Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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."

29 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 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.
    6. 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.

  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.

  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
  9. 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.

  10. 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

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

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

  12. 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.

  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. 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

  16. * 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.
  17. 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.
  18. 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)

  19. 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.