SteamVR Error 303

[SenipAussie]

Description / General Troubleshooting

Using Steam VR 2.16.6 with ALVR v20.14.1 and it seems steam is throwing error 303 for "A Key component of SteamVR isn't working correctly. Please reinstall". I did both a steamVR Cache Verification and a SteamVR re-install. Both seem to have failed. Starting steam alone gets me error 496. Seems ALVR related.

Environment

Wayland

Hardware

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D (16) @ 5.27 GHz
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT [Discrete]

[BrandonLogandi]

Same here, I also get horrible 3+ second long pauses and stutters making it basically unusable.

Ryzen 7 5700X3D with RX 9070 here

[viktor02]

I downgraded SteamVR to the previous version, and everything started working again. It seems like compatibility with ALVR got broken

Intel i5 11400 + AMD 7900XTX

[Andreas010]

Can confirm it happening on my system. Downgrading SteamVR works for now.

vrcompositor.txt screams:

Wed Jun 03 2026 20:50:32.255765 [Info] - Tried to find direct display through Wayland: (nil)
Wed Jun 03 2026 20:50:32.255779 [Error] - CHmdWindowSDL: Failed to create direct mode surface
Wed Jun 03 2026 20:50:32.255838 [Error] - CHmdWindowSDL: VR requires direct mode.
Wed Jun 03 2026 20:50:32.255908 [Error] - Error making window!
Wed Jun 03 2026 20:50:32.280071 [Info] - Failed to kill gpu-trace
Wed Jun 03 2026 20:50:32.280216 [Info] - Failed to initialize compositor
Wed Jun 03 2026 20:50:32.280243 [Info] - Failed to start compositor: VRInitError_Compositor_CannotDRMLeaseDisplay
Wed Jun 03 2026 20:50:42.623555 [Info] - //==============================================================================================
Wed Jun 03 2026 20:50:42.623582 [Info] - ================================================================================================
Wed Jun 03 2026 20:50:42.623595 [Info] - ================================================================================================
Wed Jun 03 2026 20:50:42.623624 [Info] - vrcompositor 2.16.6 startup with PID=33520, config=/home/andy/.local/share/Steam/config, runtime=/home/andy/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/SteamVR, arch=linux64
Wed Jun 03 2026 20:50:42.623637 [Info] - VR compositor 2.16.6 (v1780421623) Mixed starting up
Wed Jun 03 2026 20:50:42.626208 [Info] - Failed to start compositor: VRInitError_Init_ShuttingDown

Specs:
OS: CachyOS 7.0.10-2-cachyos
DE: KDE Plasma 6.6.5
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

[Arny8]

+1, downgrading helps
CachyOS 7.0.10-2-cachyos
KDE Plasma 6.6.5
14600KF
3080Ti
Pico 4

[Teenymario]

+1, downgrading helps
OS: 7.0.9-1-cachyos
DE: labwc 0.20.0 (+xwayland +nls +rsvg +libsfdo) wlroots-0.20.1
cpu: i7-3770
gpu: nvidia rtx 3050 (6GB model)
headset: oculus quest 2

Thank you people so much! I spent 2 days trying to fix this issue and downgrading is all I needed to do. Thank you SO much :)

[asvdvl]

OH MY GOD, this helped!

I wasted two days trying to clean up all the leftovers from ALVR and SteamVR, and ended up reinstalling the system, only to stumble across this discussion when I tried to install ALVR-Nvidia from yay and couldn't find it.

OS: cachyos 7.0.10-2-cachyos
DE: KDE Plasma 6.6.5 (wayland)
cpu: Xeon E5-2667 v3
gpu: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
headset: pico 4

[TECHMAN10]

I've tried downgrading SteamVR, upgrading ALVR, reinstalling both, changing GPU drivers, to no avail.
I'm getting the long pauses and stutters, audio is fine.

OS: Windows 11
CPU: Ryzen 7 7700x
GPU: Radeon 9070 (Driver: 26.5.2)
Headset: Quest 3
ALVR: 21.0.14.1

[radiantgurl]

Hello! I contacted Steam Support and they've told me this is a compatibility issue with ALVR

[radiantgurl]

I've tried downgrading SteamVR, upgrading ALVR, reinstalling both, changing GPU drivers, to no avail. I'm getting the long pauses and stutters, audio is fine.

OS: Windows 11 CPU: Ryzen 7 7700x GPU: Radeon 9070 (Driver: 26.5.2) Headset: Quest 3 ALVR: 21.0.14.1

Hello!
Can confirm this fixes the issue
CPU: Ryzen 7 8700F
GPU: RX 9060XT
ALVR: v20.14.1
Headset: Quest 3S

[Xeknos]

+1, downgrading fixed the refresh issue.

[zamora]

Downgrading to "previous" didn't quite work for me. It got rid of the 303 error, but when SteamVR starts, there is just blackness, not the usual SteamVR grid.

Linux Mint 22.3
ALVR 20.14.1
Ryzen 9950X
RTX 5080
Quest 3 (Horizon OS 2.4)

[TECHMAN10]

Tried again, downgrading doesn't fix the issue for me. The frequent pauses and stutters persist, otherwise the connection is fine.

[jmfergeau]

Same problem. Reverting to previous steamvr version works as a workaround. I'm surprised the problem occurs on win11 as well.

OS: CachyOS (Arch-based)
CPU: i5 9600
GPU: Nvidia RTX 4060 (open drivers)
Headset: Quest 3s
ALVR: 20.14.1

[snagar]

I've tried downgrading SteamVR, upgrading ALVR, reinstalling both, changing GPU drivers, to no avail. I'm getting the long pauses and stutters, audio is fine.
OS: Windows 11 CPU: Ryzen 7 7700x GPU: Radeon 9070 (Driver: 26.5.2) Headset: Quest 3 ALVR: 21.0.14.1

Hello! Can confirm this fixes the issue CPU: Ryzen 7 8700F GPU: RX 9060XT ALVR: v20.14.1 Headset: Quest 3S

Thanks for this.
I hope that ALVR will be able to sort this issue and be compatible with the latest SteamVR (shenanigans ;-) )