How To Deactivate A PS3 Without The PS3??
N4G
Twitter
Facebook
Digg
Stumble
Reddit
Note: I want to be clear that I am not a fanboy and anyone who reads my blog often enough knows this. I don’t write to flame topics to get hits because that is not what I am about. I write what I think, I tell the truth about things that happen to ME, I can’t speak for anyone else. I am just a regular guy who wants some honest information sometime and when I couldn’t find any I decided that I would write. So after you read this and before you make a judgment about my character or integrity please read some of my other content whether it be articles or reviews first and then decide. Thank you. -Zo aka thatruth2006
The problem is that YOU can’t. So anyone who knows me and reads this blog knows how big a fan of the PS3 I am but when stuff like this keeps happening it really makes it hard Sony. So a few post back a lot of you will remember that all of the sudden my PS3 just stopped reading Blu-Ray disc. I tried everything I could, searched the net, but alas in the end I had to purchase a new PS3. All was good in the world until today. Today, enjoying the long holiday break I decided to download the entire second season of one of my favorite TV shows. I didn’t anticipate a problem since I had downloaded demos and stuff from Playstation Home on this new console without a problem, but boy was I wrong.
The key is how different Sony treats game content vs. video content. The games they don’t care about so much because they own most of the content but the video is much different and that’s where they could really get in trouble so its understandable that they would handle it different. I purchased the content no problem and instantly got the confirmation email and I am thinking its all good. I go to download the first episode when I get this error that says the system cannot be activated and that one PS3 system is already activated with my PSN ID. It said I needed to deactivate the old system first but of course I no longer own that system and thus the beginning of the saga. Apparently, this is a fail safe Sony put in to stop game sharing and stuff like that (kinda like their own DRM and everyone remembers the mess with the CDs) but in the process screwed regular people like me. I thought I could get this solved quickly but it was not to be.
To be quite honest this is a very flawed model. If there was a problem why would the system let me purchase the content instead of notifying me of the issue beforehand and saving me the hours, and I do mean hours I am spending on customer service lines listening to this lame Christmas music. Now apparently this isn’t high on Sony’s radar yet since it doesn’t seem to have happened to a lot of people, but hey would do I know? All I know is that this is a simple fix, its probably just a field in a database, delete that and I should be good to go. It is not a security issue, because once they delete the old system, I still have to have the PSN credentials to associate a new system with it and if I am not the true owner of the account then I am sure they would know soon enough.
The bottom line on this I guess is that they need to fix this, it shouldn’t happen. Right now I could buy and download and play all the games I want but not videos even though they are using the same account information that doesn’t make sense, the two should be mutually exclusive since the money for the payment is coming from the same place. Let me talk to someone that actually can click a keyboard and look at the information I am telling them for goodness sakes. I am an IT guy and there are easy enough fixes that would prevent this from happening or enable the user to solve this and not waste their support peoples time solving a problem that the user should be able to solve.
Update: After another 1hr 40 min conversation with Sony and after finally getting to speak to a manager they deactivated by old system. In the end, I didn’t have the old receipt, but I had the new one so faxing them that plus my name, PSN ID, sign-in ID, name, phone number, and a service request number they gave me got it got done. I sent the fax about 11 a.m. this morning, they sent a response email saying it was done at 2pm, so quick turnaround. I get home and try to activate my PS3 and wouldn’t you know now it works like a charm, but man this is something I will never forget. To make sure this doesn’t ever happen to you check out my latest post about this.
Tags: playstation, playstation 3, playstation store, PS3, psn, sony
Loading ...
73 Comments
More problems for the Playstation:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123050978162738293.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Just a matter of time. What Sony did to Sega, Microsoft is now doing to them….
Dude i am having the same problem, I sent my ps3 for service and got a new one. I bought tropical thunder and i can’t watch the damn thing. this is B.S.!!!!!!! I will call sony 1st thing in the morning!!! and it won’t be nice! Thanks for this post.
What happens if you deactivate your ps3 ???????
heh, I gotta say, it’s pretty amusing how many people keep talking about how you should have backed everything up.
Except for the fact that you never had the data to begin with..
Rtfa people.
hey, this really helped man, aside from the idiots who don’t understand the situation and just wanted to argue about something they don’t fully understand. I am in the same situation as you! PS3 died, exchanged it and didn’t deactivate my old! so i can’t view my backed up videos I bought through the PS Store and can’t D/L the new ones I JUST bought!!! but knowing you went through the same thing and survived is a big moral booster! i just got off the phone w/ tech support and it only took like 12 mins!! thanks to your guideline I knew exactly what to say! thanks again and don’t let Idiots who don’t understand our situation get to you!
Just spoke to someone on 08702 422 299 (Playstation support line) & they couldnt have been LESS helpful.
YLOD means that i only have 4 out of my original 5 activations left, and they are being used by my 2 brothers and 2 mates, for COD map packs and RB songs. When i called and explained that i wanted an activation credit back, the moron on the phone started saying that the 5 activations are NOT for sharing, but for use in the event my ps3 fails 5 times (hmmm, worrying, lol), The only way i could get them back was to clear ALL activations for that system, which he couldnt do as i had only had one replacement. so far. I pointed out that he COULD do it if he wanted, and he agreed, but said he would have to ask his supervisor. 5 minutes on hold (the monkey was probably just going out for a cigarette!!) and surprise surprise, he cant help me. No matter how many times i said that i couldnt de-activate my original PS3 (YLOD & USB’s died, no way of using XMB) he refused to give the credit back, just repeating over and over…you need to deactivate your brothers PS3, then activate yours. (I pointed out to him, that this just makes it my brothers problem, i want a fix, not a workaround). He confirmed that they CAN do it when they want to, but the only way to blag a blanket removal of activations (they will reactivate each ps3 on signing in) is to tell them you have had 5 replacements. Not sure if they have any way of checking this, but could be worth a try.
Thankfuly, I didnt actually give him any details so may just try again tomorrow !
Keep working ,great job!
Wow – reading through some of the comments it seems that those that want us to believe they are the most knowledgeable are the ones that really don’t understand the problem at all. You can have 5 PS3s activated for games, but only 1 for video. That seems to be clear, but what I don’t understand is someone saying they did this 3 times and have never had a problem. Most likely they are only talking about games and haven’t hit the 5 mark yet. It isn’t that someone else doesn’t understand what they are doing; it is that you are talking about 2 different things.
I’m having the same problem. do you have the phone number by chance????
it happened to me today! 10/09. any advise? please help
Check out our follow up post that explains what you can do and what you should remember in the future.
http://zoknowsgaming.com/2008/12/30/activatingdea...
This is also a terribly inconvenient system if you happen to own multiple PS3s.
I own multiple PS3's which should make me a great customer of Sony but instead I can't even download a movie trailer w/o figuring out which PS3 to deactivate. Sheesh!
I agree with you, Sony could make it easier for folks who own multiple systems. While I am a PS3, Sony is not the most customer friendly company though, so I doubt they take anything we say under advisement. It's a shame really.
After reading this article I guess I won't be renting videos any longer at the Playstation Network. Not worth my time or effort to correct this problem – I am just a consumer – not a techie. I only rent 2 or 3 movies a month for the past 2 years – so Sony won't miss me.
Same exact problem. Old system went down hard. Bought a new system because I didn't want wait weeks or pay $150 – new system was only $199. Payed to rent a movie on the new system. Can't download.
The only saving grace is that the PS3 now has Netflix. Been using that for the past 3 weeks.
It happened to me.. im going to call sony tomorrow. I apparently used up my 5 spaces and cant deactivate it now beacause its in gamestop..
I just got my ps3 back a month ago and tried buying Zombieland and am having the same issue. I did have my ps3 serviced at a service center and formated the hd before sending it in. I hope I get a better response from playstation network's tech support. Activating my ps3 for video dons't work, and it sure had no problem taking my mone.
My 2006-era PS3 died the YLOD in August 2009. Luckily I had a 3-year replacement plan with Target, but after having it repaired 3 times (3!!!), they finally got me a new PS3 Slim. Well, it's been about 5 months since I installed the new PS3, and I just tried to download/watch a video tonight. No dice. The broken PS3 is still activated. Of course I got rid of that gigantic paperweight last year, AND I got rid of the original receipt once I bought the new system….so now I can look forward to 2 hours on the phone with Sony. Thanks for posting on this — DRM is crap and only hurts honest consumers.
NP. Glad to help, I just don’t want this to happen to anyone else and they not know what to do or talk to a Sony rep initially and think they now have no recourse. Hope everything works out.
Well that depends on what you deactivate it for. Your computer can be activated for games and videos. When you download a demo or purchase a game it is automatically activated for games. When you rent or purchase a movie, it will be activated for video. The only thing that activating does is make sure that the content will only work with the hardware, its like DRM. If you buy a movie, but deactivate your PS3 for video the movie will still be there but you won’t be able to watch it, stupid huh? So that’s it, depending on what you do you may or may not even care about activating it in the first place.
Thanks John. I write for the people and I just help one other person not to have to go through the things that I have to go through then its worth it. The only thing I ask from you, is to share the link with your friends and tell others about the great help you got from this blog. Also please check out my other content and I look forward to your feedback.