I have had my 60g ps3 for about 2 years now. It does not get played that much. It worked great last week, but now today won't read games. System turns on fine. When I insert a game nothing happens. It sits there like I never put a game in it. Does this for any game or movie. I tried resetting software defaults, and no change.Anyone have any ideas?
It does show the disk spinning in the upper right corner of the screen. Is it just not reading the games. It the eye shot? Can someone please give me some info? Thanks
Maybe people don't know. Maybe people don't care. There are plenty of reasons. Maybe people have better things to do. Maybe people want to help but aren't really sure what the issue is.
Have you tried playing PS2 games? PS3? PS1? DVDs? BDs? "any game or movie" makes me assume you've tried all of them, but I ask to be sure.
If the icon is spinning, that probably means the BD drive at least recognizes something's there. It could be that the laser's just old. Or else there's some other hardware issue. Heck, it might be that a firmware update mucked it up. Or the hard drive is corrupt (doubtful, though, since that shouldn't have any effect on reading discs).
Is the PS3 running fine otherwise? (ie you can access PSN, play downloaded games/demos, watch movies off the hard drive, play music, browse photos, etc.)
Well any response is better than no response. It has never been hooked up to PSN, and nothing has ever been downloaded to it, such as movies or pictures. It has only been used to watch Blue Ray movies and play PS3 and PS2 games. I am assuming it is my laser. I have tried movies and games in it, and nothing happens. Thanks for your help. Anything else you could add would be appreciated.
I didn't reply because it seemed that someone else had replied to you; I didn't know it was just you replying to yourself.
If the disk does not even spin, then the issue is not with the laser (you should be able to hear it spin, at least if you put it in when the system is cold and the fan isn't running too hard).
Personally, I would just buy a new drive for it, transfer the old drive board to the new drive, and hope it all works smoothly. I would also backup my stuff to USB before I started; just in case a format is required.
i friend of mine had that happen to his pal 60gb ps3 after an update. he ended up replacing the the mechanics + laser its now working like a charm again
Originally posted by lipps17: The disk is spinning. I can hear it. I think the laser is shot. Anyone know how much a laser is and how hard it is to change?
In my experience, if the laser is bad the drive will not spin the disc. If you take apart a drive then place a disc in, you'll see the laser blink blue for a second (NOT RECOMMENDED THAT YOU LOOK DIRECTLY AT IT). It's been speculated that the ps3 performs some kind of laser test before the disc is spun up, and if the laser/diode fails that test, then the ps3 drive does not bother spinning the disc at all. Most systems I have ever seen with a bad laser did not spin up the disc; then after swapping the laser the spins up fine (or sometimes it spins up the disc but then quits and may give a 8000......error message). It could be that the sound you think is the disc being spun up is in fact the fan. The disc being spun up is much louder. Sometimes bad lasers or bad drives will spin up the disc and cycle it through many different RMPs (like the little engine that could trying it's best) before finally quitting. Does it sound like it's changing speeds constantly? I don't know why this sometimes happens but again, this is most likely just a bad laser. The laser is far more likely to burn out than the entire drive mechanism.
Like it's already been said, try every kind of disc you have (ps1/ps2/ps3/dvd/br/audiocd). If you get the perpetual bubble/clock on the top right, with no other symptoms, it's most likely a bad laser.
There are youtube videos that can show you how to swap it and a laser or laser w/ mech will cost about $55-70 on ebay. Installing the laser is easy but make sure you re-assemble the blue ray drive correctly and REALLY be delicate with that sensor wire as they are EASILY stripped.
Originally posted by lipps17: The disk is spinning. I can hear it. I think the laser is shot. Anyone know how much a laser is and how hard it is to change?
Yes looks like its the laser since you see the disc loading bubble at the top right hand corner, lucky for you its not the RSX graphics chip thats damaged. Replacing it is fairly easy but look around and buy only from an american supplier dont buy chinese replacements they tend to be of low quality and are likely not new but dead then refurbished price wise you could get a good laser before for around 50-60 but the price fluctuates due to scarce supply and demand they are about 80 now i think. The install process should take 20 min or less. Oh yeah buy it with the carriage/laser/ assembly not just the laser alone they cost the same but its easier to install it with the laser carriage.
