Firmware update might be bricking PS3’s

Sony pulled firmware update 4.45 this morning after a good number of reports that the download was bricking PS3 consoles.

According to industry website MCV, the update causes consoles to stop and freeze up at the XMB menu on the dashboard. In an odd twist, there are even reports that PS3’s have become completely unresponsive thanks to the ‘update’ and will not even turn on when the power button is pressed.

Sony yanked the file as soon as the issues started to be widely reported on the company’s forums and confirmed that they are “investigating” matters. This doesn’t exactly help anyone who’s had the update applied and can’t access their machines. As far as future patches, it’s also unclear as to how affected PS3 owners might be able to apply them since their consoles are not able to get past the XMB (or in some cases even power on) and therefor cannot connect to the internet.

We’ll have the latest on this as soon as anything else develops, but in the meantime, if you see update 4.45 for some reason – don’t download it.

Source: MCV