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PS3 2.42 - Buggy firmware may kill your PS3
If you are reading this and you haven’t upgraded your PS3 firmware to 2.42, then please no matter what you do, do not upgrade to version 2.42. In fact, it’s probably a good idea to keep your PS3 at 2.35 if you can.
Update: There are many causes of this problem (for example, Blu-ray laser problem), and it may or may not be related to fw 2.42, but for some reason, the number of reports of this problem has increased after 2.42, so the firmware must be doing something. It’s possible that the firmware isn’t the cause of all this, and it may all just be a coincidence. Regardless, the best course of action is probably to contact Sony tech support instead of waiting for a firmware fix, especially if your warranty is running out shortly.
Just after 2.42 became available, there were reports that it started causing all sorts of problems, mostly disc reading related problems. Like most people, I didn’t pay too much attention to it. Firmware updates always cause problems for the minority of users. But the reports of the problem grew in number every day, and despite the same old defence of Sony fanboys, accusing users having the problem of exaggerating the claims and not knowing how to take care of their PS3, it was soon pretty obvious that the problem was somehow related to the 2.42 firmware. Or that whatever hardware problem that was around before 2.42, has decided to show up in force just around the time 2.42 was released – perhaps just a coincidence.
Now I had already updated to the 2.42 version before these reports were widespread, and like most users, I didn’t pay too much attention to it. My PS3 was still working, although I don’t use it very often (only for DVDs and Blu-ray). It was still working perfectly 2 days ago.
Today, I decided to watch Memento on Blu-ray. About 20 minutes into the film, the movie froze. The disc drive was reading like crazy, but I was still able to eject the disc. Upon inserting the disc again, it would play for a few minutes and then freeze up again. I decide to soft reset to the PS3 – bad mistake. Upon reset, the drive will no longer read any media, not Blu-ray or DVD. Nothing happens when the disc is inserted, not an error message or any drive spinning – it’s as if the PS3 operating system doesn’t even know that a drive exists anymore. I can still insert and eject the disc, but that’s all I can do with it. A full system restore taking 3 hours did nothing to help. So it’s either hope that the next firmware update will fix the issue, or it’s time to ring Sony tech support and get my PS3 repaired/exchanged.
Reading the various threads about this problem, it seems the problem is now very widespread. Nobody knows why only some PS3s are affected, and other aren’t. My PS3 was purchased in December last year, so it’s not a launch day console. As mentioned before, I haven’t used it like crazy, since I bought it for Blu-ray playback mainly (and the odd DVD). Some launch day consoles are affected, some are only a few weeks old. So it doesn’t look like it’s limited to one particular model, country or type of use. It could even be that an existing hardware problem exists, and that fw 2.42 somehow causes the problem to show up sooner. Who knows.
Luckily, my PS3 still under warranty (until December, that is), and I still have the receipts (as I had to keep it to redeem the free Blu-ray movies), so if I do go through the Sony tech support system, I won’t have to pay for the repair. Unfortunately, those without receipts or are out of warranty have already been made to pay $150 for what is clearly a Sony caused problem (due to their faulty 2.42 firmware). And this is not to mention the up to 7 weeks of wait while your PS3 is repaired, regardless of whether you had to pay $150 or not.
So what should you do to prevent/fix this problem? These tips might be helpful:
- Don’t upgrade to 2.42! Probably best to stay with 2.35, as 2.40 is a bit buggy as well (although 2.40 and 2.41 shouldn’t cause the problems I’ve described with the disc reading).
- If 2.42 is already installed, probably best to not use the PS3 until 2.43 or 2.50 is released if you already have 2.42 installed
- If you get the freezing problem, do a hard-reset (turn off the console using the back power switch) – some have had success with this, but be warned that doing this can’t be very good for the health of your system
- Doing a full (or quick) system restore seems to do nothing
- The next firmware update may fix the problem if you are willing to keep the useless black box until then, but if you contact Sony tech support, they will ask you to send the console in, which doesn’t sound like a problem that could be fixed through software (if it could, shouldn’t Sony have released a firmware update by now?). Probably best to just call Sony tech support
- If your PS3 is out of warranty or you don’t have the receipt anymore, then insist on Sony to fix this problem for free as some other users have already had this offered to them
I will keep you updated on what happens with my PS3.
