PS3 Borked

[V1N]

Hi there!

Well, I now join the realms of having a failed PS3.

I'm not exactly sure what happened to it.

Strangely enough, I turned it on this morning and did a backup to my USB hard drive!

After that, I installed MGS4 in view to playing it later.

Shut the system down as normal.

About an hour ago (4 hours after being turned off) I turned the PS3 on.

It powered up. I heard the startup sound start to play, and the Sony Computer Entertainment screen came on.

Then I noticed that the sound stopped short, and the image had frozen.
After a few seconds BEEP BEEP BEEP, and the red light was flashing, the system shut down.

I turned it off around the back, and then powered it up again.
The fans spin up. The light blinks yellow, and then flashes red, with a beep beep beep, and the system powers down again.

Tried this several times, including removing all network/usb cables/devices.
No good.

I did a google, saw suggestion that this can be something to do with the HDD. So, I removed the 250gb HDD I have in there, and tried to turn on the PS3, same thing. Fair enough, I put the HDD back in there, made sure it was in there good and proper, same problem.

OK, so maybe the HDD is borked. I dig out my old original 60gb drive, and put it in there, same problem.

So, it's late in the afternoon, I just phoned up Sony customer services.
They told me to try another power cable... well, I haven't yet, I can't see it's that, but no harm in trying it in a minute I s'pose.

So, then it comes down to "we can offer you a refurbished model for £145"

I moan about having paid £420 odd for it 2 years ago, but the fact remains, it is 2 years ago, a year out of warranty. He said if I order one before 16:15 this afternoon, then they'll have a replacement one to me tomorrow. I just need to put the PS3 and orig HDD in a carrier bag ,and give it back like that.

So, I've no idea what caused that. Like so many failures, it just came out of the blue. The guy on the phone suggested overheating, but I can't see it, it was turned off for four hours, and froze within a few seconds of powering up. I did wonder if it was something to do with the disk.... when I turned it off this morning, I ejected my MGS4 disk first. When I turned it on this afternoon, the disk was still there, and the PS3 sucked it in as it was booting up. I wonder if it didn't feed in properly, and jammed up somehow?

Anyway, for now, just to get it done, I paid with my credit card over the phone, so I'll have a refurbished one here tomorrow.

So, I'm gutted, like everybody else in here who's had a console fail, be it 360 or PS3. I didn't want to sign up to the playstation care and wait a few weeks, I just wanted to get it sorted.

Oh well!
Another one bites the dust!

Vin.

EDIT: Oh yes, and my MGS4 is still stuck in there!

 

[V1N]

Could you not just have signed up to the Extended Play thing, waited a week or two and then got it fixed for a fiver?

Very possibly, but silly as it might sound, I'm just not like that, and have never made any kind of fraudulent claim on any insurance.

Also, I aren't willing to wait that long.
I've become too reliant on my PS3 now, for my daily movies, and it's my media centre, for both streaming from my server and PlayTV, and I even use it to play music.

The only alternative that went through my mind, was whether or not to just buy a new one, which would come with a full 12 months warranty again, as well as run cheaper/cooler...but that would've been double the cost again.
If the new slim model was already out, I'd have considered that, but for now, I've done it, and I'm of the personality that cannot stand having things that don't work. The one saving grace is that they said I'd have my refurbished model tomorrow. I'm still gutted though, but trying to put some perspective on it, that it's not the end of the world. I'd rather get it sorted straight away, than have two weeks thinking about it. Besides, you have to sign up for a minimum period for this playstation care thing I assume? Granted, at a £5 per month, that's still £60, a lot less, but it's still not free.

If this one fails however..... I shall not be amused!

Vin.

 

[V1N]

They are simple enough to repair, if you're capable. I've repaired 2, and smallios74 has repaired a couple too, and they're going strong.

It seems that the first batch of 60gb ones are all dieing now

edit - Teaches me not to read the punchline. You probably won't get your MGS4 back. Ultimately it *is* caused by overheating/cold solder joints, but Sony don't seem to want to admit to that.

I see what you mean, like maybe the heat from the startup cycle was enough to kill off a dodgy solder joint or something?

Oh well, if it's borked, then it's borked, so I may as well get a refurb.
I half posted, in the hope that somebody would post back with a "hold this, and press that" and get it working again.... of course I've tried holding down the buttons while it starts up, but it won't even stay on long enough to eject the disk.

The guy did say that I'd get the disk back in about 6 weeks, so I'll have to see. I've never even played it! lol It's one of those I picked up late, actually in a Woolies closing down sale, on the cheap, and this afternoon thought I'd finally get around to trying it. So I've still never played it, I just managed to get as far as installing it!

It's a strange coincidence that I just happened to do a backup this morning!

This weekend I had a bit of a backup session, doing an Acronis on all my PCs, and I thought at the time that I must get a backup of my PS3 done while I'm at it, but I was loathed to do so, because it takes so long (with a 250gb drive) so I woke up early this morning, so decided to get it done, because I knew it would be finished by this afternoon when I wanted to try MGS4.

The backup was successful, and as I say, after that I installed MGS4 without issue. I saw Dutch Guy online. Ejected the disk from the drive, but left it there, as I intended on playing it later.... four hours later, turn it on, and got half way through the startup tune, and that was it.

I hope it isn't a design defect actually, otherwise it would surely only be a matter of time before the refurbished models fail too? Unless the refurbishment somehow fixes the problem.

Mighty annoying anyway!

Vin.

 

[V1N]

Why not just open up the PS3 yourself to get the disc out, there's no warranty left on it anyway...

I'm just gunna leave it be.

Knowing the luck I've been having recently, they'd refuse to send me a refurb because the warranty seal was broken or something!

Vin.

 

[V1N]

It isn't yet tbh, failure rates for the 360 were up in the 60% range in the 360s first year. Last i heard the PS3 was still sub-10% (obviously these figures are all from random polls; the hardware manufacurers never released their own figures other than Sony in the PS3s first year, at which point it was around 3%). That doesn't make it acceptable mind, but it is still within industry standards which is why Sony haven't yet been forced to offer a free extended warranty.

To V1N: Sorry to hear it mate, it really does suck when these things happen. MGS4 may not be completely lost as i've heard of people getting games sent back to them if they're stuck in the drive. You're a better man than I; i would have abused the contrinuous play scheme without a second thought.

Yeah, never mind, today is another day.
Hopefully my refurb will show up today, I'll put my 250gb HDD in it, and carry on as before.

I have, of course, been Googling the problem, and it seems to be only really affecting the original 60gb consoles? This would explain something... I mean, they run hotter than the newer ones, so maybe the newer 40 and 80gb units are immune from this problem? My Brother sent his PS3 over last night to watch a film, and he bought his just as the 40gb units came out. With my 60gb unit, watching a DVD, and upscaling, the fans will spin up. After a couple of hours here, his was still totally silent, no fans, nothing. This is obviously because of the newer manufacturing process, using less power, generating less heat, but still, that would give me some confidence that the newer models wouldn't get the same failure, at least as often.. Of course this doesn't help me, I have another 60gb unit on the way! Still, if they're all failing from the same thing, hopefully the refurb has fixed whatever the problem was anyway, even if it's just a better brand of thermal paste lol

After mine borked yesterday, I did seriously consider getting a new 80gb unit. It would be totally quiet, and use less electricity, as my PS3 is on an awful lot of the time, mainly streaming media from my server, but also games of course, and a spot of PlayTV. Still, I'd be stupid to do that, £145 for another unit shouldn't be turned down. Even though my system shouldn't have broken already, at least there's the option to get a cheap replacement. Sonys customer service was good too, as people have previously stated. Going beyond the fact it shouldn't have broken, and the fact I'm paying £145 for a refurb, the chap on the phone sounded suitably sorry and showed the proper level of empathy lol he did say I should get my MGS4 disk back too, he mate a note of it, and said it may take up to 6 weeks.

I also didn't wanna sign up to Continuous Play, because I'd obviously have to wait a little while before making my claim, and I didn't want to wait... I use it daily as my media centre, and it's too much of an inconvenience to not have it there.

I hope I don't find any savegames that won't work on the new system. You know, there are a few games that won't allow you to make a backup. I'd be sad if my RE5 save didn't work, as I didn't replay it yet with unlimited ammo magnum, and I was looking forward to that

Anyway, hopefully, I'll find out later.
Apparently, I just need to put my PS3 in a carrier bag, with its original HDD in it, and give it to the courier. No label, no sealing it, nothing!

Vin.

 

[V1N]

If you used the backup utility to keep your saves you'll be fine. What some games don't allow you to do is simply copy off single savegames onto a usb stick to take to your mates; the backup utility does not have this problem, all saves will be kept.

That's what I was hoping.
It's just that the backup util stated that some things may not be available if restored to another system.

The Sony guy also said that I won't be able to just put my HDD in the new system and use it, which would've been handy.

Apparently if I put my HDD in another PS3, I have to format it, and then restore my backup to the HDD.

Anyway, no matter, as I said above, as coincidence has it, I did a backup yesterday, so shouldn't have lost a thing then (Except my MGS4 disk, and £145!)

In a way, I hope a design flaw is shown up on the 60gb units, so they'll start repairing them for free, and give me a refund!! I can't see it happening though. Of the, I dunno, 15 or so people I knew with a 360, only one still had his original console (and oddly, he was the heaviest user) most of those guys have now swapped over to PS3, and mine is the only one that's failed, with the exception of a friend of a friend, who had his laser fail, and he fixed that himself by ordering and fitting a new one. So from my own circle of people I know, the failure rate is still very low compared to the 360, nevertheless, it's still higher than I would hope for an expensive piece of kit.

Vin.

 

[V1N]

Well, the replacement has just arrived.
Not even opened it yet... out of interest, I asked the courier "do you get many of these?"

"Oh yeah, hundreds, we get them every day"

I suppose in fairness, a courier whos job it is to collect faulty consoles IS going to see a lot of them, but still!

Right, time to get this unpacked, and I hope to God it doesn't have noisy fans!

Vin.

EDIT: Just plugged it in as is. Firmware is version 2.5 something, so doesn't seem to have been used for a while. The top seems new, and the memory card cover, and buttons were covered by thin film. Looks like new for the most part, except for some scratches on the underside. Just updating the firmware, and then I'll swap HDDs over and get on with it properly.

EDIT: OK, as the customer services guy said, when I popped my HDD back in there, it told me I had to format it, so did that, and am now restoring my backup from my USB HDD. Once again, it told me that because the backup was made on a different PS3 system, that some files would not be available. I guess I'll have to wait and find out what those are. Hopefully all my PSN games and save games are intact, but I guess it's those that it's talking about. Anyway, no point in speculating, I'll find out in 18 mins....

EDIT: Bah! Restore complete. Then it rebuilt the file system. Then.... damn, unlike when you restore to your own PS3, there are NO game installs, either from blurays, or PSN Store, so these will all have to be downloaded again, not so much fun when you're on a cap... but never mind I suppose. There ARE definitely some save games missing too, notably, Resident Evil 5, as I'd feared. All it's restored is savegames, music, photos and videos, and themes. Damn, no gamedata at all. Still, not the end of the world, that can be reinstalled and downloaded. Just an inconvenience. A shame, considering it was all backed up. Anyway, just posting all this, so anybody else in the same situation knows what to expect.

(and interestingly, as I go to try to sign into my PSN account, I notice my previously added words are in the predicted text box, after the backup)

So far I seem to have lost RE5 savegame, so no unlimited magnum for me and Killzone 2 isn't there, nor either of my NFS games, and possibly more.

 

[V1N]

Turn the rocker switch off so there are no lights on the PS3. Hold the eject button and turn the rocker switch on. The fans will come on high, and the disc should eject.

I sent it back on Monday, but never mind, this didn't work anyway.
It wouldn't come on for long enough to eject the disk.

I tried turning on the rocker switch, and holding down the power button, the eject button, and anything else I could find.

Nothing worked.
It came on, and just gave a yellow light and red flashing light, and shut down, before any chance of ejecting the disk.

Vin.

I also don't think this works on 60gb units anyway.

 

[V1N]

I still have 2 original 60Gbs. One bought on release day. Working fine so far but I am particularly meticulous in keeping them clean and dust covered when not in use. Regular blow out with compressed air to get the dust outta the vents etc. Dunno if that's anything to do with it mind you. No one I know with a 60Gb has had it fail....yet...

Funny thing. Got an original PS2 from release day and fired it up a few weeks ago. Still working fine

I kept mine clean too.
I have quite a few mates with 60gb units, mine is the only one to fail.
I also used my a lot more than anybody else though. It was on a lot of the day, every day, either just streaming media, PlayTV or games.

I hope the replacement lasts longer.

Vin.