Y2K redux, Sony’s PlayStation 3 units crippled by 8001050F error likely due to calendar rollover screw up
March 1, 2010
by shf
FOSTER CITY, Calif. (FASTLAUGH.com) — Demonstrating a cautionary tale of the extraordinary power being ceded by humanity to advanced technology, and being wielded by seemingly innocuous calendar bugs to thoroughly disrupt daily life in our technology-dependant world, a leap-year calendar glitch today has temporarily rendered Sony’s PlayStation Network globally impotent.
As February yielded to March on February 28, a firmware bug is the suspected culprit in older “fat” PS3 units around the globe — newer slim line units have been unaffected — as they experienced calendar resets to December 31, 1999 or January 1, 2000 instead of the expected March 1, 2010, and have prohibited users from logging into their accounts or playing online.
The 8001050F error has caused havoc as users report missing or corrupt trophy data with games performing trophy sync checks at startup. Sony has issued three updates on its Twitter account thus far, informing its apoplectic user base of millions that they are “aware that many of you are having problems connecting to PSN, and yes, we’re looking into it… We’re narrowing down the issue and continue to work to restore service to all… Readers/followers are confirming that “slim” units (120/250 GB models) are connecting normally.”
Singing an old Prince song with anticipatory laughter, a retired Y2K consultant and master programmer who became quite wealthy during the Y2K fiasco ten years ago and is eagerly anticipating Sony’s call for rescue on this botch job, warbled “Let’s party like its 1999… Alright, it’s 1999. You say it, 1999. 1999. 1999 don’t stop, don’t stop, say it one more time.”
He continued, “Lately, I’ve just been kinda’ bored sitting around the house so I’ve been hacking the electronics on my recalled 2010 Prius to fix the brake problem since Toyota can’t get their act together, but I’m ready to help Sony fix this dumbass PS3 problem. They just need to pick up the phone and wire me funds. The launch last week of their PS3-exclusive game, Heavy Rain (February 23-24), will become derisively known as Flash Flood if they don’t get a handle on this right away.”
Tech savvy PS3 owners of older “fat” units are wisely keeping their machines powered off and keeping them disconnected from the internet while Sony struggles to resolve this embarrassing meltdown.
Calendar rollover problems are not a new phenomenon, and certainly did not start with the Y2K fiasco ten years ago.
In the year 999, having failed to fully anticipate a host of issues associated with the event, a far less sophisticated and far less technological world met the rollover to Y1K with a yawn (and in some societies, ritual sacrifice).
At the dawn of the previous millennium, technologists of the day were caught unaware and unprepared, so on January 1, 1000 things didn’t go so well for society.
To wit –
- Merchants stopped accepting Medieval Express cards because expiration dates kept coming up as 900 C.E.
- Knights had problems cashing in their frequent crusader miles
- There was a lack of trained technicians to repair beads on abacuses
- Sundials kept flashing 12:00 A.M.
- There were long lines and mass hysteria at toy stalls over shortages of Attila the Hun dolls
- The timers on Mr. Barbarian Automatic Mead Makers malfunctioned
- Payroll errors caused widespread peasant and troll revolts
- There were synchronization problems with the drawbridges and moats
- Shipping and distribution errors created severe parts shortages for pillories, racks and catapults
- Navigation systems malfunctioned, causing explorer’s ships to fall off the edge of the world
By comparison, your PS3 — or your Twitter account for that matter — being down for a few hours ain’t so bad.
Oh, and FYI… the robots know well of our growing dependency, our growing complacency, and our increasing windows of vulnerability.
They are patiently waiting.
Keep having fun!
