The PlayStation 5 had its share of issues at launch, including a vexing “rebuild database” issue that could lead to bricked systems and a separate bug that could cause games to get stuck in the download queue, necessitating a factory reset of the hardware. Well, as we reported a couple days ago, the latest PS5 firmware update doesn’t seem to fix the database issues, but it appears Sony does have a fix for those annoying download queue problems.
Per Sony, if you’ve had issues download games, you should get the latest PS5 firmware update, restart the console in safe mode, then go ahead and manually rebuild the database. You can check out Sony’s exact instructions, below.
If you’ve experienced issues downloading games with “Queued for Download” or “View Details” messages on PS5, please update the system software to the latest version, start your PS5 in safe mode then rebuild the database. See "PS5:safe mode options" at https://t.co/BfgPSMafxd. pic.twitter.com/Vq7m0dXA23
— Ask PlayStation (@AskPlayStation) November 19, 2020
According to IGN, who were one of the first to report on the bug, performing the above steps did indeed fix their issues with games like Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Godfall getting stuck in the download queue. It isn’t entirely clear if just downloading the PS5 patch future proofs you against this issue on its own, or if you have to do all the above steps, but at least there’s a solution.
Meanwhile, still no word on the PS5’s other outstanding issues, including problems with rest mode and playing PS4 games off external drives (which can both lead to “rebuild database” bugs). For now it’s probably best to continue playing it safe and avoid using rest mode and playing games off external drives. Hopefully more fixes are on the way.
The PlayStation 5 is now available worldwide. Now that the system is in more hands, has it been smooth sailing with the system? Or have you had some issues?