If your Playstation 3 has been acting strange since February 28th, 2010 then you are not alone. Millions of Playstation 3 gamers worldwide have reported that their Playstation 3 systems could no longer register game trophies. This was accompanied by a 8001050F error that can potentially corrupt user profiles, damage save files, and delete trophies (the rewards you receive while playing certain games).
Initially, Sony of America blamed the error on a network update. Reports then confirmed that older models that were never connected to the Internet were experiencing the same problem. The error resets the Playstation 3’s clock to 12/31/1999 and renders all games with a trophy reward system unplayable. We have confirmed that our ‘fat’ PS3 40 gig model works perfectly fine. A staff member has also confirmed that his ‘fat’ PS3 80 gig was unaffected by this bug. It stands to reason that certain models may not be affected by the error. The new slim is safe according to Sony.
Sony did release an official statement acknowledging the issue:
As you may be aware, some customers have been unable to connect to the PlayStation Network today. This problem affects the models other than the new slim PS3.
We believe we have identified that this problem is being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system.
Errors include:
- The date of the PS3 system may be re-set to Jan 1, 2000.
- When the user tries to sign in to the PlayStation Network, the following
message appears on the screen; “An error has occurred. You have been
signed out of PlayStation Network (8001050F)”. - When the user tries to launch a game, the following error message appears
on the screen and the trophy data may disappear; “Failed to install
trophies. Please exit your game.” - When the user tries to set the time and date of the system via the
Internet, the following message appears on the screen; “The current date
and time could not be obtained. (8001050F)” - Users are not able to play back certain rental video downloaded from the
PlayStation Store before the expiration date.
We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data.
As mentioned above, please be advised that the new slim PS3 is not affected with this error. We are doing our best to resolve the issue and do apologize for any inconvenience caused.
You can visit Sony’s official blog for updates on the situation.
