WARNING: DO NOT DOWLOAD UPDATES STRAIGHT FROM PS3 USE A USB STORAGE DEVICE

Ok last night about 3:00am EST I downloaded the new 2.20 update straight from of the internet using the PS3. Some how the download did'nt finish and because the PS network timed out not all of the file was completely downloaded. Then something stranger happened the PS3 started to install the corrupted file. About 13% into the install an error message came up. The PS3 tried to install it again and still only 13% install. It did it a total of 4x beforer a new error message came up that said, CONTACT COSTUMER SERVICE. I immediately began my web search to see if this was a problem that only I have encountered. It turns out that alot of PS3 owners have expireinced this problem. Unfortunately the only fix is to send it back to SONY. I also read that after having going thru all of this the best way to ensure that this does not happen again is to download the update to a USB storage device (I'll use my iPOD), plug it into the PS3 and install from there, that way when you download the update you can see the total file being completely downloaded. And Oh yea, make sure that if your PS3 is under warranty that you have the receipt, because it's $150 for them to repair or replace your PS3.

Thanks Tony for the info...

I was just about to do the update.

Fuck it now. 2.1 is fine with me.

Hmmm...my update downloaded and installed just fine around 10:45 last night. The machine restarted all by itself just like it always does.

Maybe I'll check tonight just to make sure...

Jason, petrified his saved Lego Star Wars data is lost

Hey Tony, thanks for the revealing info. I've ALWAYS done my PS3 updates with a USB flash drive (works smooth as silk), since I don't have my PS3 connected to the internet. Also, I don't usually do the latest update early on, just in case there are reports that the update has some 'bugs' to be worked out. That's why I haven't updated my A35 Toshiba HD-DVD player beyond the built-in 1.3 firmware, as DJfunk and others have said there are some 1080p/24 problems with the last 2.? update. The 1.3 works excellent.

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

Apparently, alot of people were tryng to get this update and the system just shut down, but it happend to me right in the middle of the download.

) ) ) ) ) ) ) lol . yo havent u heard ?? its the latest ticktick..ticktick..ticktick..ttick..tick..ticktick..ticktick..ticktick disc read error lol pos3 sucks i dont care what anybody says kuz 360 rules the gaming shit... sony rapes & cuts ur face. lol

[Post edited by masterblaster001 on Mar 25, 2008]

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It turns out that alot of PS3 owners have experienced this problem. Unfortunately the only fix is to send it back to SONY.

Ouch, sorry to hear that Tony.

I did the P$3 2.20 update late this afternoon without any problems so far, but I have been through the Sony returns process twice already so maybe someone up there is looking out for me...

Make sure you have a high speed connection via Cable/Uverse/Fios(NOT DSL) or the connection will take to long and time out.

You'll need the High Speed connection for BD Live features anyway, something for those that don't have such an Internet hookup to look into

It's BS that they don't include a default firmware that you can always go back to in case something like this happens, they need to include a recovery disc with the unit to revive it from the dead if the firmware gets corrupted.

Chalk this up as a learning experience I guess...

They make it a PITA because you need to wait for $ony to send you their "Special RMA Box" to return the BRICK(they do include prepaid UPS RED overnight shipping labels to send it to them), but it takes 2+ weeks processing time then only send it back UPS 3-day.

I offered to put up a credit card and request a cross shipment that might have had me a refurbished unit in only a few days, but they don't offer that type of deal.

You do need the dated sales receipt and all of the accessories(signal/Ethernet cables, ect..) to return or they will charge you for the missing items

I hope that you get a newer return unit that might include engineering improvements over the original one.

Good Luck !

Thanks VC, it's cool though. I still love my PS3 eventhough it's not working.

WOW, masterblaster went nuts.... Anyways, remote firmare on a computers always scares me. There has to be a reset to get over this issue without having to send it to SONY.

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WOW, masterblaster went nuts....

Yeah... I'm gonna pretend that post never happened.

ReaggieP, I wish there was but unfortunately there isn't.

hey T. i feel your pain buddy.

also think is dumb they dont include a way to revert incase of issues. darn, even apple does with their iphone. lol and the receipt thing well, thats another thing.

weird this happened to you T. since you like one of the bigggest Sony dudes i know.

-ps just got my 50th blu disc.

Hey Kuco, thanks man. The wife said something that was shocking. Why don't you just buy another one? But she was only kidding.

Ouch, that's weird that they would proceed with an install even though the download didn't pass the checksum. Mine downloaded in about 2 minutes and installed without issue once I got home today, but I feel your pain. I'd be pissed.

Next update I think I'll do it the safe way. BTW, I tried out the Internet streaming video thing with the built in browser. It doesn't work with the radio stations I tried, and doesn't work with Yahoo videos either. Works with youtube videos though, as if that's some sort of good thing... so I guess I wont be getting rid of TVersity anytime soon for steaming purposes. I didn't try anything else cause I just listened to music all night and didn't watch TV or movies at all.

[Post edited by Skyhawk on Mar 25, 2008]

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Anyways, remote firmware on a computers always scares me. There has to be a reset to get over this issue without having to send it to SONY

I don't think I would want to own a PC without a motherboard that supports some sort of BIOS recovery, this should be a no-brainer for anything that requires regular firmware updates to keep up with evolving technology.

Maybe $ony will learn their lesson and build some sort of recovery via a USB drive or a Bootable Disc into future hardware revisions or even future firmware updates.

$ony is going to scare away a lot of P$3 owners from doing any firmware updates when you realize that "Update=Brick", and if you are out of warranty, it's another $150 to fix.

Micro$oft extended the XBOX360 warranties to 3-years when they acknowledged there were problems with the consoles, maybe it's time for $ony to adopt a 3-year warranty as well.

And they really need to improve their RMA repair process as well

Is it not too much to ask for them to accept a credit card deposit and ship a replacement in 1 or 2 days, instead of a 5 day wait for a box, a 2 week wait for processing, and another 3 day shipping wait for their return to the customer :

Tony, I don't know how the PS3 works since I don't have one but couldn't you download the firmware update to a USB key through your PC or other device and re-install it from there?

Yeah you can Falcon, and from a disk too. You have a number of options for upgrading the firmware. But of course if you have your PS3 connected to the internet via wifi or the Ethernet port, you're going to do it the "easy" way, and just sit on the couch and press a button on the remote to upgrade. That's what I did, and luckily all went well. But I must admit, regardless if it's my HD DVD player or PS3, when it says "do not turn off player - upgrading" I get a bit paranoid, cause I know what will happen if the power goes off or something. I even shoo the cats out of the HD room in case they brush against the power button or somehow get behind my equipment and step on the power bar!

But that's a serious problem if the programmers for the PS3 didn't end the process when the download is corrupted (didn't pass the checksum), as there is a checksum on two levels - one for TCP/IP and another application level for a downloaded block. That's a pretty serious oversight IMO - and one they better fix for such an important process where your machine could get bricked!

I hear what you're saying but now that his PS3 may be "bricked" could he try re-installing the update via USB key so he doesn't have to send it to Sony for repair?

Hopefully he will be able to and save himself a headache and maybe some money.

Falcon, I tried what you suggested last night with my iPod and no success. I think the PS3 uses a flash memory system not sure but my PS3 is a shinny black brick at the moment. $150 is alot better than $499 so off to SONY it'll go.

Tony I know it's probably a long shot, but have you tried a complete system restore/reset as a last resort by turning it off, then holding your finger on the power until 3 beeps go off? If the confirmation menu comes up, perhaps you can go through with the 3 hour disk reformat and initial setup?

As I said though... it's probably a long shot.

There used to be a company out there that sent out firmware updates on disc to their consumers...I thought that was nice.

I downloaded my 2.20 around 5:00pm yesterday with no problems. Then I watched "i, robot" on Blu-ray for the first time - too bad so many stores show the SD DVD on their demos because it turns out there wasn't a scene in it that I haven't seen yet. Oh well. It looks and sounds good though.

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There used to be a company out there that sent out firmware updates on disc to their consumers...I thought that was nice.

Yea, that company would have been Toshiba, for their HD DVD players.

They have a product registration card you can mail in and they will send discs with firmware updates out when they are released.

I never signed up for the discs because I have a decent Internet connection, but from what I understand, if Toshiba's firmware update gets corrupted, you now have an HD DVD "Brick" instead of a Blu-Ray one.

Toshiba it seems, forgot to include a recovery option too.


There has to be some way of dodging that $150 charge to get an UN-Bricked P$3 back from Sony, it really sounds like it was a problem with the server at Sony's end.

Tony, I would keep insisting that you followed their update procedure per the Owners manual, and insist that it was THEIR firmware update process that Bricked your P$3, by no fault of your own.

If they get enough complaints, they are asking for a class action suit to be brought against them, maybe they will waive the $150 fee to avoid the bad press.

Tony I'm pretty sure you can fight that $150 charge. After all you were downloading THEIR firmware updare from their own site. You did nothing wrong and they can't blame it on your internet service.

As Skyhawk mentioned, there should have been a couple of "check sums" in the software to prevent this from happening. Like I said I'm sure you can fight it and get your PS3 fixed for free or maybe they can give you a disk to bootup from.

I'm on phone SONY now Falcon, believe me when I tell you that it's an up hill battle, but who knows maybe.........SONY JUST SAID THEY'LL FIX IT FOR FFFFFFFFFFFFRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Woooooo hoooooooooooo! NICE!

Great news Tony!

I'm glad they see on the problem this way. Hopefully they have also changed the way the unit handles firmware upgrades in the future to avoid this happening again.

Hey, THANK YOU GUYS for all of the support and ideas in trying to remedy my situation. Henning, I told them they should provide soom sort of solution for this problem. Eventhough I would prefer and dts update but an update to correct this is more paramount.

[Post edited by tony1569 on Mar 26, 2008]

I feel for ya, Tone. That sucks...BIG TIME!

I did my update early yesterday (12:30 PM Mountain) via WiFi. Thank God I had no problems.

Skyhawk:

Good suggestions...System Restore/reset, etc.

[Post edited by wolfen on Mar 26, 2008]

So what's the time frame for your fixed PS3, a week? Two weeks?

They said the turn around time is 2 weeks. 3 all together including the time it takes to get the coffin. I remember Video Cipher, explaining this awhile ago as well.

Tony, great news on the free fix, but their RMA process still sucks, 3 to 3 1/2 weeks total is unacceptable.

One more reason that I'm glad I have HD DVD as well as Blu-Ray, so if one breaks I won't go into a complete 1080p DETOX.

Still I can't wait for Blu Ray player prices to come down so I can afford to have a backup for my PS3, after two trips out for repair it gets kind of ridiculous having paid $499 for something that spends more time in the repair shop than at home working properly.

Not sure where you are located, but the Sony RMA center I dealt with both times is in Texas, so the closer you are to the repair center, the shorter the wait time due to shipping.

It took me 5 days to get the return coffin each time, although they sent it UPS 3-day.

I still don't understand why they paid for UPS RED overnight shipping for the return, only to wait 2+ weeks for processing and only shipping it back UPS 3-day.

Oh, and you have to have someone 18 or older there to sign for the return unit when it arrives, they won't just leave it on your doorstep.

Something to consider when you get the return tracking number to make sure someone is at home to sign for it the day it is due to arrive

[Post edited by VideoCipher on Mar 26, 2008]

Cipher, I live in Baltimore and hopefully they have a repair center near me. The Panasonic BD50 will replace my PS3 for BD playback. I was in BB today and I asked a sales rep when was the BD50 arriving and he told me he did'nt know but said if I was looking for a BD player the PS3 is the best. I just smiled and said no thank you.

somebody tell master blaster he need to get to preschool,,,they called,,,he,s late.

Worked fine for me, but if it is a widespread problem the warning is appreciated!

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Cipher, I live in Baltimore and hopefully they have a repair center near me.

Tony, I'm up in the Wilmington/Philly Metro area, about 80 miles North from you, and the Sony returns around here still go to Laredo, Texas.

I think your RMA experience will be very similar to what I went through.

Good Luck with it, just make sure you have someone 18 or older home to sign for the return, UPS tries 3 times then sends the box back to Texas if they don't get an Adult signature...

Well fellas I just received my box today. She's all packed up and ready to go off to Laredo, TX. I hope I get it back in 2 weeks.

Best of luck to you Tony, I hope they do the 2.20 firmware update before they send the replacement, so there is little chance of lightning striking twice in the same place.

The P$3 2.20 update does seem to have some neat features, such as streaming games to a PSP, but I have not tried the streaming a Blu Ray movie to the PSP yet.

Just have to wait until they get enough discs that feature BD Live content out there to see how the Internet connection works with the BD-J features.

Just don't watch the calendar now, the 2 weeks goes much faster if you aren't constantly thinking about it.

I hope they 2.20 as well. The wife is going to ship it of from her job tomorrow. Thanks Cipher, you have been very helpful. i'm still ordering my monthly fix of movies and video games from AMAZON. MLB 2K8 is on order for the upcomming baseball season, but I just can't wait to get my PS3 back.

Just got off the phone with SONY and my PS3 is ready for UPS to ship it to me.

After I updated my 40 GB PS3 to the 2.20 firmware via the net2 weeks ago, it borked my Blu-ray/DVD/game playback. Not a single disk would play...just got the little spirally loading icon...and nothing. Ended up calling Sony and had to get the while unit exchanged. the good news was that from the time I received the coffin and sent it off for repairs to the day I got it back was exactly one week. Needless to say, when I updated to firmware 2.30 I did NOT do it through the net.

Pretty sad if you ask me. The funny thing is that with all the complaints about RROD on the XBOX 360, I'ved had my XBOX 360 for a year and a half with not as single glitch since day one. The PS3? Barely 4 months old.

Just got a 60 gig replacement today all is well. Depending on what PS3 you own dictates how long you'll have to wait. Mine was 2 weeks to the day.

Tony what firmware version did it come with?

It came with v2.2, but I could'nt get my user profiles on the new one until I updated to v2.3. Needless to say I was very apprehensive about the whole process. I turned everything off in the room along with every computer connected to my network.

EDIT: It runs very quiet, much more silent than my last unit.

[Post edited by tony1569 on Apr 17, 2008]