How to Reset PS4 (Play Station 4)
Some people who own a PS4 reported problems regarding watching movies, playing games or other problems including freezing, which means a unresponsive PS4 and not reacting to any command and locking up. If you do own a PS4 this should not be a common issue but could happen at some point. There are various reasons why it could happen but they are too many to list. Fortunately though they all have something in common. They all can be easily resolved with a hard reset. If you ever came across any of the problems mentioned above and you do not know what to do, follow my guide and see if that helps you to get rid of any problems with your PS4. Just follow each step and check if the problem still persists. If not, be happy and enjoy your PS4. Otherwise try the following steps.
Backup First
Resetting or formating the PS4 will delete all your settings, games and movies everything else saved on your PS4. To save all your settings and everything else, open up the Settings Menu on your PS4 and navigate to System > Backup and Restore > Backup PS4 and do a complete Backup on a USB-Drive. When the Backup is complete proceed with the next step.
Boot into Safe Mode
Other than the PS3 where all the operations like Backup, Restore and all sorts of Reset had to be done in the Settings Menu, the PS4 allows you to do most of those operations from a so called Safe Mode. This mode is basically the normal operating mode of the PS4, stripped off everything thats not needed to run the PS4, like Bluetooth support for example. To go to Safe Mode, power off your PS4 by holding down the power button for a few seconds. As soon as you hear a beep and the power light turns red you can Power on the PS4 again by holding and keeping down the power button, till you hear one beep. After 7 seconds you should hear another beep which tells you to release the power button. Now you should see the Safe Mode Screen. To navigate around you will need to connect your DualShock Controller via USB, as Bluetooth wont work in Safe Mode. Now follow the next steps mentioned in this guide.
Solution 1: Initialize PS4
In case there is something wrong with your System Settings it may be enough to just delete your current settings and go back to the Default Settings. To do that boot the PS4 into Safe Mode and navigate Initialize PS4 and click on Initialize PS4. Now check if your problem got resolved or if it still persists. If the problem got resolved, don’t forget to restore all your data. Scroll down to Restore, to find out how to restore your data. If the problem still persists, try the following solutions.
Solution 2: Initialize PS4 (Reinstall System Software)
If the system settings are not to blame, it might be something else in the PS4 System that causes the PS4 to freeze and behave abnormal. In this case it could help to Reinstall System Software in order to restore the PS4 to its factory defaults. To do you need a USB-Drive and then download the System Software from HERE. Plug in the USB-Drive into your computer, create a new folder called PS4 and inside that folder another folder, called UPDATE. Now rename the just downloaded file to PS4UPDATE.PUP and copy it into the UPDATE folder. After copying connect the USB-Drive to your PS4 and boot into Safe Mode. Now select Initialize PS4 (Reinstall System Software) and follow the on-screen-instructions. When the PS4 finished installing the System Software check if all your initial problems are gone, or if they still persist and then proceed with doing a restore of all your data.
Restore PS4
After resetting your PS4 you need to restore all your saved Settings and other data. To restore all your settings and everything else, open up the Settings on your PS4 and navigate to Backup and Restore > Restore PS4 and select the USB-Drive which you used to do a Backup. When the Restore is completed restart your console and check if all the problems from the beginning still persist.
