Sony Pulls Console Bricking Firmware Update

StewShearerOld

Geekdad News Writer
Jan 5, 2013
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Sony Pulls Console Bricking Firmware Update

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/PlayStationEU/statuses/347270685577605120]

The 4.45 firmware update has apparently left many gamers with PS3s they can't play.

At this point it's probably safe to say that PlayStation updates tend to fall into the category of annoying necessities. They update and add new features to the various bits of hardware adorned with the PlayStation brand name, but they also sometimes take an ungodly length of time to complete. As aggravating as that can be, there are worse things than having to wait for an update to finish. For instance, you could restart your PS3 and discover that said update bricked your console.

That is apparently exactly what happened to many gamers who, upon updating their PS3's with the latest firmware, version 4.45, discovered they couldn't boot up past the console's initial start screen. On a thread in the official <a href=http://community.us.playstation.com/t5/PlayStation-3-Support/Problem-after-update-to-4-45/td-p/40712247>PlayStation Community forums, afflicted users described having to take steps as drastic as reformatting their PS3's hard drives in order to escape the clutches of the buggy update. Sony, in response, has pulled the 4.45 update and, according to a Tweet, are investigating the source of the problem.

With the problem seeming to be moderately widespread, we're wondering if any of our readers downloaded the 4.45 update before it was pulled? If so, have you had any problems? Have you found a solution outside of reformatting your hard drive? Whatever your experience, we're obviously hoping the problem is resolved soon and in a way that's relatively painless to those with afflicted consoles.

Source: <a href=http://kotaku.com/dont-update-your-ps3-today-update-firmware-pulled-514213464>Kotaku


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Redd the Sock

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Apr 14, 2010
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Downloaded it and didn't have a problem. The most common coloration they've found is that it doesn't seem to like PS3's with hard drives over 500 GBs that didn't come with the system.

Kind of a bad outcome for an update designed to do nothing but let us turn off trophy notifications.
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
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Sony Pulls Console Bricking Firmware Update

They turned it into an Xbox One?

BOOM!

But seriously, it's been a while since they screwed up this bad. It must have been a pretty major update to ause this kind of problem....

Now I'll just read the forum comments while drinking this cup of tea....

Redd the Sock said:
Kind of a bad outcome for an update designed to do nothing but let us turn off trophy notifications.
*spit take*
 

SurfKansas

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Nov 25, 2008
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Redd the Sock said:
Kind of a bad outcome for an update designed to do nothing but let us turn off trophy notifications.
Well, I'm not seeing any trophy notifications, so.... success?
 

Legion

Were it so easy
Oct 2, 2008
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I hadn't updated so I am lucky I guess. I heard about this on the radio from the way home from work. It was kind of funny, and very surprising to hear the BBC (Radio 1) mentioning that it was embarrassing for Sony considering how well they did compared to Microsoft at E3.

Even the mainstream media is mocking you Microsoft.
 

luvd1

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Jan 25, 2010
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Oh Sony, Sony, Sony. You just couldn't let Microsoft have all the fun could you. Even in the feking up department you had to beat them. I've been reading about this all morning, it is funny a patch for stability breaks the console. I'm only smug coz I haven't turned on the ps3 all day so missed this jolly thing.
 

luvd1

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Jan 25, 2010
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SurfKansas said:
Redd the Sock said:
Kind of a bad outcome for an update designed to do nothing but let us turn off trophy notifications.
Well, I'm not seeing any trophy notifications, so.... success?
Or your just playing The Last of Us.
 

Arawn

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Dec 18, 2003
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After reading this I'm afraid to turn my unit on. I have my system auto-update late at night while I'm asleep; 4-5am. I wonder if it's only affecting the new units and those over 500 GB as someone mentioned. I have the old fat unit and only 300GB. Mayhaps I survived this horrible update. With crossed fingers I press the round button....

UPDATE: My systems boots up, but I cannot log into store. I can live with that; until I want to check out the new demos for this week >.<
 

Rad Party God

Party like it's 2010!
Feb 23, 2010
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Already told my buddy and my cousin to not update yet, although I couldn't tell them what the reason was, but it seems it was something to do with non-stock harddrives, wich neither of them have. I'm as anxious as anyone, waiting for Sony's response about the problem and what caused it.
 

masticina

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Jan 19, 2011
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I was expecting the worst, adding Justin Bieber flash games and instead it just bricks your console.

Eh yeah yeah .. Sony that kinda is a mistake. I mean you had such a good week after the E3 stories and you pull this one. Oh dear!

Luckily you are quite quick with handling this issue this time. Still make sure those poor people who have a bricked console get back in running quick shall we :)
 

PoolCleaningRobot

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Mar 18, 2012
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Good thing I turned off the ps+ auto update thing. But I have the hard drive that came with my ps3 so maybe it wouldn't have mattered. That said, I would very much like to turn off the immersion breaking trophy notifications
 

Proverbial Jon

Not evil, just mildly malevolent
Nov 10, 2009
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I haven't seen an update recently... it's not like you can miss them at any rate, they're usually bloody huge.

I've been playing The Last of Us just fine so I guess I've missed this one.
 

Absolutionis

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Sep 18, 2008
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This is not what "bricking" means. Even this Reddit thread's title got it wrong.

If you Brick a piece of hardware, it's gone forever. You cannot format it, you cannot start it up, you cannot replace the software. It's gone forever.

If some PS3 owners had to format their hard drives, their console was NOT bricked.
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
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DVS BSTrD said:
Zachary Amaranth said:
Sony Pulls Console Bricking Firmware Update

They turned it into an Xbox One?

BOOM!
Ironically, turning into a brick is one of the few things the Xbone WASN'T designed for.
You have a point. Bricks can work when not connected to the internet.
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
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Arawn said:
UPDATE: My systems boots up, but I cannot log into store. I can live with that; until I want to check out the new demos for this week >.<
I'm in the same boat, which doesn't bug me, since I only booted up to watch Netflix.
 

Quiotu

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Mar 7, 2008
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Absolutionis said:
This is not what "bricking" means. Even this Reddit thread's title got it wrong.

If you Brick a piece of hardware, it's gone forever. You cannot format it, you cannot start it up, you cannot replace the software. It's gone forever.

If some PS3 owners had to format their hard drives, their console was NOT bricked.
Yeah, this is a bit of bad wording in the article. The consoles aren't dead, rather the OS is screwed. I haven't turned on my system today, but I did back up my HD yesterday and tend to do that about every 4 months. And anyone not doing this semi-regularly is silly. Anything with this many updates is bound to have a glitchy one sooner or later, even if it only affects a very small percentage of systems.

If the HD needs formatting, it just takes a flash drive with the latest working firmware, restore the backup, then download anything missing from the PSN and cloud, including game saves. It's an annoyance, but much less than say a HD dying in your PC.
 

Voren

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Jun 26, 2010
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It's ok! you aren't the only one! I have the exact same issue the PS3 auto-updated over night and its a 500 Gb hardrive and whatnot only problem is that I cannot get online. I tried everything even updating firmware on my router but after some digging it seems its coming from Sony's end.
 

mirage202

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Mar 13, 2012
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Can confirm no issues on white PS3 with standard 500GB HDD. PS+ did its automatic update thing, but the machine is running just fine.