Cret Posted June 8, 2010 Share Posted June 8, 2010 Well, following probably not that long ago commenting on the general reliability of the PS3 I've got egg on my face as mine has just packed in. Having just done my back in while off work for the week, I now can't even console (no pun intended) myself by playing call of duty. Who has experience of fixing PS3s themselves (Dev maybe?). I've looked at a million youtube videos all promising to be my console's salvation. Most are crap, some are potentially useful but irrelevant, others have been a slight help etc. I've got it opened up and after seeing the amount of dust inside it was hopeful briefly that perhaps it just needed a lens clean. It didn't. The console is not giving any errors, it simply fails to acknowledge the insertion of a disc (of any sort). The loading icon shows and doesn't go away. It seems apparent now though that it is not actually even bothering to spin the disc after it goes in. So this makes me think it's one of the following: The laser is goosed and because that's gone it thinks there's no disc, and thus doesn't bother trying to spin it? OR The motor (or something else other than laser) is goosed, and because it doesn't bother spinning the disc, the odds are the laser is still ok? I'm sure I would eventually find the answer online via google/youtube or some sort of ps3 forum, but I dread the monstrous volume of reading ream upon ream of bollocks first in order to reach the correct diagnosis and fix. I'm assuming I now need to replace a part or a few parts, but not sure how I can be definite about which, and subsequently locate a reputable source of spares (other than simply posting it to Sony and bending over for the repair bill). Anyone able to help*? Thanks if so. *Things like "Ha ha - ps3 sucks lol!" or "Throw it in the bin" etc aren't considered helpful here btw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarbunny Posted June 8, 2010 Share Posted June 8, 2010 Sounds like it could be a laser issue http://www.consolewerks.co.uk/playstation-3-repair.html This company seems quiet reasonable if you don't mind sending it away and I can't find anything negative on the internet about them, they do an inspection and repair or just a straight laser replacement. Just found this on afterdawn forums, probably not the issue but could be an easy fix something that happened to my friends drive....he thought it was dead opened up the ps3 drive..... and found that the little magnet behind the laser that allows for the disc to spin had come off and was actually connected to the roof of the ps3's drive!! alls he had to do was take off the little metal magnet (in the shape of a washer) and put in back on the bottom of the drive.....and VIOLA!! games a-joy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K.os Theory Posted June 8, 2010 Share Posted June 8, 2010 good luck Cret. PS3 no.3 died on me a couple of weeks ago, but luckily i managed to get insurance around the time number 2 went so it won't cost anything to replace. Problem is I think I'm getting re-conditioned consoles as it seems to be the same problem time and again ( complete black screen and unable to do anything ). These things always seem to happen when you want them most as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cret Posted June 8, 2010 Author Share Posted June 8, 2010 Cheers for that. From their site (and most I'm looking at now) it would seem like it is the laser and that this controls the motor, so no laser = no spin. They charge £89 for that to be repaired but from what I can see I just need part KEM-400AAA (complete laser 'deck') or KES-400A (laser assembly) to fix it, but I've heard talk of certain parts having to be 'matched' in order to work, ie from the same machine. I think actually THIS would be the best idea for another 5 or 6 quid as it includes the deck as well. Easier to do, and also includes the motor and motor circuit which should hopefully eliminate the worry of 'matching' bits or whatever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cret Posted June 8, 2010 Author Share Posted June 8, 2010 That's pretty bad luck to be on your 3rd one mate! Mine is an original 60gb one and has given stirling service. I suppose I can't grumble too much since lasers do have a limited lifespan and this is one of the earliest machines. Just a bugger that I'm skint already this month having bought a new helicopter and had to buy a couple of bits for me car etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cret Posted June 8, 2010 Author Share Posted June 8, 2010 Hmmm, I just found that when a disc is inserted, the lens does glow purple, move to the disc, then up & down a couple of times as if trying to read it, but no spin up happens. Would the laser still glow like that if it was buggered? Tempting to buy just a motor/circuit first to see if that solves it since I bet they're way cheaper. Ie one of these: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Motor-KES-400AAA-Las...=item35a9a2838c Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spanna Posted June 8, 2010 Share Posted June 8, 2010 Get the laser with the mounting bits with it. Thats what I did and replaced the old unit and bingo everything working fine again. I think the laser and unit cost me about 50 quid. The only difficult bit is making sure you get the correct replacement laser model to match the ps3 laser model you have. Then just find a youtube video to follow and its pretty straight forward really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cret Posted June 8, 2010 Author Share Posted June 8, 2010 I've got the numbers from my laser cheers Spanna - so I know I can order the correct one. My only concern really is to make sure this is actually the fault since I can still see light coming from the laser. Ie I'm not sure if a laser can be lighting up like mine but say too weak to work correctly, or if the fact I can see purple light from it means the laser is ok and I can save £40 or so by just getting a motor or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cret Posted June 12, 2010 Author Share Posted June 12, 2010 Grrr! :grrr: I decided to bite the bullet the other day and ordered a new laser on my credit card so I could at least play a game or two while my crumbly spine is preventing me doing much else. Was quite pleased when the new one arrived today so I opened it up but wasn't as happy about the look of the 'new' one. Had dust/fluff on the disc platter, and part of the metal frame/deck had signs of rust on it! Certainly didn't look like a brand new one to me so I emailed the seller to say this seemed odd and ask if they are new or reconditioned etc. Anyway, I installed it. Really easy 5 minute job to swap over (earthed myself first in case of static). Fired up the console and popped in an old cd, just in case it did anything 'funny' - didn't want to risk my precious COD disc getting stuck or whatever. To my delight the disc spun up, and worked fine, so I ejected it and inserted call of duty which promptly loaded! Yay! So I decided to turn it off again and refit the PS3's cover etc back on and finish putting it back together now I knew the 'new' laser was ok, but here's the weird bit. I used the controller to tell the console to switch off but it wouldn't. It turned off the video output as my telly went blank, but the disc mechanism just kept repeating the same noise over and over like it was stuck or something, and the power light on the console stayed on. I waited a while but it kept doing it so I had no choice but to turn off via the power switch on the back of the console (tried also via the front panel but no joy). Turned it back on and sure enough if spun the disc a little bit but will not load any discs again now. It's different to my original fault as every time I insert (any type) a disc it spins but stops it suddenly, makes a very faint noise almost like a beep (I think it's the laser mech moving) then does another short spin then repeats this cycle. It does this about 5 times then stops. Different fault to my original laser but same outcome. I don't believe it's an external part at fault though since the behaviour of the two units is different. So having spent 40 odd quid that I couldn't really afford, I still have a knackered machine it seems. I'm absolutely confident that I've made no mistakes doing it since it loaded 2 discs and ejected the first etc no problem before it failed again. I've followed online instructions to a T, connectors are all seated correctly, nothing had to be yanked or pushed hard or forced etc to do this job, and I even earthed myself since people say they're sensitive to this. I'm very used to pulling apart and re-assembling stuff like this anyway and have had a lot of practice over the years. Plus the fact the new laser looked older than my own one makes me think this company has sent me a duff unit. I'm going to email them and complain, but I have a nasty feeling that if I send it back they'll then claim it's not the one I bought off them or something like that, since I've had that happen in the past when buying goods that turned out to be faulty. Very very not happy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cret Posted June 13, 2010 Author Share Posted June 13, 2010 Well well well.... I got this reply from the ebay shop selling these lasers: Sorry for the mistake we've made in our listing, actually item is about 80% new I'm not sure what constitutes being classed as "80% new" but there you are. Looks like they're going to refund me, then I can buy a 100% new one hopefully from someone that isn't a con merchant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the mo beats experience Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 Have you been in touch with Sony Cret? How much would they have sent a re-conditioned one out for? Now 6 days since you started this thread, not going to say anything about my launch fat ps3 as it'll only be borked when i go to fire it up tonight, but when my ps2 died i had a new one within a week for around £50 iirc. Are you invalidating any contract you may have with Sony for trying to sort this out yourself? 80% new is a fucking joke though, surely anything thats not 100% new is second hand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cret Posted June 14, 2010 Author Share Posted June 14, 2010 I didn't even really consider contacting Sony as I just assumed they'd charge a bucket load to fix it. As far as I know their policy is also to send out a different machine as well so you lose all your personal stuff on it, but I could be wrong easily there. Do they actually have a page for "Click here to submit a repair request/quote" type thing I wonder? Do I even have any sort of contract with Sony anyway? I got this machine not that old, but used, and don't have purchase paperwork or anything. As long as I get a reputable source of a new laser I'll be happy enough, more so if the new unit has any sort of guarantee period. Might be worth looking into the Sony option though, just in case it's not silly money. They're £35 from China on ebay. I've taken the time to strip it right down and remove all dust from it (there was a LOT!), and to renew the thermal paste on the heatsinks as that was fairly dried out, so hopefully once fitted with a new laser it'll be good as new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jools Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 My brothers old ps3 went full tilt boogie on him a couple of years ago, no idea why but in the middle of playing a game the screen froze and that was it, switched it off and it wouldn't even fire up to the OS. He gave Sony a call and explained whats what. After a lengthy period of testing this and that and relaying the results they told him to pack it up in the original box and provide the receipt and they'd come and collect it and try to repair it. It wasn't even a week later that they got back in-touch to say it was screwed (not the correct technical term, but close to it) and they gave him a reconditioned one which has lasted him twice as long as the brand new one did. The only cost to him was the price of the rather long phone call. This was a couple of years ago though, so things might have changed since. I dont know how you'll get on having no paperwork and having opened it - dont they usually have a seal on saying something like 'void if broken'? It may still be worth giving them a ring though anyway, their technicians might be able to identify the exact problem, but even if they cant you'll at least know what your options are. As for losing stuff if they did replace it, you can pretty much manually back everything up to a usb stick so long as you can get to the main screen. Takes a bit if you use it for more than just gaming but worth it for backing up game-saves alone. And as for buying something thats 80% new thats rubbish, if it was identified as new it should be new... 80% new is not new, its used. Did they get around to giving you a refund? Personally I would name and shame them on here but that one is up to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cret Posted December 17, 2010 Author Share Posted December 17, 2010 Well, it's that time again. Sorry Jools that I hadn't replied. To answer your questions, yes I got a full refund from that seller and bought another 'new' laser/deck back on 17 June which had a warrantee with it this time. And guess what? Yep, that's just packed in too. Slightly odd that it was fine until I did a system update today, but I'm sure that's just coincidence. Will now only read CDs and DVDs but not game discs or Blu Ray films. Bastard machine. Makes me fairly confident that this second laser probably wasn't new either for it to fail after such a small amount of use. So here we go again in finding another 'new' one and more money down the pan. Ho ho ho. On the strange offchance that anyone happens to have one sitting around (yeah right!), it's the KEM-400AAA model I need! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sausage Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 Well, it's that time again. Sorry Jools that I hadn't replied. To answer your questions, yes I got a full refund from that seller and bought another 'new' laser/deck back on 17 June which had a warrantee with it this time. And guess what? Yep, that's just packed in too. Slightly odd that it was fine until I did a system update today, but I'm sure that's just coincidence. Will now only read CDs and DVDs but not game discs or Blu Ray films. Bastard machine. Makes me fairly confident that this second laser probably wasn't new either for it to fail after such a small amount of use. So here we go again in finding another 'new' one and more money down the pan. Ho ho ho. On the strange offchance that anyone happens to have one sitting around (yeah right!), it's the KEM-400AAA model I need! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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