Kotaku had things taken care of with Sonys help, and it turns out to be a manufacturing miss in some batch of PS4s. Here's a two paragraph quote that really covers the whole deal:

Later in the day, I got a call from Sony. They'd examined our unit and they figured out the problem. A piece of metal in the system's HDMI port was supposed to have been flush with the bottom of the port but instead had been bent upward, obstructing some of the pins in the port. It had been hard to see, though I imagine we would have noticed if we'd examined the unit more closely and not given it back. Nevertheless, we were told that that PS4 had been fixed. The Sony employee testing our unit used a pin to push the small piece of metal back down. They then plugged an HDMI wire into the unit and it worked. They even brought the unit to our office so we could see for ourselves.

The obstructing piece of metal in the formerly-broken PS4 had actually knocked some of the "teeth" out of the HDMI wire—the one bundled with that PS4—that we'd originally plugged into the unit, the Sony folks told us. We checked two other HDMI wires that we'd used during our brief bit of troubleshooting, and sure enough, they were missing the same teeth, too.

Like the title says, watch your HDMI port before plugging in! I hope to get this out to people before they lose hope, or lose cables and hope.

Update: iFixit shows a photo of what a healthy HDMI port looks like

Should probably pin this at least through Friday, maybe it'll save at least one person from irreparably damaging that port.

Also some HDMI cables do not work on the PS4. Instead of using the cable that came in the box I used an already working cable where I just unplugged the previous device. The system would boot up light bar white then turn yellow and then the device would turn off. Using the provided cable solved the problem. Don;t have the specs on the other cable on me.

As far as the metal piece I am hoping someone can include a picture so others know what to look for exactly.

This is apparently a thing at this point. Seems multiple review sites are having issues regarding the HDMI, with some being more serious than others, working at one point then bricking out. I am a tinkerer but no way would I attempt to fix this this, send it back if it looks off.

Yup, I've seen this floating around. I'm a tad bit worried at this point, but I'm sure my system will be perfectly fine... Oh God.

So if you put in a HDMI cable and it outputs video fine, there's nothing to worry about, right?

Oof, this is the next red rings, isn't it?

Same issue. Flashes blue, never boots up. Can't power down, have to pull the plug. Probably a bit more sad than I should be, but I'm really bummed out. Sitting on hold with Sony is even more of a joy.

I seem to have the same problem Kotaku had. hdmi cable that comes with the system looks like it goes in all the way, but I don't have another ps4 to compare it to. I try to turn it on and no boot screen on the tv and the ps4's blue light just keeps on flashing.

UPDATE: I was able to either smooth or bend the bit of metal. To be honest I just poked at it and kept lightly putting the HDMI cable in to see if I made any headway. When I got it in another 1 mm, I tested it out - it worked. I'm not even sure what I did, but I just gently fished around with a very tiny screw driver. The connection seems secure and it has not caused any issues for three days.



My PS4 has the metal ring up. I played a bit with trying to get it down, but I need to get my micro-screw drivers to get at it...a pin doesn't work. The HDMI feels solid...but you can see it is not pushed in all the way. IMO as long as you don't try to push the HDMI plug you can't damage it...it just won't fit in.

I'm waiting for a good video or explanation of what way to push and with what before I go too far trying to fix it myself. Amazon is being bitchy about getting replacements, they only want to give refunds. If I can't fix it I might just have to do that. Oh well...

To be honest I'm not angry, I'm just resigned to the fact that I might not be playing a PS4 for a month. I'm not sending it back for a few days in any case, because I believe Amazon will have to start smoothing this over for customers who are affected. This "we won't send you a new one" might not stand up to customer reaction for long.

I wish I had checked this when I got my system. Not that I have any issues with my PS4, but it would have still been a good thing to be aware of.

And mine is DOA... This is infuriating. Gonna have to ship it all the way back to the US.

Why is it so awkward getting your consoles to work these days? I'm glade I'm waiting 2 years.

Has anyone been able to show a picture of what a defective port looks like?

I looked at mine before I plugged anything in, didn't see anything strange so I plugged in the HDMI and it's working fine.

The cable seems a little loose when it's plugged in which is very strange for a HDMI connection, but it's working perfectly fine.

My replacement unit is on it's way. yay?

Lightning shouldn't strike twice, right? RIGHT?

Title Update1: So last friday I got my replacement unit, it worked perfectly and i'm very happy with my PS4.

However, I'm having a moral quandary of sorts. I have to return the defective unit to amazon, but since my unit only has one controller i'm very inclined to keep the extra controller from the defective one.

Does anyone know what fees does amazon would charge me in case of that happening?

@rafaelfc: My uncle works for Amazon. I now have a moral obligation to inform him of what you're planning to do.

Make sure they send a SWAT team to take this good for nothing out. He is basically the devil.

Good call. My PS4 was fine though.

Damn right!

Don't necro old threads and if you do see it happen just flag it or bring it to a mod's attention, don't add your post to it as well.