Tech experts warn of fatal PS5 flaw

Repair experts have sounded the alarm about a fatal flaw in the PS5 that could irreparably damage consoles if set up in a certain way.

Repair experts have taken to social media to warn PlayStation 5 owners of a common issue that can cause irreparable damage to PS5 consoles.

As reported by Metro, PlayStation 5 owners who set up their consoles vertically, which is one of the two methods Sony suggests for the console, may do permanent damage to their consoles.

The issue reportedly stems from the PS5’s cooling system, which is a lot more complex than some other systems. While the entire top of the Xbox Series X is a cooling vent that lets the console push hot air away from the internals, the PS5 only has small vents at the bottom of the console.

To compensate for the size of the vent, Sony went with a unique solution: a cooling unit inside the console that uses liquid metal to act as an advanced heat sink for the part of the console that produces the most heat, the APU.

According to repair experts, however, this liquid metal can leak out over time if a PS5 console is kept in an upright position. This can affect cooling, which could result in the console overheating and damaging the APU.

Not only that, but the liquid metal can also reportedly leak onto other critical components, which could short-circuit the console and cause the entire system to stop working.

Console repair experts have warned that keeping your PS5 in a vertical orientation could cause the cooling unit to leak. Picture: Sony

It’s not too late to prevent damage, though. Repair experts say that the problem is exacerbated the longer a console is kept in the vertical orientation, so users should switch their consoles to the horizontal position to minimise the problem as much as possible.

The issue has reportedly been spotted in both the disc-based and digital-only variants of the console, but some believe that the vibration of the disc drive in the disc-based console could make the problem worse. YouTuber TheCod3r claimed that the issue can even present in unopened consoles that have been stored vertically in their boxes for a long time.

Experts claim that keeping your PS5 in a horizontal position can prevent damage to the console. Picture: Sony

Sony said last week that the PS5 will no longer have stock issues, in a press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The console has been difficult to find in-store since its launch in late-2020, with a global computer chip shortage affecting stock availability in almost every region for over two years.

Sony also announced a new, accessible PS5 controller at CES, codenamed “Leonardo”. The controller is Sony’s answer to Microsoft’s accessible controller, the Xbox Adaptive Controller, and is designed to help players with disabilities have an easier time while gaming.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.