PS4 glitches and dead on arrival hardware failures have soured the Sony PlayStation 4 release date, making some recall the Xbox 360’s infamous red ring of death.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr , the PS4 reviews have so far been in favor of the PlayStation 4 in comparison to the Xbox One .
Microsoft claims the Xbox One red ring fix should prevent any hardware failures similar to the Xbox 360, which was due to a GPU chip and heatsink separation issue caused by brittle soldering. The Xbox One will also dynamically alter the clock speed of its CPU and GPU based upon need. If temperatures are getting too high, the fan speed will go to maximum. Although Sony hasn’t said anything along the same lines, considering that the PS4 GPU and CPU are both also designed by AMD , this means that PlayStation 4 hardware failures will likely be prevented in similar fashion.
One of the earliest PS4 glitches being reported by users is a faulty HDMI port . Working together, gamers managed to figure out that it’s a manufacturing defect where a piece of metal obstructs some of the pins in the HDMI port. Sony repaired the issue by pushing this piece of metal out of the way. Whether or not a consumer should do this themselves is probably an issue since the PS4 warranty might be voided if a Sony repair shop doesn’t do it.
But the official Sony stance is that PS4 glitches should be expected:
“A handful of people have reported issues with their PlayStation 4 systems. This is within our expectations for a new product introduction, and the vast majority of PS4 feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. We are closely monitoring for additional reports, but we think these are isolated incidents and are on track for a great launch.”
Sony also claims broken PS4s affect less than one percent of gamers, although they haven’t justified where that number came from. It has even affected gaming websites like Kotaku and IGN, so it can’t be too uncommon a problem, although Sony claims they are “isolated incidents.”
But one gamer “bricked” his PlayStation 4 simply by running the standard PS4 update:
“After playing a brief game of NBA 2k14 I quit and inserted my Battlefield 4 disk. The system prompted for an update, so while watching the progress bar (around 20 percent) my controller light turned from blue to white. Hasn’t worked since…”
This gamer couldn’t fix the PS4 glitches himself by swapping out hard drives and trying out the PlayStation 4 safe mode. But some of the PS4 hardware failures are apparently due to dead on arrival units. Those unlucky gamers don’t even get to try out their shiny new PS4 at all before they began having problems. Then there’s hard drive issues and the PS4 wobble:
Do you think the PS4 hardware failures and glitches are a sign of impending long term hardware problems with the Sony PlayStation 4?