[BUG] Repeated Transition from 'SteamVRSystemState_Ready' to 'SteamVRSystemState_NotReady'; VR view cut out

[pwaller]

Describe the bug

The following message stutters and briefly appears/disappears repeatedly while VR is in use. VR itself functions well. However, the VR view cuts out (showing only a blank black window) while the "Oh no" image is appearing.

The appearance/disappearance is random. It appears for less than a second, at a rate ranging from once a minute to several times within a few seconds.

The effect is that anyone watching the VR view has quite an unsettling experience, it's not really possible to follow along.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Use SteamVR in the normal way.

Expected behavior
The VR view should continuously show an image reflecting what the user sees in the headset.

System Information (please complete the following information):
Please use the latest Steam beta client and SteamVR beta for your bug reports!

• Steam client version (build number or date): 2024/12/15

• SteamVR version: 2.8.8

• Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): NixOS

• Steam runtime diagnostics: steam-runtime.txt

• Steam and SteamVR logs, excerpt from vrmonitor.txt:

Sun Dec 15 2024 16:53:38.298739 [Info] - [System] Transition from 'SteamVRSystemState_NotReady' to 'SteamVRSystemState_Ready'.
Sun Dec 15 2024 16:53:41.297968 [Info] - [System] Transition from 'SteamVRSystemState_Ready' to 'SteamVRSystemState_NotReady'.
Sun Dec 15 2024 16:53:41.298778 [Info] - [Status Alert] SteamVR Fail (-301)
Sun Dec 15 2024 16:53:41.775165 [Info] - [Status Alert] SteamVR Fail (-301)
Sun Dec 15 2024 16:53:42.075095 [Info] - [Status Alert] SteamVR Fail (-301)
Sun Dec 15 2024 16:53:42.298026 [Info] - [System] Transition from 'SteamVRSystemState_NotReady' to 'SteamVRSystemState_Ready'.
Sun Dec 15 2024 16:53:44.299940 [Info] - [System] Transition from 'SteamVRSystemState_Ready' to 'SteamVRSystemState_NotReady'.
Sun Dec 15 2024 16:53:44.300661 [Info] - [Status Alert] SteamVR Fail (-301)
Sun Dec 15 2024 16:53:44.476508 [Info] - [Status Alert] SteamVR Fail (-301)
Sun Dec 15 2024 16:53:44.776462 [Info] - [Status Alert] SteamVR Fail (-301)
Sun Dec 15 2024 16:53:45.299305 [Info] - [System] Transition from 'SteamVRSystemState_NotReady' to 'SteamVRSystemState_Ready'.

• vrserver.txt doesn't have anything material being written to it repeatedly.
• webhelper.txt has:

[2024-12-15 16:53:38] VRNotificationToasts-'SteamVR - ': WasHidden 0: (0, 0) 510x120
[2024-12-15 16:53:43] VRNotificationToasts-'SteamVR - ': WasHidden 1: (0, 0) 510x120
[2024-12-15 16:53:43] VRNotificationToasts-'SteamVR - ': WasHidden 0: (0, 0) 510x120
[2024-12-15 16:53:49] VRNotificationToasts-'SteamVR - ': WasHidden 1: (0, 0) 510x120

• Minidumps: (none)

Screenshots

Additional context
None.