# PS4 has a built in battery that will kill your games if it dies



## Deleted User (Mar 24, 2021)

https://in.ign.com/ps4/156581/news/...h-will-kill-your-ability-to-play-games-report

Some stupid security Sony put in that trophies have to have the correct clock time with them. The battery can be replaced but then you have to reauth all your games (digital or disc) with the PSN store. So bad news for those not wanting to update.


If your PS4 clock battery dies, you will lose your ability to play games on it. Regardless of them being digital files or disc, your PS4 won’t be able to run them. This is according to trusted hacker Lance McDonald this is because trophies on the PS4 need the console’s internal clock to work correctly so as to prevent users to change date and time values and exploit the PS4’s trophy system.

His tweet regarding this was in response to Does It Play — an account dedicated to video game preservation. The account stated that when “ the PS4 CMOS battery dies (and it will) it renders all PS4 digital files unusable without a server reconnection and in PS4 it also kills disc playback.”

This error is because Trophies on PS4 require the internal system clock (the one you can’t see / alter) to be correct, so people cant change their PS4 date/time to make it look like they got trophies earlier than they really did. If your PS4 clock battery dies, all your games die https://t.co/8y9aZzL9vC— Lance McDonald (@manfightdragon) March 23, 2021


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## Deleted User (Mar 24, 2021)

Also the PSN store has to be there for you to reauth, not that it's going away anytime soon but they just announced they are killing PS3 store and Vita store thus you wouldn't be able to reauth your games once that happened with PS4 and your PS4 would be useless.

Of course that's a long time from now we could very well have a PS5 hack where PS4 games are also playable who knows.


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## Ashtot (Mar 24, 2021)

Could someone possibly develop a workaround for this? Theoretically shouldn't the system clock be accessible via something? It seems weird that there would be an internal clock that is inaccessible through its own hardware.


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## Deleted User (Mar 24, 2021)

Ashtot said:


> Could someone possibly develop a workaround for this? Theoretically shouldn't the system clock be accessible via something? It seems weird that there would be an internal clock that is inaccessible through its own hardware.



What do you mean? it's a battery than can die. Easy to replace but if one day there's no PS store you can't reauth your games and thus your PS4 is useless.


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## Ashtot (Mar 24, 2021)

JustJay said:


> What do you mean? it's a battery than can die. Easy to replace but if one day there's no PS store you can't reauth your games and thus your PS4 is useless.


I guess what I mean is how is it possible that games can only be re authenticated via the store? I don't know much about the PS4 though, so that's why I'm asking. Are PS4 games playable out of the box without connecting to the store originally?


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## Deleted User (Mar 24, 2021)

Ashtot said:


> I guess what I mean is how is it possible that games can only be re authenticated via the store? I don't know much about the PS4 though, so that's why I'm asking. Are PS4 games playable out of the box without connecting to the store originally?



You can play games out of the box without connecting to the store originally yes, but when the battery dies the system loses it's ability to read discs OR play digital games thanks to a dumb Sony security measure. So they need to be reauthed by connecting to the store or some hack. So maybe a workaround will happen eventually by hackers since they are now aware but I hear it's something the hack scene has already known about.


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## phreaksho (Mar 24, 2021)

Goddamnit sony...


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## fvig2001 (Mar 24, 2021)

Ooh. I hope those in CFW can have a fix for this.


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## Ashtot (Mar 24, 2021)

JustJay said:


> You can play games out of the box without connecting to the store originally yes, but when the battery dies the system loses it's ability to read discs OR play digital games thanks to a dumb Sony security measure. So they need to be reauthed by connecting to the store or some hack. So maybe a workaround will happen eventually by hackers since they are now aware but I hear it's something the hack scene has already known about.



Ah okay, I misunderstood exactly what happens when the CMOS battery dies. Theoretically then just as a safety measure it would be wise to replace the battery shortly before the store goes down to give your ps4 maximum lifetime, assuming there is no fix.


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## Deleted User (Mar 24, 2021)

Ashtot said:


> Ah okay, I misunderstood exactly what happens when the CMOS battery dies. Theoretically then just as a safety measure it would be wise to replace the battery shortly before the store goes down to give your ps4 maximum lifetime, assuming there is no fix.



And what about after the store goes down your battery dies? People who buy their games legit will be completely fucked may as well throw it in the garbage, and the hack community we have to hope for a hack fix.

It won't be anytime soon I mean PS3 store is just dying this year and there hasn't been games for it for 5-6 years, but it's just something to keep in mind. Hopefully there'll be a PS5 hack by then.

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This was just posted in the exploit guide page (I also posted this info there) so apparently there already is a workaround. So you would just have to replace the battery. So it's better to have a PS4 with an exploit than a retail PS4 good job Sony. 



randy_w said:


> I made a post about how to change RTC battery and prevent this from happening. Also last week kernel clock payload was ported to 7.55 and 7.02 so you can set kernel clock again without connecting to psn.


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## Ashtot (Mar 24, 2021)

JustJay said:


> And what about after the store goes down your battery dies? People who buy their games legit will be completely fucked may as well throw it in the garbage, and the hack community we have to hope for a hack fix.
> 
> It won't be anytime soon I mean PS3 store is just dying this year and there hasn't been games for it for 5-6 years, but it's just something to keep in mind. Hopefully there'll be a PS5 hack by then.



Oh for sure, I totally agree that Sony really did something stupid. Nobody makes things that last anymore, and most of the time it's on purpose, which is ridiculous.


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## Deleted User (Mar 24, 2021)

Ashtot said:


> Oh for sure, I totally agree that Sony really did something stupid. Nobody makes things that last anymore, and most of the time it's on purpose, which is ridiculous.



I think they did it on purpose, because at least half of the people that buy these consoles will not even bother to replace a battery. They'll just say "oh well my PS4 is dead time to buy a PS5" so they get more sales.


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## Silent_Gunner (Mar 24, 2021)

Bravo. Talk about a dick move. Just imagine buying a PS4 system, but because it won't sync up with a feature that has nothing to do with playing the games themselves, it bricks the system. 

And some wonder why I sleep when I hear talk about PS5 shortages...


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## DinohScene (Mar 24, 2021)

TIme to upgrade the CMOS batteries in me PS4s then...


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## Deleted User (Mar 24, 2021)

I'm thinking Sony will wait a very long time before killing the store because they know if someone's battery dies it's game over without the store to reauth. I won't say they won't ever close it though, because it's Sony and they clearly do not give a shit about people preserving their games.


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## Deleted User (Mar 24, 2021)

wouldn't replacing the battery before it dies fix this issue?


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## Deleted User (Mar 24, 2021)

fallguy441 said:


> wouldn't replacing the battery before it dies fix this issue?



Yes, but you will still have to sign into PSN after replacing the battery to be able to play games again. To sign into PSN you have to be on latest firmware.

I remember Sega Saturn having a cmos battery and mine died, and I had to replace it to prevent it asking you to set the time every time you turned on the system. I would assume the one in the PS4 is better than the one that was in the Saturn. It may last 10-20 years before it dies.


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## godreborn (Mar 24, 2021)

I'm pretty sure this is true of the ps3 as well.  you'll get an error when trying to play a game if the cmos battery is dead.


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## The Real Jdbye (Mar 24, 2021)

Reminds me of the old Capcom arcade boards that had a self destructing ROM where the encryption keys were held in volatile RAM, so people couldn't clone them, but once the battery died so did your game. Except this doesn't seem like it was intentional, but it may as well have been.


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## FAST6191 (Mar 24, 2021)

Aw I was hoping it was a big boy suicide battery a la the arcade boards of old.


Anyway usual "but downloadable games are the future"


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## Deleted member 514389 (Mar 24, 2021)

No wonder Sony games loose value so quickly *cough cough*

In all honesty though, what a retarded design flaw.
Even the switch utilizes a CMOS Flash chip.
(Albeit it'd be interesting to see how it'd handle a defective case in the CMOS department...)

Oh well, good luck Sony boys.

Oh and: Guess what the PS5's disc drive is paired to (acc to ifixit), thats right: The Motherboard.
Good luck replacing it yourself when it fails.

What a great way to be customer friendly.


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## sonictopfan (Mar 25, 2021)

JustJay said:


> I'm thinking Sony will wait a very long time before killing the store because they know if someone's battery dies it's game over without the store to reauth. I won't say they won't ever close it though, because it's Sony and they clearly do not give a shit about people preserving their games.


You’re talking about the company that didn’t waste a month after the release of the PS5 to remove their “new games” section on the PS4 despite keeping the “coming soon” section as PS4 games are still being made, I’d give it another year, two top, then PS4 store will officially close down and fuck everyone who didn’t buy a PS5 from a scalper on ebay.


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## chrisrlink (Mar 25, 2021)

and this is why I'm gonna get a Series S and not a PS5 Suck Fony


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## Xzi (Mar 25, 2021)

Oof.  It's not the same for PS5, is it?


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## Deleted member 397813 (Mar 25, 2021)

fun.


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## sonictopfan (Mar 25, 2021)

chrisrlink said:


> and this is why I'm gonna get a Series S and not a PS5 Suck Fony


Only for this reason? With all the new policies and *B*ull *S*hift it’s like they’re pegging me to switch to Xbox, and I will, because *F*unk Sony!


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## tech3475 (Mar 25, 2021)

JustJay said:


> Yes, but you will still have to sign into PSN after replacing the battery to be able to play games again. To sign into PSN you have to be on latest firmware.
> 
> I remember Sega Saturn having a cmos battery and mine died, and I had to replace it to prevent it asking you to set the time every time you turned on the system. I would assume the one in the PS4 is better than the one that was in the Saturn. It may last 10-20 years before it dies.



The Saturn uses it’s battery to power the internal save storage flash, I recall seeing a mod which replaces this chip with something more energy efficient.


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## smf (Mar 25, 2021)

The Real Jdbye said:


> Reminds me of the old Capcom arcade boards that had a self destructing ROM where the encryption keys were held in volatile RAM, so people couldn't clone them, but once the battery died so did your game. Except this doesn't seem like it was intentional, but it may as well have been.



Operators have a fixed amount of space to put games and when they stop taking money then it's time to throw it away and replace it. Even though space under your TV is limited, you can choose to keep playing the same console for 20 years on and off. While operating the same game when nobody is playing it is just not going to happen.

It's amazing that so many arcade games did survive (especially as arcades would prefer to smash them up rather than sell it and see a competitor make money out of it). Capcom did have a repair service, I think brazil was the last territory to stop, but you can now do it yourself http://arcadehacker.blogspot.com/2016/09/capcom-cps2-security-programming-guide.html


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## andyhappypants (Mar 25, 2021)

Is it not possible to change the battery while the console is powered up? 
I also remember the bad days of the suicide batteries of the CPS2 boards, thank god razoola found a workaround back then otherwise they would all be in landfill now! 

http://cps2shock.emu-france.info/ Has all the info still if anyone is interested  

#sonyaretwats


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## Dust2dust (Mar 25, 2021)

Can't say I care. Bought PS1 on launch day, PS2 a year after launch, almost never bought a PS3 but eventually did (kind of regret it), never bought a PS4. What's a  PS5?


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## smf (Mar 25, 2021)

andyhappypants said:


> Is it not possible to change the battery while the console is powered up?
> I also remember the bad days of the suicide batteries of the CPS2 boards, thank god razoola found a workaround back then otherwise they would all be in landfill now!
> 
> http://cps2shock.emu-france.info/ Has all the info still if anyone is interested
> ...



Actually Razoola was particularly damaging to the arcade scene as it involved replacing the original roms with hacked ones which could introduce gameplay differences. People were also assisting the suicide of their boards just to convert them to more expensive games that they wanted.

Now that there is a free fix that uses the original roms, it's much better http://arcadehacker.blogspot.com/2016/09/capcom-cps2-security-programming-guide.html

It doesn't stop people killing them of course, but there is no closed group making money out of it.


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## godreborn (Mar 25, 2021)

Xzi said:


> Oof.  It's not the same for PS5, is it?



most likely is.  I'm pretty sure the ps3 also has this problem.


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## CMDreamer (Mar 25, 2021)

Great, another reason to forget about getting a PS4, and considering this kind of backup history, I'm not getting a PS5 either.

Any XBOX related product is out of consideration since I knew the physical disks are only the key/license and most of the time you need to download the game from their servers, that sucks!


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## godreborn (Mar 25, 2021)

the cmos battery in a way is like an anticheat device, because I think it contains the rtc (real time clock).  you can get the rtc time on the ps3 with a syscall, but I don't think you can change it like you can on the 3ds.  on the 3ds, it does things like track seasonal things in animal crossing and whatnot, so you can't change the actual time on the system to cheat or affect the game.


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## djpannda (Mar 25, 2021)

can't wait for the "help. my ps4 does not work" or "PS4 Fix tutorial" to pop up in 10 years


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## andyhappypants (Mar 25, 2021)

smf said:


> Actually Razoola was particularly damaging to the arcade scene as it involved replacing the original roms with hacked ones which could introduce gameplay differences. People were also assisting the suicide of their boards just to convert them to more expensive games that they wanted.
> 
> Now that there is a free fix that uses the original roms, it's much better http://arcadehacker.blogspot.com/2016/09/capcom-cps2-security-programming-guide.html
> 
> It doesn't stop people killing them of course, but there is no closed group making money out of it.



Indeed it did, I also was one of those people who managed to obtain a large amount of CPS2 boards that were hacked, I think from memory I was missing around 5 boards from the full CPS2 set. Those were the days  

Glad SNK didnt do anything silly like that with MVS carts


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