Hey all. First time poster, long time lurker (on the PS3 forum anyway). Hoping y'all could help. Sunday afternoon my 60GB launch PS3 randomly stopped reading discs while I was in the middle of playing Transformers: WFC. I brought it to a reputable local shop, a friend of mine got his PS3 fixed there and they've got good reviews. Anyways, they tried replacing the BRD, and it will spin up the disc but will not recognize it. They also tried replacing the hard drive and it still would not recognize discs.
The only other thing I could think of is that a couple of times the PS3 power had cut out on me, but since I had replaced the power cord it stopped. I'm thinking maybe it is the power supply, but I'm not sure. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know whether that could cause a problem in reading, but if there was problem with the PSU might not enough power be getting to the drive so it couldn't read?
Do any of you guys have possible ideas on what could be causing this issue? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I will ask them today when I pick up the machine, but they told me this was the first time they've ever been "stumped" by a dysfunctional PS3. In the end, they also tested a working PSU and checked all of the fuses, everything checked OK on my original and the new.
They came to the conclusion that the drive control on the motherboard must have given up the ghost. Alas, I've built PC's before but I don't have any experience working with the guts of the PS3...but when I hear something is shot on the motherboard, I generally am thinking "replace" rather than "repair." Could you give me a bit more info about this control board and how I should proceed towards checking it?
I was going to pick up my PS3 today and just go buy a slim, but if there is a chance I can still fix mine, I'd like to exhaust all options. Thanks!
I just checked this thread about the control board on AfterDawn. That seems to confirm what is wrong with my PS3...either the drive control is shot OR the laser itself is shot and since the DC is married to the drive, it explains why it didn't work with the new drive.
I will call my repair shop this morning and ask about this, but any more info you could provide is more greatly appreciated. Many thanks!
You can replace just the laser lens and LED on a PS3...or at least a good shop should be able to do the job...not sure if they tried this, but I would assume they did...or at least that they would recommend trying it.
If I were you, I would just get the unit back with the parts I brought it in with; if they can't fix it with the parts they recommended, then you should not have to pay for them. Also, if they try to charge you a diagnostic fee, point out that their original diagnostics were wrong, and they have not provided a correct diagnostic yet, as they do not know what is wrong. Once you get it back, throw it on ebay as a parts machine and go get yourself a new one.
Killerbug - Thanks for the reply. My repair shop tried replacing the entire BRD itself as well as replacing the laser within my drive. My drive tested good in another machine. So that's why I'm leaning towards a controller board issue, sadly. No, they aren't charging me. I was considering sending it to a company in Florida but they charge a bench fee if they can't repair the console either, and I suspect they'll have the same results.
The shop has actually been really cool, they reassembled everything as it was and advised me to send it to Sony. I hate paying $200 ($150 + tax and shipping) but I really want my console version. I have too big a library of PS2 games and to be honest, working, non-YLOD 60GB's are still pretty nifty.
I'm calling Sony today and depending on what they say...if they think I can get my original console back, but with the controller board fixed, then I'll send it to them. If they think I'll need a refurb, I'll just go out and buy a Slim. I don't want to, but at this point, it wouldn't be worth paying Sony $200 for a refurb when I could just add another $100 and buy a whole brand new console with a 1 year warranty.
my BD controller went out in my PS3 about two weeks ago. its the motherboard that's married to the controller. you have to replace the controller with one that has the same type of motherboard.
this can be tricky has the 80GB PS3 has 3 different motherboard stamps(codes) if you know the motherboard code then look for a drive that came out of a ps3 with a similar code.
the chances of the drive controller working are about 5/10 I've got good luck so mine worked.
i thought of it this way, if it didn't work i could resell it. get my cash back and try again. sure beats the 150 bucks that Sony wants. not to mention i broke the warranty the same day i bought it to put silver goop on it. the axle grease they had on it wasn't bad but it wasn't the best.
if your going to go it yourself inquire about the drive controller on ebay, and ask them about the motherboard code the drive was salvaged from. more than likely they will give you a strait answer.