It looks like some early PS4 systems are already having some problems. User “arogon1416” tried to use his PS4 earlier today and was greeted with a system that refused to work. Is this another “light of death” or something less sinister?
Arogon1416 tried to post another Twitch video of PS4 streaming footage, but found an unresponsive system that apparently was not interfacing with the TV. The PS4, the user’s prize from Taco Bell’s sweepstakes, was unresponsive. On NeoGAF, user “Dylx” had similar problems after trying to updated Battlefield 4.. He followed up with a bit more information on what exactly the console was doing, in lieu of a video.
Other users had some problems as well, with varying symptoms of failure including warning messages and a light that cycles between blue and white (look through this Reddit thread for some more). Luckily, Sony has so far been good at following up with users, by sending a box to ship the unit to them to be replaced, or offering suggestions as to how to fix. Some of these suggestions include restoring the system and installing the Day-One firmware via USB, though this will be very easy or very difficult depending on whether or not you can get an image on your TV.
Our advice? Don’t panic yet. Yes, this is definitely troubling if it is an indication of the potential for the system to fail. At the same time, the several other publications that have already posted reviews of PS4 games and are readying reviews of the system itself have not indicated any woes with the system, so hopefully these are sparse and easily-fixed problems that Sony can nail down or at least develop action plans for before the November 15 launch. It is worth noting that Kotaku also encountered a problem system that refused to connect to the TV via HDMI…with their pre-release version. The three other retail systems worked fine, so it’s possible that for some reason the pre-release systems have some weird issue that is not a worry with the ones the vast majority of you will be getting.
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