Today marks one of the biggest fails in PlayStation history, with thousands of PS3 units experiencing issues due to a system clock issue. The PlayStation 3 was released in North America and Japan November 2006 and has passed four years without the March 1st issue causing an issue. Unlike we previously reported, the issues are not entirely related to the PlayStation Network.
The reason? 2007 and 2009 were odd-numbered years, which do not have leap years, and 2008 was a leap year with the PS3 correctly accounting for the extra day. 2010 is however the first even-numbered year without a extra day (non-leap-year). It seems the software (or hardware) didn’t account for the non-leap-year correctly and has caused the date to be reset on most consoles. The complaints started coming in at 4:00 pm Pacific Time, which coincidentally happens to be 12:00 am GMT.
Sony have identified the issue and are working hard to fix the issue, most likely in preparing a new firmware update for the console. Naturally, the process is a bit lengthy as the changes needed to be tested thoroughly and on all models in order to ensure maximum compatibility, and to avoid another major cock-up.
If you are worried about the issues causing damage to your console by deleting data or corrupting trophy information, we recommend you do not turn on your console until a working fix is available. The issue will affect your PS3 system whether you are connected to the Internet or not.
Errors include:
- The date of the PS3 system may be re-set to Jan 1, 2000.
- When the user tries to sign-in to the PlayStation Network, the following message appears on the screen; “An error has occurred. You have been signed out of PlayStation Network (8001050F)”.
- When the user tries to launch a game, the following error message appears on the screen and the trophy data may disappear; “Failed to install trophies. Please exit your game.”
- When the user tries to set the time and date of the system via the Internet, the following message appears on the screen; “The current date and time could not be obtained. (8001050F)”
- Users are not able to playback certain rental video downloaded from the PlayStation Store before the expiration date.
Sony are hoping to resolve the issue and have a fix within the next 24 hours. Sony’s last official comment on the situations was:
We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have one of the above listed models, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data.
New updates will be posted on the European PlayStation Forums.