It can be frustrating to sit down, turn on your PlayStation 4 (PS4), and launch your favorite game, only to see the CE-34878-0 PS4 error code. While simply restarting your application or game may alleviate the error, if you routinely encounter the CE-34878-0 error, it could indicate that there is something more serious going on with your PS4 beyond a simple crash here and there. In this article, we are going to outline what this error code means and provide you with tried and tested fixes for it.
What does the CE-34878-0 error mean on PS4?
While there are definitely a few reasons behind why you may be getting the CE-34878-0 PS4 error code, the most common is that you have corrupted game or system files. If you are not the best at ensuring that your PS4 is up-to-date, then not having the latest firmware installed can also cause the CE-34878-0 error. Trying to run an outdated game that needs to install the latest version is another typical source of this problem.
Other technical causes of the CE-34878-0 error include:
- An improper installation of an application or its latest version update.
- There is a compatibility issue with in-use system software.
- There is an unstable power connection due to a defective power supply, damaged power cord, or a malfunctioning power outlet.
- Your HDD storage device is defective or damaged.
- The CMOS data is corrupt and needs to be reset.
The most commonly reported games that the PlayStation 4 CE-34878-0 error code pops up with are: Sims 4, Fortnite, NBA 2K20, Borderlands 3, FIFA 19, Red Dead Online, Minecraft, and Fallout 4, but it can occur with any application or game.
How to diagnose the CE-34878-0 PlayStation 4 error
While you can try all of the methods below in succession to fix the CE-34878-0 error code, we do recommend that you simply watch the console’s behavior when you turn it on. In doing this, you may be able to recognize when/where/why the CE-34878-0 error code appears, and then you can simply skip to the proper fix.
For instance:
- If the PS4 CE-34878-0 error code shows up on startup (home screen load), it means that the internal hard drive (HDD) may need to be formatted, or the PS4 may need to be reinitialized.
- If it happens when running PS4 games or applications, it may be from corrupt game files or system files.
- If it only occurs when launching games that are on an external hard drive, then that specific HDD may be defective, or it may contain bad sectors. By formatting it, you can generally restore the lost performance and fix the drive, thus eliminating the CE-34878-0 error code.
- If you’ve only received this error code once, it may have popped up due to a surge in power or an abrupt hardware failure.
Now, let’s move on to the recommended methods for solving the PlayStation 4 CE-34878-0 error code.
7 technical methods for fixing the CE-34878-0 PS4 error
1. Restart your PS4 console.
Before we jump into the more complicated solutions below, one of the most basic for solving technical issues is with a “turning it off and on” approach. By shutting down your PS4 console and restarting it, you may be able to fix the CE-34878-0 error code (at least temporarily).
- If you are running a game or application, shut it down.
- Once back to the home screen, turn the PS4 off.
- From the back of the console, disconnect the power cord.
- Wait 2-3 minutes.
- Plug the power cord back in and start your PS4.
- Check to see if the CE-34878-0 error code still pops up when running that particular game or application.
2. Disconnect your PS camera.
Some users have found luck by disconnecting their PS4 camera and disabling face recognition.
- On your PS4’s home screen, head to settings – device, and turn off device.
- Choose the camera from the list, and turn it off.
- Shut your PS4 off and restart.
- Once restarted, head to your settings – user – login settings.
- From this menu, uncheck the enable face recognition option.
- Exit back to the main screen and restart your game or application again to see if the CE-34878-0 error code appears.
3. Update your PS4 console’s firmware.
If you haven’t updated your PS4 console’s firmware in a while, this is likely the root cause behind the CE-34878-0 error code. It is always a good idea to be running the latest version of firmware to ensure that your PS4 console remains stable.
- From your PS4’s home screen, head to the settings option and click on it.
- From the settings menu, find system software update, and click it.
- Allow the PS4 to check to see if there is a system software update.
- If there is, allow it to install them.
- Once the firmware is updated, restart your PS4.
- Run the game/application you were running when you got the CE-34878-0 error code, and see if it persists.
4. Update your game or application to the latest version.
If restarting your console and updating the firmware does not solve your CE-34878-0 error code, then consider if you’ve overlooked updating your game or application recently. If you can’t remember when you installed the latest version, check to see if there is an update.
- From your PS4’s home screen, find the tile with the game or application you were running when you got the CE-34878-0 error code. Or, if you are still on the error screen, restart your PS4 console.
- When hovering over the game or application, tap the “options” button on your PS4 controller to get an options menu to pop up for the game.
- Choose to check for an update from this menu.
- If there is an update pending, install the update and then retry running the game or application to see if the error code persists.
5. Uninstall and reinstall the affected game or application.
If you think that there is a problem with the game files due to a sudden shutoff of the PS4 console or from a power surge, uninstalling the game or application files and doing a fresh install may solve the CE-34878-0 error. Unfortunately, there is no way to verify your files, so running a clean install is the only way to ensure that they aren’t corrupted or damaged.
6. Back up your data and re-initialize your PS4.
If the above solutions have not worked, you should try backing up all of your game and application data to another hard disk or USB flash drive and then choose to initialize your PS4 console. Initializing your PS4 system will restore it to its default values, which saves all data on the system storage and deletes all users and their data from the system. It is because of the complete data reset that we recommend backing up first.
- Head to your PS4 home screen and go to the settings menu.
- Scroll down until you find the initialize option.
- Click on the option from the menu, and follow the on-screen prompts.
- Once this is done, you can restore your data from your USB device back onto the PS4 system.
To restore the data, simply navigate to your PS4 home screen, click into settings, and then go to the system – backup and restore option. Once here, insert the USB drive into the PS4 USB slot, and choose the restore PS4 option. Select the USB device and hit yes.
7. Switch back to the original PS4 HDD.
One of the recommended solutions by PS4 support is to switch back to the original PS4 hard drive disk if you’ve gone and changed the disk to an expanded version (third-party option).
Conclusion
If none of the methods above have helped you prevent the PlayStation 4 CE-34878-0 error code from regularly showing up, then we recommend getting in touch with PlayStation support. You can contact them here: https://www.playstation.com/en-ca/support/contact-us/.
The only other potential solution here is to consider rebuilding your PS4’s database, but this can take several hours to complete, and it may or may not resolve the problem. Hopefully, one of the solutions above has helped you out, though. If any have, please let us know in the comments, or if you have another solution, please do share it!