"bitcoind block 177596 issue" - Where can I find more info on this? Besides from seeing that it's quite a big block from 2012 
He meant block 277596
Here is some information I gathered in another thread:
This is some #bitcoin-dev discussion about the issue:
http://bitcoinstats.com/irc/bitcoin-dev/logs/2013/12/29
http://bitcoinstats.com/irc/bitcoin-dev/logs/2013/12/30 <- Ukyo asked for some advice in this one.
Even http://blockexplorer.com/ is stuck on block 277955.