Topic: PS4 Slim lags every few seconds, even offline

Hi everyone, and thanks for your help as the PS4 help line is basically nonexistent at this time.

I bought a PS4 Slim model almost 2 years ago and have barely used it aside from XMas breaks- it’s been at my parents’ house safely in storage. Brought it out a couple weeks ago for quarantine and it now seems to lag, or kind of “snap” every few seconds, even offline. The dynamic background “snaps,” too. It seems to be happening in all games, although I don’t have many games so it’s hard to tell. I’m only using 111.3gb/861.4 and just did a “Rebuild Database” from safe mode- still happens. PS4 does get kinda warm, but no more than it always did. Nothing outstanding heat-wise, as far as I can tell.

It’s so frustrating because I really take care of my stuff and this is a really noticeable issue. Any idea what I can do? I don’t think I bought a warrantee.

Thanks again!

@Ps4Lag which game? Any specific? What kind TV do you use. And the type of cable? Is it digital game or on the disk? Need more information before I can give you a suggestion 😊

@Ridwaano Thank you. I’ve tried this on 5 different LED tvs and monitors (one new LED tv bought last week) and it looks the same. I’m using HDMI and I’ve tried with different hdmi cables. This seems to be happening during everything- all games, and even during the blue screen when you first turn on the PS4- the wispy white stuff in the background “snaps” every few seconds. Nothing else seems to be out of the ordinary, as far as I can tell.

I’m beginning to wonder if it was damaged during transport, as I did pack it in a checked luggage suitcase when I flew to quarantine a month ago. I have a professional PS4 case that I snugly store the PS4 in- it has a hard exterior shell and I packed clothes around the case for extra support, but maybe the luggage got banged around and the PS4 was damaged? No visible signs of damage, it looks brand new. No weird noise when it runs, only a soft fan sound. It was working last time I used it at Christmas time. I did all the necessary updates when I plugged it in a few weeks ago. I won’t pack it in checked luggage in the future.

I never use discs, by the way- all games are loaded on the console.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

@Ridwaano Visual transitions overall seem like they may be a little ‘glitchy’... Like navigating around the PS store, and menu loading for Street Fighter V online, but it seems minimal and may have been like that before, hard to tell. Doesn’t seem egregious to me; it’s mostly the constant “snapping” that bugs me.

@Ps4Lag you tried clearing the cache?, it could be a memory issue

@FullbringIchigo Yes, I unplug the power cord after every use.

@Ps4Lag This sounds really weird!.. Could it be a HDMI port? If it flicks snaps.? Or a ram issue.

@Ridwaano Thanks, I just inspected the HDMI port- looks fine and clean. I toyed with slightly pulling out the HDMI cable, no change. Would a factory reset help? Any advice? Thanks a ton

@Ps4Lag it could be a motherboard think maybe software don't know. You get reset the playation. And rebuild it from the Sony website try that

@Ps4Lag

Na this is 99% a faulty HDD imo. Fo sho !

Try replcing the HDD (2.5") IF that does not solve it you could always bring back the drive, easier if you go brick and mortar. i am pretty sure it will solve it tho.

Just did a factory reset- still happens. I’m guessing it’s something wrong with my particular hardware... Maybe it did get damaged physically.

@Dominatso I did a factory reset and it still has the problem. You think replacing the hdd will fix it? If I put in solid state?

Thank you

For sure. I myself am pretty sure its the HDD. The good thing is abouty SSD's right now is that you can buy a 120GB for 20 bucks now and try it out. if it doesn't work you can either return it or keep it for your pc for some extra space or a SSD caching drive for your mechanical drives

But it could be that the PS4 needs a higher minimum for the main drive but i am only speculating here.

@Ps4Lag It’s the hard drive, mine did it last year. With games that have pre-rendered cutscenes, are you noticing the audio and video aren’t matching up? My avatar is from Spider-Man which acted up because of the hard drive and the cutscenes went crazy since the tiny lag caused the cutscene rendering to mess up.

@nessisonett @Dominatso Thanks, I’m going to install an SSD and will let you know how it goes.

@Ps4Lag Yeah please do i'm curious and i hope it works out m8 !

@nessisonett @Dominatso I replaced the hdd with an ssd and the problem resolved. Thanks again, everyone!

Update: The issue started up again after a couple days of problem-free play. No idea why. Gonna try to sell it on Craigslist and buy a Pro. Bummer.

@Ps4Lag

ai ai that truly sucks m8 I'm sorry to hear that, right now you can't simply lay back and game a bit when u want to.

Yeah I would probably also get a bit lazy hopeless about a issue like that. But since you seem to have a non pro I think thats the best choice imo that I don't think you will regret.

Hey- I have another update-

I started messing around with my tv and I turned OFF game mode, and suddenly it worked perfect. Before the ssd install it was dropping frames (on multiple tvs), but after the ssd install it still looked terrible (apparently I didn’t check it on multiple tvs at this point). Turned off game mode and now maaan does it run smoothly with that ssd.

So it worked out great in the end but I do admit I feel a bit goofy that it was ultimately a tv setting. But hey maybe this can help someone struggling with this issue in the future.

Thanks again for your help everyone, and yes, now is the perfect time to have a fast-running game system.