PS3 Activation/Deactivation - Blu-ray Forum

Bobby Henderson · 02-19-2010, 05:02 AM

I recently purchased a new 120GB PS3 "slim" console to replace a "fat" 80GB Motorstorm bundle console that was stolen from my house Feb. 1, 2010.

Things were going fine until I tried to download a movie trailer from the Playstation Store. It said I already had another PS3 "activated" on my account and refused to allow me to download the trailer. The message told me I had to deactivate the other system before I could download video content to this new machine.

That kind of begs the question: how do you deactivate a PS3 you no longer have due to it being stolen?

I was able to change my account password, delete credit card info and do other account maintenance via the Internet the same day my house was burglarized. Is there some hidden place on the Sony Playstation web site where you can change activation status on the consoles you own?

Sony certainly can fix this problem with my new PS3 on their end, but it would be nice if I could find a way how to fix this issue immediately and do so without having the old system handy. After all, that one is unavailable because it was stolen.

It seems if Sony's customer service dept. has to intervene the process may turn into a long drawn out affair. I have all my receipts and serial numbers from both new and stolen PS3 systems. I can even give them the police report case number too.

Sony would get better results if they handled things via unique PS3 system IDs, be it the system's serial number, MAC address, etc. If the console specifically identified itself when logged into the Playstation network it might give Sony (and the police) the means necessary to track down stolen game systems, "brick" them remotely or at least deny them access to the Playstation Network. I would be 100% in favor of this sort of thing being built into the Playstation 4. The next Playstation system needs the equivalent of a Lojack. Too many thieves are stealing the things.

SoCalTiger · 02-19-2010, 04:57 PM

You pretty much have to contact Sony CS to do it. It's not automated online.

That's a good idea about the theft tracking though. You should be able to report a PS3 as stolen via the police and then Sony should be able to basically blacklist them for going online so they are essentially worthless stolen.

Petra_Kalbrain · 02-19-2010, 05:26 PM

Couldn't Sony track their router IP address through their server information? That would give them a location which the police could investigate further. Perhaps catch the perp in action again and arrest them? Obviously, if the system can detect that there are two seperate PS3s running at the same time, it can be isolated for some kind of more specific tracking.

dereksworl · 02-19-2010, 05:51 PM

They really need to find a solution to this problem. i can name about 4 people i know off hand(including myself) that will never purchase another peice of video content from the PSN because of this. i bought a new PS3 in Dec and still cannot activate my Vid system on my new PS3. called Sony, the first call they lied to me and said that my system would be ready to activate 10-15mins after i hang up. second time i called back they just flat out told me they cannot deactivate my old system. at this point, even if i could activate my system on my new PS3, i probably would still never buy another video just because of the way they handle my issue.

SoCalTiger · 02-20-2010, 02:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dereksworl

They really need to find a solution to this problem. i can name about 4 people i know off hand(including myself) that will never purchase another peice of video content from the PSN because of this. i bought a new PS3 in Dec and still cannot activate my Vid system on my new PS3. called Sony, the first call they lied to me and said that my system would be ready to activate 10-15mins after i hang up. second time i called back they just flat out told me they cannot deactivate my old system. at this point, even if i could activate my system on my new PS3, i probably would still never buy another video just because of the way they handle my issue.

Wow that's ridiculous. Sony really should do something about their draconian deactivation issues.

LynxFX · 02-23-2010, 12:38 AM

I just ran into the same problem last week. I sold my old PS3 over a year ago to buy a new one. Never knew anything about activating/deactivating it. Had a girl over, she wanted to watch something I didn't have so decided, why not try out PSN video library. Purchase it only to have it say "you cant' watch this." WTF? Ok so went to try and activate my PS3, said I couldn't activate it. WTF again? It took an email to customer service, 2 day wait, then a response with all of my info for them to take another day to deactivate my old PS3.

02-19-2010, 05:02 AM	#1
Bobby Henderson Power Member Member since:Jan 2008 Location:Oklahoma Blu-ray collection:96 Blu-ray reviews: 12	PS3 Activation/Deactivation I recently purchased a new 120GB PS3 "slim" console to replace a "fat" 80GB Motorstorm bundle console that was stolen from my house Feb. 1, 2010. Things were going fine until I tried to download a movie trailer from the Playstation Store. It said I already had another PS3 "activated" on my account and refused to allow me to download the trailer. The message told me I had to deactivate the other system before I could download video content to this new machine. That kind of begs the question: how do you deactivate a PS3 you no longer have due to it being stolen? I was able to change my account password, delete credit card info and do other account maintenance via the Internet the same day my house was burglarized. Is there some hidden place on the Sony Playstation web site where you can change activation status on the consoles you own? Sony certainly can fix this problem with my new PS3 on their end, but it would be nice if I could find a way how to fix this issue immediately and do so without having the old system handy. After all, that one is unavailable because it was stolen. It seems if Sony's customer service dept. has to intervene the process may turn into a long drawn out affair. I have all my receipts and serial numbers from both new and stolen PS3 systems. I can even give them the police report case number too. Sony would get better results if they handled things via unique PS3 system IDs, be it the system's serial number, MAC address, etc. If the console specifically identified itself when logged into the Playstation network it might give Sony (and the police) the means necessary to track down stolen game systems, "brick" them remotely or at least deny them access to the Playstation Network. I would be 100% in favor of this sort of thing being built into the Playstation 4. The next Playstation system needs the equivalent of a Lojack. Too many thieves are stealing the things.

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02-19-2010, 04:57 PM	#2
SoCalTiger Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Feb 2008 Location:Los Angeles, CA Blu-ray collection:1 Blu-ray reviews:1	You pretty much have to contact Sony CS to do it. It's not automated online. That's a good idea about the theft tracking though. You should be able to report a PS3 as stolen via the police and then Sony should be able to basically blacklist them for going online so they are essentially worthless stolen.

02-19-2010, 05:26 PM	#3
Petra_Kalbrain Blu-ray Archduke Top contributor Member since:Jul 2007 Location:Vancouver, BC 4K collection:5 Blu-ray collection:561 Blu-ray reviews:3 Trading Score:20	Couldn't Sony track their router IP address through their server information? That would give them a location which the police could investigate further. Perhaps catch the perp in action again and arrest them? Obviously, if the system can detect that there are two seperate PS3s running at the same time, it can be isolated for some kind of more specific tracking.

02-19-2010, 05:51 PM	#4
dereksworl Blu-ray Ninja Member since:Jan 2008 Location:Around Home Theater Gallery:18 Trading Score:1	They really need to find a solution to this problem. i can name about 4 people i know off hand(including myself) that will never purchase another peice of video content from the PSN because of this. i bought a new PS3 in Dec and still cannot activate my Vid system on my new PS3. called Sony, the first call they lied to me and said that my system would be ready to activate 10-15mins after i hang up. second time i called back they just flat out told me they cannot deactivate my old system. at this point, even if i could activate my system on my new PS3, i probably would still never buy another video just because of the way they handle my issue.

02-23-2010, 12:38 AM	#6
LynxFX Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Jul 2007	I just ran into the same problem last week. I sold my old PS3 over a year ago to buy a new one. Never knew anything about activating/deactivating it. Had a girl over, she wanted to watch something I didn't have so decided, why not try out PSN video library. Purchase it only to have it say "you cant' watch this." WTF? Ok so went to try and activate my PS3, said I couldn't activate it. WTF again? It took an email to customer service, 2 day wait, then a response with all of my info for them to take another day to deactivate my old PS3.

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