PSN is down, some titles experiencing game-crashing errors

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Grand Master

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well, just over an hour to go before we know for sure.

Everyone will try to sign in at 00:00 now and the servers will be hammered :laugh:

More than 24-hours ago, PlayStation 3 owners around the world began reporting serious issues with their consoles. While some PS3s have been unable to play games and log into the PlayStation Network, other consoles haven't experienced any problems. The question is: what is going on?

The first thing to note is that this is not a PlayStation Network issue. These errors and issues are directly related to the hardware side of the PlayStation 3 console. Specifically, the system and OS clocks are conflicting, which is causing erratic system behavior. The system clock is running at all times and only counts forward. When powered on, the system clock confirms what time it is to the OS Clock. On top of that, when a PlayStation 3 is on, a battery inside of the PlayStation 3 gets charged which runs the system clock in the background even when the PlayStation 3 is turned off.

What's causing the problem?

The system clock thinks that today is a leap year dated February 29th, 2010. Meanwhile, the OS Clock doesn't have that date available in its table since it doesn't exist. What we have are two very conflicting dates which have caused the PlayStation 3 to change behavior. It's hard to tell exactly why the date on many PS3s has been rolled back to 1999, but it could be a protocol set in place by Sony for situations like this.

Why does the system clock think it's leap year?

Apparently, the older PlayStation 3s have been programmed to think that every even year is a leap year. You might be asking, "Well, why didn't PS3 consoles face this issue in 2008 then?". The answer is, because 2008 WAS a leap year. This is an unfortunate set of circumstances, because in reality leap year is every four years, but the console thinks that it is every two.

At this point, one of three things can happen.

1. The official GMT ticks over to March 2nd and the PlayStation 3 moves to March 1st instead of the leap year date which is causing the issues.

2. Sony finds a way to force the System Clock to move to the current date or at least behave properly.

3. There is no way fix the issue and Sony will have to find a plan b.

Some consumers are removing the internal battery to reset the System Clock which apparently has worked thus far. This isn't a good idea, however, since it voids the warranty and might create more problems if Sony issues a fix. At any rate, in roughly 2-3 hours the official GMT will shift over to the next day, and hopefully the PlayStation 3 will begin working properly again. Until then, we recommend keeping the PlayStation 3 turned off while waiting for an official update from Sony.

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jelli

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PSN is definitely going to crash at midnight. How many people are going to sign it at 23:55 or something because there clock is wrong and they end up causing problems.

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Emn1ty

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^ I wasn't saying that those were the only ones effected, just that his error will kill them off. Which would suck considering many people value those things like gold. It will be a bad day for Sony if those PS3's don't come back online.

Some consumers are removing the internal battery to reset the System Clock which apparently has worked thus far. This isn't a good idea, however, since it voids the warranty and might create more problems if Sony issues a fix.
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sbauer

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^ I wasn't saying that those were the only ones effected, just that his error will kill them off. Which would suck considering many people value those things like gold. It will be a bad day for Sony if those PS3's don't come back online.

And a very expensive day for Sony.

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jelli

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Who's bright idea was it to program the leap year for every 2 years? I hope someone gets a bollocking for it!

I doubt that's the issue but really, if it is then they do deserved to be fired. It's not that hard to program the leap year function, code taken from Wikipedia shows how easy it is, it's only 8 lines of code with 3 nested if-else statements.

if year modulo 400 is 0
       then is_leap_year
else if year modulo 100 is 0
       then not_leap_year
else if year modulo 4 is 0
       then is_leap_year
else
       not_leap_year

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sbauer

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I doubt thats the issue but really, it's not that hard to program the leap year function. Code taken from Wikipedia and shows how easy it is, it's only 8 lines of code and 3 nested if-else statements.

if year modulo 400 is 0
       then is_leap_year
else if year modulo 100 is 0
       then not_leap_year
else if year modulo 4 is 0
       then is_leap_year
else
       not_leap_year

Yeah. In theory it's an easy concept, but try programming a microcontroller in assembly and see what slips by. I'm more surprised there wasn't a test case for this.

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Grand Master

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I doubt that's the issue but really, if it is then they do deserved to be fired. It's not that hard to program the leap year function, code taken from Wikipedia shows how easy it is, it's only 8 lines of code with 3 nested if-else statements.

if year modulo 400 is 0
   	then is_leap_year
else if year modulo 100 is 0
   	then not_leap_year
else if year modulo 4 is 0
   	then is_leap_year
else
   	not_leap_year

It is the issue, doesn't matter how easy it is to program something, someone cocked up with the internal battery/calendar first time around.

Even the Slim may have the bug, but it's only been out months.

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Grand Master

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Audio...I would probably avoid damage control for Sony. It's beyond your help :)

Yes next time an issue arises I won't post updates/good info on the problem, and actual video evidence of the problem being solved backing up the theories. Sony themselves even said it's clock/date related.

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Hedon

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Originally Posted by WiredRelax. Take a deep breath.

Your PlayStation 3 is broken thanks to a glitchy internal clock, and it?s not going to right itself for a while. What will you do to fill the hours and pretend that your game console still works? Game|Life writers John Mix Meyer, Chris Baker, Gus Mastrapa and I have some suggestions.

10. Pretend you?re in PlayStation Home: Invite a bunch of weird-looking dudes over to your house and do the Cabbage Patch in your living room.

9. Pull out your PlayStation 2. Reminisce about the good old days when game consoles were free-standing appliances that didn?t need to ping a central server before they allowed you to play.

8. Make a game out of your household chores: ?Hooray! I just unlocked the Elbow Grease Trophy in PixelJunk Fridge-Cleaner!?

7. Play real-life Gran Turismo: Take your used Toyota hatchback out on the freeway and rev it up to 55. Ah, this is the life. Who needs racing games? Hey,Click and Clack are on NPR.

6. Stand outside by your mailbox, waiting for friend requests.

5. Play the Xbox 360, which has an internal clock that does not have a horrible kill-switch built into it AARGH.

4. Break out the Pledge and clean the dust off your Wii. Bonus: Clean off all your unused peripherals, too ? by the time you?re wiping the last of the grime off the Wii Wheel, the bug will be fixed.

3. Read our recaps of The Tester instead of watching the actual show. (Note: This tip still applies even after your PlayStation 3 starts working again.)

2. Make a list of 10 things to do while your PlayStation 3 is broken.

1. Get your old box of Little League baseball trophies out of the basement, and award them to yourself. Take them to bed with you, comforted in the knowledge that Sony cannot take these away from you (until at least the PlayStation 5).

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jelli

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Yeah. In theory it's an easy concept, but try programming a microcontroller in assembly and see what slips by. I'm more surprised there wasn't a test case for this.

Oh I know it's not as easy as that when touching assembly, god how I hate assembly but there should have been a test case as you pointed out. Whenever I have coded something I generally test it. Saying that the simplest of things are the easiest to miss, especially when programming.

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Hedon

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Yes next time an issue arises I won't post updates/good info on the problem, and actual video evidence of the problem being solved backing up the theories. Sony themselves even said it's clock/date related.

They also said that trophies and corrupt data could happen, but you said it doesn't affect trophies or possibly corrupt them.

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jelli

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They also said that trophies and corrupt data could happen, but you said it doesn't affect trophies or possibly corrupt them.

There seems to be conflicting reports, people stating that they can't start a game due to no connection to PSN, etc. Others stating they have played and can now no longer view trophies. We just don't know until the dust has settled and people get their systems working correctly if the issue is fixed or there are still remaining problems.

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Grand Master

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People are signing in now, give it a go, most reporting their date goes to 2/28, just go to XMB settings and update the time their via the internet option.

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Hedon

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In the end, after about 24 hours, this will blow over, and be nothing. Yet we will have forums with millions of posts on the subject. We will be laughing at the end of the week I bet.

2cf48qf.jpg

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Grand Master

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Can't sign in in UK still

Try this, lots of people signing in on NeoGAF now. Not every single internal clock on the PS3 will be set exactly the same, some might be just before GMT 00:00, others just after, either way the problem is resolved.

Ok, started PS3, same thing as last night. Tried to set clock via internet and same as last night, no luck.

Disabled then enabled internet connection and tried the set clock...... SUCCESS!!!!SIGNED INTO PSN AS WELL!!

EVERYONE TRY THIS!

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Grand Master

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still no joy :(

Just wait you'll get in soon, as I said not every internal clock will be perfectly aligned to real time.

Also anyone thinking they're missing recent trophies on the PS3, just do a trophy resync.

My PS3 just now signed in on it's own. Bam. I am going to laugh all week now!

I'm just going to laugh at the people probably praying this didn't work after how many times I told people it would just so they could then shred this thread/me at 00:00 GMT :laugh:

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Hedon

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I'm just going to laugh at the people probably praying this didn't work after how many times I told people it would just so they could then shred this thread/me at 00:00 GMT :laugh:

PFFFT.. can't stand negative nancys!

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