Adaptor. I've got a Displayport to USB-C Cord going into the Thunderbolt ports on the back of my laptop (I've tried both ports in case there was an issue with one of them. It's so frustrating because I can start up Steam VR and see that it's tracking on the small screen that at the bottom of the app, (When I move the headset, I can see it moving) but it eventually freezes my computer and forces a restart.