If you’ve been on your Playstation 3 system within the past day or so, you’ll find that there is a new update to the firmware of the system. In order to do various things, an update to the system is required. However, gamers are reporting that the update has bricked their systems.
The update, 4.45, was supposed to allow for users to shut off trophy notifications and improve “system stability.” More than 100 pages of users reporting problems with their system shows up on this thread in the Playstation community forum. Many users seem to be experiencing the same problems and some show concern of systems bricking and their system being out of a warranty. At least one user has reported a fix that required using an older hard drive he had lying around in order to re-update their console via USB.
Though the problem has been going on, it has not been addressed by neither the Playstation twitter nor their Facebook page. It has, however, been addressed within the community. Digital Platforms Community Manager Morgan Haro (user “mochuuu” in the forum) has addressed the issue in a separate thread. Haro reports that the 4.45 update has been removed for the time being in order to figure out what has been causing the issue that some PS3 owners have been having. Updates for their progress will appear on his thread.
Haro also provided a brief Q&A for users who have experienced an issued with the system:
Q1. I updated my PS3 to version 4.45, and now the XMB is not being displayed and I cannot play anything on my system. Why?
We are currently conducting investigations to determine the cause of this problem. We will announce further information, including additional updates, when ready.
Q2. Version 4.45 has been taken off line, but if users have already updated to the new version and they are experiencing problems, what can they do?
We kindly ask PS3 users to wait for further details. We will announce when ready.
Q3. Were you not able to predict that such an issue may occur?Do you perform appropriate verification tests before releasing updates?
SCE constantly performs appropriate verifications tests for system software updates, and strives to improve and offer quality service.
We are currently conducting investigations to determine the cause of this problem. We will announce further information, including additional updates, when ready.
Q6. I read in the web that the PS3 system with 500GB HDD were affected. Is this true?
We are currently conducting investigations to determine the cause of this problem.
Q7. Have you already found a solution to this problem?
We kindly ask PS3 users to wait for further details. We will announce when ready.
Q8. How are the customer service teams responding to consumer inquiries right now?
We kindly ask PS3 users to wait for further details. We will announce when ready.
There is also a continuously growing post on Reddit concerning the matter at hand.