PS3 Gets Fried In Mysterious HDMI Blaze

gizmodo.com writes -

We've seen our fair share of flaming laptops, mobile phones and iPods – but this is the first time I have come across an HDMI fire. Unless there were fireworks strapped to the cable, this one is a mystery.

[NewZealander]

sparks flying out both ends? freaky stuff!

[siliticx]

with crappy HDMi cables. the 5$ brands aint exactly made for the ps3.

[ThanatosDMC]

It only does everything...???

[dirthurts]

It's the port that's damaged...not the cable.
But I'm surprised this is even possible. I thought the current in an hdmi cable was tiny tiny.
Maybe it was a crossed circuit on the board causing a current problem?

[siliticx]

no it is actually the cable. the 360 does the same. Ask any store that sell high end and low end HDMI cables, they will tell you they get many complaints.

[dirthurts]

I've never believed an in store associate trying to push expensive cables, for obvious reasons.
But how could a cheap cable cause this?
The only thing I could imagine is maybe the prongs on the end getting crossed when you push them in. But that seems unlikely.

[Elvfam511]

Flame On!.......lol

[sunil]

"Rajiv
January 13, 2010 at 10:08 AM

The PS3 is an ‘Earthed’ device – that means its chasis (And HDMI connector shell) is connected to the Ground pin or your mains socket. If you then connect the AV cable or HDMI cable (but not optical as thats insulated) to a faulty TV or AV Receiver which has a live chassis (Eg: 110Volts), then you are effectively short circuiting the live chasis to ground: Hence BOOM!"

[Christopher]

Sounds like the use of an accelerant.

[Szarky]

"common problem with crappy HDMi cables. the 5$ brands aint exactly made for the ps3."

monoprice says hi!

http://www.monoprice.com/ho...

Don't be dumb, don't waste money on HDMI cables that cost $100 or more. Go to monoprice, pay couple bucks, get the same quality. Anyone who knows cables knows monoprice.

[beardpapa]

sparks flying from both sides then boom! kinky stuff.

[ReBurn]

How many of us have been using "cheap" HDMI cables for more than two years? The HDMI cable I bought 2 and a half years ago cost me less than $5 including shipping from monoprice.com. This is the first time since then that I've seen a story like this. So I doubt that unless the cable was somehow damaged it could have been the cause. Most likely bad grounding within either the television or the PS3.

[legendkilla]

i would blame the crappy Samsung 32' TV or HDMI cable. I've heard of amp's catching on fire before but this is strange...

[FamilyGuy]

That's Bullsh1t, my "$5" HDMI cable has given zero problems in the two years it's been attached to my PS3 so cut the crap/fud.

What a strange story and OMG, it would suck soooo bad to loose both your HDTV and PS3 (their HDMI ports at least) in one go like that. Now (if the tv and PS3 are still working) he's stuck with component only hookups for HD gaming.

[AllroundGamer]

yeah pretty spooky... who you gonna call? :)

[DaTruth]

This use to happen with Light Bright back in the early 80's! Three of them exploded the sockets in my face as a kid in three different buildings. Sparks flying everywhere as soon as you plug it in. I think that is why they discontinued it.

[gaffyh]

This type of stuff usually happens with a loose connection, causing the end to heat up and short circuit.

[Nineball2112]

From one of the posters on that website:

"The PS3 is an ‘Earthed’ device – that means its chasis (And HDMI connector shell) is connected to the Ground pin or your mains socket. If you then connect the AV cable or HDMI cable (but not optical as thats insulated) to a faulty TV or AV Receiver which has a live chassis (Eg: 110Volts), then you are effectively short circuiting the live chasis to ground: Hence BOOM!"

[nycredude]

That is what happens when you try to play Uncharted 2 in one sitting. Too much awesome for the hdmi cable to handle!

[MetalGearRising]

PS3 is a unreliable console and could course a house fire always take precaution and wear protective fire proof clothing when switching a ps3 on.

[qface64]

i laughed reading this most of you know why lol

[GrandDragon]

Yo retard this is the first time it has ever happened to a PS3 so that's 1 out of 33 million PS3's.

This kind of stuff always happens to the 360 on a daily bases, either the 360's mother board goes on fire or the disc will jam the disc drive causing a fire or the consoles Xones chip dies and burns up or the power brick explodes in to flames, or it could be a mother board-disc jam-xenos burn up-exploding power brick combo which happens 99% of the time.

[GameOn]

got burned lol.

[Quickstrike]

What you just typed, is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever read. At no point, in your rambling, incoherent response, were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone that reads your post is now dumber for having read it. I award you no bubbles and may God have mercy on your soul because I sure as hell wont.

[NateCole]

For once in your life try to read before you comment oh wait but then again you can't read.

[stb]

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOLLLL

Owned.

[Wrathman]

LOL

blazestation

oh wait i have a better one..its genius.i have the name in my head but cant put it into words...wait...wait..its coming to me...building...big red...trucks inside..puts water on things..fire something..fire house.no!..fireshop...nonono

EUREKA!!

FIRESTATION!!!!

hahahaha fotflmfao

[stb]

that isnt even funny..what happend there wrath...sure some brain circuit burned down for being soooo tard and un-funny LOL.

wait wait, i have one here too...umm and sound far suitable..umm

oooh the BURNBOX...iooh oor EXPLOSION-BOX, how did the cap fit you¿?guess well.

[Wrathman]

LOL

ah touche.

but i cudnt help it.it was beggin for it.

[ZBlacktt]

Learn to read around...

quote: The PS3 is an ‘Earthed’ device – that means its chasis (And HDMI connector shell) is connected to the Ground pin or your mains socket. If you then connect the AV cable or HDMI cable (but not optical as thats insulated) to a faulty TV or AV Receiver which has a live chassis (Eg: 110Volts), then you are effectively short circuiting the live chasis to ground: Hence BOOM!

[Fishy Fingers]

Never seen anything like that before, a HDMI cable shouldnt have anywhere near the level of current flowing through it to produce effects like that, let alone cause sparks. Then again, my Iphone cable decided to melt and cause a flame, just unlucky I guess. But I'd certainly be writing to the cable manufacturer.

[Dev8 ing]

I think the commenters on the article have it right. The tv wasn't grounded and the PS3 was so the HDMI shorted the tv chassy. It has nothing to do with the type of cable.

[-Alpha]

Just kidding.

What a horrible way to lose a PS3.

This falls under the "act of God" warranty so its covered (yes, I read the PS3 Manual, I was very excited when I got my PS3 and didn't want to screw anything up).

[LordMarius]

I always wonder why the purpose of the "act of God" clause,
I thought God didn't exist /s

[dirthurts]

Is a believer.
Kudos.

[-Alpha]

Act of God is just unnaturally explained events that destroy your PS3. For example, a lightning bolt hitting a tree that falls on your PS3, etc.

[jack who]

there goes your tv

[GameOn]

I'm waiting.

[deadreckoning666]

PS3 SUCKS LOL!!! There I said it haha j/k

I doubt its anythg common. I've had my 60gb since 2007 and nothing like that has every happened to me.

[GameOn]

Actually I was waiting for the "It only does everything" slogan but whatever.

[v1c1ous]

i'm sure the people on the MLG 360 failing topic won't say it

[badz149]

you have your winner! up there...ThanatosDMC!

[El_Colombiano]

It only does firework shows for it's owner!

lol jk

[deadreckoning666]

HAHAHAHAHA

[Quickstrike]

but yet it's so funny I had to give you a bubble

[Blaze929]

lmao @ fireworks. Bubbles up for you rofl

[Somnipotent]

he should have bought a monster cable...

i kid i kid... monoprice ftw.

[hagla]

Lol in all honesty their is just as much chance of this being the TV's fault as the ps3's...

Obviously if it was the TV's fault then it couldn't have been a Sony Bravia ;)

[Somnipotent]

looks like both ends of the cable were fried.

[Bathyj]

It is funny, the title could just as easily say Samsung TV gets fried in mysterious HDMI blaze.

But I guess it needs that extra flame.

[NateCole]

People should read the article. Its not know what really is at fault. Commenters on the article suspected faulty HDMI cables that wasn't earthed.

Fact is the cause is unknown and which appliance is at fault.

[KnightOfAlbion]

It was probably a short circuit. I've seen it happen with a friend of mine laptop, and with a 360 cooler. I crapped my pants!

[Bathyj]

Should you turn off equiptment before plugging in a HDMI?

Maybe he was rubbing his feet on the carpet.

I dont know, I'm a chippy, not a sparky.

[Arnon]

Well the PS3's power cord is grounded to prevent sparks. This is pretty weird.

[MidnytRain]

it does sum funky stuff sumtimes
1. wen playing U2 multiplayer it'll start to skip so i'll hav to reinstall the game data
2. as much as i use it, the web browser'll freeze up wen flipping thru windows
im not sure if this kinda stuff happens to any1 else...

[Arnon]

I've had some weird stuff happen too.

On Katamari Forever, whenever I exit out of the game to go back to the XMB, it will go to a black screen and play the Katamari Theme Song. This is most likely a doing on their part, but it wont allow me to do anything else unless I do a manual restart. It almost seems like it's supposed to happen.

On Demon's Souls, when I'm doing a boss battle, the music will skip for about a second and just go silent, with just the sound effects and then it will come back suddenly.

Anyone think this could be related to a bad disc drive? I purchased my PS3 on eBay, and the guy only owned it for about 2-3 months and I bought it for $500 or so. MGS4 80 GB CECHE01 model.

[KnightOfAlbion]

Humm...no. Never happened to me before. You should check it.

[Somnipotent]

my old phatty will randomly beep and then the screen will go blank for like 3 seconds (sucks if ur playing a fps or uncharted or something...). happens only when i play games as i've never noticed it during bluray or netflix. my slim doesn't do that at all. well, i haven't played a game on my slim yet. i may have to invest in another slim soon :)

[maniacf40]

moron

[Knightofelemia]

The cause probably a cheap HDMI cable I wonder if the owner can claim warrenty on the PS3 and the tv luckly he was home when this happened.

[ReBurn]

If you call Sony don't tell them you didn't use the "official" Sony HDMI cable. Because if you tell them you used a cable other than one of their own they may try to blame the cable and not honor the warranty.

http://consumerist.com/2007...

I remember how big of a deal this was back then.

[Knightofelemia]

Hey Reburn whose to say the guy did not use the offical Sony HDMI cable the article does not say that he did or did not use it anybody can go out and get the offical cable and jerry rig it like it gave out. So techincally he still has warrenty on his PS3 unless it is a launch console or he baught the extended warrenty through the store.

[djfullshred]

A company has to prove something like a cable caused damage, or they cannot void your warranty. I doubt Sony gives a crap what HDMI cable you use, when swapping out your hard drive with any SATA 2.5" laptop hard drive does not void the warranty. They even show you how to do it in the owners manual.

[dentage]

what are we going to start documenting every single RROD on the 360 now? give me a break.

[SnukaTheMan]

hmmm a new account just to be a crybaby...nice one.

[ReBurn]

Don't worry, every single RROD story makes its way onto the N4G front page anyway. You won't miss one. However, that is off topic for this story. It seems pretty clear to me that this PS3 was the casualty and not the cause.

[likedamaster]

Happened to me except... no fire, just sparks and my HDMI cable was no longer working.

[Halo3 MLG Pro]

PSH! Should of bought a 360. :)

[spektical]

tv wasnt grounded , which short circuited the system of circuits between tv hdmi and ps3 to power supply. read your tv manuals people...

[Mikeyy]

Iknow! i looked at the pictures. then read the comments, 2 posts down is the practical explanation. done.

Dont know why other people dont get it.

[ThePistolWhippedDog]

Now you've witnessed what an extremely bored 360 fanboy can do with a pack of matches & a little lighter fluid.

[kaelix]

It's a cover up, they are trying to shut sky-net down.

[djfullshred]

This is a ground issue as others have stated. A bad HDMI cable is not going to suddenly discharge 120 volts through it, but a short circuit to an HDMI cable (whether cheap or expensive) will.

The only difference between a cheaper & more expensive HDMI cable is the fragility of the connector. Cheaper made cables are easier to damage when plugging in or unplugging. A digital signal is exactly the same on a functioning cheap or expensive cable.

[xg-ei8ht]

How about this one.

When i was 10 i plugged a amstrad monitor into itself.

Remember the amstrad cpc464.

Well the monitor came with a power cable that you plugged into the pc, but also had an input./ I plugged it into it's own input, and boom!

Funniest thing though, My parents took it back to toyz r us and got a free bigger monitor for nothing:)

[EternalMesh]

You guys are missing the main point. The Brand of the cable. Psyclone. I bought a psyclone wii remote charger. Fried both remotes. They replaced em but still. Don't buy from psyclone, their products are faulty and can cause damage.

[W-k]

lmao,yeah i had a broken hdmi cable once only mine costs 70$,but still my broken hdmi cable never did any thing like that maybe i was lucky, i got a new one and i bought a new power bar after my tv got an energy surge my other one was a peace of shiiiit it was over 20 years old lol my parents had it before they had me hah but yeah it sucked, my 2 year old lcd 40" fried,i got a expensive kick ass power bar/Surge Protector to go along with my new tv, and if i get any surges with this power bar they will replace what ever got fried.