Bricked Oculus Rift VR headsets now have a fix

Oculus Rift users worldwide had headsets that bricked yesterday — pulling up a "Can't Reach Oculus Runtime Service" message instead of the virtual reality content they're used to seeing through their device. The problem came through an expired certificate — and Oculus scrambled as it tried to assess and then fix the issue. (The security certificate had not been renewed.)

The expired certificate also added some extra twists to resolving the issue, preventing Oculus from pushing out the new code through "...our standard software update path," it wrote.

Oculus Rift users are a vocal lot — and they took to Reddit and Twitter to express their irritation as the problem unfolded. Oculus even tweeted multiple times that it was "working to fix the problem."

Of course Oculus Rift owners can't expect to just plug in and tune out now. Instead, a patch is needed to play, which is found on the Oculus web site. And set aside a bit of time. The patch itself repairs the problem, but then the software needs to update.

And yes, owners can expect a credit, according to a tweet from Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell which he posted after the fix went live about midnight.