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Topic: PS4 freezes and takes very long time to load (Hard drive is likely culprit)

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yaro0707

Hello, PlayStation community.
I have had a problem for months now. It's quite confusing because it seems to get better until I shut the system off....

Pretty much on the day after I downloaded Detroit: Become Human the PS4 started freezing. For Fortnite it was the worst, some matches the Battle Bus would have already kicked me out by the time I got out of the loading screen. This continually happened for months and months.

This kept happening, except that the confusing part is that after a few matches the PS4 would actually get better and better. It would somehow load faster, as if the hard drive just needed time to spin up or the PS4 needed to heat up. I've kept getting the error code "CE-36329-3", so much that I've memorized this specific error code. I often get this not when a game crashes but rather when I turn the system back on... strange, right? This continued for months.

Today after the system told me the storage is corrupted about a dozen times and told me that Fortnite was corrupted and I had to delete it, the system crashed and gave me "The Blue Line of Death". It wouldn't turn on, as if it was no longer connected to the TV. The blue line of death came and then it'd just turn off again after a few minutes if I tried to turn the system back on. I've removed the hard drive already but do not know what to do next... Should I back it up and replace it? If so, how do I do that if I am unable to even turn the system fully on??

One thing to note here is that it's not an internet problem as it happened in games that do not require internet, like Detroit: Become Human. It's also important to note that it's not a problem with consistent connections. It's with loading. One example would be that the Fortnite map would be hard to load. When I drop, the buildings would look... fuzzy. As if in between being not there and fully loaded. This being fixed could take anywhere from a few seconds to a whole minute.

One last thing to note is that the PS4 was not used for about 4 months last year for reasons I would not like to specify. This happened throughout the summer of 2019 and ended in late September. Perhaps dust collected in the hard drive and I'll have to use compressed air to remove it?

I've tried unplugging it, waiting 2 minutes, and then plugging it into a different outlet as suggested. I've tried rebuilding the database and I've tried initializing it. It simply doesn't work... Another peculiar thing about this problem is that it seems to get better after initializing but then after I turn it off, I'd turn it back on sometime later and I'd be right back where I started.

Please reach out if you know what might be happening, or if it happened to you and you got it fixed. I'm desperate here and have been searching Google about the issue endlessly to no avail.

Edited on by yaro0707

yaro0707

yaro0707

Update: I took the hard drive out, blew on it, and put it back in. It still loads the same (taking like double the time it should) but at least I can get into the menu and not just stare at a black screen.

Still looking for answers on how to fix it, the loading is still crappy.

Edited on by yaro0707

yaro0707

ralphdibny

@yaro0707 do you have ps plus? Id back up your saves either on the cloud or to a usb stick and then wipe the drive and reinstall everything. If it still isn't working then replace the drive if you are sure that is what's at fault

See ya!

yaro0707

@ralphdibny I've already initialized my ps4. It works great for the first day and then just goes back to how it was before.
I think the problem is in the hardware of the drive itself. I didn't know that you could back up onto the cloud using ps plus.
Thanks!

yaro0707

ralphdibny

@yaro0707 no worries! Yeah either that or usb stick, saves are probably the most important thing to back up because everything else can be set up again/redownloaded

See ya!

yaro0707

Today I turned it on and it was suddenly working PERFECTLY.
I played a few Fortnite matches (it has the most trouble loading it, therefore it's the more relevant test of improvement) and it still worked PERFECTLY.
I realized that maybe I'd just turn it off and then I'd be back where I started.

I waited about an hour and then switched my ps4 back on. Still worked PERFECTLY!!
After I took the hard drive out yesterday, I blew on it, plucked some dust out, and then I used a hand vacuum to get some dust out of the back vents that cool the machine.

Today I heard an unusual sound when I first turned it on: It was a mix between whirring and grumbling.
I was worried that this was it, that the machine had stopped working and it was about to shut off for good.
It did the exact opposite! It was totally fixed!

My theories on why it's suddenly fixed and why it seemed to get better and then get back where I started next time I turned it on:

Theory 1(most likely): The inside of the hard drive was full of dust. It could not spin right and it needed time to get started and spun up because there was a lot of dust in the way. When I pulled some out, the spinning part of it had enough cleared to clear the rest of it itself. The grumbling noise I heard was it clearing dust.

Theory 2: When I vacuumed and also moved it into a more open space, it had enough space to vent out air and could cool the machine better. I do not think this is very likely as it was not working right in the first five seconds I turned it on. To my knowledge, machines do not get too hot to work THAT FAST.

I will keep this topic open for about the next week to see if the condition deteriorates. I don't think it will but... just as a precaution I should make sure it stays as it is for the next week or so.

Edited on by yaro0707

yaro0707

JohnnyShoulder

@yaro0707 Just so you know topics stay open for 12 months then they will automatically be closed. Unless it breaks the forum rules, which this doesn't. Glad you solved your problem and happy gaming!

Life is more fun when you help people succeed, instead of wishing them to fail.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

PSN: JohnnyShoulder

BEALEY1996

Mines exactly same had a technician look at it and all he did was clean inside out and stuff still delayed and crashing while trying to download all my games after initialisation, even that didn’t fix it done all safety mode checks still same would it mean my Hardrive is not working? Would a replacement work? Please get back to me

Bealey

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