Standing your PS5 can damage your console panic, explained

There has been some concern lately as to whether PS5 can safely stand vertically or not. Videos and observations from independent console engineer TheCod3r and a follow-up article by wolo citing such a video out of context led some to palpable concern that placing the PS5 in a vertical position could pose a risk of damage. While the original video documents a potentially very real point of failure in PS5s, it is not intended to harm your PS5. So, yes, as many have noted, you can probably leave yours in a vertical position.

In a video from September last year entitled You won’t believe WHY this PlayStation 5 stopped working! Can I fix Sony’s catastrophic failures?, third-party repair technician, TheCod3r, discovered a somewhat alarming issue in a PS5 on their repair workbench. The liquid metal thermal paste covering the PS5’s processor has been spilled into the surrounding area. Such a problem can clearly cause problems and cause a PS5 not to function properly, leading to electrical problems or causing the PS5 to not be able to properly handle the high heat it generates. This issue also doesn’t differentiate between the digital or disc-based versions of the console. Based on the direction the liquid metal leaked, it seems reasonable to surmise that, as TheCod3r said in one of two follow-up videos on this issue, under certain circumstances “gravity takes over” and could result in the liquid metal dripping through the seal is supposed to keep it in place. But while this might explain how

This happens in specific cases, it is not explained why, meaning it wasn’t clear that vertical orientation inherently causes this.

Alas, afraid of the death of a rather expensive machine (which only much easier to get now) mixed with vague language, led to misunderstandings. In the original video, TheCod3r can be heard saying the infamous console leaking liquid metal was “never opened”.

That was something wolo misquoted and has since a correction issued. It was mistakenly believed that TheCod3r was referring to the console’s packaging, which may have never been removed from the box. That is not true. TheCod3r was referring to the console itself being physically opened up, likely for repairs. But of course if you look at the language of the original YouTube video itself, which references “Sony’s catastrophic failures” and ends with TheCod3r turning off the camera as a “fuck you” gesture to Sony and at least one other repair tech report similar findsit’s easy to see how this story has been garbled into assumptions that this is an inherent design flaw of the PS5 that other users may need to watch out for.

But how we got here, and the nuances of how consumer electronics work and fail, can separate us from the question that’s likely on the mind of many PS5 owners: should you use your PS5 in a vertical position? Fortunately, that answer is pretty clear.

Is it safe to hold my PS5 in a vertical position?

Short answer? Based on what is now known, Yes indeed. It is save.

But if you’re still reading and haven’t closed this tab to go back God of War on your tower-positioned PlayStation, you might want a slightly longer explanation of what’s going on. So let’s break this down.

The PlayStation 5 was designed to be placed vertically. Recent revelations, like the discovery of TheCod3r, don’t indicate that the console is inherently vulnerable to this failure there

the vertical orientation. What these videos document is such a PS5 could fail – because all entertainment electronics can fail. Additionally, as a device that’s been out in the wild for two years, the PS5 appears to be performing within standard odds of success and failure, especially in the heat. As documented by GamersNexus in a case a few years ago, a whole year of “constant temperature change” did not show any alarming problems. However, GamersNexus noted that the PS5 appears to be using a great deal of liquid metal, a quantity that you shouldn’t achieve by building your own computer.

What TheCod3r’s video shows is that a PS5 failure could be due to leaking liquid metal – just as it is at risk from a power outage or similar issue. In addition to vertical orientation, there are other variables to consider, such as: B. whether or not the console was previously opened by a third-party repair technician.

The follow-up video by TheCod3r emphasizes that this is something they’ve seen at most in 1 in 10 or even 20 PS5s that have come in for repairs. Remember, that’s at most one in 10 units he’s seen and worked on that’s already broken –not every tenth PS5 in total. It is a common mistake that TheCod3r describes it as the first problem he will check for when a non-working PS5 arrives on his bench, but only because the problem is relatively easy and cheap to fix compared to other problems.

TheCod3r states that replacing the liquid metal is one of the cheaper repairs. If swapping out and sealing in new thermal paste is enough, it’s cheaper and faster than actually stripping something off the circuit board, finding a spare, and then re-soldering it.

There will always be a certain percentage of devices that die, and at the moment it seems that when it comes to the PS5s that die, it’s sometimes the fault of the liquid metal covering the leaking processor. But sometimes it could be power supply problem. Or, as TheCod3r mentioned in his video, something like the WiFi chip, another common point of failure.

Should I keep my PS5 in a horizontal position to be safe?

If you’re like me and prone to anxiety, maybe keeping your horizontal is worth the peace of the mind will do it for you. You might also want to throw salt over your shoulder and spin three times after talking about ghosts. Given that the failure rate due to liquid metal leaks is comparable to other causes of console failure, your console is probably just as likely to die from a power supply issue or other malfunction, and such a failure would occur with a PS5 in a horizontal position just like a vertical one.

Continue reading: The Red Ring of Death haunted all my friends, and then it came for me

Barring new information, it’s safe to say this isn’t a problem on the order of magnitude Xbox 360 red ring of death. Far from it: The issue of liquid metal seems to be within the acceptable failure rates of all consumer electronics for the time being. Yes, your PS5 is sure to tower above everything else in your entertainment center. And hey, if it goes wrong, I bet you could anchor a small boat with it too.