Does this scenario sound familiar? You’re happily enjoying a session of gaming on your PS4, then you reach a suitable stopping point and sign off. Setting your DualShock 4 down nearby, you go to make a cup of tea or do some chores, when suddenly, you hear a loud beep behind you. Turning around, you realise that your PS4 has switched itself on without any input from you; the blue light is glowing to indicate that the console is powered on, and your TV is displaying the home screen despite you not touching a single button on your controller.
Unfortunately, this scenario, in which your PS4 turns on by itself, is all too common. Many users have experienced this error, and it’s not always caused by the same thing, which can make diagnosing and fixing it quite frustrating. Sometimes, it’s a hardware issue caused by a certain component in the console. Sometimes, your PS4 turns on by itself for other reasons, including improperly installed updates, your update schedule, or even a fault in the console’s hardware or software. Here are some of the things you can do to try and diagnose why this error is happening to you.
Update your system in safe mode
Occasionally, an improperly installed update can be the cause of your console turning itself on randomly (it’s not common, but it does happen). When your PS4 turns on by itself, you should definitely consider updating in safe mode to see if this fixes the issue.
First, you’ll need to download the latest PS4 firmware update onto a USB drive using a PC. After doing this, plug your USB into your console (after turning off the console, of course). Hold down the PS4’s power button for several seconds to boot into safe mode. From there, you’ll see “Update System Software”. There should be an option to do so from USB. Try this, and hopefully it will fix your problem!
Turn off automatic updates
The cause of your PS4 turning on by itself might be that you’ve enabled automatic updates, which will cause the console to suddenly power itself on during the night (or whenever you’ve set the updates to install) in order to execute this command. You can turn this off, though. Here’s how to do it.
- Select “Settings” on the PS4 home screen
- Find the “System” menu and select it
- Go to “Automatic Downloads”
- Uncheck the box next to “System Software Update Files”
This should turn off automatic downloads for system updates, meaning you can download them yourself and install them whenever you’re ready. If your console is turning on by itself during times when it’s not supposed to be updating, then the cause might be something different, but it’s worth doing this anyway.
Rebuild the PS4 database
Rebuilding your PS4 database is something of a catch-all option when something goes wrong. More often than not, rebuilding the database will fix whatever’s gone wrong, so it’s definitely worth doing. Again, you will need to do this from safe mode, so follow the steps above to boot your console into this environment. From here, you should see a “rebuild database” option. Select it and wait. You might need to wait a while depending on how much data you have on your PS4. Eventually, though, the operation will complete, so try gaming after rebuilding your database and see if it’s worked. It won’t delete data or games, either!
Remove the small rubber foot
This is more of an option if your console is randomly ejecting discs, but sometimes, this can cause the PS4 to turn itself on because operating the disc tray also powers on the console. Here’s what you need to do. First, remove the glossy exterior panel from your console. Make sure you follow a YouTube tutorial or similar for this, because it’s much, much easier to demonstrate than it is to explain. You should find a screw located near one of the console’s ridges along the side. Tighten that screw, and you may find that your issue disappears.
If this doesn’t work, then it might be time for more drastic measures, i.e. taking off the rubber foot entirely. Turn your console upside down (please, please make sure it’s powered down completely first) and locate the rubber foot, which you’ll find beneath your eject button. Use pliers or tweezers to grab it and pull it right out from under the eject key. This isn’t necessarily a subtle or elaborate fix, but it might help. You see, the rubber foot can sometimes expand when the console gets hot, which causes it to inadvertently touch the eject key. Without the foot being there, you shouldn’t notice this issue anymore.
Send your console off to Sony for repair
If you’ve tried all of the above steps, and you’ve also tried resetting your PS4, and your issue persists, then it might be time to send the console off to Sony for repair. Hopefully, you’re still within warranty; that way, you’ll be entitled to a free repair. However, since many PS4 consoles are older than this, there’s a good chance you’ll be out of warranty, in which case it may cost you to repair the console. Luckily, the cost is usually much less than purchasing a new one, so it’s worth fielding the money just so that you don’t have to go through the painstaking process of replacing all of your data on a new machine.
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