Your PS5 panic mode may hurt from the console, explains

Recently, there has been some concern about whether or not PS5 hardware is safe to stand vertically. Videos and notes from TheCod3r and independent console technician Follow-up article from wollow That moved one of these videos out of context led to concrete concern among some that placing the PS5 in a vertical position might put it at risk of damage. Although the original video documents a very real PS5 point of failure, it is not something that is destined to harm your PS5. So yeah, as many have noted, you’re probably safe if you leave your spot in an upright position.

In a video from September of last year titled You won’t believe why PlayStation 5 stopped working! Can I fix Sony’s catastrophic errors?In fact, a third-party repair technician, TheCod3r, discovered a somewhat unsettling issue with the PS5 on his bench for repairs. The liquid metallic thermal paste covering the PS5’s processor has spilled into the surrounding area. Obviously, such an issue can lead to problems and will cause the PS5 to not function properly, resulting in electrical issues or the PS5 not being able to properly manage the high levels of heat it produces. This issue also does not distinguish between digital or disc-based versions of the console. Based on the direction the liquid metal spills, it seems reasonable to assume that, as TheCod3r said in one of two follow-up videos on the issue, under certain conditions “gravity takes over” and may cause the liquid metal to drip through the sealer intended to keep it in place. But while this may explain How do This happens in specific cases, it does not explain Why, Which means it wasn’t obvious vertical orientation inherently caused this to happen.

Unfortunately, the fear of a rather expensive machine dying (which is just… Now much easier) mixed with obscure language, which led to misunderstandings. In the original video, TheCod3r can be heard saying that the console’s infamous leaking liquid metal “never opened”.

That was what wollow Misquoted since issued a patch for. It was mistakenly believed that TheCod3r was referring to the console’s packaging, which may have never been out of the box. this is not true. TheCod3r was referring to the console itself, physically, which is opened and most likely to be repaired. But of course, when you consider the language of the original YouTube video itself, referring to “catastrophic errors from Sony,” and ending with TheCod3r flipping the camera as a “fuck you” nod to Sony, and at least one other repair technician Report similar findsIt’s easy to see how this story has degenerated into assumptions that this is an inherent PS5 design flaw that other users may need to watch out for.

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But how we got here, and the nuances of how consumer electronics work and fail can get us separated from the question likely on many PS5 owner’s minds: Should you use your PS5 in a vertical position? Fortunately, that answer is pretty clear.

Is it safe to keep my PS5 in a vertical position?

Short answer? Based on what’s known right now, yes. It’s safe.

But if you’re still reading and haven’t closed this tab to go back to God of War on your tower-positioned PlayStation, you might want a somewhat longer explanation of what’s going on. So let’s break this down.

The PlayStation 5 was designed to be stood vertically. Recent revelations, like TheCod3r’s discovery, don’t indicate that the console is inherently prone to this failing because of vertical orientation. What these videos document is one such way a PS5 could fail—because all consumer electronics can fail. Furthermore, as a device that has been out in the wild for two years, the PS5 seems to be operating within standard rates of success and failure, particularly around heat. As GamersNexus documented in one case a few years ago, A full year of “continuous thermal cycling” has not shown any worrying problems. GamersNexus, though, notes that the PS5 seems to be using an awful lot of liquid metal, an amount you shouldn’t match if you’re building your own PC.

What TheCod3r’s video reveals is that when the PS5 fails, it could be because of a liquid metal leak – as much as it’s at risk of a power outage or other similar issue. There are other variables to consider outside of portrait orientation, such as whether or not the console was previously opened by a third-party repair technician for example.

TheCod3r follow-up video confirms That this is something that, at most, they’ve seen in one in 10, or even 20, PS5’s that have been repaired. Remember, that’s at most, 1 in 10 units he’s seen and worked on, that are actually broken –Not one in ten PS5s in total. enough to be a general failure that TheCod3r He describes it as the first problem he will check When a non-functional PS5 reaches its seat, but only because the problem is relatively easy and cheap to fix compared to other problems.

TheCod3r states that replacing liquid metal is one of the cheapest repairs. If swapping and sealing in some new thermal paste does the job, it would be more affordable and faster than pulling something out of the PCB, finding a replacement part, and soldering it back on.

There will always be a percentage of hardware that will die, and at the moment it seems that among the PS5 hardware that dies, sometimes the liquid metal covering the processor is to blame. But other times it may be a problem with the power supply. Or as TheCod3r mentioned in their video, something like a wifi chip, another common point of failure.

Should I keep the PS5 in landscape mode just to be safe?

If you’re like me and prone to anxiety, keeping it horizontal might be worth the peace From the mind I will save you. You might also want to throw salt over your shoulder and circle around three times after talking about ghosts. However, due to the failure rate due to liquid metal leaks which is on par with other ways a console may fail, chances are your console will die from a PSU problem or some other malfunction, and such a PS5 failure will occur in landscape mode just like in portrait mode. .

Read more: The Red Ring of Death haunted all my friends, and then it came to me

Unless new information emerges, it is safe to say that this is not a scale problem Red Ring of Death for Xbox 360. Far from it: Right now, the liquid metal issue seems to be within the acceptable failure rates that all consumer electronics have. Yes, your PS5 is safe to beat everything else in your entertainment center. And hey, if you fail, I bet you could dock a little boat with that thing, too.