HELP! Playstation 3 Won't Play...

[Gryffindorian]

I bought my 40 GB PS3 almost a year ago, and it's been working fine until recently. I have been able to play games, watch regular DVD movies and Blu-Rays, and play music CDs/RWs/MP3s.

So tonight I was trying to watch Doubt on Blu-Ray that I rented from Hollywood Video. (No, I don't think such a fine movie could actually mess up my PS3.) The PS3 froze up (as it often does), and so I ejected the disc and turned off the unit. I also got an error message saying the disc was unplayable for some reason. (I find it strange that this should happen right after I downloaded and installed an update for "Streetfighter II HD Remix." Whether or not that's related, I don't know.)

When I looked at the surface of the BD, it had a little bit of stain, so I figured the disc was just dirty. I used a rotating disc cleaner to get the dirt off the surface and inserted the BD back into the PS3. It still didn't work, so I tried the other BD that I had already watched, and that didn't help either. I started to get worried and tried inserting DVD movies and CD albums, one after another, none of which worked.

My initial thought was that the laser lens might be dirty, so I hurried into Target and got a lens cleaner (a disc that you pop in to clean a CD or DVD player). I tried it; I still had the same problem. It's as if the disc bay itself was empty, but all other functions were working normally (I could still log in to the Internet and the PS Store, view my media files, play a game that I downloaded).

Has anyone else experienced this problem, and do you have any suggestions for fixing this? The PS3 manual doesn't exactly have any troubleshooting info. When I checked various websites, I tried doing at least a "Restore to Default Settings," but it didn't do any good. I don't want to do a complete System Restore (that would be my last resort), and I shudder to think I'd need to send the unit back to SONY to have it looked at. I would appreciate your feedback on this ...

 

[unimatrix7]

I wish I had something more helpful to add besides 'that sucks.'

 

[Rii]

Have you tried wrapping it in a towel?

 

[unimatrix7]

Hehe.

 

[Aragorn]

You just blow inside of it really hard. Then you also blow on the game. That should stop the white blinking screen.

 

[firehawk12]

If no other media works, it's probably a drive failure. You might want to give Sony tech support a call.

 

[BigFoot]

Yeah, it's most likely that your drive (either the laser or some other component) has failed.

 

[gh4chiefs]

The PS3 froze up (as it often does)

That part of your quote got my attention. If your PS3 is freezing up often, there's clearly something wrong with your unit, more than just the drive. I've had my PS3 for a couple of years or more now, and I can count on one hand the number of freeze ups I've had. Hell I think I can count it on 2 fingers, but I may have forgotten one here or there.

As someone else said, you really need to call Sony. You've got a bad unit.

 

[Daedalus12]

The PS3 froze up (as it often does),

Hmm that doesn't sound right at all. Looks like you probably got a lemon on your hand. I had my PS3 for more than 2 years now and I don't remember it freezing up even once.

 

[unimatrix7]

I live in mortal fear that my PS3 will die and I will forever lose my ability to play PS2 games upscaled

 

[Servo]

I live in mortal fear that my PS3 will die and I will forever lose my ability to play PS2 games upscaled

My PS3 is the least of my concerns in the failure department. It's my 360 that has me praying to the console gods everytime I turn it on.

 

[Sheep]

I live in mortal fear that my PS3 will die and I will forever lose my ability to play PS2 games upscaled

I was under the impression that Sony would replace a defective 60GB unit with another 60GB unit, allowing you to keep the built-in backwards compatibility. Is that not the case?

<--Quite possibly the only person he knows who has never had any 360 issues despite owning two of them.

 

[firehawk12]

He's PAL, so he has an old 80.

But either way, from GAF my understanding is that for 60s, the repairs can take up to 2 months because parts are becoming scarce. I'm sure as the old 80s begin to go out of circulation, the same thing can be said.

It can also be difficult to get them to repair and not exchange your console in the first place.

 

[Gryffindorian]

Thanks, guys. I'm going to try and contact Sony tech support; they'll probably ask me to send the unit in for repair.

*SIGH* If and when that happens, I still have to back up all my Saved Data files and remove all personal information (account management, etc.) and then wait weeks to get the console back. Woe is me! How will I ever manage without it?

 

[TEH BABA]

Have you thought of emulating your ps2 games?

 

[unimatrix7]

I live in mortal fear that my PS3 will die and I will forever lose my ability to play PS2 games upscaled

I was under the impression that Sony would replace a defective 60GB unit with another 60GB unit, allowing you to keep the built-in backwards compatibility. Is that not the case?

<--Quite possibly the only person he knows who has never had any 360 issues despite owning two of them.

Maybe? I hope so, at any rate. But I seem to remember reading something once that said that they'd only replace them with current models. Hopefully I'm wrong

 

[Sparky]

I live in mortal fear that my PS3 will die and I will forever lose my ability to play PS2 games upscaled

I was under the impression that Sony would replace a defective 60GB unit with another 60GB unit, allowing you to keep the built-in backwards compatibility. Is that not the case?

<--Quite possibly the only person he knows who has never had any 360 issues despite owning two of them.

Maybe? I hope so, at any rate. But I seem to remember reading something once that said that they'd only replace them with current models. Hopefully I'm wrong

I think at the beginning they held some old models in storage so that they could replace dead consoles. The PS3 has been out for so long and has gone through so many hardware revisions that i doubt that Sony has any original 60GB/PS2 compatible consoles left in reserve.

 

[Gryffindorian]

*SIGH* So I called Sony Tech Support today and told them about the problem I was having with the PS3 not being able to read/load any games, DVDs, Blu-Rays, or CDs. I told the rep that I tried everything (troubleshooting) but nothing worked. So he suggested what I was expecting all along - my console has to be shipped to them for service maintenance.

And that's not the bad part ... I bought the item at Target on March 8, 2008, according to the receipt I have, which is over a year ago. How convenient that the console broke just over a month after the warranty expired. I'd have to cough up $129 + tax for the repair. This totally SUCKS.

Lesson learned: Never buy a game console again, especially if it's made by Sony. I'll just stick with PC.

 

[firehawk12]

Oof, that's just bad luck.

 

[Brikar99]

Lesson learned: Never buy a game console again, even if it's made by Sony. I'll just stick with PC.

Fixed that for you.