PS4 CMOS battery issue reportedly fixed in firmware update

Sony appears to have fixed a PS4 issue relating to the console’s internal clock battery.

The issue was first discovered in April this year, where it was reported that the console’s CMOS battery would render physical and digital PS4 games unplayable if it was either removed or drained over time, which became dubbed the ‘CBOMB’. The same issue also appears to affect the PS5’s CMOS battery after a “volunteer-based preservation team” Does It Play? performed a test on their PS5.

However, a new 9.0.0 firmware update for the console appears to have fixed the issue, according to YouTuber Destruction Games (thanks, VGC).

“Tested it on my PS4 with a dead battery and games are no longer crashing on startup and I can even earn trophies,” they claimed, while noting that the dates of when a trophy is earned will be blank.

Soooooo it looks like the 9.0 PS4 firmware update fixed the CBOMB issue…

Tested it on my PS4 with a dead battery and games are no longer crashing on startup and I can even earn trophies, although the trophy earn dates will be blank

— Destruction Games (@desgamesyt) September 21, 2021

Prior to this update, if the battery was removed or dies, the console will ask players to manually enter the date and time when it boots, and then attempts to sync the date and time online via the PlayStation Network.

However, if Sony were to shut down the PlayStation Network in the future (or even if the network crashed for any reason), the inability of the console to connect and sync would mean no games would be playable for over 115million PS4 consoles that have been sold.

Developer and YouTuber Modern Vintage Gamer also cover the CMOS battery issue in detail in the below video, while demonstrating just how complex it would be to replace the battery manually, since it would require tearing down the hardware to get to the motherboard that houses the battery. The firmware update fortunately means PS4 owners should no longer have to worry about this issue.

Elsewhere, Final Fantasy XIV players are holding vigils for voice actor Stephen Critchlow who has passed away at the age of 54. The actor was best known to the community for his role in the Heavensward expansion.