I opened my son's PS4 because it had become very loud and was occasionally shutting down. I removed the cooling assembly, cleaned off the dried thermal paste, and applied new paste. However, I couldn't remember where one cable belonged, a small plastic piece no longer seemed to fit, and I ended up with one screw left over.
After reassembling it, the fan spun but the console began making a clicking noise. It shut down after about ten minutes, although it worked again when I restarted it. There is also a faint electrical smell near the back, the area around the power connection becomes warm, and the clicking gets faster the longer it runs. My son thinks it may be dangerous, while I suspect it just needs time to settle. Is it safe to keep using, or should I have it inspected?
2 Answers
The fan is only one possible source of the clicking. A hard drive, disc drive, or fan could be contacting something if the casing or plastic parts aren’t aligned correctly. More seriously, the smell and heat near the power input could indicate a damaged connector, failing power supply, or short circuit. Don’t assume the shutdown means the safety system handled everything—continued use could cause more damage or create a fire risk. The safest move is to unplug it and take it to a qualified console or electronics repair technician.
That behavior is definitely not normal. A PS4 shouldn’t have an electrical smell, unusually warm power connections, repeated clicking, an unexplained cable, or leftover hardware after reassembly. Shut it down, unplug it, and don’t leave it running unattended. Have someone experienced inspect it before powering it on again. The missing screw or misplaced cable could be interfering with the fan, drive, or another component, and an electrical fault could also explain the shutdown and smell.
I’m more experienced with repairs than you might think, so I was planning to let it run overnight and see whether the clicking stopped. After reading this, I’ll avoid leaving it powered on unattended.