ME SLEEP AGAIN/MSA

A common Furby Plague.

Me Sleep Again, or MSA; is a common bug associated with the original 1998 Furbys. The issue is characterized by Furbys that persistently refuse to wake up when roused. Affected Furbys will power on, wake up, and announce that they are returning to sleep upon every attempt to wake them.

MSA is caused by faulty tilt sensors, whether that be corrosion, dust or debris, or other damages. This is due to a feature intended to prevent Furbys from waking up when accidentally jostled or tilted slightly, and the damage of the sensor preventing full contact and essentially gaslighting the Furby into thinking it was nudged awake. I do not currently consider Furby Babies to be able to develop MSA, implying that MSA is the result of some kind of failsafe being triggered in the Furby by the damaged sensor, rather than just an issue with the sensor alone (since Furby Babies use updated code and will wake up even with damaged tilt sensors.) I personally consider this to be further backed up by the fact that some Furbys are sent into a state of permanent comatose by completely broken tilt sensors.

In my experience, MSA presents itself in stages of "severity"; with more mild MSA allowing Furbys to be roused correctly from sleep on occasion with forceful shaking or persistence, and more severe cases only being woken up when forced awake via the "tongue method". This is likely due to the fact that most cases of MSA are caused by dusty or oxidized sensors, where the tilt sensor makes contact only some of the time instead of always. Additionally, tilt sensors that are completely broken or heavily damaged will create a permanent state of comatose for the affected Furby, though this is not directly related to MSA; it is a relevant and similar issue, with the same fix as MSA. (Being repairing or replacing the sensor.)

If your Furby is affected by MSA, a solution to force them awake exists without having to operate on the tilt sensor.

1. Hold down the tongue of your Furby.


2. Tilt the Furby upside down and shake it.

3. While holding the tongue down, flip the Furby right side up, and release the tongue. The Furby should now power on and function correctly, If it doesn't, attempt again; as it sometimes takes a few tries. The Furby will operate correctly until it falls back asleep in which these steps must be performed again to wake the Furby in the future. Some argue that pressing the reset button is necessary for this method to rouse a Furby from sleep, but I personally have had it work without needing to press the reset button.

This fix is temporary and does not actually cure MSA, therefore, whatever is causing the MSA; whether it be debris, corrosion, or physical damage, will still be present in the Furby, meaning that a mild case of MSA can eventually advance into being more severe in the future if gone unchecked.

For those with the ability and technical skill to do so, MSA should be attempted to be cured via its root cause instead of relying on a bandaid fix to prevent further or permanent damage from occuring to the tilt sensor. Tilt sensor maintenence is moderately difficult if you don't know what you're doing, and I only recommend attempting tilt sensor maintenence if you are experienced in Furby or general electronic repair (or otherwise patient enough to learn.)

Different factories use different tilt sensors, so not all of them are built equally. For example; JT tilt sensors are often melted shut at the top and therefore unopenable. However, I have found that JT tilt sensors can be opened from the bottom and cleaned that way, though it is not particularly easy to do compared to the tilt sensors that can be opened. Because of this, there isn't a universal "guide" to repairing all tilt sensors, which is why I personally consider it a moderate-difficult level repair for beginners.

As a closing note, here are my personal beliefs about MSA from my experience with it. Again, this is written from experiences I've had collecting for a decade and not hard facts (as there are few documented online) so I am open to these assumptions being incorrect, but I do feel confident listing them as possible assumptions.

1. MSA is the result of a faulty sensor triggering some sort of failsafe.

2. I personally believe MSA has a link to the Deep Sleep Mode revision, this is anecdotal, but I have never had an original code Furby with MSA.

3. Furbys that are entirely comatose (ie, not even attempting to wake up when new batteries are put in or the reset button is hit) as the result of faulty tilt sensors or otherwise having a failsafe triggered in this way, should be considered as having VERY advanced MSA, and that testing/cleaning tilt sensors should be as routine of maintenence/testing as push starting is.

4. I do not believe Furby Babies can develop MSA. I have experimented with multiple Furby Babies and have never witnessed any behavior akin to MSA, and cannot find solid documented cases of Furby Babies having MSA.

Further reading and sources:

MSA article on the FurbyWiki

FurbyTech's guide to tilt sensor cleaning

Tilt sensor maintenence article on the FurbyWiki

A video of a Furby displaying MSA via Maxime Le Mal on Youtube

Last updated: 7/1/26