A wide rash of game-crashing errors is spreading among the PS3-owning community at the moment, most of which can be chalked up to a 8001050F error code. This has led to a variety of unfortunate side-effects for those affected, including corrupted Trophy information and an inability to access the PSN. When combined, those two issues prevent players from launching certain games, such as Heavy Rain, without being kicked back to the XMB.
We've contacted Sony to find out what's causing the issue, and when we can expect to get back to chasing down the Origami Killer. He might just be able to make a clean getaway while we suffer through this downtime.
Update: Sony has acknowledged the issue, and is "looking into it." We've yet to hear an official word on what the problem is, though it seems to be a bit larger than just the PSN. Owners of PS3 Phats are reporting that the date on their console has reverted to 12/31/1999, which is likely the cause of the data-corrupting errors. Some Phat-owners have reported receiving the errors while their console was offline, which is upsetting, to say the least. We'll let you know when we hear official word from Sony.
Update 2: It's been 11 hours since our last update from Sony, and Phat PS3s worldwide are still unable to play Trophy-supported games. The issue is almost certainly non-PSN related, and appears to be a firmware issue caused by the screwy time and date settings. The issue is also affecting debug consoles, which Develop reports is preventing PS3 game developers from working on their projects. We'll keep pushing Sony on this issue. Happy New Year, everyone!
Update 3: Sony has responded to the internal clock error, and is advising PS3 Phat owners to leave them turned off until the issue can be fixed -- hopefully within the next 24 hours. Read here for more info.
Update 4: The issue has been resolved.
Reader Comments (773)
Posted: Feb 28th 2010 8:11PM (Unverified) said
"BigBoss712 | February 28th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
hey Jeff could you help me here, Is psn down? is not letting me log in and can’t play the games i bought from psn, I’m a little worried, hope i wasn’t banned or anything.
Jeff Rubenstein replied on February 28, 2010 at 4:39 pm
You weren’t banned, the PSN is down. I’ll have updates when I receive them."
Ok guys, it is temporarily down for 2-4 hours
Reply
hey Jeff could you help me here, Is psn down? is not letting me log in and can’t play the games i bought from psn, I’m a little worried, hope i wasn’t banned or anything.
Jeff Rubenstein replied on February 28, 2010 at 4:39 pm
You weren’t banned, the PSN is down. I’ll have updates when I receive them."
Ok guys, it is temporarily down for 2-4 hours
Posted: Feb 28th 2010 8:13PM edisinsane said
my ps3's date was changed to 12/31/1999 as well. What the hell could've happened?
Reply
Posted: Feb 28th 2010 9:02PM (Unverified) said
Posted: Feb 28th 2010 9:08PM Helghast102 said
Whoa, that's messed up.
"get flash and/or enable javascript and stop wasting my time."
Somebody is PIIIIISSED
Reply
"get flash and/or enable javascript and stop wasting my time."
Somebody is PIIIIISSED
Posted: Feb 28th 2010 9:20PM Bungieware said
@Night Elve
I would never compare the scope and tragedy of those earthquakes to PSN going down, but I'm pretty sure that this actually affects more people than both of those...especially in terms of casualties. I suppose we should thank God that it wasn't Xbox Live.
Reply
I would never compare the scope and tragedy of those earthquakes to PSN going down, but I'm pretty sure that this actually affects more people than both of those...especially in terms of casualties. I suppose we should thank God that it wasn't Xbox Live.
Posted: Feb 28th 2010 9:20PM Solar Jetman said
Looking at the page source there's an issue with the JS content loading in an iframe. Nothing that would indicate hacking. As for the message, I've been known to be snarky with my error messages. I expect it's said that for a long time.
Reply
Posted: Feb 28th 2010 9:22PM NightElve said
As the guy said at Digg.com, it seems this is not a PSN issue but a firmware bug regarding leap years we will likely end up with a new firmware release during the next couple of days.
Over PS3 Trophy they have been updating a thread with interesting information:
http://www.ps3trophies.org/forum/announcements/39949-read-psn-service-down-some-titles-unplayable.html#post574954
Reply
Over PS3 Trophy they have been updating a thread with interesting information:
http://www.ps3trophies.org/forum/announcements/39949-read-psn-service-down-some-titles-unplayable.html#post574954
Posted: Feb 28th 2010 9:43PM Brysonial the Bison said
2012 already?
Jking 2012 makes NO sense. hehe
Reply
Jking 2012 makes NO sense. hehe
Posted: Feb 28th 2010 9:44PM Steven4 said
I doubt it's a firmware bug. I was playing for a few hours this morning on my Phat 40GB and got signed out a few times but that was it. I stopped playing around 2 central time, then got back on at about 8 and it wouldn't sign in. It's most likely an issue with PSN and the upgrade that seems to be going on.
Reply
Posted: Feb 28th 2010 9:45PM Indefinite Implosion said
Has anyone who's having problems playing offline single player games tried manually setting the date to the correct date?
I did so and haven't had any problems playing Borderlands or flow...
Borderlands even downloaded and installed patch 1.03
Reply
I did so and haven't had any problems playing Borderlands or flow...
Borderlands even downloaded and installed patch 1.03
Posted: Feb 28th 2010 9:59PM Dr Blight said
Sorry for the post hijack, but from what I can tell, 160GB units (the final Phats) aren't affected. Both myself and another commenter have no PSN or date issues.
Any other 160 owners out there that can confirm it's not an issue for these models? If so...what's the difference between the 160 and the rest? It's not BC, not SACD compatibility, the only obvious difference is that it has a 65nm RSX, and that shouldn't be related...
Reply
Any other 160 owners out there that can confirm it's not an issue for these models? If so...what's the difference between the 160 and the rest? It's not BC, not SACD compatibility, the only obvious difference is that it has a 65nm RSX, and that shouldn't be related...
Posted: Feb 28th 2010 11:18PM (Unverified) said
what did i pay $500 for? they say that its manily the fatter systems that expierence these problems and the newer ones dont expierence or expierence problems less frequently if thats the case then i should recieve a "newer" one free and be refunded the difference what i payed, And what about the money that i have in the playstation store account that i cant even access its like its just frozen in there i cant even take it out theres no reason to be having problems. The playstation network has way to many problems.
Reply
Posted: Feb 28th 2010 11:41PM carmaction said
Technically, it has absolutely nothing to do with the PSN. The older OS clocks miscalculated a leap year is what it appears to be.
I'm pissed too, but there's no reason to blow an uninformed gasket over it, pal.
Reply
I'm pissed too, but there's no reason to blow an uninformed gasket over it, pal.
Posted: Mar 1st 2010 12:49AM Brodo said
LOL if anyone just bought a PS3 and thought that theres was broken. So then they returned it to walmart, buy a new one. It doesnt work, so they return it to walmart and buy a new one.It doesnt work, so they return it to walmart and buy a new one.It doesnt work, so they return it to walmart and buy a new one.It doesnt work, so they return it to walmart and buy a new one.It doesnt work, so they return it to walmart and buy a new one.It doesnt work, so they return it to walmart and buy a new one.It doesnt work, so they return it to walmart and buy a new one.It doesnt work, so they return it to walmart and buy a new one.
Reply
Posted: Mar 1st 2010 1:05AM cjschrissouth said
My PS3 is on 1/1/00 in Australia. ITS HAPPENING AGAIN!
Reply
Posted: Mar 1st 2010 1:43AM aristokrat said
If Sony had Randall Munroe quality sysadmins, this problem would be fixed by now.
http://www.xkcd.com/705/
Reply
http://www.xkcd.com/705/
Posted: Mar 1st 2010 4:03AM (Unverified) said
Super inconvenient. My ps3 hasn't been online in months, got stupid missing Heavy Rain Trophies glitch thingie. Do i need to worry about playing my other games? or is this just associated with Heavy Rain? Also i noticed during my first play through weird crap like floating objects and the sound spiking up to an incredibly annoying hi pitched static sound. I doubt this info helps anything just fyi i guess >.>
Reply
Posted: Mar 1st 2010 8:13AM whiskeyseven said
this would be really annoying if my ps3 hadn't blown sparks out the hdmi port, melted an hdmi cable, and died about a month ago. and no, i'm not kidding. and i'm not the only one either.
Reply
Posted: Mar 1st 2010 10:11AM Mayor West said
"Ken Kutaragi strikes back."
Muhahahaha! My evil plan worked perfectly.
Reply
Muhahahaha! My evil plan worked perfectly.
Posted: Mar 1st 2010 11:41AM FredFredrickson said
It seems unbelievable to me that they would code trophy support in such a way that it makes the games nonfunctional if they can't talk to PSN. Either it's sneaky (and majorly heavy) DRM, or just a really bad design mistake.
Reply
Posted: Mar 1st 2010 12:31PM Bungieware said
Apparantly Sony advise you not to use your PS3 if it isn't one of the new Slim models.... brilliant new marketing strategy right there
Reply
Posted: Mar 1st 2010 6:10PM sheenabroin said
Well it appears the problem isn't over now. Btw, the error/glitch is related to the PlayStation Fat having a problem on calculating the date of the leap year which isn't the case for this year (Feb 28) so expect the error to prolong for 1 day. Anyway, on the contrary.. PS Slim is unaffected with this glitch.
Why? Slim Advantages: http://ping.fm/ZY4OY
Reply
Why? Slim Advantages: http://ping.fm/ZY4OY
Posted: Feb 28th 2010 10:28PM CPRxChris said
I got error like 80010514 or something like that. After that, my PS3 wouldn't read discs. Apparently, I might have to send it into Sony ($150?!? Really?!?) and get it repaired. Just thought it was a bit coincidental that this would happen right about now.
Reply
Posted: Mar 1st 2010 4:58AM BananaBoat said
Must play Heavy Rain...must play....must get alternate endings....
Reply
Posted: Feb 28th 2010 7:37PM whatthegeek said
I can't play a single player game because the PSN is down..... awesome.
Reply
Sorry, you must be logged in to leave a comment.
Featured Stories
The most popular posts
in the last 7 days
- Final Fantasy XIII-2 review: Fixing the past 228 comments
- Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning locks out questline via online pass [update: 38 Studios and EA respond] 148 comments
- 38 Studios head Curt Schilling elaborates on Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning online pass quest lockout 128 comments
- Report: Don't expect next-Xbox announcements this year 110 comments
- EA's Origin has signed up 9.3 million players since launch 99 comments











