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Blu-ray Drive transplant - The unexpected...
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Junior Member
2 product reviews
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15. January 2009 @ 22:47 |
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I didn't want to hijack someone elses thread...so I will a new one.
A quick run down -
I already own a 60GB PS3...works fine. But a 320GB HDD for it...works fine...but the PS3 restore system blows chunks...blah, blah, blah.
About two weeks ago, I purchased a broke 40GB PS3 off of ebay for basically $109 shipped. This system was listed as a unit that did not read any media. I got home, cleaned it off, did a fan test, used a disc cleaner, updated the firmware, and all of that jazz. After doing that, I got the system to actually read DVD's and CD's but it still will not read blu-rays.
A week ago, I found a smoking deal on ebay, a 40GB PS3 that had some type of power problem (it would turn on, but turn back off)...but there wasn't much of a description. I took a gamble, bid and won ($61 shipped!)....hoping that it overheated, but that the blu-ray drive was still good.
My "plan" was to do an entire blu-ray drive transplant and get one working PS3 system....then send the other one back to Sony...or sell it for parts.
Well, I get the 2nd one today....take a look at it...and the the thing is covered in dust and dirty as heck. Open her up and there is dust everywhere. The HDD has burn marks on it from the cage that surrounds it. I can't even get this thing to do a fan test...I'm thinking the entire unit is fried. Well, I pull the drive out of it and place it in the "DVD only" PS3...put the cover with the power and eject button back on....and hit the switch. The system boots up....and I'm happy!
I throw in a DVD....and....nothing!
I throw in a blu-ray....and....nothing!
At this point, I'm thinking I've just wasted $60 dollars.
So...I take the DVD only drive and place it in the "bad power" PS3..just to see what happens. But...I had NOT placed the cover with the power and eject button back on. I flip the switch, hit the power button...and....WTF!...the system boots up! At this point...I'm thinking...did I turn on the wrong PS3? But no...the insides are full of dust, and I had marked which BR drive was which...plus...I had to log in as one of the old users!
So, I throw in a DVD, but nothing happens...same with a Blu-Ray....and at this point I'm starting to get confused. I reswap the drives and try them again. So at this point I have each systems original drive in them...but with the covers off.
The 40GB unit that only played DVD's was back to only playing DVD's...fine...
BUT....the 40GB that would not stay powered on a few hours ago now booted up. I sign in as the old user....stick a DVD in...and.....IT WORKS! OK...so maybe I will end up with two units that only play DVD's...but at least I have power.
So at this point, I stick in a Blu-Ray..and.....IT FREAKING WORKS!!!!!
After looking at everything really close, I noticed that somehow...the little tab that connects the eject button to the powerboard below it had got bent out of shape...THAT WAS IT!
That was why the system would turn on and turn off...because of a bad connection on the eject button....and that is also why I could not do a fan test.
So yes....the PS3 (that was supposed to be the BR drive donor) that I paid $48 dollars for, plus $12 dollars and change in shipping is now a FULLY FUNCTIONAL UNIT! Holy cow!
I tought it was all burnt up...but all I ended up doing was bending a little piece of metal back into shape.
I'm going to do some more testing with the
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Junior Member
2 product reviews
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16. January 2009 @ 01:07 |
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I just noticed I forget to finish that last sentence....
I was going to do more testing with the two drives...which I did. I almsost broke EVERYTHING (there are some small and fragile plastic parts on those chips). I'm getting tired, and it was showing.
However....something crazy has again happened.
For ease, 40GB1 will the PS3 that did not play (yes, I said did, not does...I'll explain if I can) any Blu-Rays. It only played DVD's and CD's.
40GB2 is the PS3 that came with what I thought was a bad power supply and was fried, but turned out to simply have a bent eject button contact...and is now a fully functional PS3.
Instead of putting the systems back together...I wanted to confirm some things.
I can now also confirm that you CANNOT switch the entire drives with the chips still attached to the Blu-Ray units. Those chips attacthed to the bottom of the drives ARE mated to the rest of the PS3. When the entire drives are swapped (including the chips), neither system will even register that a disc of any kind has been inserted. No bubble or anything.
I also tested if the 40GB1 had a bad laser, or a bad chip. In the process, I broke some small parts that I thought would not allow me to reconnect the ribbons...but there was still enough to make solid connections. I pulled the chips off of each blu-ray drive and swapped them. The 40GB1 blu-ray drive now has the chip from 40GB2 attached to it...and vice versa. Since I knew that chip and drive from 40GB2 worked, I could narrow out the faulty part.
Most of what I expected happened. If I put the 40GB1 drive (with a the 40GB2 chip on it) in the 40GB1 PS3, no type of discs would be read. Same goes for vice versa....the chips have to match the PS3.
I was happy to find out that when I put the 40GB2 drive (with the 40GB1 chip) in the 40GB1 PS3, I was able to read all media...including blu-ray's. I already knew that the 40GB2 drive worked, but this confirmed that the 40GB1 chip was OK....and that meant that the blue laser in the 40GB1 drive was bad.
However...I went ahead and put the 40GB1 drive (with the 40GB2 chip on it) in the 40GB2 PS3 and tried it out. I figured that I would only be able to see DVD's and just wanted to confirm it.
That didn't happen....something better did.
I had forgetten to take a blu-ray disc out of the 40GB1 drive when I booted it up. As expected...the disc spun...the system "tried" to read it...but nothing happened. I ejected the blu-ray, stuck in a DVD, and watched it play....fine. Since I was about done, for some reason....I stuck the blu-ray back in this same unit. The disc spun for awhile...the system tried to find it...I was tired...so I hit the eject button. BUT....right when I hit eject...something on the screen caught my eye. I thought I saw the BD-DVD logo pop up for a split second. So, I stuck the disc back in....and waited. It went through all of the noise of spinning, searching, spinning again, and searching as it usually does....but after maybe 12 seconds or so....the logo popped back up. I hit play, and I was watching a blu-ray movie on the blu-ray drive from 40GB1. I was NOT expecting that....and I want to make sure that I have not reswapped the drives and chips.
I'm really sleepy...so I've shut everything down and will recheck in the morning (again)...but as of right now....the drive that I've marked as DVD only just played a blu-ray after a lot of noise, spinning, and fuss.
I don't know what caused it to happen. Maybe it needed a "jump" from the chip from 40GB2. I'll match everything back up tomorrow night and let you know what I find out.
But yes, as of right now, both PS3's are playing blu-rays. Each unit is playing with its own chip, but with swapped drives...although one of them does not "sound" happy about playing blu-rays.
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ooZEROoo
Senior Member
4 product reviews
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16. January 2009 @ 01:44 |
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Thank you for documenting your experience.
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Junior Member
2 product reviews
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16. January 2009 @ 08:14 |
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Well,
Things are working as expected again....which is bad and good.
I woke up a tried a Blu-Ray in the unit that has the drive from 40GB1 mated the chip and base of 40GB2. The only thing it is doing right now is playing DVD's. It sounds like it tries to read disc about 3 times, then it stops. I'm pretty sure I wasn't dreaming last night. So when get home from work, I'll let the system warm up a bit or something. I'm not sure what would have caused that drive to work for a couple of minutes.
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Junior Member
2 product reviews
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16. January 2009 @ 08:34 |
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Anoter update.
It is running again. If I had a video camera, I would post this on YouTube. Maybe I can use my cheap digital camera or something.
I just kept tyring....and I knew which time it was going to work from the sound that it made.
When is isn't going to work, it "sounds" like either the disc won't spin, or is starting to spin but can't keep goings. It is maybe a half second of higher pitched noise (like a motor that is straining) that happened three times. Then the drive stops trying and nothing happens.
When it read the drive, the spinning sound lasted longer...a second and a half to two seconds or so. It was also lower pitched....as if the actual disc was actually spinning....maybe it was going slower because the weight on the spindle. It spun the disc three times...and on the third spin it loaded up.
So, I guess the laser or the motor are in the "process" of going bad? I have to run to work now....more testing tonight. I want to see which of the drives loads the fastest...and do they all sound the same. I'll take a look at my 60GB unit also.
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ogrejuice
Newbie
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20. February 2009 @ 05:28 |
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hi if their is one working drive in their and you dont have any use for it would you mind selling it to me ? thanks my email is ogrejuice@hotmail.co.uk
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Shakotah
Member
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21. February 2009 @ 13:55 |
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i thought it was determined already that swapping drives dont do much, as the drives (or boards, dunno which) are keyed to the motherboard, so people who bought spare ps3's on ebay for parts sometimes get a ps3 drive that worked when it was reported not to work before (by luck, like urs with loud spinning and searching) and then theres other people with different problems which are easily fixed (like ribbon, totally common and i hate that ribbon, breaks easily)
anyways... keep testing it out if you feel like it, perhaps maybe even unlock the secret to doing a complete drive transplant
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Junior Member
2 product reviews
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22. February 2009 @ 12:24 |
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Originally posted by Shakotah:
i thought it was determined already that swapping drives dont do much, as the drives (or boards, dunno which) are keyed to the motherboard, so people who bought spare ps3's on ebay for parts sometimes get a ps3 drive that worked when it was reported not to work before (by luck, like urs with loud spinning and searching) and then theres other people with different problems which are easily fixed (like ribbon, totally common and i hate that ribbon, breaks easily)
anyways... keep testing it out if you feel like it, perhaps maybe even unlock the secret to doing a complete drive transplant
The actual blu-ray drives by themselves can be swapped between PS3's. The chip that is connected to the blu-ray drive is tied to the motherboard. When you swap drives, you just have to make sure you pull that chip off or your original blu-ray drive and swap it with your replacement drive.
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