According to a Reddit user, there’s a new PSN messaging bug that is causing PlayStation 4s to lock up, and need a factory reset.
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The user writes:
“There is a new glitch that basically bricks *should say freezes or locks up* your console and forces you to factory reset it. Even deleting the message from the mobile app doesn’t work. It happened to me during Rainbow Six: Siege. A player from the other team used a dummy account to send the message and crashed my entire team. We all have had to factory reset. Only one of our guys wasn’t affected and he has his messages private.”
As noted, the user uses the term “bricks,” incorrectly. A system bricking would apply that a factory reset wouldn’t fix it, and that it would need to be sent to Sony. Instead, the user should have used “freezes” or “locks up.”
Semantics aside, a similar report was also posted on Reddit a few days ago. It reads as follows:
“I was playing a game, when suddenly receiving a PM from someone I don’t know, with 2 symbols in it. My PS4 froze and gives me the ce-36329-3 error. I can go on other users in my PS4 account, but not the one I received the pm on.”
The second Reddit user, “Pindabass,” notes that they used another account and sent the same mystery symbols and it froze again, seemingly confirming that the personal message was at the heart of the issue.
According to Sony’s official support site, the message “CE-36329-3 means “an error has occurred with the system software.”
However, Sony’s proposed solution doesn’t help with this particular issue, but a ResetERA user has seemingly found a workaround. Said user advises that if one of these symbol messages are sent to you, to simply turn off your console and then sign into the PlayStation phone app and delete the message. From here, press the power button for 7 seconds to make the PS4 enter Safe Mode, and then proceed to Rebuild the Database. This should fix the problem without factory resetting your system.
At the moment, it’s unclear how many systems this bug/glitch/hack is inflicting, but it seems like it a big enough problem that Sony will need to address it sooner rather later. Of course, if you see an account doing this, report it.
MP1ST, which first reported on the development, has said it has contacted Sony Interactive Entertainment about the issue. At the time of writing this, an official statement has not been provided.
In the meanwhile, it may be a good idea to set your messages to private to make sure you avoid this mess.
