Reports of PS4 "Red Line of Death" Appear Online

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

That red line makes it look like the PS4 is about to go on an 80's cyborg killing spree. Unfortunately the only thing it ends up killing is itself.

"unfortunately"

Also, it's pretty alarming to see such a large variety of shit breaking ps4s. You'd think they'd take special care with the first batch of consoles

I mean, just look at the Amazon reviews (granted they got a blue pulse) there is a thread about it on the Gaming forums and more people are inclined to believe it was the work of 500+ Nintendo/Microsoft trolls (regardless of Amazons official consumer label) than a legitimate problem because "theirs" worked, which means everyone else's should.

Sony never has had a good track record with the quality of their hardware when it comes to physical construction. And then there are the rumors of the textures on the Dual Shock 4's being rather cheaply made...

Anyway, give this a week and see how it goes. If the problem is consistent and widespread, then Sony's typical launch just became a complicated launch.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

As a long term Xbox fan rather than feeling a bit of schadenfreude at this news I feel more empathetic towards the PS4 owners whose consoles are bricking. It's not fun, regardless of your console of choice; especially when it's something you've been looking foward to using.

 

[SirDeadly]

As someone who has had a Xbox get the RRoD I can say that this sucks and I feel sorry for the people who's consoles are essentially paperweights.

As a side note, it took a damn long time for that PS4 to get to the dashboard.

 

[Uriain]

So I actually have a couple questions here as I have a PS4 which is working fine.

1) On Amazon, if you pre-order something then cancel that order do you still get that seal "Amazon verified purchase" ?

2) I ran my PS4 for 40 hours straight over the weekend playing Killzone, Assassin's Creed and Resogun, I noticed that there was a good amount of heat coming off the back right on the power cord, has anyone seen issues of melting there yet?

3) As a group, how many people are thinking that the issues being reported are the "majority". If MMO's or Call of Duty has taught us anything its the people who are upset/angry which make the loudest post, and they are usually the minority of the user base. Now, I do not believe that their failure rate is 0.4%, personally I think its between 5-10% simply due to the number of different issues but, if they have shipped over a million units (being 4 days later) having a 5-10% failure rate is not that out of place.

I am hoping Xbox has a similarly low failure rate on their new system so we can get back to focusing on the games and exclusives which will be coming out.

 

[Darmy647]

We live in a somewhat interesting era where we have so much information that problems impacting just 500 or so people can end up looking like the norm.

It's odd how that claim only seems to work for bad news. When Diablo III launched, I'm sure over 500 people managed to play the game without a single Error 37. But they certainly weren't portrayed as "the norm" in the media.

Well, it does only work for bad news because bad experiences are what people take the time to report. Want to know how many of my previous 100 Amazon orders I've actually reviewed? 2. They were both bad experiences. I'm by no means unique in that practice.

That being said, Sony said they expected a .4% failure rate at launch (which they claim the numbers fall within). With 1,000,000 units selling that'd be 4,000 failures.

Which stories do you think get focused on? 996,000 successes or the more interesting 4,000 failures?

So that's why I advocate waiting a few months. Actual agreggate numbers paint the story, not reactionary stories. I'm nothing but a numbers man. I'm not going to take negatives hook line and sinker and I'm also not going to take Sony's PR lines hook line and sinker. So my stance is that I look forward to seeing the actual numbers away from the "fog of war".

You hit the nail on the head here. There's an old saying I've heard.

"If you like something, you will tell 10 friends or family members. If you dislike something, you will tell 10 strangers."

That is so very true. I know that I've done it.

While my own PS4 died pretty early, I was able to get it replaced by going back to Gamestop (I was at the midnight release and went back as soon as they opened, so I wasn't without one for long). I've now put a good 40 hours or so into playing the new one and have had zero problems.

Sony was even really good about resetting my primary console for me, too. And I've heard they are shipping out replacements before the people even ship their systems in. So they are doing everything they can to make that process as painless as possible.

Admittedly, I am curious about the actual numbers of defects. I'm inclined to believe it's much lower than people think, but I'm not 100% sure I believe it's just .4%. Though, from all indications, Sony was well aware of the potential problems and even warned retailers about it. So I do sort of accept that it is within expected parameters.

I'm really glad i bought that year warranty now. The one time I told myself to do it. I feel much safer.

Actually, Sony is offering to extend the warranty by three years for about $50 or $60. I actually did take them up on the offer. Y'know since my first one did die on me. If something happens within the next four years, I should be covered.

Hate to be a bother, but can you tell me where you got it? Is it on PSN?

 

[Strazdas]

That boot up screen.... Takes me back to my memories with launching windows 98..... Does it do this every time?

I'd be interested to hear how many developers had issues with dev kits. I mean, the people making games for it have been using the console for a year or two now, so I can't imagine this being too widespread of an issue.

Considering the amount of complains compared to consoles sold this does look like very small % of problematic machines.

I had a friend who did that with his PC. He just took off all the casing and left it sitting in the middle of his room. Everyone cringed each time they saw it. It's a miracle it survived as long as it did.

Why woudl they cringe? people here often use open cases for PCs. Its cheaper than getting a case with decent airflow.

and it doesn't help that people like to put consoles in spots surrounded by other electronics or heat absorbing materials.

Yep, its like if you put a heater under your fridge and complain why wont it cool off. And in the video it kinda looks like its surounded by it. I mean the TV alone generates a lot of heat.

I'm really glad i bought that year warranty now. The one time I told myself to do it. I feel much safer.

you bought extra warranty? that would do nothing for the launch brewakdowns anyway. or does your country regulation os so poor you dont recieve any warranty at launch? here you have 2 years by law and if manufacutrer does not give that the shop that sold is demanded by law to do that.

2) I ran my PS4 for 40 hours straight over the weekend playing Killzone, Assassin's Creed and Resogun, I noticed that there was a good amount of heat coming off the back right on the power cord, has anyone seen issues of melting there yet?

Well any hardware run for 40 hours straight is going to heat up. Also from ytour decribed location it seems like its Power Supply thats heating, and thats a hot thing to begin with.
ALso, its GOOD that heat is going out of the box. That means its not staying in the box. Its better to have a hot wall and cool machine than hot machine and cool wall.
It wont melt. TO melt silicon thats used in electronics you need a hear of well over 100 C. The automatic shut down due to overheat will definatelly be clipped at way bellow that amount of heat.

 

[Saltyk]

I'm really glad i bought that year warranty now. The one time I told myself to do it. I feel much safer.

Actually, Sony is offering to extend the warranty by three years for about $50 or $60. I actually did take them up on the offer. Y'know since my first one did die on me. If something happens within the next four years, I should be covered.

Hate to be a bother, but can you tell me where you got it? Is it on PSN?

You should be able to call Sony customer support. I think they're only offering that for a little while. Should be able to Google that information up.

 

[Lightknight]

If this is true and some people are having issues that's unfortunate. At first I was surprised that a console that draws so little power could have heat issues, but then it mentioned the fans not turning on. That would certainly do it.

Doesn't help that the thing is freaking tiny and can't have much in the way of heatsinks.

Have you seen the system dismantling? The heatsink is significant.

Look at 4:34, the heatsink is the largest part of the ps4, easly responsible for a significant portion of the console's height. The fan is a pretty neat looking 85mm [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1h8dvqEItc]

 

[ThunderCavalier]

When I read the title, the first thing I thought was:

"OH GOD. NOT ANOTHER RED RING OF DEATH! I THOUGHT WE LEARNED FROM THIS!"

And after reading through the posts, I'm just really hoping that everyone's right and these are just a bunch of extremely loud, but isolated reports. Even if it is, though, Sony has a way of recovering from this as long as they're able to promptly deliver replacement consoles and they have a fantastic PR department to handle the inevitable backlash.

They're probably lost a bit of their audience just from horrible RRoD PTSD flashbacks, but if Sony can be mature and professional in their response (at least probably better than their online debacle a couple years back), then this might be swept under the rug as an unfortunate launch-day illness.

 

[FalloutJack]

Reportedly, the PS3 had a Yellow Light of Death to indicate a failure akin to the RROD of the X-Box. Not as often and never saw it for myself, but it is there. This is not wholey unexpected. However, it is a sad fate.

 

[Josh123914]

Oh God, ANOTHER [Colour][geometric object] of Death?!
Shame on you Sony, I thought you'd be better than this. I hope whoever has this problem got a warranty.

 

[alj]

That is a shame but if that failure rate is accurate that's not that bad.

Meanwhile in world of PCs

http://www.ehow.com/video_4774327_replace-computer-processor-fan.html

 

[Jesse Billingsley]

Hope it is just an isolated issue on a small scale, and i hope sony manage to ship new consoles to the people it's affecting.

*awaits the Xbox army to arrive*

Don't worry, there time will come soon. PS3 had issues on day one. Microsoft had issues a few months later. Best get you bugs out earlier than later.

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

Why in the world are people treating these reports as a big deal? If fewer than 1% of the units are malfunctioning, that is only a big deal if they're also blowing up people's houses. If the units are simply not working correctly? Welcome to the world of consumer electronics since for-fucking-ever.

The Red Ring of Death was a big deal because it impacted over 15% of all units sold. That is an enormous and unacceptable fail rate, and MS deserved all of the flak they received for both the high rate and the poor response. Just because someone has generated a similarly catchy name for what happens when a PS4 fails doesn't mean it is an equivalent issue. That is determined entirely by the actual fail rate.

I'm reminded of many political debates in the States - after all, as long as you can catch one side misbehaving even once, it is surely no better than the other side even if the latter has committed 15 times as many mistakes...

 

[likalaruku]

Not really news. It's a machine, & there will always be a few hundred duds that slip through inspection. Makes me think of my last external hard drive.

 

[legendp]

it wouldn't surprise me if a few of these heat issues were not console related, in the clip shown there was plenty of breathing space, but I wouldn't be surprised if some people jammed there ps4 into a tight dusty space that is also being hit by direct sunlight and then wonder why it stopped working. hell I've still got my 360 elite from 2008, used it heaps and it still works, I always make shore it has room to breathe. although to be fair there are most likely cases where it is the consoles fault. but if I where to make up a number, I might even go as high as 50% of them being user error (or at least partly user error). the question then would be if sony should have made it even more durable to account for people "poorly" situating there console (to be fair my comment is full of assumptions, and this could be 100% sony fault, but at the same time it's good to consider other reasons for consoles breaking).