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July 2nd, 2008 @ 13:42
A bevy of threads has popped up on the US PlayStation boards showing Firmware 2.40 is causing what appears to be a slew of lock-ups. Look here, here and here.
This thread on Eurogamer also complains of the same thing: after installing the update, some are experiencing an irrecoverable freeze at the “waves” part of the system’s boot-up.
We’re contacting Sony now.
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July 2nd, 2008 at 1:48 pm
hard reset would most likely fix it. Are they all 60GB modes or all types?
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:52 pm
That EG thread looks like 60Gb, innit.
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:56 pm
That EG thread also says that a hard reset doesn’t fix it.
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:57 pm
@ morriss
How do perform a hard reset?
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Really? Haven’t had to read. What do the US boards say? 60GB too?
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:59 pm
60Gb and 80Gb from the look of it.
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:01 pm
The PS3 itself hasn’t frozen, but Bourne froze mid cut-scene this morning. It’s a good job it wasn’t MGS4, or I’d probably just thought Hideo was playing around, and it’d jump back on any second
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Any reports so far that the “Euro 40GB” Model is affected by these freezes too?
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I haven’t seen anything, nope.
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Hard reset is holding down the power button for about 15 seconds a start-up I think.
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:59 pm
I have a 40GB version. But I’m still considering to skip this update for a few days or weeks.
The only feature of the the 2.4 update I’m interested in anyways is the “trophy-system”. And before my 3 games (U:DF, GTA4 & MGS4) suport this system there really is no need for me to update.
July 2nd, 2008 at 3:02 pm
I’m pretty sure there’s an alternative reset method for PS3s to restore the firmware back to base install and it’s not the “holding the power button” method. I’d have to root through my manual but I’m pretty much 100% sure there’s a system restore function.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a patch for anything, systems, games or dashboards that doesn’t cause at least some machines to have a headfit. Still, doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence for tonight
July 2nd, 2008 at 3:03 pm
@ morriss
Thanks for the info!
I used this methode quite a few times when my i-browser crashed.
So THIS is called “hard resetting”.
July 2nd, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Interestingly my 60gb decided that during the update an error had occurred about 38% or something. Gave itself 60 seconds to restart the installation and it then proceeded to work fine.
Haven’t actually had a chance to play a game on there yet though.
July 2nd, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Could not resist!
:) 
Just updated to 2.4 an hour ago. Everything runs smoothly.
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:16 pm
My review of 2.40: a big fat meh.
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:21 pm
“My review of 2.40: a big fat meh.”
Never! This is really the most surprising news I’ve heard all week.
No, really.
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:23 pm
@ morriss
Really? *confused*
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:29 pm
morriss doesn’t like it because it didn’t turn the XMB in to an identical copy of the 360 dash.
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:31 pm
The only real annoyances I see people mentioning at the moment is that there’s only one game that supports the XMB custom sound tracks, a couple of games with trophies and a few games don’t have the in game XMB.
[Edit - other than the bricked machines, but they’re obviously very rare]
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:43 pm
@ ecu
I, on the other hand, wouldn’t like it if it DID!
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:53 pm
That’s true ecu. In fact, I wish the PS3 was the 360. I wish the Wii was the 360. I wish I was the 360.
Psychotext on the other hand, understands. Also, it takes too long to load - why does it need to load anyway? - and is very clunky and slow.
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:01 pm
What’s clunky and slow? The XMB is fast and brilliant, lacking features. The 360 is slow, awfully designed, clunky, has lag and looks rubbish, but feature rich. A compromise would be nice.
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:15 pm
When I loaded SSHD and browsed the XMB it was as though there were frame rate problems. It also took about 30 seconds for all the menu options to “load-in”.
I’ve never had a problem with dashboard features loading in when I bring up the blade in-game.
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:16 pm
ecu: He’s talking about the in game one. There seem to be some issues with it right now.
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Yeah I am. The XMB itself is super-fast which is why the lag in the in-game XMB is so noticeable.
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Sony has instructed Playstation Forum Moderators to mass delete threads in a effort to control P.R. due the the serious issues regarding 2.40 update.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Kotaku’s reporting that 2.40 has been pulled by Sony…
http://kotaku.com/5021575/sony-pulls-ps3-240-firmware-after-reported-problems
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:37 pm
New story at the top of the page.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:42 am
“Sony has instructed Playstation Forum Moderators to mass delete threads in a effort to control P.R. due the the serious issues regarding 2.40 update.”
You know that for a fact? Or are you assuming that seeing as there’s not many threads about it Sony MUST be deleting them?
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:38 am
I emailed gameconsolegirl last night asking for more info but no reply so I guess it’s bollocks.
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:43 am
I contacted SCEA last night but got no response to a few voicemails. No one else did from the look of it, either. The only official line are those two comment on the US blog.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:46 am
“A bevy of threads has popped up on the US PlayStation boards showing Firmware 2.40 is causing what appears to be a slew of lock-ups. Look here, here and here.”
The last two threads mentioned turned out to be false alarms. The first one is 80 pages but the vast majority of posts are people saying “Mine’s fine”.
Seems like this has all been blown a bit out of proportion.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:48 am
I would’ve agreed if Sony hadn’t pulled the update. They must’ve been getting at least a reasonable number of complaints in order for them to do that, otherwise it’d have been better to stick with it and replace the bricked machines.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:48 am
Yeah, I saw that on NeoGaf. It must have been reasonably serious for them to actually pull it.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:51 am
Yes it’s odd they’ve pulled it despite a lot of evidence pointing to the fact problems are few and far between. Perhaps the amount of coverage it’s getting has made them paranoid?
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:52 am
People need to realise that 11 million PS3 owners don’t all post on the internet.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:54 am
Thing is… even if it only affects half a percent of downloaders you’re still talking about Sony potentially having to deal with thousands of broken consoles.
That’s kinda expensive.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:55 am
Castellan: Maybe the Americans got a lot of phone complaints. You don’t yank a global console software update because you’re paranoid. At least, I hope you don’t.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:57 am
Bringing up the blade in game stuff on 360 is frequently slow and shite for me - particularly when Live is overloaded - and has noticeable screen tearing as it comes up. Not that I can compare and contrast with the PS3 yet as the firmware was pulled before I could try it :).
Seems Sony copied MS too much and took onboard the firmware which bricks consoles approach too :D.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:01 am
I think you pull it to stop it getting into the mainstream press, to stop a whole load of returns, but mainly to isolate the problem before it gets out of hand. It’s a pretty sensible thing to do until you’re 100% sure you know what it is.
There must be a testing department in Sony getting a whole load of grief this morning though!
I ahve to admit though, I am surprised that they don’t do a phased roll out? Wierd.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:05 am
Yep, agree. They did the right thing.