PS3 problem

my PS3 has been acting up a little bit lately. everything seems to work fine...but the disc drive sometimes does not start up when you insert a CD. i am way out of the 1 year warranty...so i'm trying to remedy the problem myself. if you eject and re-insert the CD a couple times, it will read. it seems to read DVD's fine, but not the games. no, the discs aren't scratched or fingerprinted, etc. i don't know if it's just dirty or if there is a real problem with the drive. thought about hitting it with a blow gun to see if dust is the problem. are they very complicated to disassemble and clean? not worried about voiding warranty...it expired two years ago.

just wondering if anyone else has had this issue, and if so, how did you correct it.

 

ok, so after some research...this problem is fairly common. my options: send back to Sony for $150 repair, order a new laser drive online and try to change it out myself(not so sure about this), or beg and plead with Sony and see if i can get them to warranty the repair. my console is a year out of warranty, but in the past they fixed my PS2 when it was like 5 years old for free...except the money i paid to ship it to them. i can get a new laser assy. for $72 from here www.PSXBOY.com, but am a little intimidated about changing it myself...lots of small delicate parts, and i have sausage finger syndrome.

what do you all think? play it safe and give Sony another $150 on top of the $400 i paid for this "10 year" console...or go for the gusto and try to repair it myself?

 

I bet someone local can fix it for you if you look around.

 

i think i may have found someplace that can fix it local, but i just finished an email to SONY's service center pleading for warranty service. i must admit...this has worked for me on occasions in the past. it's amazing sometimes what a polite, well written letter to customer service departments can do. they are supposed to respond within 48 hours...so we will see.

 

I had this on my old PS3, it just finnaly stopped reading disks al together. I opted to buy a new one as the old one was already 4-5 years old. There was a could of local game retailers that offered to do the repars however.

 

"Hello ****,

We apologize for any inconvenience regarding your system not functioning properly.

Please note that the manufactures warranty for the PlayStation system is 1 year from the date of purchase. In order to have your system serviced under this warranty, you will need to provide a copy of your printed store receipt. If you are outside of the 1 year warranty period, or cannot provide a copy of your store receipt, you will be required to pay a fee of $149 U.S., plus applicable taxes, to have your console serviced. Unfortunately, as per the warranty policy, this means since you are over the one year warranty of your system, a service fee is required for servicing of your system."

meh...i figured. SONY is playing the GM game. make sure the product will last longer than the warranty, then break...then you give GM (SONY) more money to repair said product. hell with em...i found a place in PA that'll repair it for $40 less with 24hr turnaround. from what i've read...the lasers in the units are a POS and is the cause of the problem i'm having. i only have four words that come to mind...Ch-Ch-Ch-China!

 

I've had the same problem with mine, sent it back twice within the warranty period to get it fixed. It's a bit rediculous to be putting that crappy of a part in a $400-$500 system. But after having my zune shvt out on me less than one week after the warranty expired, the corporate hell Wal-mart extended warranty looked pretty good.

Aparently the problem has to do with leaving the power on to the system, even if it's in the powersave it will fry that laser. I just got in the habit of leaving it with the switch in the back set to off.

 

i was using one of those turbo cooling fan things for a while with mine and the main power off was located at the front with it mounted. couldn't stand listening to it whine all the time...it worked great, but was noisy so i took it off. i don't turn off the main power to the unit in the back...is that what you mean? i really haven't logged all that many hours on mine...definately not $500 worth.

 

Yeah, I haven't logged many hours on mine, definitely not $400 worth, plus two trips back for service.
I did mean that between uses, It's been turned off, as in switch on the back off. This has been the longest period I've had it without it blowing up, both times before we just left it in powersave and within 3-4 months it would sh1t out on me.

 

I pull mine out of the entertainment system & put on a book on the carpet. so it can get plenty of ventilation. I always worried about having over heating issues. No problems so far with this method. Going on 2 years now.

There was another on here that replaced his drive himself. He got one off ebay. I can't remember who it was. He may chime in when he sees the thread.

 

Relentless Taco had the same problem. He tried to clean his drive & had problems. He ended up replacing it.


http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/entertainment/15789-ps3-whos-got-one-7.html

 

sending it out tomorrow, but not to SONY. found a place in PA. should be back in about a week. $110. sucks...i need a new controller too...the joysticks are starting to creep....and i gotta fork over some $$ for CODMW2. all in the name of quality entertainment. gonna go play a few rounds of COD5 before i box it up. got my kill ratio up to 1.0!

 

well, 1 week and $100 later...the PS3 is back in action. seems to be working flawlessly. props to PSR for the repair. got MW6 preordered...come on November!

 

If you guys hit up to the forums on the Playstation site you can find so good info on this.SONYs customer service is Fing awful , I would say look for alternative repair options instead of the 150 to Sony.There is a guy in SC that will fix the "yellow light of death" issues after shipping it is still about half the "stupid tax" sony hits you for.Youtube has some well done "do it yourself" fixes on it....caution though.

As for controllers I can tell you personally with my PS2 I went through no less than 8 controllers...at 25 a pop thats nuts.I paid 5 for a 2 year warranty from Best Buy.If it broke inside 90 days free replace , after 90 days but before 2 years , 5 bucks to exchange.When I got my PS3s I paid 10 dollars on a 55 dollar controller....2 replacements , only one cost me 10 bucks.I saved 100 bucks , so far.

And for new potential PS3 buyers , Target has a 3 yr warranty for 60 bucks.Best deal going.Best Buy last I checked was still 100 bucks for 2 years.

Also wait a month and the "slimline" will be out for 300 bills , some places are dropping existing stock to 300 bucks right now.

Curious man what PS3 did you have...20 GB , 40 GB ,60 GB or 80 GB?

 

Wow!
Do you throw or drop your controllers? I have had my PS3 for 2 years & am still on the same controllers.

 

No.If you looked it was mostly ps2 controllers.Same problem on almost all of the , the left stick "walking" , noticed mostly in shooters and football games.Also the L3 and R3 functions failing.As for the PS3 controllers the new dual shocks seem much more durable , I do have one that the rubber covers slip on the sticks...LAME

 

yup, left stick. lol...i get "plastic dust" buildup around both of them. the L3 is starting to go bad as well. FPS are hard on the controllers. too much sprinting on COD. the dual shock 3's can be had on Amazon for $43. i'll probably wait till modern warfare 2 comes out to get a new one.