Overheating PlayStation 5 opened up, and I wish I'd never looked

If your PlayStation 5 keeps overheating, consider this a sign to check out what’s going on.

We’re not saying to tinker with your PlayStation by yourself, lest you void its warranty.

However, if your warranty has expired, and you’ve got no other financially viable options left, opening it up for yourself might be worthwhile.

Let's all take a moment to appreciate the whimsy of the Paper Trail official trailer.

This is what one parent did to see what the potential problem was, only to discover a horrific scene that we wished we could unsee.

Sony, avert your eyes now.

The image shows the PSU matted and covered in fur. It’s so bad that one commenter asked if the OP had lost a gerbil recently, to which the OP joked that they hadn’t but their dog was missing.

Not everyone is laughing at this PS5’s sorry state.

“I had issues a while ago [...] Opened it up all the way, and lo and behold the vents for the PSU were clogged,” said Redditor marioex497 to demonstrate how common a problem this is.

“You need to clean the house just so this doesn’t happen to the console (and your lungs) in the first place,” replied a user. “It’s hard I know, but one has to vacuum clean pretty much every day the entire house (it’s what I do).”

Before others jump to the same conclusion, the OP would like to remind everyone that they do clean their house regularly.

Moreover, that this “scare” has led to their son thoroughly cleaning his room. They said, “It was like three inches off the floor, now he keeps it up high and keeps his room reasonably clean. I think it put a good scare into him.”

It’s frightened us into a deep clean too.

The important takeaway here is to clean your PS5 regularly – and your house/rooms, but that feels like a given.

Even if you think you’re diligent with staying on top of dust, it’ll find a way to clog the PSU.