The 5 Most Common PlayStation 5 Problems (And How To Fix Them) – BGR

Being a proud owner of a Sony PlayStation 5 means you have access to one powerful machine that can play demanding AAA titles from God of War Ragnarök to legacy semi-indies like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. But when you can’t access your PlayStation account or your game suddenly crashes, it’s a real downer. Fortunately, Sony leaves evidence behind on what these errors are and where to find them. You can view these errors by going to your settings menu, then selecting System > System Software > Error History. If you’ve closed the window too early, refer to your error history to find it.

Some error codes are self-explanatory. For example, CE-100028-1 tells you that your SSD is full, and the only fix is to move or uninstall games and applications from your internal storage. Other error codes may indicate a problem with your internet connection, which means you’ll need to troubleshoot your router. The PlayStation 5 error codes listed here are common, but unfortunately, they aren’t always obvious. Fortunately, the fixes for most errors are usually simple and don’t mean your console’s health is in life-threatening conditions — here are the error codes to watch out for and ways to fix them.

Unfortunately, if you encounter the error WS-116332-6 “Access from your PlayStation 5 console may be prohibited or temporarily unavailable,” then you might be in trouble. This error code usually means your account violated Sony’s terms of service. But the latter (of that error code) is also true: your account access might just be temporarily unavailable, and that has nothing to do with your account’s standing; instead, it’s because PlayStation servers are overly congested or completely down. Before you hit the panic button, there’s an easy way to check. The PlayStation Service Status page shows whether all servers are up and running with a green check mark. If you see a green checkmark, you are good to go. The second check involves logging into a game’s server and verifying its connection status. The “temporarily unavailable” error could actually be because your game’s server is down or experiencing problems. Resources like official Discord servers, Reddit, and even X are great places to find status reports.

If you’re on the other end of it and you found out your account has been prohibited, you should investigate the reasoning. If you suspect your account has been tampered with, you’ll need to contact PlayStation Support to get help or send an appeal. Moreover, the PlayStation Support page also provides a “View your account status” to check if you can appeal your suspension. Otherwise, you’ll need to follow the instructions sent to your email that outlines the reasoning behind the suspension and its duration. Though you are in a rough spot since directly violating the Terms of Service could lead to a ban, which means your account gets completely locked, and you lose access to your library.

An NW-102216-2 “An error occurred while connecting to PlayStation” is a classic internet connection error in disguise. It can happen after you account survives an initial check to the server, but you then abruptly lose that connection. Normally, the error is on the user’s end. But if you aren’t sure, you should check the PlayStation Service Status page to see if the servers are down. If everything looks good on Sony’s end, you need to troubleshoot your home network. Firstly, check if other devices can connect to your network, like your phone or tablet, to verify if your router is down. Also to be on the safe side, connect to your console via a wired connection from your router, that way you can be certain your network works. Sometimes a Wi-Fi connection becomes weak if your console is too far or there are too many devices connected to the same network. If nothing else works, then restart your router and update its firmware. As a last-ditch effort after attempting every other fix, you can try opening the following ports if your ISP supports it:

• TCP: 80, 443, 3478, 3479, 3480
• UDP: 3478, 3479, 49152 to 65535

Encountering NW-102417-5 “The connection to the network has timed out” is similar to NW-102216-2 “An error occurred while connecting to PlayStation,” which indicates a network issue. The first step is to always check the PlayStation Service Status page and then ensure your connection works with your other devices, just in case the primary cause is due to a disconnected router. If your router is in working condition, then Sony suggests opening these ports on your router:

• TCP: 80, 443, 3478, 3479, 3480
• UDP: 3478, 3479, 49152 to 65535

After you’ve done that, you should set up a static IP address to prevent the settings from getting erased when your router reboots. Following these steps should help rectify NAT type issues, which could be the root cause for gaining the error. Otherwise, try temporarily changing your DNS settings on your console by visiting the Network settings. Then, configure it to use a free, open public DNS. For example, you can use Cloudflare’s public DNS: 1.1.1.1 for the primary and 1.0.0.1 for the secondary. When you change your DNS, the practice could lead to reducing latency in games, since you are connecting to faster, cached, and more localized servers than your ISP’s defaults.

You’ll see CE-108255-1 “An error occurred with the game/application” after you’ve launched an app or a game. It typically behaves like a crash with an app or program on your computer. Crashes can occur at the software level or be caused by faulty hardware. The easiest fix is on the software level.

The first check is whether your PlayStation 5 is running the latest update. To do this, go to Settings > System > System Software. Check “Update System Software,” if your console doesn’t need an update, it will have the “Up to date” label next to it. The next step is to repair software corruption in the installed update. You can do this directly on the console by operating in safe mode. To enter safe mode, turn off the console and press and hold the power button until you hear a second beep. When navigating in safe mode, make sure your DualSense controller is connected via USB and press the PS button when you’re ready. Once you’re in, look for a “Clear Cache and Rebuild Database” and then select the “Rebuild Database” option. This option scans the SSD to reorganize system data and fixes any corrupted files.

The final software fix is to uninstall and reinstall the application causing the error. Sometimes the error is application-based rather than system-level. If that doesn’t do it, try moving the application to your internal storage and unplugging your external drive. Your external drive could be corrupted. If nothing else works and crashes occur across multiple applications, perform a factory reset of your console. And if none of these fixes work, you might be dealing with faulty system hardware, which requires service repairs.

One of the more confusing and sometimes frustrating errors is CE-107880-4 “Something went wrong,” which can occur when you try to install add-ons for a game. Two common fixes for this error involve rebuilding the databases and restoring account licenses. To rebuild the database, you will need to enter safe mode and “Clear Cache and Rebuild Database” to find “Rebuild Database,” which should fix any corruption caused by the SSD. 

The second common fix uses the restore licenses option, which you can find under Settings > Users and Accounts > Other > Restore Licenses. It re-verifies account ownership for your digital library, and is especially useful when you buy DLC and add-ons and can’t access or install them in your game. If you still get this error after accessing your digital content, another solution is to try clearing your console’s cache by power-cycling. To do this, unplug your PlayStation 5 after turning it off, wait 30 seconds, then plug it back in, and start it back up.