Oculus Quest 2 Blinking Red Light When Charging and Won't Turn On

Are you wondering why your Oculus Quest 2 is blinking red light when charging and you cannot turn on the headset? You might think something is wrong with the gadget, but there is a logical explanation for this behavior.

Below, we’ll explain why your gadget is exhibiting this way, what factors cause the headset not to turn on, and how to resolve the charging issues with easy step-by-step instructions.

Contents In This Article

What does a flashing red light mean on Quest 2?

A flashing red light on Oculus Quest 2 means the battery is below the acceptable percentage required to turn it on and needs around two hours to be charged. The headset may keep blinking a red light if it fails to charge due to malfunctioning charging accessories or fast battery drainage issues.

A solid red light on your Oculus Quest 2, on the other hand, means that the battery is totally dead. When you plug it in, it will flash red until charged for some time and then turn to orange. When the battery is fully charged, you will see a solid green light on the headset.

Why is my Oculus blinking red light and not turning on?

The headset battery is drained and needs to be plugged in for some time.
You are using your Oculus Quest 2 while charging it.
The USB charging cable is not connected to the headset charging port correctly.
The AC power socket, charger, charging cord, battery, or charging port is damaged.
Your Oculus Quest 2 is malfunctioning because of bugs in its software.
The Oculus battery is overheated.

How do I fix the flashing red light on my Oculus Quest 2?

1. Change AC Power Socket

It is possible that you are trying to charge your Quest 2 headset by plugging it into a faulty AC power socket. Obviously, leaving it for hours to charge won’t do you any good because the power plug is not supplying the necessary voltages for your device.

Therefore, if a red light is flashing when charging it and hours pass by, plug the headset charger into another power outlet and see if this fixes your issue.

2. Check the Charger and Charging Cable

The Oculus Quest 2 charger or the charging cable might be incompatible or damaged, failing to charge or fully charge it. Another reason can be that your charger can’t provide enough power to charge the battery, and the red light keeps blinking on the headset.

If you are charging your Oculus Quest 2 with a 20-watt laptop charger, try using a 45-watt one. Your Oculus Quest 2 may recognize it, fully charge the battery, and you can then turn it on.

Alternatively, buy a new or compatible charger or charging cable, charge your gadget, and verify that this solution worked.

3. Hard reset Oculus Quest 2

Sometimes, your Oculus Quest 2 battery is at 100%, but it keeps on blinking red light and showing it at 0%. This can happen if there is some sort of bug in the headset firmware.

To fix this, just press and hold the “Power” button for 20-30 seconds while plugged in, and the light should turn green.

After that, you can easily turn on the headset without facing any further issues.

4. Force Charge the Headset

The next solution to fix the Oculus Quest 2 flashing red light is to force-charge it. Here’s how:

Keep charging the headset for about 1.5 to 3 hours.
Next, plug out the charger and hold the “Power” button for 30 seconds.
Again, plug the charger into the VR headset and charge for 30 more minutes.
While charging, press the “Power” button to access the “Battery Meter” on the display.
Confirm that an orange light shows on the meter, which means the force charge is working.
Wait for the light on your Oculus Quest 2 to turn green, and turn it on.

If you have an Oculus Go headset, it may freeze on the loading screen if the battery is low.

5. Avoid Using Oculus Quest 2 When Charging

If you are using your Oculus Quest 2 when charging it, this causes an extra load on the battery. In this case, the battery tries to charge itself but fails to do so and won’t turn on, resulting in a flashing red light.

Therefore, always power off the headset completely before charging it. But there’s something else!

Your brand new Oculus Quest 2 headset box has a black cover inside to protect the lenses for storage. You may be under the impression that your VR headset will shut down after a few seconds of inactivity.

When you put the protective cover on the lenses and plug it in for charging, your gadget tries to create a VR of the text written on the cover that keeps it awake, resulting in constant uptime. This keeps on draining the Oculus Quest 2 battery and displays a flashing red light.

So, it is best to remove the protective cover on the lenses before charging the headset.

6. Let Your Oculus Quest Cool Down Before Charging

If you have been using your VR gadget for too long, its battery can get pretty hot. When you plug in the charger at that time, the hot battery often fails to charge itself for long hours, and you see a blinking red light on the headset for that duration.

The best workaround here is to completely power off your Oculus Quest and let it sit for 30-40 minutes to cool down its battery. Afterward, plug in the charger, check if you can charge it completely, and turn it on.

TIP: Make sure to fully insert the USB-C cable into the VR headset charging port. For this, slightly lift the bottom of the cable connector until you hear a cracking sound.

7. Contact Support

Still can’t get rid of the red light blinking on your Oculus Quest 2 when charging it? It’s possible that the headset charging port or the battery is faulty.

Therefore, contact Oculus support or your retailer. They can repair the charging port or replace the battery (free of cost) if the headset is under warranty. Otherwise, you need to contact an authorized repair shop for this purpose.

Takeaway

We’ve discussed in this article why your Oculus Quest 2 is blinking red light when charging it. We’ve also explored many solutions to fix the issue and turn on the headset.

Hopefully, you can now once again be immersed in an impeccable virtual reality experience on your Oculus Quest.