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Blue Light of Death Plagues PlayStation 4

Posted by timothy on from the lights-of-death-always-with-the-lights-of-death dept.

jones_supa writes "A classic game console freezing problem seems to affect the newest generation too. It has been found out that a bunch of Sony PlayStation 4s suffer of a problem which has been christened 'Blue Light of Death'. When a PS4 is turned on with a press of the power button, the light that runs along the side of the console should first pulse blue and then switch to white. At this point the console turns on the picture signal to the display device. Those who have a unit with the glitch are instead finding that their PS4 pulses blue, never goes to white and never outputs an image. We do not have accurate statistics of how widespread the issue is, but reports are popping up in Amazon reviews, Twitter, YouTube and other websites. PlayStation support is still in midst of investigating the issue, but has already posted a bunch of magic tricks you can try to get the console past the initial startup stage."

45 of 309 comments (clear)

  1. attention kmart shoppers there is a bule light spe by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 4, Funny

    on all Sony stuff.

  2. Rambo by tuo42 · · Score: 5, Funny

    What's that?
    It's blue light.
    What does it do?
    It pulses blue.

  3. Sabotaged by mrspoonsi · · Score: 4, Interesting

    See this article: http://www.neowin.net/news/foxconn-intern-claims-ps4-was-sabotaged-during-manufacturing
    Seems the workers were not happy.

    1. Re:Sabotaged by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You're right, they should have written a nice letter to the head(s) of the company. That would have made a forceful statement and gotten widespread attention.

      You know, the funny thing about rights is that they're an abstract, man-made concept that only exists in our mind. Some might say that workers have a right to manage and perform their work as they see fit. Or some might call this an act exercising freedom of speech or expression. Ah, rights.

    2. Re:Sabotaged by girlintraining · · Score: 5, Informative

      First, this hasn't been verified. You're citing a single (deleted) post on an internet forum. It would be like me claiming Microsoft CEO Ballmer visits my cube during late nights coding and molests me. Credibility = Zero.

      Second, quality control is handled externally to FoxConn -- or at least it damn well should have been. I don't think this is a worker revolt. We would have seen more than one post. If you ask me, it's one of two things -- the most likely is a bad batch of capacitors or other commodity parts. It's happened before -- just ask Monkey Man (who isn't molesting me, btw) about the XBox 360's RROD (Red Ring Of Death) -- which was traced to substandard parts and compounded by poor design regarding air circulation within the unit. The other possibility, an outlier, but considering this is Sony... is that their DRM has malfunctioned in a spectacular fashion. There are literally dozens of layers of DRM in this device, and it could be that a conflict has emerged at the hardware level due to authentication, etc. But like I said, it's an outlier; My money is on shit components.

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    3. Re:Sabotaged by glavenoid · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Don't all protests eventually boil down to protesting with other people's hard-earned money? Seems to me that's pretty much the reason for protests -- to disrupt someone's flow of money long or hard enough (inb4 that's what she said) to enact change against some transgression, perceived or otherwise. Whether the act of protesting damages physical property or intangible things like reputation, the end result is that a protest still costs the person or organization being protested money.

      The ps4 is still under warranty so the consumer is protected for the cost of the console regardless if this is an act of protest via sabotage or something innocuous. Might cost sony quite a bit though.

      --
      I, for one, am looking forward to the inevitable /. beta rollout fallout.
    4. Re:Sabotaged by BringsApples · · Score: 4, Interesting

      We have no idea what the conditions actually were.

      I used to work at a place that created software for a certain part of the car manufacturing business. The product of the company was the software, however they acted as a middle-man for the hardware, simply making profit for being the middle-man. The owners of the company had no idea about hardware, and didn't care to learn. They just wanted to "git-r-dun", if you know what I mean. So they hired a few folks to run that dept, but never really had any respect for these people, I was one of them. Management's point of view was that hardware was stuff that came in boxes, and if things broke, then you just get another one and replace, they didn't know or care about configuring devices, or what it meant, but their system depended upon it being done correctly always. Despite countless occasions where failure was warned about, where problems were pointed out prior to actually manifesting, and despite indisputable facts being pointed out, management didn't want to listen, and never gained respect for "the hardware guys". They would require us to do things that would depend on us breaking other rules that were established.

      The result was that prior to quitting the job, we simply stopped trying to make things better, and stopped "pestering" management about future problems, and we just played by their rules - which sometimes meant sending out servers with faulty fans that would fail after 3 weeks, sensors that didn't seem to work, and chips that melted - servers generally lasted no more than 7 weeks, when sent out in this condition. This was, in our way of thinking, a protest. And as you point out, "destruction of property", but what to do?

      --
      Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
    5. Re:Sabotaged by AliasMarlowe · · Score: 2

      See this article: http://www.neowin.net/news/foxconn-intern-claims-ps4-was-sabotaged-during-manufacturing Seems the workers were not happy.

      Is this the same plant in Yantai where Foxconn essentially forced students to work for free on Apple and/or Sony stuff? If so, the sabotage is understandable, albeit still reprehensible.

      --
      Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
    6. Re:Sabotaged by CastrTroy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Filing a warranty claim isn't always free to the end user. When my eReader died, I had to pay shipping to get it to the repair depot. That was only about $10, but that is actually significant percentage of a $100 eReader. With something large and heavy like a Playstation, it could be significantly more to actually get your device fixed under the warranty. Also, there's all that time you can't be using the device. If it's just for fun, like a playstation, this may not be a big deal, but what if it's a laptop you bought for work. Going without a computer for 4-6 weeks certainly isn't something I'd want to deal with because some employee wanted to do some form of "protest". Hurting the end-users isn't really the answer.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    7. Re:Sabotaged by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I wouldn't call it reprehensible. Being forced to work without compensation is the definition of slavery. Throwing a wrench in the master's machine is your moral duty if you can get away with it.

    8. Re:Sabotaged by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You obviously dont care about their poor conditions so why should they care about you? Hitting your wallet - or rather inconveniencing you since you will either get a replacement or a refund anyway - is the only way they can raise your awareness about the problem.

    9. Re:Sabotaged by slew · · Score: 2

      Throwing a wrench in the master's machine is your moral duty if you can get away with it.

      Of course, you might be apocryphally be throwing a sabot into the master's machine, but why would it be your moral duty to continue wearing crappy shoes? ;^)

      The question is why continue to support companies that do this? In the '90s, people boycotted companies like Nike for the labor practices of their sub-contractors, but sadly other than some brief noise to channel Apple, electronics companies have largely gotten a pass.

      I think one underlying reason is that both the customer and the companies fear they have few options (people make have over-invested in the iOS ecosystem, and although garment factories are easy to move, electronics assembly, not so much). These type of labor issues may be yet another inconvenient truth that people have been overlooking to their own detriment.

      Why? Because it makes things artificially cheap which increases the offshoring pressure. Remember the bounty of these savings are really just horded by the companies themselves (e.g., Apple and Foxconn) they rarely are passed back to the consumer in the form of reduced prices or even indirectly (taxes are avoided and typical economic investment multipliers are largely offshore).

    10. Re:Sabotaged by andymadigan · · Score: 2

      The workers who wanted a union would shut down the factory, they would stage a sit-in, form a picket line. The idea was "we do good work, we should be treated properly for it". The was NOT "treat us right or we'll do shoddy work". What if they had sabotaged the power supply and they started catching fire? Would you still say they were just trying to be taken seriously?

      A worker is supposed to take pride in their work and demand proper compensation and conditions, not the other way around. You can refuse to work, you can't do shoddy work.

      --
      The right to protest the State is more sacred than the State.
    11. Re:Sabotaged by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      We have no idea what the conditions actually were.

      It doesn't matter. Unless you're being forced to work, and by 'forced' I mean literally imprisoned, then you don't have any moral grounds for damaging the employer's shit, no matter how pissed you are or how unfair YOU perceive their treatment to be.

      The result was that prior to quitting the job, we simply stopped trying to make things better, and stopped "pestering" management about future problems, and we just played by their rules - which sometimes meant sending out servers with faulty fans that would fail after 3 weeks, sensors that didn't seem to work, and chips that melted - servers generally lasted no more than 7 weeks, when sent out in this condition. This was, in our way of thinking, a protest. And as you point out, "destruction of property", but what to do?

      Translation- they didn't express the proper level of concern in YOUR book, so you quit doing your job well. That isn't a protest, that's just you being lazy and unprofessional.
      A professional would have continued to file reports, continued to notify management of the problems, and done so until such a time as he quit the job. You weren't protesting, you simply got lazy, rolled over, and became the very thing you were "protesting" against.

    12. Re:Sabotaged by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      Second, quality control is handled externally to FoxConn -- or at least it damn well should have been.

      Hahahahaha. You haven't been a Sony customer very long, have you? Sony does not test their equipment. It goes in the box, it comes to you, you open it, and maybe it works. These devices are too complex to test without human intervention, so they just trust in the channel to handle the failures. They test some samples, sure.

      Remember, if there were a test procedure for every console, then consoles would ship with updated firmware...

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  4. Stats by Spad · · Score: 5, Funny

    "We do not have accurate statistics of how widespread the issue is, but according to Amazon reviews and Youtube comments, over 500% of PS4 units sold so far are suffering from this issue"

    1. Re:Stats by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Quite. Note that most of the negative reviews on Amazon state that the package arrived DOA, often poorly packaged or damaged externally. Those things have mechanical hard drives in them, for example.

      To be honest I'd be amazed if any new device shipping tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of units wasn't subject to some rate of failure. I hate Sony as much as the next guy but we basically know nothing at this point.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    2. Re:Stats by bloodhawk · · Score: 5, Informative

      The reviewers are almost all VERIFIED purchasers. I.e. they are writing reviews for ps4's they have purchased. If they are shills then they are sure as hell going beyond the call of duty by going and buying a ps4 just to write a bad review.

    3. Re:Stats by synapse7 · · Score: 2

      The fact Sony admits to the issue and has troubleshooting steps is suggestive. Sony could have pulled an Apple and denied the issue all the way down.

    4. Re:Stats by bloodhawk · · Score: 2

      I didn't claim it did address that question. merely stating they are highly unlikely to be shills, unlike the A/C that I responded too who is most definitely a Sony Shill. However if you look on some of the gaming forums, especially the pro sony ones it appears the failure rate is very real though not in plague proportions. something in the range of 5% which is definitely above normal for first few days of a new product but not so bad as to be a complete disaster. I guess we will know more over the next week if it is a major issue or not as more people start playing there purchase.

  5. Glitch? GLITCH? by bignetbuy · · Score: 3, Funny

    That's a little more than a "glitch" when the unit don't play games, display output, or otherwise do what it's supposed to do.

  6. Power On! by the_skywise · · Score: 4, Funny

    Awww screw it... let's just mix and match memes...

    Han Solo: "Oh yeah? Watch this!"

    Pulse blue: Atomic Batteries to power
    Switch to white: Turbines to spee... BLAM

    Leia: "Watch what?"

  7. minimum wage = minimum effort by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    even more so if you have a boss like bill lumbergh so you work just hard enough not to get fired

  8. I much prefer the name... by Anonymous+Cowled · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... Pulsing Blue Dickpunch of Sadness

    1. Re:I much prefer the name... by captjc · · Score: 5, Funny

      The best part is that after publishing the comic, Tim received his PS4 and it too had the Pulsing Blue Dickpunch of Sadness.

      --
      Slow Down Cowboy! It's been 1 hour, 47 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment
    2. Re:I much prefer the name... by samwichse · · Score: 2

      The PBDoS is no joke.

  9. Re:Glitch? GLITCH? by Nerdfest · · Score: 2

    Ctrl-Alt-Del has named it the "Pulsing Blue Dick-punch of Sadness". I think that's way too good a name not to be generally adopted for the condition.

  10. HDCP? by DigiShaman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Could be an issue with HDCP over HDMI. I would not surprise me if this is DRM failing thus holding up the boot process.

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
    1. Re:HDCP? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Sony was the principal developer of the Blu-Ray format and has its own content division pushing for DRM measures. If you don't blame Sony for DRM fuckups in their products, you might as well bend over and take it.

    2. Re:HDCP? by DigiShaman · · Score: 2

      Sony sued Sony once before. Actually it was their recording label that went after the SCEA. You can read about it here. http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/sony-vs-sony/

      Also keep in mind that Sony stripped out the ability to run Yellow Dog Linux from the PS3 via firmware update. It was ultimately to prevent rooting of the box and running pirated content or some such.

      The way I see it, Sony is a schizophrenic company that not only shoots its own foot, but that of their customers as well. They can't be trusted.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
  11. Re: attention kmart shoppers there is a bule light by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    hdmi is a horribly laid out spec that a ton of manufacturers do not conform to correctly or at least are very loose about it. Depending on their bootup sequence and when their drivers are coming up for hdmi and the timing that the tv is using could cause issues, however in the end it would be a driver issue on the ps4 side since its up to them to not crap their pants at the sign of trouble from a tv and at least try to keep going

  12. That's what people get by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    For giving Sony money. Don't people ever learn?

  13. HDCP issues some hdmi switches / DD sound amp's ca by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    HDCP issues some hdmi switches / DD sound amp's can make it fail / flicker with mode changes.

  14. Re:posted a bunch of magic tricks by Bozzio · · Score: 5, Informative

    ... and the fanboy trolling for this generation begins.
    This will be a long 5 or so years...

    --
    I just pooped your party.
  15. blow on the cartridge by Gothmolly · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's easy, take the cartridge out, blow on the contacts, wave it around if it feels hot, then put it back in.

    --
    I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
    1. Re:blow on the cartridge by Lodlaiden · · Score: 2

      It's easy, take the cartridge out, blow on the contacts, wave it around if it feels hot, then put it back in.

      And failing that, ram it in and out a few times. It's funny how we're back to blinking lights at power on because stuff's broken. (Long live the NES!)

      --
      Suborbital [spaceflight] is the special olympics of spaceflight. - Rei
  16. Re:posted a bunch of magic tricks by Bozzio · · Score: 2

    That's a good point. I haven't been following consoles for a few years now but, you're right, it was kind of silly of me to assume people would wait to actually get their hands on the consoles before trolling!

    --
    I just pooped your party.
  17. Re:attention kmart shoppers there is a bule light by mrwolf007 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Correction.
    Its called the "Pulsing blue Dickpunch of sadness", in case you didnt know

  18. * of Death meme by Hadlock · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Where did this start? On Windows it was obviously the "Blue Screen of Death", Zip Drives had the "Click of Death". Did this phrase have any widespread use before Microsoft/IBM? Wikipedia points to OS/2 as the original BSoD monkier, but I'm wondering if it has roots that go back further than the late 1980s/early 90s.

    --
    moox. for a new generation.
  19. I could see it by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 2

    The Xbox 360's RROD made some sense, since they really were pushing things. It was a lot of hardware, quite high end, in a little box. Cooling all that was problematic. This generation of consoles, not so much. Their hardware is decidedly mid-range compared to what you see today, and is single chip. That is much easier to deal with, and shouldn't have nearly as much room for defects. That isn't to say there won't be some, there are always issues, but one wouldn't expect it to be widespread.

    So I could buy that it is due to a manufacturing error, and I could buy that error was on purpose.

  20. Look on the bright side by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Interesting

    At least it happens now instead of the usual 2 days past warranty.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  21. Re:PS4 NEEDS A UPS !! DAMAGE ON POWER OUTAGE !! by CronoCloud · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Never had it happen after a power outage, it'll do the PS4 equivalent of fsck (which is an actual BSD fsck) on reboot (just like the PS3 does)

  22. Re:posted a bunch of magic tricks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I understand the psychology of zealously defending something you spend a lot of time and money on (consoles, phones, many things in fact), but this is a sign of weakness and it should be something that we see as a failing, not a virtue, and work to rid ourselves of such behavior.

    Aggressively defending and proselytizing a games console has material benefit though. The more choices there are in console, the less choice there is in games on each console. If you own a PS4 then any game that comes out on the Xbox One or Wii-U exclusively is a game you can't play yourself.[*] Marginalizing competing consoles maximizes your own choice selection so it is an obvious response that follows from free-market capitalism.

    Companies love this stuff, it's part of "Word of Mouth advertising" which is both "viral" and free.

    [*] There's depth here in that it is implicitly assumed that your time spent arguing is less valuable than your money which you could spend to buy a second console. There's also the sunk-cost fallacy which causes you to value the investment you already made highly and not be willing to let it go. Then there's also Confirmation Bias / Buyer's Remorse that makes you want to rationalize your own actions as morally right, objectively correct, and justified (being wrong/failure, or at least admitting it, is selected against by evolution) which means that other people must be objectively wrong for choosing differently (see "Stop Having Fun Guy" and "Someone is Wrong on the Internet Guy"). Finally, there's social pressure; people like to associate with others who have similar ideas and interests to themselves which activates latent tribalism, it provides a shared cultural idol/symbol to rally around and form an us-vs-them ideological foundation.

  23. Early adopter tax :) by Torp · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And this is one of the reasons I'll get my PS4 next summer at the earliest.
    The other being that there are fuck all games to play on it at the moment.

    --
    I apologize for the lack of a signature.
  24. Re:HDMI by RaceProUK · · Score: 2

    advanced piece of technology such as a 3rd-gen game console

    Good to know you think so highly of the Master System :P Joking aside, the PS4 is 8th generation.

    --
    No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun