Why Your PS4 Turns Itself Off (How To Stop It)

I can understand how frustrating it must be for your PS4 to keep on turning off. It started happening to me, so I researched the internet trying to find an answer to this problem.

In this post, I will discuss in detail all the various methods you can try to fix your PS4, and these fixes will include, checking your power supply, the hard disk and using Sony suggested method of checking safe mode.

Hopefully, by the end of this post, you will understand what exact issue your having with your PS4, and how best to fix it. Are you ready to troubleshoot your PS4? Let’s get to it.

How To Fix Your PS4 From Turning Itself Off

Check Your Power Connection

Now if your power connection is faulty you’re lucky as this is the easiest to fix, as you simply would need to buy a new one(get one from Amazon here)however follow the following steps.

Turn off your PS4 via pressing the power button for 7 seconds, making sure it beeps twice to show that it’s completely off
Disconnect your power cord from your PS4 and electric outlet/plug
Inspect the power cord and other cables and see if you notice anything usual they unseen damage. See if any port has anything interfering with the connection. Buy a replacement cable or borror and friends and see if it works

Check Your Hard Drive

Now you need to take part your PS4 with this step, so be very careful and take your time with it

Turn off your PS4 via pressing the power button for 7 seconds, making sure it beeps twice to show that it’s completely off
Disconnect your power cord from your PS4 and electric outlet/plug and any other cable attached to the console
Take the hard disk drive cover out of the console to remove it
Inspect the hard drive to make sure it’s properly attached and screwed to the system, to see if 4TB is enough for an external hard drive check out this posthttps://thegamingman.com/is-4tb-hard-drive-enough-for-the-ps4is-it-too-much/. If you want to replace it, you can buy a PS4 hard drive straight from Amazon here) and remember to call the latest software hardware to the hard drive which you can download from the official store here

Check out these handy tutorials on how to install a new internal hard drive into your PS4, for both PS4 & PS4 slim as the installations will be different.

How To Prevent The APU Problem

Likely if your PS4 has the infamous Blue Light of death when your console blinks red or blue after it’s turned on these fixes will not solve the issue.

This is caused by the APU not properly being attached to the motherboard, which cannot be fixed and the only way is to get a replacement unit from Sony. However, the APU gets unattached due to too excess heat. There are ways to prevent the PS4 from getting too hot

Make sure the PS4 is always well ventilatedhttps://thegamingman.com/is-it-normal-for-a-ps4-to-get-hot-how-to-keep-it-cool/, remove any object surrounding the PS4 that could block your consoles air vents.
Provide extra cooling via a dedicated PS4 cooling fan such this one from Amazon and put your console into a vertical position for optimal airflow
Don’t play your PS4 too long, always put it into rest mode(find out if you should use rest mode or turn off your PS4 here) or turn off your console to reduce heat.

How To Factory Reset Your PS4

Now you won’t be able to do this if your PS4 cannot turn on, but just like all electronics, your console will benefit from a factory reset.

Now if it’s the APU this will not solve the issue but perhaps resetting your PS4 to factory defaults will stop your console from turning off constantly. It’s worth a try no?

Deactivate your system

Go to settings>Account management>Select activate as your primary PS4
Press deactivate

Backup Your Save Data(highly recommended)

Now if you’re a PlayStation Plus member you likely already have access to Sony’s cloud servers but if you don’t you should back up your save data on a USB or external HDD(Buy the one on Amazon here) and follow the following instructions

Having a backup in an external hard drive gives you peace of mind knowing your data is safe.

Make sure you’ve synced your Trophies. Go to [Trophies], press the Options button, and choose the [Sync With PlayStation Network] option.
Insert the USB storage device that you plan on using for the back up into one of the PS4’s USB ports.
Go to [Settings] > [System] > [Back Up and Restore].
Confirm which data you’d like to back up. If you choose not to back up applications, you’ll need to download or reinstall them when/if you eventually restore with the back up you’re creating.
On the next screen, you can customize the name of the backup. Once you’ve done that, highlight [Back Up] and press (X button).
A progress bar will show the current status of the backup. You can cancel this at any time.

Check out the video below for an easy guide on how you can backup your PS4

Set up Initliaisation

On the main settings menu click on initialisation and follow the prompts
You will see Quick Or Full Reset, a full reset will completely wipe the system out and restore it to factory software settings which could fix the issue you’re having with your PS4 anywhere between 30 minutes to a few hours.

Assuming it worked you will need to re-download all your games and apps which wouldn’t be too difficult assuming you backed everything up on an external SDD.

Now watch the following video for a video explanation. Whilst this is the simplest way to restore a PS4 to factory setting it isn’t the best in particular if you’re having software issues. It is better to do the more effective but more complicated; resetting your PS4 from safe mode.

How To Factory Reset Your PS4 In Safe Mode

To give your PS4 a new life, you must install the system software completely from scratch. You will need an exFat/FAT32 formatted USB stick with around 2GB of space(get one from Amazon here), and download the latest PlayStation software from the official website here

Make sure to click where it states “do you want to perform a fresh install of the full system software?”, don’t download the first link as it’s simply an update, not a full install package.

On the USB drive make a folder called PS4 and inside that folder make a folder called UPDATE
Copy and paste the system software into the UPDATE folder
Eject the USB drive
Turn our PS4 completely off
Turn on your PS4 via the physical button on the console and keep on holding it past the first beep, when you hear another let go the system will ask you to attach a USB stick to boot it into Safe Mode
Connect your USB into the PS4
Select option 7 Initialize PS4 (Reinstall System Software) follow the prompts and give your PS4 some time

Your PS4 is reinstalling it’s software completely from scratch, which will leave you with a brand new PS4 from the software side just like it was if it was brand new.

Sign in and use your backed up HDD to reinstall all your games & applications. Hopefully, this has fixed your software issue and your PS4 has stopped turning itself off.

Check out this fantastic video below on everything to do with your PS4 safe mode in a nice visual format

Why If My PS4 Still Keeps Turning Itself Off?

You’re only other option is to claim warranty for your PS4, This is how you can claim your warranty for your PS4 directly from the PlayStation website

“You must visit PlayStation Service Request Support or call 1-800-345-7669 to receive a return authorization and shipping instructions. A VALID PROOF OF PURCHASE IN THE FORM OF A BILL OF SALE OR RECEIPT FROM A RETAILER WITH THE DATE OF THE ORIGINAL PURCHASE MUST BE PRESENTED TO OBTAIN WARRANTY SERVICE”
PlayStation Website