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[Angry Grimace]

My PS4 is in working condition. Today i'll do tests with the Seagate SSHD in it. As far as packaging goes, I don't think they did it right. The console was right on the bottom of the box. All the air pillows for packaging were thrown on top of it. Those air pillows should have been wrapped around the conole, instead.

Comparatively, the PS4 from Sony.com was in a box slightly bigger than the PS4 box and had not air pillows and is working fin too.

The only point of adding cushioning to the box is to prevent the console from shifting around in the package if its carried sideways or upside down. Amazon isn't concerned about the UPS guy throwing the package on the ground, etc.

The consoles delivered to retailers like Target aren't shipped that way either. They're just shipped in stacks.

 

[Sykotik]

Is there a guide to the various PS4 lights?

I've gathered that a pulsating blue on boot with no picture means you're screwed and white is good.

What about orange?

Are there other colors?

Orange is Stand-by.

Red is Overheating.

 

[jaaz]

I've spent some time going through some of the reviews on the Amazon website. My conclusion--no scientific basis whatsoever!--is that the issue may be a bit overblown. There ARE clearly a number of verified purchasers with issues--and I feel for those folks, who expected to be playing the PS4 this weekend. I do not want to take anything away from their PS4 issues.

On the other hand, there are countless one-star reviews from non-verified purchasers claiming to be having issues and "coincidentally" mentioning how they are going to buy or consider the Xbox One. I mean there's a lot--in my brief examination they easily outnumbered the verified purchasers claiming issues. Also, whenever a positive review of the PS4 comes up, it quickly gets a ton of "unhelpful" reviews, no matter what the review says. I mean, you could say: "I feel so lucky that my PS4 is working. It is a good machine. I feel for those having issues and I pray that you will get replacement PS4s soon!" and in minutes it will have "2-12 people found this review helpful". Something just doesn't seem right...

Anyways, I'm not a conspiracy theorist--just wanted to share some of the results of some time-killing I did this morning...

 

[True Underdog]

Is there a guide to the various PS4 lights?

I've gathered that a pulsating blue on boot with no picture means you're screwed and white is good.

What about orange?

Are there other colors?

Orange is when you set the console on standby. I don't think there is an associated error code to it.

Red means the console has overheated, I think.

 

[Y2Kev]

I just checked mine and it booted to a white light.

Unfortunately I have no TV to test it on, but that's a good sign, right?

Most of these machines are dead on first boot, right?

If you get a white light, you are fine. The majority of the DoA cases are...yeah, obviously DoA or dead shortly after. IMO faulty video hardware, but that doesn't explain why it can't go into safe mode. Maybe something else.

 

[Fracas]

Has anyone who bought a PS4 from another retailer had these issues? Are they isolated to Amazon consoles?

edit: not including taco bell winners

 

[KCs NOTOR1OUS]

I've had mine shipped from amazon yesterday, and it works fine for me. No reported problems whatsoever, did the update via usb stick and all good. Played killzone for a while and nothing wrong there. So i don't think it's Amazon's problem.

 

[Lovely Salsa]

Weird. I managed to order one from Amazon.com just fine (I'm in UK).

I hope it's not faulty though...

Guess you ordered at e3

I used forwarding service...the customs and taxes are going to be huge....

Now only thing left is to recieve a faulty unit. Jackpot

 

[Angry Grimace]

That's exactly why it's more troubling and why dragging out the "1 million ps4s" and "0.4%" thing doesn't apply here. You can't compare failure rates from mature systems to one day old systems.

This is an above average doa rate for 1 day in.

That's just anecdotal evidence. Its like me saying everyone I know has a working console, therefore the failure rate is 0%. Consumer electronics always have some failure rate. My iPhone 5 was busted when I bought it.

 

[DidntKnowJack]

I wish I could just blame my issues on Amazon. The system seems to run well enough, but it runs really fucking LOUD. It's cast a cloud over my PS4 experience.

 

[TyrantII]

Still about 66% of the 1star reviews are by legitimate Amazon buyers however, plus some will be buyers from other places who just want somewhere to vent. So the number of fake reviews is still fairly low, 25% at best.

I think we can easily say Amazon shipped 100,000 units, seeing as this plus the XB1 launch was said to be larger than black Friday 2013; in just console sales.

350 / 100,000 = 0.0035 or 0.35% of shipped units. And that's a conservative estimate.

It's lower than most CE DOA rates. Well within expectations.

We just live on the internet now, where only 300 of the happy customers decided to rate their happiness. but you can bet your ass the 300 who were excited and got a DOA lemon are unhappy and looking to vent. I would be to. But statistic don't lie.

 

[Kyoufu]

Guess you ordered at e3

I used forwarding service...the customs and taxes are going to be huge....

Now only thing left is to recieve a faulty unit. Jackpot

I did not, no. I ordered when they came back in stock during midnight launch. lol

 

[Y2Kev]

Has anyone who bought a PS4 from another retailer had these issues? Are they isolated to Amazon consoles?

edit: not including taco bell winners

There are a few cases (I've seen Best Buy) but not nearly as many. At least so far. I wish we could like look at ranges of serial numbers.

 

[turtle553]

Has anyone who bought a PS4 from another retailer had these issues? Are they isolated to Amazon consoles?

edit: not including taco bell winners

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/sony-pl....p?id=1218866963585&skuId=8240103#tab=reviews

Bestbuy.com has about 11 reviews since launch. Looks like 3 or 4 are for DOA units. Absolutely no statistical significance other than to show it is not all Amazon.

Not sure if you need to be verified to post reviews.

 

[Grinchy]

I wish I could just blame my issues on Amazon. The system seems to run well enough, but it runs really fucking LOUD. It's cast a cloud over my PS4 experience.

That definitely seems worrisome. Mine is very quiet. The only thing I think I've ever heard from it was the disc drive.

 

[turtle553]

I think we can easily say Amazon shipped 100,000 units, seeing as this plus the XB1 launch was said to be larger than black Friday 2013; in just console sales.

350 / 100,000 = 0.0035 or 0.35% of shipped units. And that's a conservative estimate.

It's lower than most CE DOA rates. Well within expectations.

We just live on the internet now, where only 300 of the happy customers decided to rate their happiness. but you can bet your ass the 300 who were excited and got a DOA lemon are unhappy and looking to vent. I would be to. But statistic don't lie.

Too early to draw conclusions. We don't know how many of that 100k have been tested and if broken have been reported. Could be all there is is 350 or it could be higher.

 

[maquiladora]

I just looked at each of those 1 star reviews on the first page of reviews. And all of them only have reviews from 1 product, the PS4.

Slightly suspicious?

 

[Rocky]

That definitely seems worrisome. Mine is very quiet. The only thing I think I've ever heard from it was the disc drive.

Mine is really quiet too. I haven't even heard any noise from the disc drive either.

 

[Fracas]

There are a few cases (I've seen Best Buy) but not nearly as many. At least so far. I wish we could like look at ranges of serial numbers.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/sony-pl....p?id=1218866963585&skuId=8240103#tab=reviews

Bestbuy.com has about 11 reviews since launch. Looks like 3 or 4 are for DOA units. Absolutely no statistical significance other than to show it is not all Amazon.

Not sure if you need to be verified to post reviews.

Hmm, odd that Best Buy comes up. For whatever it's worth, I received my PS4 from Amazon and have somehow had no issues whatsoever.

I don't suppose there is any way to compile serial numbers, as most people would probably be super uncomfortable giving that out.

 

[MotionBlue]

Sold about 800 units at work so far, only had one returned defective, and that was only because they dropped it(The box was visibly damaged).

Having un-boxed my own console now, I suspect that damage is being caused in shipping, the packaging has limited padding.

Edit:

A post on reddit seemed to point to Amazon for failing to package correctly.

 

[TGO]

The problem with Amazon is that you can review an item even if you have not purchased it. We all know this will happen to Xbox One too, it's a but sad really.

This is true, many of the reviews aren't reviews they are some angry fanboys running off a list of things they've heard off the net, same will happen with X1
but I bet you'll see the same people who gave 1 star to PS4 giving 5 stars to X1 too.
usually Amazon requests a review after you received a item, I think thats should be the only way to write a review, not just allow anyone.

 

[Palom]

Mine came exactly like that. What a damn mess.

Id like amazon to come out and make a statement about this, pretty ridiculous.

This is how everything I order from Amazon comes, and it doesn't even make sense. They could have easily cut the amount of padding used in half if they only placed it on both the top and bottom sides. I think the work environment is so shitty that people just don't care.

I haven't hookd up my PS4 yet, though. I'm waiting for PSN problems to die down in case that is having any impact.

 

[KCs NOTOR1OUS]

I've had mine shipped from amazon yesterday, and it works fine for me. No reported problems whatsoever, did the update via usb stick and all good. Played killzone for a while and nothing wrong there. So i don't think it's Amazon's problem.

 

[maquiladora]

Sold about 800 units at work so far, only had one returned defective, and that was only because they dropped it(The box was visibly damaged).

Having un-boxed my own console now, I suspect that damage is being caused in shipping, the packaging has limited padding.

Thats good to know. 0.125% defective out of 800 and only due to it being dropped rather than a factory error.

 

[QaaQer]

My cousin's Amazon order was in perfect condition and has been playing all day and night with no issues. This is in Canada though so probably different batch.

Canadian Amazon reviews seem fine too.

 

[Grover Cleveland]

Has anyone who bought a PS4 from another retailer had these issues? Are they isolated to Amazon consoles?

edit: not including taco bell winners

Definitely not.

It's also important to note that because of the sheer number of consoles that Amazon sells, they are bound to have a larger number of failures (and thus more complaints) than other retailers.

 

[TGO]

Welp, speak of the devil. Just got a knock on the door and it turns out my launch bundle arrived early. Packaging seemed not so great (could of used a bit more packing material and/or actually wrap the product). Actual PS4 box looks perfect.

I've had Blu-rays/Games packed better then that from Amazon, but I'm from the UK

 

[Bruno]

Out of 9 units I own there was 1 DOA.

 

[DrGonzo615]

I wish I could just blame my issues on Amazon. The system seems to run well enough, but it runs really fucking LOUD. It's cast a cloud over my PS4 experience.

You could probably make a case to amazon for a replacement even if its just the noise issue. It sucks to go through it but I think it would be worth it in the long run

 

[Darkmakaimura]

I'm so glad I don't work for SCEA tech support anymore. Man, they must be getting slammed with calls right now.

 

[rjinaz]

That definitely seems worrisome. Mine is very quiet. The only thing I think I've ever heard from it was the disc drive.

Same here. I can hardly hear any noise at all even when running a disc. So far no issues at all, and mine is an Amazon unit. Though all this talk about defective units will no doubt have me worried over the next couple months.

 

[jaaz]

I wish I could just blame my issues on Amazon. The system seems to run well enough, but it runs really fucking LOUD. It's cast a cloud over my PS4 experience.

I would return it friend. I know it sucks, but I have two and I can;t hear the fans on either one. And one is in a media cabinet, but I keep the doors open. I even checked the fans behind both of them thinking they were a bit too quiet. If it's loud like that, something is not right.

 

[Guerilla]

I just looked at each of those 1 star reviews on the first page of reviews. And all of them only have reviews from 1 product, the PS4.

Slightly suspicious?

Interesting.

 

[badboy78660]

I wish I could just blame my issues on Amazon. The system seems to run well enough, but it runs really fucking LOUD. It's cast a cloud over my PS4 experience.

You and me both. Fan right? Thing seems to be kicking up to half-speed just browsing the go'damn PSN store. Hasn't RLOD'd yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

 

[rjinaz]

I just looked at each of those 1 star reviews on the first page of reviews. And all of them only have reviews from 1 product, the PS4.

Slightly suspicious?

Not necessarily. I buy products all of the time on Amazon and I have never written a review. But then, I have never had a bad experience and as soon as I did, I'm sure I would rightfully complain about it. Most people aren't urged to write reviews unless they are mad about something and a $400 console that is DOA I think qualifies.

 

[Orbis]

Nobody should be drawing conclusions from Amazon reviews. Ever. There are a fair chunk of unverified purchases, with 5 stars, 1 star and everything in between, and there is the natural tendency to leave reviews when there is a problem but not when something works. This applies to all products.

The verified purchasers are almost certainly are not lying; there absolutely are consoles that are arriving dead or subsequently failing, and the problem may turn out to be widespread, but let's actually wait and see. Amazon reviews are not a reliable survey of anything.

 

[reynal1287]

It must be a faulty batch because i've never had a problem with amazon's packaging.

 

[Hoo-doo]

Are we seriously getting concerned based on amazon reviews?

I mean, it sucks if a few people are getting bum consoles, but that's just a hardware launch for you. It's no different in any pther tech industry.

What is different though, are the hordes of mostly underaged disgruntled gamers who feel the need to digitally shit on anything they dislike. See Metacritic user ratings. Now that's something kind of exclusive to the gaming industry and it's very annoying.

These amazon ratings are probably not worth the attention. The exact same thing will happen with the Xbone launch next week, i'll give you my word for it.

 

[8bitForLife]

I'm so scared that mine isn't going to work and I live in Hawaii so when i get mine on the 22 and that's with priority shipping I probably wont get a new one back from sony clear into dec.

 

[StUnNeR H2K]

No way the % is this high. People are more likely to leave feedback when it is negative, than positive.

 

[jaaz]

The other reason I am highly suspect of Amazon reviews is the huge amount of "unhelpful" reviews EVERY positive review gets--and within minutes. That leads me to believe there is some major trolling going on there...

 

[Persona7]

The other reason I am highly suspect of Amazon reviews is the huge amount of "unhelpful" reviews EVERY positive review gets--and within minutes. That leads me to believe there is some major trolling going on there...

If someone had a negative experience with a product they are probably more likely to disregard people who had a positive experience.

Do you really think those dang dirty trolls spent 500 dollars or more to receive a PS4 and write a troll review on amazon? Look at all the verified purchases

 

[Deadstar]

That definitely seems worrisome. Mine is very quiet. The only thing I think I've ever heard from it was the disc drive.

What games have you been playing? After playing killzone the fans really start to go. Console is about two feet in front of me.

 

[Wrekt]

These amazon ratings are probably not worth the attention. The exact same thing will happen with the Xbone launch next week, i'll give you my word for it.

What does the Xbone have to do it with it? People are mad because the device they purchased seems to have a higher-than-average failure rate. Guessing that the competitor will have problems is unrelated.

 

[owlbeak]

FWIW 6 friends and me all got PS4s from Amazon. They all came in a box with no additional packaging supplies, but all units are fine. None of us have had a problem so far.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

The other reason I am highly suspect of Amazon reviews is the huge amount of "unhelpful" reviews EVERY positive review gets--and within minutes. That leads me to believe there is some major trolling going on there...

To play devil's advocate, reviews that say "This thing is great, it works fine" are unhelpful reviews. Even if they express sympathy for the unlucky ones. Reviews are supposed to be reviews, not short message board posts. Product reviews go into depth about the product. Simply saying it works is not terribly informative as that is the default assumption for any product.

That doesn't prove there aren't trolls doing stuff on Amazon, but it's a plausible explanation for the helpfulness ratings. If there are in-depth positive reviews with low helpfulness ratings, then we might have a case of conspiracy.

 

[jaaz]

If someone had a negative experience with a product they are probably more likely to disregard people who had a positive experience.

Do you really think those dang dirty trolls spent 500 dollars or more to receive a PS4 and write a troll review on amazon? Look at all the verified purchases

That's insane. If I get a bad unit, I may write my displeasure to Amazon in a review, but I'm not going to spend hours on end on the Amazon review website shitting-up other people's positive experiences with the same product. I'd like to think most people are more mature than that.

I think it's more likely that people with an agenda are clicking "unhelpful" on every positive review. Not saying that some people aren't having issues with the PS4. The verified purchasers are clearly real and there IS a problem. I just think it's getting abused and overblown by fan boys. There are a TON more non-verified purchasers on there, and many say "Xbox you have my money" or something like that. Their intent is pretty clear to me.

Oh and the same thing is going to happen to the Xbox One next week... be sure of it.

 

[Hoo-doo]

What does the Xbone have to do it with it? People are mad because the device they purchased seems to have a higher-than-average failure rate. Guessing that the competitor will have problems is unrelated.

I explained that in the part you edited out of my post. I'm saying that these are not representative of actual faulty hardware numbers, not at all. It's the toxic us-against-them mentality in the gaming world that's causing these kind of reactions.

 

[Tom Brohanks]

Mine is from Amazon, works so far. Packaging was very poor with no packing material underneath the system, only on top...

 

[The Jutty]

My box was beat up really bad, and they only packed the top with the plastic air bags. System is working great tho. Hope everyone that had problems get it taken care of quickly.