DON'T TURN ON YOUR PS3 [Archive] - The Warring States of NPF

The Wandering God

02-28-2010, 10:09 PM

MODEDIT: This article (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-system-bug-cripples-fat-ps3s-blog-entry) gives somewhat of a better summary of what's actually going on, but keep reading the thread, it's quite funny actually.
================================================

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/107/1072875p1.html

PS3s Suffering From Global Network Lockdown

And apparently Sony's website got hacked

http://us.playstation.com/PS3/dearplaystation/

So, unhook your PS3 from the Internet and leave it for now I guess.

bluestarultor

02-28-2010, 10:17 PM

You MAY want to remove the link to the hacked site. The source seems to contain a Flash object that might install software onto your computer. Luckily, I have NoScript.

Kyanbu The Legend

02-28-2010, 10:19 PM

Holy shit,damn I wonder if the PSP is vulnerable to this.

BitVyper

02-28-2010, 10:22 PM

You MAY want to remove the link to the hacked site. The source seems to contain a Flash object that might install software onto your computer. Luckily, I have NoScript.

I looked it up elsewhere. Apparently it's just a phishing scam on a couple of their pages.

Doc ock rokc

02-28-2010, 10:24 PM

Holy shit,damn I wonder if PSP vulnerable to this.

mine's online right now. no ill effects so far.

Kyanbu The Legend

02-28-2010, 10:32 PM

mine's online right now. no ill effects so far.
I'm keeping it offline just to be safe.

Also

Reading IGN I found a comment about a user name Geo who clams to have hacked a PS3 around the time this went down. This might have been his work as a means to hack the system.

bluestarultor

02-28-2010, 10:39 PM

I'm keeping it offline just to be safe.

Also

Reading IGN I found a comment about a user name Geo who clams to have hacked a PS3 around the time this went down. This might have been his work as a means to hack the system.

If it is, he'd better hope he's not pretty.

BitVyper

02-28-2010, 10:46 PM

More likely, he's just a wannabe. The article in the OP suggests an issue with the internal clock, which seems a hell of a lot more likely than hacking.

Mirai Gen

02-28-2010, 10:46 PM

I don't think IGN's comments section is a good place to start looking for hackers on the Playstation Network.

EDIT: Bit Ninja.

BitVyper

02-28-2010, 10:47 PM

EDIT: Bit Ninja.

Beware, I live.

bluestarultor

02-28-2010, 10:47 PM

Well, at any rate, it's not Geo. He pulled off cracking the system last month. (http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/01/three-years-later-the-ps3-gets-hacked.ars)

Griever

02-28-2010, 11:18 PM

Awesome. I was in the middle of a game when it happened. Hopefully it all shakes out decently though I hear the newer systems are connecting fine right now.

Kyanbu The Legend

02-28-2010, 11:23 PM

Same here. Knowing Sony this will blow over within the next few days.

Mirai Gen

03-01-2010, 12:15 AM

Beware, I live.

I am so not a coward!

BitVyper

03-01-2010, 01:21 AM

I am so not a coward!

It's funny; when I was a kid, I had frelling nightmares about Sinistar. Now I look at him, and it looks like he's doing the fox smile.

Meister

03-01-2010, 01:52 AM

Hysteria much?
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/107/1072875p1.html

PS3s Suffering From Global Network Lockdown

And apparently Sony's website got hacked

http://us.playstation.com/PS3/dearplaystation/

So, unhook your PS3 from the Internet and leave it for now I guess.
Do these two things even have anything to do with each other or are you making the connection?

Reading IGN I found a comment about a user name Geo who clams to have hacked a PS3 around the time this went down. This might have been his work as a means to hack the system.
You cannot possibly be serious.

DFM

03-01-2010, 01:54 AM

This is the best thread on NPF.

BitVyper

03-01-2010, 02:15 AM

This is serious business, DFM. The internet hacker can and will turn your computer into a bomb. (http://www.makeuseof.com/tech-fun/hackers-can-turn-your-pc-in-to-a-bomb-pic/)

Kyanbu The Legend

03-01-2010, 02:57 AM

You cannot possibly be serious.

Not entirely.

The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk

03-01-2010, 05:50 AM

Melfice

03-01-2010, 06:01 AM

So er, what exactly's happened? I would read either/or of those articles, but then someone mentioned about one of them being possibly virus ridden too, so I dare not touch either. I want details people; How, when and what?

Specifically, What is the problem, How serious is it, When did this occure?

What: Most anybody using a "Fat" PS3 is unable to log into the PSN and some games will not load at all due to this. Current theories say that this has to do with the PS3's internal calendar.
How (serious): Well... You've got a �300 machine that doesn't do one of it's main functions.
When: February 28th, carrying on today (March 1st). Nobody knows how long it'll take, though Sony's saying they're working on fixing it.

The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk

03-01-2010, 06:15 AM

Oh so it's just stopping people logging in then? And it's been doing it for 2 days already? And only affects older models?

Well seeing as I spent those last 2 days playing online and downloading stuff on the store I'm guessing I'm safe. I thought this was some sort of "connect to the internet and your machine DIES/EXPLODES/DELETES ALL YOUR SHIT", kinda things.

Over reacting thread title is over reacted.

Meister

03-01-2010, 06:23 AM

Viridis

03-01-2010, 07:18 AM

Relevant from reddit (http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/b7lyy/dear_sony_you_know_you_designed_a_terrible_system/):
This is not about games not working because the PlayStation Network going down - this is a firmware/corruption problem. PS3s including mine are resetting the date/time and corrupting some Themes (seems to be dynamic ones only), and my Wipeout HD has oddly reverted to the trial version. This is also happening to PS3s that have not been connected to the internet for months.
Of course if the firmware wasn't at fault and the PSN was just down you could still play Heavy Rain etc., but there is something more at fault here (doesn't make it any less shitty, mind you).
In plain English: When Sony programmed certain models of PS3, it put in faulty code that said "In 2010, February has 29 days." ... which isn't true, and will generally fuck up all sorts of time-related things, like: network communications, timestamps for achievements, figuring out if something has expired, etc.
What will be the most interesting is seeing how Sony will attempt to fix this since the severity of the bug actually keeps people off PSN.
.. How the hell will they pass out a firmware update to correct this if the consoles can't even get online?
This is going to cost them quite a bit of money to correct (if they have to mail physical discs) and I wouldn't be surprised to see a class action lawsuit come out of it.

I'm inclined to believe the leap year thing, given the timing.

The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk

03-01-2010, 07:56 AM

Yeah seems to be a Millenium Bug type issue, only this one actually happened. Can't you just reset the date on the console though?

bluestarultor

03-01-2010, 08:07 AM

Yeah seems to be a Millenium Bug type issue, only this one actually happened. Can't you just reset the date on the console though?

That doesn't work. (http://www.pcworld.com/article/190392/playstation_network_corrupted_prevents_offline_pla y_worldwide.html)

BitVyper

03-01-2010, 09:02 AM

Bad news guys, I just poked around the admin CP and it seems the hacker virus has spread to this thread via the links. Basically if you've read this thread, there's a good chance your PS3 has the bug now. Sorry.

I heard it can spread to your microwave now. My friend's friend's vacuum cleaner died yesterday, and he owns a PS3.

I thought this was some sort of "connect to the internet and your machine DIES/EXPLODES/DELETES ALL YOUR SHIT", kinda things.

I remember way back when I played PSO on Dreamcast, people had built up hackers into beings of mythic legend. At one point I was told that a hacker could cause your Dreamcast to spin the disk so fast that it would overheat and slag the system. And this was generally accepted by the population at large.

It was stupid, but it sure made calling the wannabes out fun.

Professor Smarmiarty

03-01-2010, 09:11 AM

I was thinking about buying a ps3 and now the right side of my brain is gone.

BitVyper

03-01-2010, 09:19 AM

Well I say it was.... hacked off *puts on shades*

YYYYYYYEEEEEEEAAAAA-BSOD *shades fall off*

My pun! My pun was HACKED!

The hackers have gotten to The Who!

Satan's Onion

03-01-2010, 09:45 AM

MasterOfMagic

03-01-2010, 10:17 AM

You can't buy a Ps3 anywhere either! Someone must have hacked the warehouses too D:

Meister

03-01-2010, 10:31 AM

The hackers have gotten into our literature! I just picked up a copy of P.G. Wodehouse's How Right You Are, Jeeves that had been laying on my bed the last time I read this thread, and all the words in it had been changed to leetspeak and pictures of boobs!
And my copy of Dante's Inferno has mysteriously turned into a mythology-themed throwaway action thriller!

At one point I was told that a hacker could cause your Dreamcast to spin the disk so fast that it would overheat and slag the system.
That reminds me of old stories about a computer virus that would take over the internal controls of your monitor and use the electron beam to first melt your screen and then, pretty sure I've seriously read one description that mentioned this, shoot you to death.

I guess that one's gotten kinda obsolete with the advent of flatscreens. But still. Deadly computer monitor lasers!

Melfice

03-01-2010, 10:31 AM

The hackers have gotten into our literature! I just picked up a copy of P.G. Wodehouse's How Right You Are, Jeeves that had been laying on my bed the last time I read this thread, and all the words in it had been changed to leetspeak and pictures of boobs!

and pictures of boobs!

boobs!

Aside from the straight female and gay male populace, I fail to see how this is a bad thing.

Though the leetspeak they can keep.

Meister

03-01-2010, 10:34 AM

To be fair Wooster is a bit of a boob.

krogothwolf

03-01-2010, 10:46 AM

I heard the reason the 4th arm of the Olympic joint didn't get raised up is because hackers got to it first!

I blame Meister for all this.

bluestarultor

03-01-2010, 11:01 AM

Aside from the straight female and gay male populace, I fail to see how this is a bad thing.

Though the leetspeak they can keep.

What if the leet-speak is actually to form the ASCII art of the boobs?

Meister

03-01-2010, 11:10 AM

Disregarding all the obviously unrealistic stuff and getting serious for a second it does actually seem to be a good idea to keep the console turned off for the time being because if this is a bug in the actual PS3 system obviously it's going to affect every console, online connection or no.

DigitalFoundry article on Eurogamer (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-system-bug-cripples-fat-ps3s-blog-entry)
No-one knows why, but it appears that a calendar bug within older PlayStation3s has wreaked havoc with the PS3's DRM and authentication systems with a far-reaching impact on the system.
[...]
The bug causes the date on the system to be reset to 1st January 2000, and reseting the clock manually makes no difference.

Other gamers have reported that the same error kicks in even on offline systems, meaning that titles that synchronise trophies when first booted fail to start. Even test PS3 units used by press and developers are said to be affected. The impact of the bug is so far-reaching that all the paid-for PSN content residing on your PS3 hard drive suddenly loses its activation privileges, meaning that in addition to some retail Blu-ray games that sync trophies on launch, bought-and-paid-for PSN titles are no longer playable in anything other than their trial versions - if they have one.
[...]
The company has confirmed that Slim units are unaffected.
I guess if you own a PS3 and ever gloated at 360 owners for buying a system that breaks all the time now's probably a good time to lay low for a while.

e: also if you are the guy who programmed the internal calendar

Azisien

03-01-2010, 11:11 AM

Well, this might explain why PSN was down when I was watching movies. No observed ill effects either.

krogothwolf

03-01-2010, 11:15 AM

Meister

03-01-2010, 11:22 AM

One scenario is that they put in a new calendar system when they made the slim for whatever reason. Another rather more cynical scenario is that they put in a new calendar system when they made the slim because someone figured out "holy shit guys the old calendar has a bug that might fuck up every Playstation in the world, here take this new one and put it in the slim but for god's sake keep shtum about the old one, maybe nothing's gonna happen like with the Y2K thing."

e: mind you, not even I believe a company that knows about something like this would do absolutely nothing rather than, say, at least discreetly fix it via firmware update. I certainly don't want to see that little conspiracy theory on Kotaku prefaced by "a video game forum moderator suggested..."

Jagos

03-01-2010, 11:24 AM

e: also if you are the guy who programmed the internal calendar

He was sacked. The ones who sacked him have been sacked. And then the moose that was running around was sacked.

Second confirmation (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.178181-Mysterious-Bug-Cripples-PS3s-Worldwide)

greed

03-01-2010, 11:48 AM

So we calling this the Y2K10 bug? Or Y2K Part 2: The Next Decade: Buggered Harder?

Edit: So glad I decided the backwards compatibility wasn't worth the hassle of getting an old or used fat PS3.

bluestarultor

03-01-2010, 11:51 AM

So we calling this the Y2K10 bug? Or Y2K Part 2: The Next Decade: Buggered Harder?

More like the "Oh, God, the XBox fanboys are never going to shut up about this even though the PS3 is a totally awesome system with only one mistake to its name" bug.

greed

03-01-2010, 12:03 PM

Well it's got a few more problems than that, but yeah I just had a look at GameFAQs. It is hilarious over there. Like someone dropped chum into a pool of socially awkward, retarded sharks.

Professor Smarmiarty

03-01-2010, 12:28 PM

How do you fuck up the internal calendar? I could program one of those and if I was to program PS3s I would be forced to just staple bags of pills to the cpu with a note saying "Use your imagination".

krogothwolf

03-01-2010, 12:36 PM

That's what I'm thinking to. How lazy or bad are you to fuck up an internal calender that it screws up the system this bad. At least they picked a leap year to screw up the calender on.

Professor Smarmiarty

03-01-2010, 01:04 PM

That's what I'm thinking to. How lazy or bad are you to fuck up an internal calender that it screws up the system this bad. At least they picked a leap year to screw up the calender on.

It's not a leap year....
Holy shit did you program the calendar?

bluestarultor

03-01-2010, 01:24 PM

The problem is apparently coming from the fact that the calendar THOUGHT it was a leap year and thus is throwing off network communications, which are time-specific.

Edit: Update, finally. http://kotaku.com/5482811/

krogothwolf

03-01-2010, 01:29 PM

Yes, see, I was totally referencing that and didn't get the whole leap year thingy fugged up....cause yeah.....

MSperoni

03-01-2010, 01:40 PM

Mine gave me a glitch in regards to this earlier today, but I'm never online with it. My internet setting on my PS3 is disabled.

All it seemed to do was erase some of my trophy data. Like the game I was playing was Fallout 3 (game of the year edition). I loaded it up and was playing it, then when I saved my game I noticed that the save game file said 12/31/1999.

I just disregarded it as a stupid glitch.. Then I noticed that after I did something that should have gotten me a trophy, I didn't get the trophy, and then checked and all my trophy data for Fallout 3 was deleted.

So I turned off my machine for awhile, pissed off..then turned it back on and uninstalled Fallout 3 and reinstalled it (just curious to see if it would reinstall the trophy system). I was still able to play it, just no trophies...which I don't really care all that much about.

ed: What good does keeping your system off do?

bluestarultor

03-01-2010, 01:43 PM

ed: What good does keeping your system off do?

It keeps the system from messing up due to the timing data while they come out with a fix in hopes of minimizing damage.

Bells

03-01-2010, 02:34 PM

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/comment/9/2010/03/d9499fa69bac46fe9056b740a165ff74/original.jpg

Melfice

03-01-2010, 02:50 PM

I'm curious how they're going to get us that fix, though.
What with all of us not being able to connect to the PSN.

Donomni

03-01-2010, 02:51 PM

[IMG]

Liar! The Fat-headed king was more capable than you!

On topic, didn't use my PS3 yesterday, so gonna avoid it for now. Hope a fix comes through.

I also found out my Wii's disk drive is broken... stupid hackers.

They won't stop me from Megaman 10, though!

bluestarultor

03-01-2010, 03:04 PM

I'm curious how they're going to get us that fix, though.
What with all of us not being able to connect to the PSN.

Apparently, the updating system isn't affected. It doesn't seem to be throwing errors when you try to access it.

BitVyper

03-01-2010, 06:43 PM

Disregarding all the obviously unrealistic stuff and getting serious for a second

Well, it seems pretty clear what's happened here...

Meister's been hacked. Also he's probably a witch too.

Donomni

03-01-2010, 10:57 PM

The imaginary hackers got imaginary hacked back, and it's all clear. (http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010/03/playstation-network-service-restored/)

MSperoni

03-02-2010, 11:47 AM

Well I hope they get the thing updated soon. Then again PSN hates my internet anyway so even if they get it updated I'm not sure I'll be able to stay online long enough to download the damn thing.

They offer the system updates directly on their website though, don't they? So one can just go there and download it to a Flash Drive and then put it on your PS3 that way?

Meister

03-02-2010, 11:59 AM

From what I gather this actually pretty much fixed itself as the clock rolled around to the next day and they never needed to put any update out.

EVILNess

03-02-2010, 12:01 PM

bluestarultor

03-02-2010, 01:56 PM

From what I gather this actually pretty much fixed itself as the clock rolled around to the next day and they never needed to put any update out.

That's... incredibly lazy? Jeebus, I hope they actually release an update to take care of it for real.

Wigmund

03-02-2010, 02:07 PM

From what I gather this actually pretty much fixed itself as the clock rolled around to the next day and they never needed to put any update out.

It was the Clock King who did this?!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f2/TempleFugate.jpg
Or should I blame Calendar Man since the problem involved the system thinking 2010 was a Leap Year?
http://www.vacuumboy9.com/tlh/8p1.jpg
Either way, damn them for messing with my ability to play Arkham Asylum!

Actually, I'm re-installing Arkham Asylum on my PS3 since that was the only game I played during the screw-up period. Everything seems fine now, no longer getting any system errors. Thankfully, I don't seem to have lost any progress, just my trophies.

MSperoni

03-02-2010, 02:18 PM

That's... incredibly lazy? Jeebus, I hope they actually release an update to take care of it for real.

Or at least release an update so we THINK they fixed it for real. A placebo-ish update.

Meister

03-02-2010, 02:31 PM

The changelog for the next update will feature the line "fixed an issue with the internal clock" and set a new record for the largest understatement in the history of firmware updates.

MSperoni

03-04-2010, 11:38 AM

Is the PS3 still unturnonable? I mean, I still turn mine on but should I do so in abject terror or has the problem been resolved?

Meister

03-04-2010, 11:44 AM

Pretty sure everything's good now.

Aerozord

03-04-2010, 12:12 PM

...the whole thing was because they thought 2010 was a leap year, it was just a clock error? Y2K is abit late

DFM

03-05-2010, 06:49 AM

And still underwhelming.

MSperoni

03-06-2010, 06:55 AM

turned on my Ps3 and the clock said it was May 12th.. of 2020..

Professor Smarmiarty

03-06-2010, 06:58 AM

Quick download some games...from the FUTURE!

Green Spanner

03-06-2010, 07:54 AM

turned on my Ps3 and the clock said it was May 12th.. of 2020..

I wish I had a quirky time-travelling PS3...

MSperoni

03-06-2010, 08:22 AM

I visited the gaming future and 'twas grim.

It was a dystopia in which EA and Activision and Squeenix controlled everything. A Gaming Triumvirate of Doom. They kept releasing the same games over and over again, blinding people with pretty graphics and stealing their money. They waged war against anything they considered a pirate, which was everything. DLC was replaced with ULC (Uploaded Content) in which they would upload whatever they wanted to your system, every stupid expansion and lame-o sequel and bad costume design patch they wanted. They did this to make the gaming society a homogenized mass of gaming drones. Everyday at 2pm we had "Hate Hour" where they would flash up a picture of Shigeru Miyamoto while we played 'Final Fantasy Guitar Hero 9' and we would chant how much we hated him. The news would tell us how he was plotting a new Revolution to overthrow the 3Party, we were told to be on the lookout for any moustachioed people in overalls.. Anyone who showed promise of resistance was lead away to a Room 101 where Hideo Kojima, now a brutal enforcer of the 3Party would subject you to convoluted mental torture and get you back in line, at least for awhile (his method of mental torture being that you had to play Metal Gear Solid 16 and tell him what the plot was about). After you had finally succumbed to the will of the 3Party you were allowed to live for a few weeks until they decided you should be liquidated. It was horrible, this future of gaming..