Area-51m, Valve Index VR, HDCP error

having the same issue on my sons Area 51 17 running the 2070 card I’m at my wits end

Also having the same HDCP issue using the Valve Index on SteamVR with the Alienware 51m & RTX 2080.

Rolling back to 417.71 drivers,  which are over a year old, prevent HDCP errors but will lock you out from playing newer games.

Advice for anyone thinking of purchase this laptop to play VR games would be to avoid doing so and get an MSI as they do not seem to have the same issue.

I am also having this problem. We have three of the Area 51M laptops with the 2070 card, as well as one with a 2080 card. We bought these laptops specifically to use with the Valve Index, and all of them have the same error. Oddly enough, my wife's AW laptop, which is a different model and has a 2060 card, works just fine. As do all of our custom built gaming PCs. 

This is a pretty gigantic issue, as the Area 51M touts itself as "VR Ready" during the entire purchase process, and is clearly in no way "VR Ready". Dell needs to work with NVidia and get this issue fixed ASAP, as such a show-stopping issue in their flagship laptop is a brand-ruiner. 

This has become outrageous, as the problem has persisted for months. After three years of putting it through the ringer, the 1080 in my Origin laptop began acting up, so I decided to shoot for the moon with the 51m 2080 variant due to its potential upgrade path to the eventual 3000 series cards. I clearly should have stuck with Origin, as they have served me very well. 

It appears that Dell has decided to just point the finger at DisplayPort, Nvidia, and Valve, and not even attempt to search out a solution to this issue themselves. Cool. 

I'm the director of immersive technology at a state university and we likely would have outfitted our studios with dozens of Alienware systems in the coming months, but they will now most certainly contain another option. Bravo.

Hello,

is the problem with the valve solved?

I also has the Area-51m Laptop and want to buy a VR Headset.

I prefer the Valve.

Otherwise i buy a oculus quest.

thank you

Hello,

The problem still exists; however, I figured out that if I reset my HMD 2-3 times, it works fine after that.  It gets old having to do this EVERY SINGLE TIME.  They changed the error message so that it is more descriptive:

SteamVR Error: Your GPU is having trouble communicating with your HMD, resulting in an HDCP error.  Try removing any cable adapters or extenders you are using.  Try another port on your GPU if one is available.  Use the reset link below to reset the HMD so the GPU will try again.

The problem with this message for Area-51m users is that you have to use an adapter because the Index has a regular DisplayPort plug and the Area-51m has a mini-DisplayPort port.  Also, there is only one GPU port to plug in the Index.

So, I plan to keep resetting my HMD until they figure it out...  I hope this helps you make your decision!

v/r,

Chris

mine does not work after resets.. it works for 30-45 seconds and then gives the error.  restarted hmd multiple times and no success.   

I will be trying the route to use the usb-c thunderbolt to displayport adapter from cablematters, available on amazon.  I am hoping that will eliminate any issues with the mini display port in the rear.   Should arrive in a week or so. 

Hi @optics261 what I usually do is to have the Settings page open on the laptop. When the HDCP error occurs, I switch to 144 Hz, next time to 120 Hz, next to 144 again. For me, the HDCP occurs in precisely 27 seconds after the refresh rate change, so if within 10 cycles (5 minutes) there is no good result, I reboot the laptop. Usually this helps to launch it in a stable way within 15-30 minutes. This certainly is not a resolution but hope it helps.

Please share your experience with Thunderbolt to DP cable. I was thinking of it, but in my case according ti Intel and nVidia Control Panels, it's wired to the Intel VGA. So in theory it shouldn't work.