Xbox One users throughout the internet are reporting that their console has been bricked by its latest software update. Players are finding themselves permanently stuck at a black screen as soon as they power up the console.
My Xbox One faced a similar fate a couple of nights ago. I turned on my console for the first time in months only to be greeted by a 4.4GB system update. "Business as usual," I thought, but after the update, my console would be rendered unusable. It thankfully powers on. However, it eventually loads to a black screen where all I can do is hold the Xbox button to turn the console off, restart it, or turn the controller off.
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News of this issue has been circulating the internet for days. When I googled the problem a couple of nights ago, I noticed an article from Kotaku had been put up the previous day, and a Metro article that had been published even earlier. It was a bit shocking to learn that the update that bricked my Xbox One console has been live for days.
Hope isn't entirely lost, though. Microsoft has a guide on the Xbox Support website that will fix the console, but not without severe loss. This guide essentially teaches you how to factory reset your Xbox One, but this could erase accounts, saved games and settings. And even then, you'll need a computer with working internet, USB ports, and an external drive to download system files onto.
An Xbox Insider update from last week claimed this issue had been fixed, but that's clearly not case. It's unfortunate that users are still being plagued by this issue, and it's admittedly frustrating that I got stuck with a system-killing update when the internet has been aware of it for at least a week.
