Too true. The hoops that Sony must have had to jump through with the British government, as well as the "International Lords of Time" to move the global calander date from March 1st to March 2nd is nothing short of impressive. And to get it all done in 24 hours must have required an heroic effort.
Critical PS3 internal clock error and its aftermath
- Thread starter patsu
- Start date
Too true. The hoops that Sony must have had to jump through with the British government, as well as the "International Lords of Time" to move the global calander date from March 1st to March 2nd is nothing short of impressive. And to get it all done in 24 hours must have required an heroic effort.
The belated response was a mistake but they were likely going back and forth about the official response. Being open about the cause from the get go and offering the known immediate solution would've been extremely risky. I can't say this enough: Never overestimate the intelligence of the average gamer. Have a look at your average game forum for example on any given day.. let alone when it comes to any hardware issues.
Imagine if they did that and told gamers that removing the CMOS battery (with a disclaimer) is the immediate solution, otherwise wait for 24 hours. Then you've got potentially thousands of people with no electronics experience trying that and ruining their units. In turn, they blame Sony and boom, potential lawsuits despite the disclaimer. You're still looking at legal fees and some bad PR. Smaller gadgets like Zune or a Blackberry are easier to deal with in regards to batteries.
While the issue came and went quickly, like anything else out there, someone will try to sue for "damages and distress". Oh especially with the "advice to not use PS3's until the issue is resolved". That sounded like an order and it's my property, hah.
EDIT: Just to clarify, I don't think the issue was acceptable. It's actually embarrassing to have such a low level issue with such a product.
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I like this one better:
(I think there was also a joke calling it the "Grand Turinsmo" edition)
Brad Grenz has an "investigative" writeup about the incident here:
http://www.gamerblahhhg.com/?p=215
I bet Sony is anticipating Spielberg's visit.
I'm going to say the battery is charge when it's plug to the wall. So everytime you turn it off the battery stops. Kinda like a dead ps3 controller. They still work if it's always plug. You probably just need to set up the time at every start up. The guys that did pull the BIOS battery off the ps3 and back on had to set the OS clock again.
The real embarrassment for Sony is not a clock with a bit stuck at zero, it's that their official response was never ever useful. Not only they didn't come up with a solution, but also they couldn't even tell if the problem was going to be resolved by itself until it was over.
If they had no communication with a tech team that can diagnose and resolve the situation, the response would have not been different at all. Hence they deserve all the bad press they got during that time.
If they had no communication with a tech team that can diagnose and resolve the situation, the response would have not been different at all. Hence they deserve all the bad press they got during that time.
Not sure. Never bother look inside. But people say it's easy to spot. It's cover in green tape which has a wired line plug that you can pull.
It's the battery, and it isn't easy to spot on first NA models.
Games will work when the battery is empty, the clock will reset to a default value.The OS is prepared for that unlike the bug. You`ll probably loose your settings when you plug the system off so people will either
1. live with it
2. some will change the battery themselves
3. buy a PSThree for 99 bucks
4. already be on PS4
1. live with it
2. some will change the battery themselves
3. buy a PSThree for 99 bucks
4. already be on PS4
Where is it located then? Can you provide pictures?
RTC or the battery?
Battery is not easy access. On the backside of the mainboard where the fan is.
OT: I have watched some vids and pictures how to open the PS3 and had removed the case myself to see if I could do this should the problem not fix itself. My Blu-Ray drive looks very different than in those vids/pics where it`s black and has white plastic stuff on it. Mine is just a silver box.
It`s a refurbished model but still from pretty early, 2 or 3 months after launch (I had the loud fan problem). Or did Euro versions get another drive ?
OT: I have watched some vids and pictures how to open the PS3 and had removed the case myself to see if I could do this should the problem not fix itself. My Blu-Ray drive looks very different than in those vids/pics where it`s black and has white plastic stuff on it. Mine is just a silver box.
It`s a refurbished model but still from pretty early, 2 or 3 months after launch (I had the loud fan problem). Or did Euro versions get another drive ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiFMHl7fI0g
That guy pull the battery. I guess it depends on the model then. Looked easy enough for me to see it.
That guy pull the battery. I guess it depends on the model then. Looked easy enough for me to see it.
If the problem is with a device that is not under their design and manufacture, then it's pretty standard not to say anything. That's how it's done at my work. Basically, we take the heat and behind closed doors we go after the vendor that provided the faulty part.
Or you have two teams working on a project, one working in metric units and the other in imperial units ....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter#The_metric.2Fimperial_mix-up
I wasn't talking about the blame but the solution. That said they already did blame the clock after everything was over. Is this your standard practice?
I think they may be afraid of "what if" the proposed fix doesn't work (or doesn't work fully) for a subset of the users. To prevent complications, they want to communicate only the facts. I agree an FAQ would be helpful (as suggested by one of the articles) but I doubt it's sufficient. People will just find other reasons complain. Afterall, the experience is a negative one.
I remember the Home community managers are faster in updating their troubleshooting status on the PS Home forum. They have always been very diligent and in tuned with the Home users (The relationship is a little less formal since the community managers "party" with the users in Home). The official blog people are more careful and rigid. If I were them, I'd experiment and strengthen the relationships with the Home community more. It helps to soften the blow but not guaranteed to work either. Also, Sony, fix the damn Home UI problems already.
I remember the Home community managers are faster in updating their troubleshooting status on the PS Home forum. They have always been very diligent and in tuned with the Home users (The relationship is a little less formal since the community managers "party" with the users in Home). The official blog people are more careful and rigid. If I were them, I'd experiment and strengthen the relationships with the Home community more. It helps to soften the blow but not guaranteed to work either. Also, Sony, fix the damn Home UI problems already.
They said it was a PSN related issue when it clearly wasn't. And they said not to trust any source other then Sony.
And they were never able to solve the issue. Which is nice because now the PS3's name for reliability is forever down to the toilet. Because for anyone who doesn't follow this as close we do, it just seems their PS3's decided to break itself one day and start working again the next. Who knows what it's going to do tomorrow.
They better give us something nice if they want to get rid of this PR nightmare. Have I mentioned I wanted cross game chat?
And they were never able to solve the issue. Which is nice because now the PS3's name for reliability is forever down to the toilet. Because for anyone who doesn't follow this as close we do, it just seems their PS3's decided to break itself one day and start working again the next. Who knows what it's going to do tomorrow.
They better give us something nice if they want to get rid of this PR nightmare. Have I mentioned I wanted cross game chat?