Hardware PS4 Won't Start

[itsharman]

Hi guys,

My launch model PS4 won't boot. When I turn it on, the console boots directly into safe mode and I get the message "Connect the DUALSHOCK 4 using the USB cable, and then press the PS button." I tried doing this with both of my DS4s, but the light bar simply flashes a few times then turns off. Does anyone have any tips on what I can do to fix this situation?

 

[Hayato213]

Did you recently change the thermal paste/ teardown the unit?

 

[itsharman]

Did you recently change the thermal paste/ teardown the unit?

No, I've never opened the console.

 

[Hayato213]

No, I've never opened the console.

What color does the light bar flash by the way? red?

 

[itsharman]

What color does the light bar flash by the way? red?

On the controllers, it starts off as orange but when I press the PS button it flashes white for a few seconds before turning off completely. On the console, there is a solid white light.

 

[Hayato213]

On the controllers, it starts off as orange but when I press the PS button it flashes white for a few seconds before turning off completely. On the console, there is a solid white light.

Solid white light on the PS4 mean the system is normal it shouldn't had shutdown, is there a HDD in the PS4 with OS installed?

 

[itsharman]

Solid white light on the PS4 mean the system is normal it shouldn't had shutdown, is there a HDD in the PS4 with OS installed?

Yes, there is a HDD in the PS4 with OS installed. The console was working yesterday.

 

[Hayato213]

Might be hardware problem, normally it doesn't go into safe mode on boot, as for connecting the controller to the PS4 via usb cable that normal when it not shutdown correctly. Don't think it is a thermal paste problem, since overheating you get a red light.

 

[itsharman]

Might be hardware problem, normally it doesn't go into safe mode on boot, as for connecting the controller to the PS4 via usb cable that normal when it not shutdown correctly. Don't think it is a thermal paste problem, since overheating you get a red light.

Damn, alright thank you I appreciate the help. I'll send the PS4 in for repair.

 

[Hayato213]

Damn, alright thank you I appreciate the help. I'll send the PS4 in for repair.

When you force it to shutoff , after re-powering on does it go through a HDD check or it simple just goes to Recovery mode?

 

[itsharman]

When you force it to shutoff , after re-powering on does it go through a HDD check or it simple just goes to Recovery mode?

Sorry for the late reply. At first it used to go through an HDD check, and then after that it wud prompt me to connect my PS4 controller. That wudnt work either so I put the PS4 into safe mode, and im still stuck there.

 

[KiiWii]

Sorry for the late reply. At first it used to go through an HDD check, and then after that it wud prompt me to connect my PS4 controller. That wudnt work either so I put the PS4 into safe mode, and im still stuck there.

Tried connecting with a different cable?

I found the thicker cables (data + charge) work and shitty thin charger cables for phones (power only) don’t.

 

[Hayato213]

Sorry for the late reply. At first it used to go through an HDD check, and then after that it wud prompt me to connect my PS4 controller. That wudnt work either so I put the PS4 into safe mode, and im still stuck there.

You got spare HDD to test with? Do you have an external HDD exclosure to check if your HDD is properly working, when you connect your HDD to your computer it would show under Administrative Tools-> Computer Management-> Disk Management you would see a bunch of partition for the HDD, I think 17 or so. Don't format anything on it.

 

[godreborn]

if the ps4 is like the ps3, the core os is stored on the flash chips while the majority of the os is stored on the hdd which may be the reason why the recovery menu works. the issue might be the hdd itself.

 

[KiiWii]

if the ps4 is like the ps3, the core os is stored on the flash chips while the majority of the os is stored on the hdd which may be the reason why the recovery menu works. the issue might be the hdd itself.

I don’t think it’s the same as PS3.

@Hayato213 15 partitions IIRC.

 

[Hayato213]

I don’t think it’s the same as PS3.

System info is stored on NAND/NOR Chip on the system, OS is stored on the HDD, that why it remember the lowest OS version it can take.

 

[KiiWii]

System info is stored on NAND/NOR Chip on the system, OS is stored on the HDD, that why it remember the lowest OS version it can take.

So not split the same as PS3.

 

[godreborn]

I don't know what the recovery menu is called on the ps4, but on the ps3 it's called emer_init.self in the core os in case of data corruption.

 

[Hayato213]

So not split the same as PS3.

The concept for the where the system info is stored on a flash chip or NAND/NOR Chip, and system OS is stored on a HDD is pretty much I guess base off PS3 version, with some difference.

 

[KiiWii]

I don't know what the recovery menu is called on the ps4, but on the ps3 it's called emer_init.self in the core os in case of data corruption.

Apparently there is something like safemode.elf on root of PS4.