Mysterious Bug Cripples PS3s Worldwide

[Andy Chalk]

Mysterious Bug Cripples PS3s Worldwide

A devastating "calendar bug" appears to be crippling older model PlayStation 3 [http://www.playstation.com] consoles around the world, locking users out of the PlayStation Network and trashing retail and PlayStation Network games alike.

The problem popped up yesterday, when owners of older, "fat" PS3s were greeted with a looping "8001050F" error message when they attempted to connect to the PlayStation Network. Offline consoles with games that automatically synchronize Trophies with PSN when the system is booted have also reportedly been affected and even debug units [http://www.develop-online.net/news/33995/Now-developers-PS3s-are-hit-by-system-errors?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+developmag%2Fifbh+%28Develop%29] at numerous PlayStation studios are suffering the effects of the error. Only the newer PS3 Slim appears to be immune.

The exact cause of the problem remains unclear but it appears to be a calendar bug in older PS3s that resets the date to January 1 2000, causing huge amounts of trouble with DRM and authentications. Because of it, all purchased PSN content on affected consoles revert to unactivated status and will only run as a trial version, if one is available.

"We have found out that some users are experiencing a network connection failure when signing on to PlayStation Network," a Sony rep told PlayStation Blog [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-system-bug-cripples-fat-ps3s-blog-entry], Social Media Manager Jeff Rubenstein put out the official Sony line that the company has "narrowed down the issue and have engineers working to restore service even as you read this."

The bug was still active last night and is apparently still affecting systems booted up today, so owners of non-Slim PlayStation 3 consoles who have not started them since Saturday are being advised to keep them turned off until Sony sounds the all-clear. In the meantime, this sounds like a great opportunity to come up with a catchy acronym. Y2PS3, anyone?

Thanks to ColdStorage [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/ColdStorage] for the tip.

(photo [http://www.flickr.com/photos/20179579@N00/582672926/])

Permalink

 

[wooty]

Mine seems unaffected thankfully, but then again I've rarely been on PSn since the launch of MW2

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

That really sucks. Not being able to use content you paid for...But still...they're fixing it.

 

[Jared]

Well, lets hope they fix it for everyone...that sucks!

 

[DarkSaber]

"some users"? HA, serious contender for understatement of the decade there!

 

[Nitpicker of the Wastes]

Crap. I booted mine up, and lost all my Uncharted 2 trophies.

Here's hoping it's not too hard to patch... >.<

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

DELETED

 

[Wargamer]

This is why I hate DRM; "oh, you want to use your product that you paid for? TOUGH SHIT! You can only use it when WE decide!"

It's my fucking game. Movie companies don't insist I can only watch DVDs on a single DVD player, and only when that DVD player is connected to the net, so why the fuck to game companies think they can get away with it?

 

[Cherry Cola]

There isn't a single game I can play, I don't have any demos left because I deleted them for space, and games I've bought form PSN like Mega Man 9 aren't working.

We all know what this means... I can go and play some Fallout instead!

 

[Yossarian1507]

God damn... My trophies are gone, I cannot connect to PSN, and I cannot even play Heavy Rain offline. Good think at least saves are allright as I checked them (I think...)

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

There isn't a single game I can play, I don't have any demos left because I deleted them for space, and games I've bought form PSN like Mega Man 9 aren't working.

We all know what this means... I can go and play some Fallout instead!

Or you could post more on the Escapist!

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Ouch... looks like Sony were jealous of the RROD and wanted thier own scandalous fuck up.

I'm still renting one to play GOW3 though. And if I could afford it I'd buy the slim.

 

[DigitalSushi]

OK I've got the actually model of PS3 affected, this is what I've done so far and its worked;

Reset the date to 10/10/2009, formated my HDD thereby losing all information but I don't really care about gamerscore.

Its not online and its working with Bioshock which is a Trophy heavy game.

Edit; it may sort itself out tomorrow so if your into your trophies and save games, the above is last resort, or if you really wanna play Killzone.

 

[trog08]

I'm kinda really glad I upgraded my 60gb to a 120gb slim a couple of weeks ago...

 

[HSIAMetalKing]

Oh yikes... I noticed a weird network error popping up while I was playing Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time last night... but I couldn't be assed to pay attention to it because I was almost at the end. Hope nothing bad happened.

 

[WakeTheDead1]

OK I've got the actually model of PS3 affected, this is what I've done so far and its worked;

Reset the date to 10/10/2009, formated my HDD thereby losing all information but I don't really care about gamerscore.

Its not online and its working with Bioshock which is a Trophy heavy game.

man just wait for the fix, im not losing all my saved games for the sake of waiting a few hours

 

[metalmmaniac]

well damn, I'm glad I saw this before I turned my ps3 on for some Rock band.

 

[John Funk]

I kind of like "Apocalyps3" myself.

 

[Pipotchi]

I kind of like "Apocalyps3" myself.

Oooh that is good wordplay. Yum yum yum... delicious!

On topic I fired up heavy Rain earlier and it was okay. Dont think I will risk it again though