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PS3 update 4.45 reportedly 'locking' some consoles

The latest PS3 update from Sony is reportedly causing console-breaking issues when installed.

Nic Healey Senior Editor / Australia
Nic Healey is a Senior Editor with CNET, based in the Australia office. His passions include bourbon, video games and boring strangers with photos of his cat.
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Nic Healey
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Sony's latest PlayStation 3 update, number 4.45, seems to be causing some major problems, according to reports on the PS3 community forums.

(Credit: Sony)

According to the original poster, the issues occurred after the update had been downloaded, installed and the system rebooted. At this point (unedited):

After it display the PS3 logo, it went to the second screen (the flowing ribbon). It suppose to display XB next. but it never goes there. Just the flowing ribbon. I can not even shutdown the system by press the power button. (It bleeps, but the system didn't shut down.) So I tried unplug the power cord, and plugin again. Still same problem.

At the time of writing, there were over 570 replies with many other users reporting the same problem. One follow-up poster who had contacted Sony support said that they had been advised to "wait until their engineers have returned to work tomorrow and can address the issue".

At the moment, it looks as if users should hold off on downloading the update until we have further information from Sony.

Update: Sony community forum member RKumono has the following advice for anyone who has already installed the update and is experiencing the locking issue.

When the fix is posted by Sony, you'll be able to install it from a USB drive when your PS3 is in Safe Mode. To enter Safe Mode:

  1. Red Light (Standby)

  2. Press and hold Power button on console

  3. When you hear a beep, keep holding

  4. When you hear a second beep, wait a moment and release power

  5. Should be in Standby/Red Light Mode again

  6. Press and hold Power button on console (a second time)

  7. When you hear a beep, keep holding

  8. When you hear two fast beeps, release power button quickly

From there, put the downloaded fixed firmware on a USB drive in a folder called "/PS3/UPDATE". Select option 6 (Update Firmware) from the Safe Mode menu.

Again, wait until Sony has confirmed that the firmware has been fixed. User J-Bone127 said he has confirmed this procedure with Sony support.

Updated at 4.34pm AEST: added information about putting the console in Safe Mode.