Not really. All they've done is ensure that no one else can download the update. They still have to fix said update and re-release it in a state that won't brick any consoles.

I guess we'll probably find out more officially, but did everyone that ended up bricked have a big hard drive andbeen playing TLOU?

@darthorange: POSTCEPTION!!!!

Unplugged, and too afraid to test this week. Not sure my heart could handle losing a SECOND hard drive. Over the holiday weekend I plan to try one more hail mary on my PS3 phat (before I had PSN+) and also do a hard backup of my current PS3 slim HD.

Automatic system updates with the new systems are gonna be sooooo fun.

I saw this on Reddit just now. There is 51 pages of people who are reporting this. They're either bricked or they just load to a black screen and won't do anything. SO glad I didn't get a notification because I would have went on and updated.

@spacerunaway: Haven't played TLOU, but do have a 1TB HDD

There's a nice PS+ joke in here in light of PS4's requirement of it to play online. But I'll let it slide.

pretty impressed no asshole came in here to be an asshole and start console war arguments and laugh at the ps3 owners for this.

but for any asshole thats planning to do so just remember, its not like you're fully shielded by MS, shit goes wrong there also.

http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/19/new-360-update-rolling-out-old-360-update-bricking-some-consoles/

When did this happen? I just updated my ps3 and everything seemed fine. Is something going to happen after I turn it back on?

I think they already pulled the bad update as soon as they learned about it. From here, it should be interesting to see how Sony handles this issue, especially right before launching their new console.

What we can learn from all of this, and something that applies to both platforms, is that there certainly can be a downside to automatic system updates.

Think for a moment if Microsoft or Sony made a mistake like this that was instantly uploaded to EVERY console that was connected to the internet and in a low power sleep mode.

Wow.

I don't think The Last of Us has anything to do with it. I think it just seems that way because pretty much everyone actively playing PS3 games right now is probably playing The Last of Us.

@handlas:

I am NOT sure how correct any of this info is--since I don't even own a PS3--but I saw it as a comment on Joystiq, and I thought I'd post it here. It sounds like fairly logical good advice to me.

If your PS3 was bricked by this, there is a safe mode on the PS3 to install fixes and do other things.

Don't do any system restore, restore default, etc. You might lose your stuff. Just wait until they release a fix and use "System Update" in the safe mode. Also, you might want to add in the article that the update got pulled already and no one can download it. If your auto-updater from PS+ downloaded the update, it won't install it and do not install it either.

To get into safe mode: https://support.us.playstation.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1488/~/safe-mode-on-ps3

I generally don't use my PS3 and have only recently booted it up just to play The Last of Us so I'm not familiar with the patching on the system.

When I turn on my PS3 today after I get home will I get notified of some patch and I can decline and keep playing my game or how does it work? I have an old 60gb full backwards capable model that already sounds like a leaf blower when playing games so I'm worried this sort of thing could just break it completely.

Looks like they have recalled the update for now; so, people shouldn't be getting notified about it. If you are, don't install it. Sony has said they're investigating and will release the update again once they're sure the issue is resolved.

I think I dodged a bullet then. I was planning on turning on my PS3 to play a game and whenever I see a firmware update I usually download it. I'll wait until it's safe.

This should fix it when Sony give out the patched firmware, there is an option to re-install firmware in case things go really bad in those settings. Luckily i have a newer slim that was patched with no problems right before i was going to play TLOU, dodged a bullet on that one.

Yes. Safe mode is pretty good when it comes to things like this.

Thanks. That's basically what I'm waiting to try and see if that fixes it before I do anything like reformatting it.

Sony's statement:

"We are aware of reports that the recent PlayStation 3 system software update (version 4.45) has caused the XMB to not display on a small number of PS3 systems," a spokesperson said.

"We have temporarily taken 4.45 offline and are investigating the cause of the problem. We will announce when the system update is available for download as soon as possible. We apologise for the inconvenience."

Man, looks like I got super lucky with this. I think my auto-update is set to a time AFTER they had already pulled down the update (2 A.M. EST), so that might have saved me.

I was seriously in a panic waking up to see this...

@epidehl: The auto-update will download the firmware but not install it. You have to do that manually.

Anyway crisis avert, Sony rolled it back to 4.41. I have a feeling people like me that had their system bricked at SOL. It seems like most the people that were affected had large HDDs. I have a 750 gb and the system locked.

It seems most people who had a bricked system had over a 500GB HDD that they upgraded themselves. Most of my friends updated last night successfully. I wonder what the cause of this was.

Didnt they somehow manage to break Dark Souls with their earlier patches? Anyway, i'm glad this resolved itself while I was asleep, sometimes being a lazy bastard pays off x)

so now what do I need to do to make this system work again? I kind of have a terabyte hard drive in it, and its kinda more than half full, and if I have to redownload all the games on there and format the hard drive, it will take more than 6 months straight non stop downloading.

What I'm saying is if this just fucked up my PS3 in a way I'll have to format the hard drive, then I simply won't play PS3 anymore, even though I have about 200 games on that thing and just renewed PS+ a month ago.

If they fuck this one up, I'm gone for good. You can't just put out a bad firmware update that bricks the console and forces me to spend half a year straight just redownloading stuff. If you want me to spend 6 months re-doing something to fix someone elses mistake, I will just do something else.

well.....at least the PS3 has SAFE MODE, so all hope isn't lost yet.....like those damned red rings. Don't fuck this up Sony!

I just bought a ps3 less than a week ago, so I ripped the ethernet out as soon as I saw this, I'm not taking ANY chances :p

Yeah, neither one is immune. The problem with the PS3, though, is that they roll them out far more frequently, so this issue comes back again a lot more often. I remember that for a while it seemed like every new update would fuck up a certain amount of 60GB PS3s. It was always related to the models with that hard drive size and I had to wonder what they did to those versions that made them so adverse to the updates

I have a 750 GB drive in my PS3 and it updated just fine. Played a bit of Tekken and got a trophy in GoME after the update.

@jasondesante: most likely you'll have to download a fix, put it on a flash drive, and install it on the PS3 with Safe Mode. No six months of downloading, just a few days of waiting for a patch.

For once I think it's pretty great that they force you to accept the same licensing agreement everytime it's downloaded an update, even when it's auto-updating. It won't install the update until you've manually selected "I Agree", even if you're a PS+ user.

HERE'S what i know for now about 4.45 update , my PS3 went to the wave screen, after that into total black screen , i tried to reformat , rebuild , downgrade to 4.41 (safe mode) ,finally remove my HDD and format on the PC (FAT32) ,nothing works.

So i find this guy on youtube said that switch HDD works (i don't check).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8DEDvwi_eY

And this guy says that Sony will release an update tomorrow in order to fix:

http://www.se7ensins.com/forums/threads/4-45-update-fix.939732/

I hope they fix it.

PS3 Slim - HDD 1TB

I think I have my system set to automatically download and install updates at 4am, and now I'm terrified that I'm going to get home and the thing is going to be fucked.

I just started my second run through campaign on Survivor difficulty, too :(

@sweep said:

I apologize, this is completely off-topic, but when you started on Survivor did you get to the point where you could use listen mode and it worked? I'm almost certain I chose Survivor from the difficulty settings and when I got to the point where I could use listen mode it worked, even though it shouldn't have. I went into the difficulty options and my game was set to Hard instead of Survivor. Now I'm thinking that if I continue playing even after switching it to Survivor at this point, the game won't recognize it as a complete Survivor play-through upon completion... Wondering if I should just start over and be 100% sure.

@cale: You shouldn't be able to use listen mode in survivor at all. Shit, you might be better off starting again just to be sure.

@sweep said:

Yeah, kinda thinking that myself. Just wondered if this happened with anyone else. Oh well, luckily it doesn't take too long to get back to that point.

Something may also be up with PSN because I think it is down right now as well.

Yeah, was going to point this out, happened at least twice on the 360, and I can't count the number of times on the PC motherboard makers have released bunk bios updates that they had to pull because the update was killing motherboards over the years.

It happens everywhere.

I still have the 4.41 update (fortunately), but I can't sign into PSN. Is this a result of the 4.45 craziness or am I just experiencing my own set of problems?

@flappy: I can't log in either.

@flappy: PSN is down for essential maintenance!

@jimmyfenix: @rabidcentipede:

Gotcha. Thanks for the speedy replies, folks!

Ah fucking shit. Really? Maintenance? Boo! I wanted to play some Tekken Revolution when I got home.

They've taken down that update until further notice. I'm still at 4.41? and I can sign in to PSN no problem.

Don't worry, PS+ just downloads the update; you still have to install firmware manually.

@demoskinos: Great minds think alike. Tekken Revolution is pretty fun. If I'm not careful, I'll end up buying Tag Tournament II.

You do know that being the only guy that unnecessarily brings "console war arguments" into a thread, kind of makes you that asshole that you're worried about, right?

Except you guys are wrong. The two deleted comments on the first page. That was it.

My bad. I was just kind of struck by the irony of it all.

@oldenglishc: i only simply put that link up for any people that view the thread looking to be fools and say xbox is better,

its been happening on other comments on that story, and people had to shove this link in front of them.

You should! If your interested in more details I wrote a review of it and really liked it! Its a good game.

Also dunno about anyone else finally got home an signed in no problem. That might be because I was able to get 4.45 without bricking my system? Dunno but PSN is up for sure. I have a few friends signed in as well. We'll see if anyone is on Tekken to fight. =p

@demoskinos: im scared to plug in my ethernet cable :(