OK, as I was playing a game the other day it froze but I was able to get back to the main PS menu and shutdown, I didn't think much of it as I was about to quit anyway. Today when I fired up the PS3 it's not playing any BD/DVD media at all but it is showing the icon in the top right like it's trying to read everytime I insert a disc. After doing some reseach on the forums, it's probably either the KES-400A or the entire mechanism KEM-400AAA that I should replace first. My question is this, how do I know what to replace given the following:
1. The motor on the side moves the laser along the rails towards the disc when inserted. I tested this with one of those clear plastic discs that they have on top and bottom of the spindle stack of blank cd-r/dvd-r's.
2. The discs I put in are not spinning.
3. When I insert a disc, there are no lights which I believe I read somewhere are supposed to flash or become brighter?
I'm not sure what symptoms to look for to determine whether I need just the laster, the laser and mechanism, just the laser diode, or the driver IC? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
So far there is no definitive answer for the non-spinning disks. The general consensus is that more often than not (one repair poster here said that he fixed 12 out of 15 dead drives this way) is to replace the laser assembly (the KES-400A) as it's not reading the type of media which is stopping the process of spinning up a disk.
There is a huge thread about it a little further down the page. I have personally replaced my laser and still have a non-spinning disk condition, but I have other 'circumstances' which I won't bore you with. If you don't mind spending the $55-75 for a laser, give it a go, and good luck!!
