You press the power button. A light comes on, maybe you hear a beep, and two seconds later everything is dark again. No picture, no menu. You try once more and exactly the same thing happens.
Annoying, because your console still seems alive. There is power and there is light, and still it gets no further. Below you can read what happens in those seconds.
The symptoms
- The light turns white or blue, stays on for a second or two and goes out.
- You hear a beep when you press, sometimes a second one as it switches itself off.
- The fan turns for a moment and stops, or never gets going.
- On an Xbox the white logo comes on briefly and goes straight out again.
What the light codes mean
PlayStation 5
The light strip does not give a real error code. It only shows the stage: white while starting, blue while going in or out of rest mode, orange in rest mode. What counts is not the colour, but the moment it stops. If the light comes on and goes straight out, it falls over before anything has loaded. If it burns for three to five seconds, it hits a limit further along. If it does stay on and only the picture is missing, see a console that gives no picture.
PlayStation 4
The PS4 has a light bar that pulses from white to blue and should then turn white. If it keeps pulsing blue and the console switches off, that is the well known blue blinking light: it never reaches the point where a picture goes out. A red blinking bar stands for overheating, a different story, see a console that gets too hot.
Xbox
The logo on the power button should stay white as soon as the console runs. If it flickers for a moment and goes out, the power supply or the board has stepped in. The Xbox One S and One X have an internal power supply with its own light: orange is standby, white is on. If it stays orange, the order to start is not coming through.
Why it switches off again within seconds
The power supply turns mains voltage into a single high voltage, on most consoles about twelve volts. That is not yet what the chips need. On the motherboard there are small converters that make 5 volts, 3.3 volts, 1.8 volts and lower voltages out of it. The main processor runs on less than a volt and pulls tens of amps through it.
Those rails come up in a fixed order. Each rail reports back that it is steady before the next one has its turn. If one is missing or sags, the console does not gamble. It pulls everything back at once. That is built in on purpose, because carrying on with half a power supply damages expensive chips.
A short circuit from a blown component
A short circuit means current finds a way it should not have. On a motherboard that usually happens in a capacitor that has broken down inside. A part like that is the size of a grain of sand and from the outside you see nothing wrong with it.
As soon as the power supply switches that rail on, the part drags the voltage down. The power supply notices that too much current is leaking away and protects itself. The result: a short light, then off, however often you press. Faults like that come from a power surge in a thunderstorm, from age, or from liquid. That last one is the sneaky version, see liquid damage to your console.
Causes, from most to least common
- A faulty converter or voltage regulator on the board. The biggest group. The power supply is fine, but a rail does not come up.
- A short circuit in a capacitor or coil. Gives a shutdown within half a second.
- A worn out power supply. Delivers twelve volts at rest, but sags as soon as current is drawn.
- Liquid damage or corrosion under a chip or a connector, sometimes from months ago.
- A poor contact under the main processor after years of heating up and cooling down.
- A faulty device on the USB port or a jammed disc. Rare, but free to check.
Models and what typically breaks
The model marking is on a sticker on the bottom or the back.
| Console | Model numbers | What typically breaks |
|---|---|---|
| PS5 first models | CFI-10xx, CFI-11xx, CFI-12xx | Converters around the main processor, HDMI port, cooling |
| PS5 Slim | CFI-20xx, CFI-21xx | Power supply, connection to the disc drive |
| PS5 Pro | CFI-70xx | Young machine, mostly power supply and HDMI |
| PS4 first models | CUH-10xx, CUH-11xx, CUH-12xx | Blue blinking light, HDMI port, power supply, dust |
| PS4 Slim | CUH-20xx, CUH-21xx, CUH-22xx | Power supply, HDMI port, sometimes the power button |
| PS4 Pro | CUH-70xx, CUH-71xx, CUH-72xx | Power supply sags under load, heat |
| Xbox One | 1540 | External power brick, capacitors |
| Xbox One S | 1681 | Internal power supply, a known weak point |
| Xbox One X | 1787 | Internal power supply, heat, dust in the cooling |
| Xbox Series X | 1882 | Power supply and HDMI port |
| Xbox Series S | 1883 | Power supply, HDMI port after a knock |
| Nintendo Switch | HAC-001, HAC-001(-01) | No light code. Charging port and charging chip |
| Switch OLED | HEG-001 | Charging port and screen |
| Switch Lite | HDH-001 | Charging port, drift on the built in stick |
| Switch 2 | BEE-001 | Still new, complaints mostly about charging |
Broken power supply or broken board
This is what we want to know first, because it makes a big difference in price. From the outside you see no difference: both give the same flash.
We hang the power supply on an adjustable load and see whether it holds its voltage. If it stays put, the problem is on the board. If it sags, the power supply is next. After that we measure every rail and check whether the resistance to ground is too low anywhere. That points straight at the part that is shorting. So simply buying a second power supply is often money thrown away.
What a beep means
The beep comes from a small buzzer near the power button. It confirms one thing only: your press has been registered and the order to start has been passed on. It says nothing about the rest of the board. So you hear a normal beep while the power supply gives up a second later.
If you hear no beep at all, the fault is more likely in the button itself or in the standby voltage that feeds the button.
Why restarting rarely helps
Rebuilding the database, safe mode, reinstalling the system software: those are fixes for software. They only work if your console stays on long enough to load something, and it never gets that far.
Every attempt also puts voltage on a board that has something wrong with it, and with a short circuit a small fault grows that way. Trying once is fine, ten times is not. Does the console stay on long enough to warn you about temperature? Then read a console that gets too hot.
What you can safely try yourself
- Use another power cable, straight into the wall socket without an extension block.
- Unplug all the other cables, including HDMI and everything in the USB ports. A faulty external drive can block the start.
- If there is a disc in the drive, see whether it gets further without one.
- Pull the plug, wait thirty seconds, try again.
- Try safe mode once: hold the power button until the second beep.
- Leave it off for an hour and try it cold. If it does work briefly when cold, that points to heat.
- Listen carefully and remember what you hear. That helps us with the diagnosis.
When to stop
If it keeps lighting up briefly and going off, stop. Do not open your console yourself: as soon as the cover comes off the warranty seal tears and your factory warranty is gone. If the machine is still under warranty, go to the shop first. The same rule applies to a controller, see stick drift repair.
There is mains voltage in the power supply. The big capacitors hold that charge for a while after you have pulled the plug. Do not touch it.
If a drink or water has been near it, even weeks ago, do not switch it on again. Liquid and voltage together eat copper traces away, and that only stops once there is no power on it. Do not leave it to dry on the radiator.
How we repair it
We start by measuring, never by replacing. First the power supply under load, then every rail with the multimeter to see where the start up sequence stalls. After that we put a low voltage on the suspect rail and follow with a thermal camera where the current goes. The part that is shorting gets warm and gives itself away within a minute.
The repair itself is microsoldering. A blown capacitor or a faulty regulator comes off with hot air, we clean the pad with solder wick and flux, and we fit a new part of the same value. The fine work happens under a stereo microscope, because the traces are thinner than a hair. If a trace has burnt through, we run a wire link. The same technique goes into replacing an HDMI port. After that we test for at least an hour under load.
What it costs
The diagnosis costs 49 euros and covers measuring both the power supply and the board. You always hear the price before we start the repair.
Motherboard repair starts at 89 euros. If the HDMI port is the culprit, it is from 99 euros, and if the fault is in the HDMI chip itself, from 149 euros. Liquid damage starts at 99 euros, because it has to be cleaned and dried first. If the console is healthy but dirty and hot, a service from 69 euros is enough. You get twelve months warranty on every repair, turnaround 2 to 5 working days. If a repair is not worth it, we say so honestly and you only pay for the diagnosis.
Send it in from anywhere in Belgium
You do not have to drive anywhere. You register your console, you get the shipping instructions, and the parcel comes to us by post.
From the province of Antwerp customers send from Antwerp itself, Mechelen and Turnhout. From East Flanders post comes from Ghent, Sint-Niklaas and Aalst, from West Flanders from Bruges, Ostend, Kortrijk and Roeselare. Hasselt, Genk and Sint-Truiden are regular names on the labels from Limburg, in Flemish Brabant we see Leuven, Vilvoorde and Halle, and from the Brussels region machines come from Brussels, Schaerbeek and Anderlecht.
Wallonia works just as smoothly. We get consoles from Liege and Verviers, from Namur, from Charleroi, Mons and Tournai, and even from Arlon a parcel takes less than a day. Does a controller need work as well? It can travel in the same box, see stick drift repair.
Ready to have it checked? Register your console and add a short note about what you see and hear. With that description we often know where to start.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my console switch itself off again after a few seconds?
During start up all the voltages on the motherboard have to come up in a fixed order and at the right level. If one of them is off, the console shuts itself down straight away. That is a protection, not a software fault. The cause is usually a converter on the board or a part that is shorting out.
Does a beep mean my console still works?
A beep only means that the power button passed its signal on properly and that the console received the order to start. It says nothing about the rest of the board. So you can hear a normal beep while the power supply gives up a second later.
Do safe mode or rebuilding the database help here?
Rarely. Those options are meant for software problems and only work if the console stays on long enough to load something. With a flash and then nothing, it never gets that far. If you cannot reach safe mode, you know right away that the fault is in the hardware.
Is it the power supply or the motherboard?
Measuring tells those two apart quickly. We put a load on the power supply and see whether it holds its voltage. If the voltage stays put, the board is the problem. If it sags as soon as current is drawn, the power supply itself is next. Simply buying a new power supply is often money thrown away.
What does it cost to have this checked and repaired?
The diagnosis costs 49 euros. After that you hear what the repair costs before we do anything. Motherboard repair starts at 89 euros, a faulty HDMI port at 99 euros. You get twelve months warranty on every repair.
Ready to have it repaired
Describe what your console is doing in your own words. You get an answer within one working day, with shipping instructions and a guide price. The diagnosis costs 49 euros and comes off the bill if you go ahead with the repair.