PS3 blu-ray drive dead

Here's my experience so far. It's long so bear with me and my bad spelling.

Bought two ps3's to fix. 40gb won't read discs and a 60gb won't read discs. Opened and both have KEM 400AAA assemblies.

40gb when you insert disc it would show the bubble spinning in the top right corner of the screen and never stop spinning. I never looked to see if the laser lit up just ordered a laser figuring i could try it in both. Installed laser assembly in and fired up and worked perfectly.
So tried putting the whole drive, board and all onto the 60gb to see if it would work. Insert disc and no bubble in the corner and no read disc, disc light on front indicates disc but nothing. Originally the 60gb did the same as the 40gb but would play dvds no blue ray. So took the drive board off of the 60gb drive and swapped it with the 40gb board. Fired right up and played all discs. Wich shows that for some reason you can't just swap boards. Both systems using same laser and same firmware 2.42. But just don't work with the other.

The next issue. the 60gb developed a problem where it would turn on and not boot to the XMB just green light. After many off and on cycles it would eventually boot and work fine until i shut it off for awhile it would do it again. Since i don't know what the booting problem was. Tried everything. Bailed and called sony. They never asked if i took it apart. I told them theres no warranty don't have reciept and they just told me how much it would be and if they weren't going to fix it or if theres an issue i'd be contacted. I gave them my info and they sent a box. Put the ps3 in the box and shipped it monday the 4th and on 8th recieved an email saying somethings being shipped to me and will be here wendsday the 13th.

So on wendnesday ill let you know if i have a fixed ps3 that did not have a warranty sticker on it.

Sorry for the insanely long post, just tryin to help by adding some more finding. Trying to gather info myself. Good luck to all.

 

As far as I know, anytime Sony fixes something and sends it back to you, it will have a new warranty sticker on it. That is because when they fix it, it will come with a 90-Day Warranty.

I've been thinking about the controller board part that several online websites are selling. Knowing what we know now, the controller board IS tied to the motherboard. So it would *seem* futile to buy a replacement board.

And I just can't believe that is the case. So maybe the replacement controller boards are "virginal" and will work? Once you turn it on after you install it, maybe then it becomes tied? Or maybe with the next firmware update it does? Or maybe replacement boards have firmware that don't tie them to motherboards at all?

The only other guess I have is there is some kind of service menu that no one has found yet. Maybe that allows Sony Service to program the replacement board.

I'm just brainstorming here, of course. There's got to be a way.

Looking forward to hearing from anyone who has ordered a replacement board!

 

Have you checked the status of your repair on Sony's website? Maybe they said they fixed it and are sending you repaired? You should have been given a repair order number before you sent it to them.

Thanks for the info on the controller board.

 

It will interestimg to see what happens with one of the replacement boards that are being sold as to what happens when you replace. If they do not work then Sony has the ability to flash them to the motherboard I would think. True, there has to be a way.

Brainstorming is what this site is about. Sharing ideas and thinking out loud.

 

Hey guys, I decided to sign up here because the same thing has happened to me. I recently bought MGS4 and Civ Rev for my birthday on the 5th (yay). The main reason I wanted to play Civ Rev was for the Game of the Week. So I played both MGS4 and Civ Rev for a while before updating to 2.42 to play both online.

Long story short, my PS3 no longer reads anything. For a more in depth view of what happened before this occured you can read it here:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.67939

That should give you a rough idea of what happened.

Now, I did some tests last night that killed my drives on my PS3 and I believe I know the cause of the 2.42 problems. This could just be a coincidence for me, but it could be the root of everyones problems.

The fans no longer blow at regular intervals. I sat with my PS3 on for a good two hours with Civ Rev inside. It was stuck on a loading screen so I just sat there while reading some stuff on my laptop. Not once did the fans kick on. Once I noticed this I did the fan test trick (power PS3 off from the back, hold down the eject button and turn the power on) the air that blew out of my PS3 was alarmingly hot. Hot enough to cause my PC to start crying.

I think the 2.4x updates have somehow increased the heat threshold in an attempt to conserve energy. In doing this, they have caused people with faulty or below-par parts to overheat and break.

This could be why when replacing some lenses it works for a while but later doesn't, or why replacing a diode may work at first but then has it short out.

I would do more tests, but my PS3 doesn't read disks anymore and, since it could be any number of problems (control board, diode, drive, lens, etc) I'm just going to wait a bit and get my PS3 fixed or simply buy another.

If I could get MGS4 on the 360 I would have switched, but then I'd probably suffer from the RROD :|.

If anyone could test this that would be great.

To note, I don't recall my PS3 fans (the loud ones that blow the most air out) ever kicking on after the 2.42 update. My disks have all been incredibly hot when taken out as well so I know I'm not just imagining things.

 

Interesting. When I got my PS3 broken, i only could play demos and such things but I remember the fans kicking in sometimes. Now that it plays discs, I was playing GTA4 for hours, speeding through manhattan but the fans never started spinning faster.

Or has anyone ever had GTA4 cause the fans to go on a higher setting?

 

Here's some more food for thought for those of you who would like to think there is something more to this...

Most of the PS3's that have been breaking are from bundles - bundles sold when the free blueray offer was going on. The offer that had you send in your receipt (a copy would not work) for 5 free blueray movies, all of which added up to about $100. Coincidence? I THINK NOT!

Well, yes actually I do. But it's a rather odd Coincidence.

However, I would say there are some strong similarities there. I'm sure the PS3's made during this era were pumped out en-masse and certain components were as well, resulting in faulty hardware. I would expect things that are BD related but anything that is exclusive to the PS3 could as well, however, since we can still access our XMB and even turn on the PS3 I don't expect that it is the Cell Processor.

 

Have you checked the status of your repair on Sony's website? Maybe they said they fixed it and are sending you repaired? You should have been given a repair order number before you sent it to them.

Thanks for the info on the controller board.[/quote]

When checking the status on the web site it just reads:
The unit you are inquiring about was shipped on 8/7/2008. Your UPS tracking number is XXXXXXXXXXX
Checked credit statement and it shows they billed me for the whole fee of repair.

So what im getting i don't know. Refurb or repaired either way i'll be happy. I'd prefer a refurb. The unit i sent was pretty worn. Will post when it arrives.

 

I disagee that you can anyway tie this to bundles. First of all I wouldn't consider the 5 movies a bundle. Bundles are when the movie comes in the actual box or when Sony did the MSG4. The PS3 really starting moving off the shelves when the decision was made to drop the price $100. The orginal 60G were already discontinued and the new 60G and 80G were really coming on line. I know several people that ordered the movies and have no problems at all. Plus the issue is tied to different versions of the PS3; 40G,60G and 80G. I'm starting to believe that when you replace the laser and the unit still doesn't work it is tied to the revision update which it seems to be causing the problems. There seems to be alot of people out there with Sony's update causing problems. Sony even admits there was a problem with the 2.40 update with the XMB crossbar on their website. If anything I think you can start to tie the problems to Sony and the updates.

 

When checking the status on the web site it just reads:
The unit you are inquiring about was shipped on 8/7/2008. Your UPS tracking number is XXXXXXXXXXX
Checked credit statement and it shows they billed me for the whole fee of repair.

It would be nice for Sony to at least tell you what is really going on with the repair. I would think that if they billed you the $150 you will be good.

So what im getting i don't know. Refurb or repaired either way i'll be happy. I'd prefer a refurb. The unit i sent was pretty worn. Will post when it arrives.[/quote]

 

When checking the status on the web site it just reads:
The unit you are inquiring about was shipped on 8/7/2008. Your UPS tracking number is XXXXXXXXXXX
Checked credit statement and it shows they billed me for the whole fee of repair.

So what im getting i don't know. Refurb or repaired either way i'll be happy. I'd prefer a refurb. The unit i sent was pretty worn. Will post when it arrives.[/quote]

It would be nice for Sony to at least tell you what is really going on with the repair. I would think that if they billed you the $150 you will be good.

 

I think you misunderstood what I suggested. All I suggested was that there was some evil scheme sony was doing to get rid of receipts on PS3's that they knew were faulty, or, that they purposefully made select PS3's with faulty parts, specifically those sold during the HD BR war in a way to get some of the lost revenue back via repairs. To make sure that they didn't hand out free repairs, they made sure to have deals that got rid of peoples receipts, such as the two 5 Blueray deal they had for half a year, again, specifically in the time frame when the war was going on.

If Blueray lost, no big deal. People would be selling PS3's to those who wanted games. If Blueray won, they'd have increased revenue from repairs.

It is, of course, a joke.

 

Which rebate required the original receipt? I only recall each of the two requiring the original UPC, but they both accepted copies of the receipt from what I remember.

 

Both of them allowed photocopies, however, the summer version did not say whether it accepted them or not. They changed this for the winter version.

 

The drive is indeed keyed to the mobo it was built onto. Here is a link on how to do it with a replacement drive if you want to do it yourself.

Thank Pirate of PS3hax.net

 

If that is the case why would several companies be selling controller boards? There would seem to be a way to get around this problem if it is tied ot the mobo. Also what proof do you have to offer? All you have to offer is that you keep saying it is tied to the mobo.

 

It does seem to be the case. I have tried swapping a working drive with its existing controller board into a ps3 that had a bad drive. When I hooked it up, it didn't work. When I took the controller boards off and swapped them (so that a working drive was used with the existing controller board of the defective ps3), it worked.

But yes, what we don't have answered is how companies can sell the controller board part by itself if the board is tied to the motherboard.

That's why I was hoping that the boards are "virginal" and will work. Maybe once the system boots with the virginal controller board installed, it then ties to it. Or maybe it ties to it upon the next firmware update.

Hard to say. But the link that was posted about swapping the laser assembly -- it's useful...but I think we're past that now.

 

Thanks atrac88. This is the kind of response that we are all looking for not just that it will not work but evidence as to what you or others have tried and what was the outcome. You can not just say that it will not work without providing your experince or links with proof it doesn't work.

 

Guys, I have good news for people that haven't opened their PS3's up yet.... I REALLY WISH I didn't open it...

I called Sony and told them that my PS3 stopped reading all discs after updating to the 2.42 firmware. They asked me a bunch of dumb questions like "Are the discs clean?" - "Did you try them in another PS3?" - "Have you ever modified your PS3?" etc etc.. Long story short, I have been out of warranty for welllll over a year, and they knew this. I also have no receipt at all. The lady on the phone transferred me to 1 more person to try and "troubleshoot" more. I told her the same thing; When I upgraded to 2.42 firmware my PS3 IMMEDIATELY stopped reading discs.

They offered me a FULL REPLACEMENT or repair, 100% free of charge, despite being out of warranty. I was immediately extremely pissed off, because I have already removed my sticker and clearly opened it myself. I came clean and mentioned that the sticker was missing, and asked if I could still have it replaced. She felt sorry for me, and said to hold on and she would find out... She came back and let me know that her supervisors said that since the sticker was removed that they could not do that for me anymore.

So, basically, fuckin call Sony. They are amazing. I really wish I didn't listen to the countless posts about people saying Sony are ass holes, Sony is denying it is their fault, and that Sony is charging $150 no matter what. I fucked myself by not calling, so if any of you haven't opened your PS3 yet, TELL THEM THE FIRMWARE DID IT.

Sigh... Good luck guys. As far as my PS3 goes? I listed it on craigslist as broken for $200, found someone in a couple hours that wants it. Giving it to him later. Gonna take that $200 and put it towards the MGS4 bundle. See you all around.

 

I'm having this same problem over in http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/692243 with two KEM-410 (Twin Laser) assemblies.
Has this been solved? Any help would be greatly appreciated.