SCEE has sent us the official statement on firmware 2.41.
“The PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) system software version 2.41 is now available for update from July 8, 2008. With this update, we have fixed the problem that prevented a limited number of PS3s from activating properly after updating to version 2.40, when certain system administrative data were contained on the HDD.
For those users who have updated to version 2.40 and have experienced the problem that XMB™(XrossMediaBar) is not appearing, or no images are displaying on the screen, please contact Customer Service.
We have confirmed that for those users who have successfully updated to the version 2.40 and are able to activate the PS3 system, this problem will not occur on your PS3.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused you and appreciate your understanding and continued support.”
What?
Comment by Dan — Jul 8, 2008 @ 10:42 am
yes 2.41
It doesnt help those who got bricked consoles of which I am not one of them.
Still… best they get the super stardust HD 4.00 patch up asap as thats the only game with trophies at the moment!!!!!
Comment by komp — Jul 8, 2008 @ 10:47 am
I did manage to crash the web browser a few times, but 2.40 was otherwise peachy for me. Feel sorry for anyone you bricked their PS3, anyone have this happen and have to get Sony support? How was that, how did they get you running again?
I really want to know how likely this is to happen again, imagine if an update bricked loads of PS3’s !!
Comment by Mr Jimmy — Jul 8, 2008 @ 10:49 am
@komp, I’m not going to lose my trophies am I? I got some tough ones nailed, that was my Saturday..
Comment by Mr Jimmy — Jul 8, 2008 @ 10:50 am
@Mr Jimmy
Your trophies remain untouched
Comment by Baj — Jul 8, 2008 @ 10:56 am
Oh god damnit…..
Took the plunge and upgraded to 2.40 lastnight with the fear of making a giant paperweight.
Was really chuffed it worked without issue and then hear you go releasing the official 2.41 and knock my triumph from under me
Comment by JohnSketch — Jul 8, 2008 @ 11:08 am
FOR ANYONE WHO HAS A BRICKED v2.40 CONSOLE:
In most cases, you can resolve this by either:
1 (If you have a spare compatible HDD) - Swap the hard drive out, let the console format the new one and then swap back, you will have the previous working firmware
2 (If you don’t have a spare HDD) Take yours out, format it with your PC, then pop it back in the PS3 and format it there. This will obviously mean losing all your data.
Comment by TheShirts — Jul 8, 2008 @ 11:26 am
I wonder which “system administrative data” caused the problem? It’s clearly something only a limited number people had installed.
I didn’t have a problem personally, 2.40 worked fine for me, but I’m just wondering what it was that made the PS3 vunerable to this crash.
Was it data from a certain game, a custom theme, blu-ray movie data, music data, website cache, a certain setting, a bluetooth device, what?
We’ll probably never know…
Comment by Apnomis — Jul 8, 2008 @ 11:28 am
Installed 2.41 an noticed there seems to no be an option to shut the console down after the update is completed, allowing for an unattended install.
One little niggle that has been with me since themes were introduced is still there. We can change the colour of the background to most colours except black, why? Its obviously avaliable on the system as when left as original the background turns black in the evening/night, its just not selectable by the user as a permanent background colour.
Other than that, great update guys and thanks for listening to what owners want.
Comment by Otaku Punk — Jul 8, 2008 @ 11:30 am
@8, you can bet it was first party though, they’d be quick enough to tell us if a third party dev was responsible
Comment by TheShirts — Jul 8, 2008 @ 11:39 am
Re: Mr Jimmy.
I too noticed an increase in the browser crashing. Did it twice to me last night, most annoying! Hopefully this will have been addressed. Other than that no problems.
Cheers guys, girls.
Comment by Si Doob — Jul 8, 2008 @ 11:52 am
Liking the new Platinum Trophy graphic - another weekend of SSHD should get me there…
Comment by Mr Jimmy — Jul 8, 2008 @ 12:46 pm
Thx Baj / Si Doob
Comment by Mr Jimmy — Jul 8, 2008 @ 12:47 pm
@9: Set a black background image — problem solved.
Comment by Zta — Jul 8, 2008 @ 1:07 pm
@MrJimmy - I’m two away from platinum-trophy-heaven. Those last two are super tough.
Comment by reakt — Jul 8, 2008 @ 1:25 pm
@sketch
anyone tell you patience is a virtue?
i cant say i blame you though cause i was expecting this updaye to take at least a year:)
Comment by manley — Jul 8, 2008 @ 1:57 pm
@ALL
does anyone know what games support the custom playlist thingy?
Comment by manley — Jul 8, 2008 @ 2:04 pm
so this will give WipEout HD how?? useless crippled features they can give us.. but a decent game that everybody wants?? Of course not!
Comment by !morec@ke — Jul 8, 2008 @ 2:07 pm
@ Mr Jimmy & reakt
I too noticed the fancy new Platinum “World Cup” graphic, it’s a big improvement over the rather naff pink crown used originally!
However, you might have to wait a bit longer to get your hands on one. As far as I’m aware Platinum’s only count for “major” titles - i.e. retail released games. Unfortunately PSN only games like SSHD do not qualify for Platinum trophies!
Seems fair though when you think about it, SSHD only has 16 trophies so it would be considerably easier to get a Platinum Trophy compared to something like Warhawk which apparently has 56!
Comment by Apnomis — Jul 8, 2008 @ 2:14 pm
[...] Firmware 2.41 Announcement - ThreeSpeech Related [...]
Pingback by PS3 Firmware: 2.41 is live | Sarcastic Gamer — Jul 8, 2008 @ 2:35 pm
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments [...]
Pingback by 2.40 bricking caused by ’system administrative data’ on hard disk | J Playstation — Jul 8, 2008 @ 3:05 pm
@14
But then you lose the animated wave in the background, the main feature of the original theme’s background.
Comment by Otaku Punk — Jul 8, 2008 @ 3:23 pm
@8
I would say that is the other way around
If it was a first party they can tell ,if it was a third party they CANT tell
Comment by fersis — Jul 8, 2008 @ 3:25 pm
@19
Can you not just turn the brightness right down?
Comment by mrsatansdojo — Jul 8, 2008 @ 4:09 pm
[...] Link [...]
Pingback by According to SCEE FW 2.40 were caused by not having Admin Privileges. « Everything Playstation — Jul 8, 2008 @ 4:19 pm
Updated to 2.41 and was greeted with the following error:
“Cannot load. The correct disk was not found”.
I quickly changed my pants and rang Sony CS. I was told that the HDD contacts might have became ‘dirty’ - bearing in-mind I’ve just booted the damn thing up - and that the PS3 was having problems reading the disk. After I poo-poo’d this suggestion, I took the executive decision of powering the unit off/on. This fix it.
Am I the only one who has had a problem?
Comment by BlueGene — Jul 8, 2008 @ 4:21 pm
[...] culprit behind the firmware controversy turned out to be the result of an issue with the software which “prevented a limited number of PS3s from activating properly after updating to version [...]
Pingback by Firmware 2.41 released, world keeps spinning at That VideoGame Blog — Jul 8, 2008 @ 4:22 pm
@22
I had this with 2.36 and had NO problem with the 2.40 update..
Comment by PaxPacis — Jul 8, 2008 @ 4:41 pm
Just wanted to say, 2.41 rules, even if I have no trophies yet, but ppl messaging every 10 min is a pain lulz
Comment by ThreeSpeechlover — Jul 8, 2008 @ 4:52 pm
@ 9 Otaku Punk - under ’system update’ the option to shut down was still there, doing it now.
also since 2.40 my external 60Gb drive is acting up, but seems to work fine when connected to my pc.. hmmmm..
will test it again once update is complete.
Comment by mobiletone — Jul 8, 2008 @ 5:04 pm
@tone
It’s those darned network pixies playing with your hardware
Comment by JohnSketch — Jul 8, 2008 @ 5:15 pm
yay, seems to be working fine now. that was weird.
maybe i shouldn’t us it as a coffee mug coaster
Comment by mobiletone — Jul 8, 2008 @ 5:30 pm
@ mrsketch - i have picked them all out and fed them to my ginger tom.
damn pixies.
*goes off to import Amy Winehouse CDs*
Comment by mobiletone — Jul 8, 2008 @ 5:35 pm
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments [...]
Pingback by 2.40 bricking caused by ’system administrative data’ on hard disk | Game Revolver — Jul 8, 2008 @ 5:40 pm
[...] Computer Entertainment Europe has sent ThreeSpeech the following statement regarding firnware 2.40 bricking certain Playstation 3’s. “The [...]
Pingback by Why firmware 2.40 bricked PS3’s | Talk Playstation.com — Jul 8, 2008 @ 5:41 pm
[...] Source [...]
Pingback by 2.41 is Live! and Why 2.40 caused some PS3 users trouble | LittleBIGPlanet NATION - We Play.Create.Share ALL Day — Jul 8, 2008 @ 6:05 pm
I don’t understand how firmware v2.4 affected only a “limited” number of PS3 units, when they’re all the same design and architecture, give or take a few SKU differences here and there.
I think Sony were simply LUCKY with pulling f/w v2.4 quick enough from PSN, before it bricked everyone’s console!
Comment by Zed Zee — Jul 8, 2008 @ 6:10 pm
[...] Three Speech var dc_AdLinkColor = ‘#960000′ ; var dc_UnitID = 14 ; var dc_PublisherID = 45730; [...]
Pingback by Sony: It’s Your Fault 2.40 Broke Your System — Jul 8, 2008 @ 6:22 pm
[...] ThreeSpeech hat von SCEE ein offizielles Statement bzgl. der heute veröffentlichten überarbeiteten Firmware v2.41 zugeschickt. Teilweise hatten User nach dem Update auf v2.40 erhebliche Probleme. “The PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) system software version 2.41 is now available for update from July 8, 2008. With this update, we have fixed the problem that prevented a limited number of PS3s from activating properly after updating to version 2.40, when certain system administrative data were contained on the HDD. [...]
Pingback by Firmware v2.41 - Das offizielle Statement | PS3 Blog — Jul 8, 2008 @ 6:28 pm
@35 . . . you can read, right?
“With this update, we have fixed the problem that prevented a limited number of PS3s from activating properly after updating to version 2.40, when certain system administrative data were contained on the HDD.”
. . . it was not hardware problem
Comment by novcze — Jul 8, 2008 @ 6:43 pm
[...] Fuente –> Threespeech [...]
Pingback by Sony explica la causa de los problemas del Firmware v2.40 « My_P.s.p Weblog — Jul 8, 2008 @ 6:45 pm
[...] able to update to 2.40 without a hitch, Sony assures that you won’t pick up the problem anymore. Three Speech Firmware 2.41 announcement __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. [...]
Pingback by Sony explains what happened with 2.40 - Xbox 360 Forum — Jul 8, 2008 @ 6:47 pm
I had the issue of the XMB not loading up last night but after 3 hours of stress it decided to work again. I think 2.40 was very unstable and could have these issues arise at any time, I don’t think anybody had a good install. I thought mine had installed fine but fear it was just a time bomb counting down.
Not tried anything on 2.41 yet, hopefully this update will be fine.
I’d like to know what the conflicting software was. If it was a game there is a good chance I own it, if its a setting then I should perhaps be thinking of switching it off.
I have a 60GB from launch and I’m not running Linux so I am somewhat confused as to what could be on my HDD that would conflict with 2.40fw enough for the PS3 to briefly have the issues reported by people whose PS3 had bricked on install?
Come on Sony, people should know more details about this.
Comment by oz209 — Jul 8, 2008 @ 8:10 pm
I was using 2.4 just fine on my 60gb, it’s brilliant! SSHD is an awsome game, I bought it just for trophies and is worth every penny. Messaging people in-game is fantastic! Throw in built in wireless and free access and the PS3 goes from strength to strength! HOWEVER, which games [If any] work with the custom soundtracks?! I know in SSHD you can play your own music through the in-game menu, but not using the XMB!
Comment by THL — Jul 8, 2008 @ 10:12 pm
Anyone experienced the following issue?
I had 8 trophies this evening. I earnt two more. I counted them in the trophies section. I then scrolled across to friends and viewed my “gamercard” which still said I only had 8. I went back into trophies and checked i had ten (which I did) but still only 8 on the card.
I switched my PS3 off and then went back into trophies where I got the “Synchronising Trophies” message and then checked my card which had then updated to ten. It’s no biggy but I thought it would have updated automatically each time I earnt a trophie.
Comment by Chris Ackroyd — Jul 8, 2008 @ 10:51 pm
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments [...]
Pingback by 2.40 bricking caused by ’system administrative data’ on hard disk | Your Game Blog — Jul 8, 2008 @ 11:30 pm
Chris, I found the easiest way to have this data synchronize is to just compare trophies with another person. Works like a charm.
Comment by Paulmichael — Jul 9, 2008 @ 12:39 am
how does the xmb work what games does it work for?
Comment by tayroc — Jul 9, 2008 @ 1:35 am
@26:
That’s happened to me like the last 4 firmware updates in a row. A power cycle (usually having to actually poke at the power button on the console front) has remedied it every time.
Comment by Haterducks — Jul 9, 2008 @ 2:52 am
@TheShirts — Jul 8, 2008 @ 11:26 am
You cannot swap back a previous system drive. Once you’ve formatted a new drive, your PS3 will _not_ be able to read the old drive again.
That is, unless you reformat the old drive, but then you won’t be able to read the new drive any more, and the data on the old drive is lost anyway.
Basically, for those people who were half-bricked by 2.40, there’s no way of rescuing your data.
Comment by Dave — Jul 9, 2008 @ 3:20 am
@ 36
Yeah I found as well that I had to synchronize my trophy collection before they all showed in my profile. Hopefully it synchronizes automatically, if you wait long enough.
Comment by Ludoman — Jul 9, 2008 @ 8:17 am
[...] Fuente: threespeech.com [...]
Pingback by | BloG KannY | 2oo7/2oo8 | — Jul 9, 2008 @ 8:57 am
@37 [Zed Zee]:
(Repeat of post in “Sony’s official statement on firmware 2.4″ thread)
Not every PS3 will contain the same files on the hard drive as everybody updates their firmware revision to a later release upon different days at different times & perhaps skipping one or more revisions along the way. You may well have upgraded to every subsequent firmware release, but another user may have jumped from, say, version 1.60 (or earlier) to 2.40, without anything in-between. Some users even visit the PlayStation Store in a different region [so I believe ;)] & download content that may contain characters & symbols not found on their native console that could cause issues.
Not every PS3 owner has the same set of game titles & the associated “save game” data. Different PS3 consoles will have downloaded different PlayStation Store content (videos, themes, wallpapers, music, and so on).
Some people may never have visited the PlayStation Network Store or even played an online game! Some consoles have had one (or more) Linux variant(s) installed. Some do not.
One PS3 console may only be used to watch Blu-ray movies titles (that store data on the hard drive), whereas another PS3 console may never have played any Blu-ray movies at all.
Not everybody has used the “Network” / “Information Board” &/or the integral Web Browser, or even the “Friends List” messaging functions. The content on any of the many millions of possible web sites available that could be visited may well still be resident on the console’s hard drive.
A number of consoles will have had PlayStation Eye, SingStar microphones, third party keyboards, PSP console(s), and/or any number of other USB devices, USB hubs, and/or memory card readers plugged into them. Each of these devices requires hardware driver support that will create different files on the console’s hard drive. Some consoles may never have had any USB peripherals attached (apart from the USB-to-SIXAXIS controller recharge cable).
Bluetooth device configurations may exist on one console, but not on another.
Consoles that may have ‘crashed’ previously may have left temporary system files on the hard drive that were not deleted as the system was not closed down properly.
All these examples of “system administrative data” form the basis of an extensive test plan that cannot possibly encompass all the permutations that may be encountered without taking many years to plan, formulate, execute, & review..
Sony will, I presume, engage a “best efforts” basis in testing a vast majority of typical installations with firmware revisions, but it is impractical to assume that they can make provision for absolutely every possible case of every perceivable combination of a console’s hard drive contents.
To their credit, they acted quickly in removing the offending firmware (2.40) update file. The decision to do so will not have been taken likely, not least due to the backlash they would receive & the impact to their reputation & revenue (having to re-visit the code, re-test to find the fault(s), re-code & provide remedial action, re-test, & re-issue the firmware to their download servers), but this has to be balanced against the damage to the organisation (and the associated costs in compensation) if they failed to take action.
The re-issue of the firmware (2.41) happened in less than a week (spread across a weekend & a national holiday period in the US), throughout all global regions (with issues relating to localised language support). I think they should be commended on their turn-around time instead of being harangued for the initial issue.
Granted, everybody remembers something that is faulty & everybody is entitled to criticise actions (or lack of them) if they are a consumer who has paid for a service that is not delivering as advertised. From my computer software testing background it is my opinion that it is better to deliver a week late & get the product right rather than deliver on time to the detriment of sufficient testing. In the long term the over-run of a week will be nowhere near as memorable as if the delivery schedule was kept but the product did not perform as expected. Nobody remembers a late product… Everybody remembers a broken one!
As I said previously, it just demonstrates why local regions may differ in functionality or supported features as the PS3 brand diversifies. The risk of having all regions fail concurrently would be too much to cope with in an acceptable timescale, and releasing new functionality to a limited audience (with a limited number of potential failures) is good, practical business sense.
I would not be surprised if there is not a firmware release of this scale for some time as I would hope lessons were learned regarding ensuring adequate testing is undertaken. To some extent I hope Sony did not bow to consumer pressures about constant enquiries about “in-game XMB” being available as rushing to meet a deadline can mean mistakes are made &/or corners are cut.
I do think they could have improved on communications channels to each registered PlayStation Network Id though, but to date it has not been the case that Sony makes consumers personally aware of every new firmware revision so it may not be in their business plan to advise the same set of customers in the event of a problem.
This aside, it does make you wonder what is going to be available in the next firmware milestone of version 3.00, and whether this will be the collaborative selection of features from the next 12 months of user comments.
Again, with hindsight, it is easy to criticise the apparent after-thought of the provision of the in-game XrossMediaBar integration, and/or or the support for game achievement ratings in the form of “Trophies”. We do not know if any foundations were laid prior to the first firmware release, or within subsequent firmware revisions have. It may well have only just been possible to deliver this functionality at this time due to the increased understanding of the set of tools the Sony representatives have had available to work with.
One thing is for sure, though… the PlayStation 4 is going to be worth waiting for!
BFN,
fp.
Comment by fanpages — Jul 9, 2008 @ 9:46 am
@fanpages: Very well said that man! (or whatever, delete as appropriate)
2.41 is a great jump in functionality, but there are problems - design problems that is:
* The new icons in the Air Paint theme are the WRONG COLOUR! (they’re green but should be turquoise).
* The music player idiom feels like a hack, and is rather unintuitive. As a new entry on the PS menu it would have been fine, but as an isolated entry in the XMB it’s unusable… and there’s no way to pause if the phone rings - (E-, see me, must do better etc)
* Reselecting the playing track no longer takes you back to the classic music player UI - this is a mistake. I have over 4000 tracks, so if I start playing track 3999 and then want to stop it I have to scroll up through 4000 entries to get top the new UI. Who was it at Sony poo-pooing scrolling UIs? :-O
* In light of this there should be a MUCH EASIER way to switch between “current” applications… and the obvious UI would be a new entry on the PS menu, and make the PS menu available from the XMB (rather than only in-game) again via the long-press. When more than one “application” is running (eg music+photo, game+music or browser+music) the PS menu would gain a “Tasks…” entry (or “Go to…”) which when selected lists the applications (”Music player”, “Browser”).
So in conclusion: Always allow PS menu (and only on long-press for consistency); Add “Go to…” entry and list of “current” applications, and hey presto, much better UI. And fix those Air Paint icons!
Comment by nemo — Jul 9, 2008 @ 12:22 pm
[...] see the good news … there is no good news. Speaking through semi-official community site Three Speech, SCEE has released a statement reiterating that PlayStation 3 update 2.41 (the good news) has been [...]
Pingback by Wacky Geeks » Blog Archive » PS3 2.40 bricking caused by ‘certain’ system admin data — Jul 9, 2008 @ 3:00 pm
I just got Firmware 2.41 and upon finishing the actual download, the screen went blank. I did not turn off my system but instead waited for someone to answer the phone at Sony CS. After a short wait, the guy told me to hit X to be sure I have confirmed the download, and then turn off the system completely. After I did this, he had me hold down the power button (Video reset) and the system booted up just fine! I was really freaked out at first but now this firmware is definitely good quality. The only thing I have noticed so far is the inability to see your currently downloading content while in the PS store (the XMB is not even accessible while browsing the store). Other than that, great update!
Comment by Rob — Jul 10, 2008 @ 1:41 am
You’re an idiot, right?
I mean to buy one in the first place and then actually defend them for not releasing a reliable BIOS update.
Do you know what customers in the IT industry would do if, say IBM, HP or Dell, released a dodgy BIOS that bricked customer’s servers/desktops/notebooks?
Yet, Sony, with their ever-blind loyal fanbase can, effectively, get away with releasing what was obviously a rushed out and poorly tested update.
How can they NOT test all conditions?! It’s a limited environment - it’s not a Windows 2003 server with RAID adapters, FCAL controllers, SMBIOS standards, IPMI management processors and so on.
It’s a frikkin’ console!
Comment by Zed Zee — Jul 12, 2008 @ 8:16 am
The 2.41 upgrade seems to have caused my PS3 to not be able to read CDs. I had no problems with the 2.40 upgrade. As soon as I upgraded to 2.41( and I mean within an hour afterwards), my Blu-Ray movies and all my PS3 games would lock up after a short period of time. I have tried multiple restores (including a hard reboot and full format) and nothing works. My PS3 isn’t completely “bricked”, but it might as well be. Luckily, my PS3 is still under warranty, and Sony says they’ll repair / replace it (their option, of course), but it’s going to suck having to wait a month or more to get my PS3 working again…
Anyone else having the same problem? I’ve seen some other people out there on the internet with the same problem, but it seems like the majority of people didn’t have problems with the 2.41 upgrade.
My console is a 60 GB model, bought Sep 2007. Maybe 2.41 just messes up certain models? If anyone else is having a similar problem, please speak up. If there’s enough people affected, maybe Sony will release another patch (God forbid! LOL)…
Comment by Ozzy1313 — Jul 12, 2008 @ 1:29 pm
[...] Firmware 2.41 announcement (Three Speech) [...]
Pingback by The Weekly Gaming News Digest 7th-11th July, 2008 | Sarcastic Gamer — Jul 12, 2008 @ 7:03 pm
@56 [Zed Zee]:
Before I reply fully… can you confirm you were calling me an idiot, or were you insulting somebody else?
To address your point about “what customers in the IT industry would do if, say IBM, HP or Dell, released a dodgy BIOS that bricked customer’s servers/desktops/notebooks”… yes, I am aware of the process; I used to install upgraded system software & apply patches for HP mainframe & mini computers across the UK.
“How can they NOT test all conditions?! It’s a limited environment - it’s not a Windows 2003 server with RAID adapters, FCAL controllers, SMBIOS standards, IPMI management processors and so on.”
Every environment is limited. As I mentioned, if you wish every possible permutation of every potential condition to be tested, then don’t moan if the release process takes more than a few months to complete.
Interesting you should compare a Sony video games hardware device to a Microsoft plug & pray… fun & games machine, though.
I think you’ll find the technology within the PS3 is on a par with that within some hardware servers capable of running Windows 2003 costing several thousands of pounds more.
I didn’t upgrade to firmware 2.40; I waited until a majority of others had tested it for me.
I don’t consider that stance to be indicative of the actions of an idiot.
If you disagree, I’m sure you’ll let me know.
I was not defending Sony’s inability to release a firmware upgrade that did not work, I was congratulating them on the turn-around time to fix the issue (rather than, say, Microsoft who would roll-out a new patch with the next monthly update).
“Over”.
—
@57 [Ozzy1313]:
The swap-out for a refurbished console (with a new exterior case, if you are lucky), should only take a few days; a week at most.
Hope you are not without it too long.
BFN,
fp.
Comment by fanpages — Jul 14, 2008 @ 10:53 am
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