PS3 4.45 update bricking consoles

[king3pj]

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/06/19/playstation-3-firmware-update-bricking-consoles

I wanted to continue the PS3 failure discussion we were having but I thought I should break it out of The Last of Us thread. Apparently the 4.45 PS3 update caused enough console failures that it has been removed from PSN. Unfortunately those of us who are PS Plus subscribers had this update installed automatically last night so it may be too late for us. I normally love the auto update feature that comes with PS Plus. It automatically installs all PS3 and game updates so I never have to wait for them. This time it may have burned us.

My system is set to check for PS Plus updates at 4:00am so I haven't tried to boot it up since the update would have occurred. I think I am only a few hours from beating The Last of Us and I sure won't be happy if I can't finish it. I really hope I'm not one of the people affected because I really don't want to buy a replacement PS3 so close to the PS4 launch.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Stuff like this is my EXACT reason why I think auto updating is severely overrated.

 

[Kraven]

No auto-updating anything @ casa Kraven... learned my leason a long time ago with an unnamed Satellite company.

 

[dfergie]

Users should await further instructions and a downloadable system update rather than try to fix the issue, it added. "We apologise for the inconvenience."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22968218

 

[king3pj]

Users should await further instructions and a downloadable system update rather than try to fix the issue, it added. "We apologise for the inconvenience."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22968218

That's all well and good but how are people with a bricked console supposed to download and install another update?

 

[dfergie]

That's all well and good but how are people with a bricked console supposed to download and install another update?

Exactly ...

 

[yourbeliefs]

That's all well and good but how are people with a bricked console supposed to download and install another update?

The console isn't bricked. Here's some advice from reddit:

you can fix it yourself. to do this, boot into safe mode and re-update the firmware. to access safe mode (i didn't know it existed until this): power off the ps3, then hold down the power on key until the system has powered up three times. do not release the power key until the third power up. the 1st power up is normal mode (which is broken), the 2nd is video reset mode (which won't help) but the 3rd will bypass the broken firmware and let you re-update. sony gets bad marks for releasing an incompletely tested firmware update, but kudos for having the safe mode which saves you having to send it in and them from being sued.

 

[king3pj]

IGN should think about incorporating that into their article. They just say that the systems are bricked with no suggestions for a fix. To be clear, I don't know if mine has this problem or not. I haven't been home yet to check but I do know that PS Plus automatically updates my system. This is good to know in case I am one of the people affected though.

 

[Zookster]

The console isn't bricked. Here's some advice from reddit:

you can fix it yourself. to do this, boot into safe mode and re-update the firmware. to access safe mode (i didn't know it existed until this): power off the ps3, then hold down the power on key until the system has powered up three times. do not release the power key until the third power up. the 1st power up is normal mode (which is broken), the 2nd is video reset mode (which won't help) but the 3rd will bypass the broken firmware and let you re-update. sony gets bad marks for releasing an incompletely tested firmware update, but kudos for having the safe mode which saves you having to send it in and them from being sued.

Trying to fix it yourself isn't working. And only seems to make it worse if you try to install the previous 4.41 FW via USB, according to many in the PS community forums who have tried it (your screen goes black and you don't even see the flowing ribbon). Once Sony does issue a fix, however, yes, installing via safe mode will probably be the way to go.

My console got bricked last night (it wouldn't let me watch NF last night w/o doing the update), and I don't plan to try anything to fix it until Sony gives us an official fix. For the latest updates from Sony, go here: http://community.us.playstation.com...re-Update-PS3-v-4-45-SCEA-Update/m-p/40721809

Again, do not try to fix this yourself. There simply is no fix right now. ... that is without reformatting your HDD.

 

[ohioankev]

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/06/19/playstation-3-firmware-update-bricking-consoles

I wanted to continue the PS3 failure discussion we were having but I thought I should break it out of The Last of Us thread. Apparently the 4.45 PS3 update caused enough console failures that it has been removed from PSN. Unfortunately those of us who are PS Plus subscribers had this update installed automatically last night so it may be too late for us. I normally love the auto update feature that comes with PS Plus. It automatically installs all PS3 and game updates so I never have to wait for them. This time it may have burned us.

My system is set to check for PS Plus updates at 4:00am so I haven't tried to boot it up since the update would have occurred. I think I am only a few hours from beating The Last of Us and I sure won't be happy if I can't finish it. I really hope I'm not one of the people affected because I really don't want to buy a replacement PS3 so close to the PS4 launch.

My PS3 has never automatically updated to the next firmware even when I joined PS+ last year. It would always download the next firmware but I would have to install it myself. I am glad I didn't install the firmware though since I have a 1TB hdd installation in my fat PS3.

 

[king3pj]

Well luckily mine didn't even download the update. It must have been pulled before my scheduled time.


Posted Using The New SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[Zookster]

My PS3 has never automatically updated to the next firmware even when I joined PS+ last year. It would always download the next firmware but I would have to install it myself. I am glad I didn't install the firmware though since I have a 1TB hdd installation in my fat PS3.

Yeah, it never auto-installs even with Plus because system patches always require users to accept the EULA, where you renounce all rights to sue Sony if their new FW bricks your system.

 

[Scherrman]

I only use my PS3 about once or twice a week and last night I wanted to download the new NCAA14 demo. Before I could do that I had to download the latest update. It downloaded the update and then I downloaded the demo. Everything seems to be working fine, did I get lucky or am I still at risk?

 

[king3pj]

Yeah, it never auto-installs even with Plus because system patches always require users to accept the EULA, where you renounce all rights to sue Sony if their new FW bricks your system.

Still it must have downloaded to a significant number of PS Plus members' PS3s and been sitting there waiting for installation. It was reported that a lot of PS Plus members had problems.

I do really like the auto patch for games with PS Plus even if you have the risk of taking a bad update. I remember waiting almost 45 minutes the first time I tried to play Heavy Rain while it downloaded a patch that was over 1GB and took even longer to install. Xbox game patches were always much quicker but PS3 game patches and mandatory installation was a real problem. I was glad to see it fixed with PS Plus.

 

[king3pj]

I only use my PS3 about once or twice a week and last night I wanted to download the new NCAA14 demo. Before I could do that I had to download the latest update. It downloaded the update and then I downloaded the demo. Everything seems to be working fine, did I get lucky or am I still at risk?

Are you a PS Plus member or did you manually download the update? I am still on version 4.41. The version that had problems was 4.45. You can find your version number in the system settings. If your PS3 booted up after the update you are fine. Sony pulled the bad update as soon as they found out about the problems. That happened before last night so it was either already downloaded and waiting for your thanks to PS Plus or it was a different FW update.

 

[Scherrman]

I manually downloaded it. In order to sign into the PSN I had to do the download. When I get a chance I'll have to look to see what version I'm on. I can fall behind on updates since I'm not a PS Plus member and I may go a couple months without signing into the Network. Lately all I've been playing is NCAA13 Football offline.

 

[lacubs]

i am like Scherrman, if i sign on tonight, i am ok?

 

[king3pj]

i am like Scherrman, if i sign on tonight, i am ok?

Yes. I played last night and I am still on 4.41. The bad update was 4.45 and they pulled that one from the network. According to Sony not even everyone who got the 4.45 update was affected. They said it was a small number of people who got that update who were having problems.

If you see an update when you get on tonight it is most likely the 4.41 update that hasn't been downloaded to your system because you were off PSN for a while. They are also supposed to be releasing another update soon to give us the new features from the broken update. Either way it's safe to play on PSN now. The broken FW update is no longer available on PSN.

 

[navychop]

Thankfully, I'm still on 4.41. I'll wait on the next update until a few of you volunteers take a few arrows and report back.

 

[Zookster]

I manually downloaded it. In order to sign into the PSN I had to do the download. When I get a chance I'll have to look to see what version I'm on. I can fall behind on updates since I'm not a PS Plus member and I may go a couple months without signing into the Network. Lately all I've been playing is NCAA13 Football offline.

i am like Scherrman, if i sign on tonight, i am ok?

If you haven't tried to go online on the PS3 for a month or more, then it's entirely possible you were asked to download and install the older and safe 4.41 patch before going online. The only way you possibly have the bad 4.45 patch is if 1) you are a PS Plus member with auto-patching; though 4.45 should not have auto-downloaded if your daily auto-patching time is set before 7:00pm PST and after 9:30pm PST (that's the time 4.45 was pulled on Tuesday night); 2) you accepted the system update notice to download the latest patch between 7pm and 9:30pm PST on Tuesday evening (7/18/13).

If you downloaded a patch and haven't installed it yet and are not sure which one it is, see if you can decline it and then download and install 4.41 when prompted (or downloaded via PC on a USB stick from Sony's site).