The PlayStation 5 has been out for just over a week now and early reports from those who have been lucky enough to obtain one seem to generally be positive. But as with the launch of nearly any piece of hardware, there are some reports of issues with the console’s hardware and software. One issue though that seems to keep coming up is a weird bug that occurs when queuing up games for download that causes the game in question to never finish downloading and unable to be restarted. Sony has finally acknowledged the issue and offered a solution to those who have been facing it.
Some players have reported issues of game downloads being lost to error messages such as “Queued for Download” which results in a game that never stops downloading and cannot be canceled. When the user goes to the storefront, the game is displayed as not purchased, prohibiting the user from attempting to redownload the game again. The game is displayed as purchased in the library, but no action can be taken from that menu since the PS5 thinks the game is still downloading.
Thankfully Sony has finally officially acknowledged the issue and offered a fix via Twitter. Sony asks that users being affected by this issue make sure the PS5 is up to date, power it off fully (as in not into Rest Mode, which has its own issues) and then boot the console into Safe Mode and select option 5 to Rebuild the Database.
To access Safe Mode, once the PS5 is fully powered off, the user simply must hold the power button for roughly 7 seconds until they hear a second beep identical to the first beep. The user will then have to connect their DualSense controller via USB cable into the console in order to select option 5, which reads: Rebuild Database. This process can take anywhere from minutes to over an hour, but the screen will indicate when the process is done.
Other issues that PlayStation 5 owners seem to be facing include issues when transferring data like game installs and saves on their PS4s to their PS5s. The issue particularly arises when trying to utilize the recommended method of linking both consoles to the user’s router via ethernet cables. For some reason this can cause the PS4 and/or PS5 to do things like freeze up and have the screen go black. Luckily the two consoles can be fixed by being turned off by hand and then booted into Safe Mode.
Safe Mode is quite the lifesaver as it turns out, not only does it resolve the above two mentioned issues, but also fixes the Rest Mode Error that is one of issues affecting some users. Apparently if some games, like Spider-Man: Miles Morales, are left open when the console is powered into Rest Mode, it can cause the system to crash upon turning back on, requiring the Rebuild Database option once again.
