Sony issues PS4 "blinking blue light" advice


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Full title: Sony issues PS4 "blinking blue light" advice as customers report DOA consoles

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-11-18-sony-issues-ps4-blinking-blue-light-advice-as-customers-report-doa-consoles

 

 

A number of North American PlayStation 4 owners have reported their consoles dead on arrival.

Following the North American launch of the console on Friday some customers reported their console failed to send a signal to their television. Instead of a white light, which indicates the console has entered the powered on state, they get a blinking blue light.

Videos of the problem have flooded YouTube, and there are now 600 one star reviews on Amazon, with many complaining about the inconvenience of contacting customer support to arrange for a replacement or a refund.

Last week Sony said it was investigating reported issues with PS4, but insisted the number of affected systems represented less than 0.4 per cent of shipped units to date - a number "within our expectations for a new product introduction". Over the weekend Sony announced it had sold over one million PS4 units in 24 hours following the North American launch.

Now, Sony has issued troubleshooting advice to those who have the dreaded "blinking blue light". It lists four possible causes:

  • TV compatibility
  • Issues with PS4 power supply
  • Issues with PS4 hard drive
  • Issues with other PS4 hardware

So what can you do about it? Sony suggests updating the firmware on your TV, turning the console off and checking the power and HDMI connectors for damage. It also suggests checking the hard drive to make sure it's properly seated in the HDD bay.

If all that fails, you can try booting your PS4 into safe mode. This changes the resolution to 480p and allows you to update the system software, restore default settings and restart the system. You can also rebuild the database and initialise the PS4 (this deletes all user data and restores the PS4 to as if it just came out of the box).

If you want to contact Sony, it's probably best to try Live Chat rather than call on the phone, the company warned.

PS4 launches in the UK on 29th November.

 

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Update firmware on TV as a solution? TV Compatibility? what the

 

Now that i think about it, i'm curious, are most people with the pulsing blue d*ck punch of sadness can run direct to tv or through a receiver?  My receiver can terminate HDCP as to pass through to TV, curious if that fixes this issue or if it is indeed hardware

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Update firmware on TV as a solution? TV Compatibility? what the

 

Now that i think about it, i'm curious, are most people with the pulsing blue d*ck punch of sadness can run direct to tv or through a receiver?  My receiver can terminate HDCP as to pass through to TV, curious if that fixes this issue or if it is indeed hardware

HDCP incompatibilities have been known to cause problems with devices, so this wouldn't be shocking. Still, its very inconvenient for the customer. I wonder if that is why MS is only using HDCP output when playing bluray discs. That would reduce the chance of that particular issue showing up.

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Well at least they narrowed that down

?Issues with other PS4 hardware

I know! Wth was that?

I hate when I see companies stating things like these in the troubleshooting section of manuals, just to have their a..es covered and be somewhat typical.

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Can the PS4 be turned on without being connected to a TV?  Or will it get the blue light if not connected?

Seems strange that TV incompatibility would even be a possibility.

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Can the PS4 be turned on without being connected to a TV?  Or will it get the blue light if not connected?

Seems strange that TV incompatibility would even be a possibility.

 

I would think tv issues would be obvious though. My tv will say "HDCP failure" if it fails to negotiate.. Also, if it was HDCP the PS4 should be able to negotiate an SD signal to say "hey, HDCP failed".

 

It will be interesting to see how XB1 does it as it has to negotiate pass through as well

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Seems strange that TV incompatibility would even be a possibility.

 

If the TV is old and the PS4 uses HDCP for gaming (instead of just Blu-ray) then yes it can be the case.

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I am glad I didn't go and buy a PS4 right away. I am going to definitely wait while before buying it. Plus I have lots of $$$$ invested in games for my PS3, a lot I haven't even finished yet.

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If the TV is old and the PS4 uses HDCP for gaming (instead of just Blu-ray) then yes it can be the case.

Sure, but why would it cause the blinking blue light?  Surely the console would boot just fine, but not display anything.

The blue light sounds like something hardware related on the console itself, and wouldn't be caused by TV incompatibility.

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Sure, but why would it cause the blinking blue light?  Surely the console would boot just fine, but not display anything.

The blue light sounds like something hardware related on the console itself, and wouldn't be caused by TV incompatibility.

 

Oh i tought the console did boot but did not display anything. Of course if the console doesn't boot then it has nothing to do with HDCP.

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Sure, but why would it cause the blinking blue light?  Surely the console would boot just fine, but not display anything.

The blue light sounds like something hardware related on the console itself, and wouldn't be caused by TV incompatibility.

Is it possible that Sony built a function into the console that forces the system to not boot and just display the light when it fails the hdcp check or hdmi handshake fails?

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Is it possible that Sony built a function into the console that forces the system to not boot and just display the light when it fails the hdcp check or hdmi handshake fails?

 

Hum maybe but i would be surprised. If the console doesn't boot it's surely not that anyway.

 

I got one of those HDMI problems with my 360 elite model. The HDMI port would not output anything but sound. I could output at 480p using the rca cable only (or at 1080p using the vga cable). The XBox nor the TV did not display anything related to why there was no image using the HDMI port. My TV was receiving something cause usually when there's no signal the TV tells me. Since there was sound obviously there was a signal. It was like if a black image was displayed over the actual content.

 

It doesn't look like it's the case here if the console doesn't boot and they can't display content at 480p.

 

Anyway i think i'll upgrade my TV before buying a next gen console lol my TV is close to 10 years old anyway.

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That pin that is bent up that everyone keeps talking about - that would a pretty easy sabotage at the factory (allegedly). Plug in your hdmi cable and bam! It shorts out something. USB ports are pretty good for that too, when you have a customer that jams it in the wrong way and turns everything to spaghetti inside.

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I am glad I didn't go and buy a PS4 right away. I am going to definitely wait while before buying it. Plus I have lots of $$$$ invested in games for my PS3, a lot I haven't even finished yet.

 

Same here.  I have quite the backlog, including ones I beat but didn't yet plat.  At 70 I'll get a PS4, should have bugs worked out by then (and maybe a price drop).

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