Kotaku
So I ran into a bit of a snag with my PlayStation 3 last week when I went to pick up Iron Man only to discover my system would not play Blu-ray games or movies any longer. PlayStation 2 games and DVDs run just fine, but Blu-ray just poops out without even trying to read the disc. I had put off calling support in the same way I generally put off calling the doctor, hoping that whatever is wrong will just fix itself (Mike, your arm's fallen off - It'll get better!), but after wistfully browsing the Blu-ray movie aisle at a local retail establishment it was time to make the call.
After navigating the PlayStation support line's various menus and advertisements, I got on the line with a support specialist I will call Denise, mainly because I completely forgot to write down her real name. Denise had never encountered this particular issue before, so she put me on hold to research a bit in between restoring the system's default setting and performing a hard reset. The verdict? My poor little PS3 is dead.
Not all the way dead, mind you. I can still play PlayStation 2 games and access the PSN. It seems as if the Blu-ray portion of the drive just gave up the ghost, turning the system into something of a PlayStation 2.5. It could be as simple as dust on the lens, but the PS3's Blu-ray workings are situated in a place where compressed air fears to tread. I could open the system and futz around inside, but...no. Electronics have been known to spontaneously catch on fire when I even consider touching them, just to save themselves from the horror my giant snausage fingers would inflict upon them.
So it's back to repair for my shiny black system, eventually. I am currently playing through Mana Khemia for the PS2 on it, and while I have a fully functioning memory card adapter there is no way I can go back to playing this on my composite-connected PS2 after starting it on my HDMI PS3. The whole thing will run me $149, but it sure beats just buying a new one.
The ultimate irony here is that right next to my PlayStation 3 sits my launch Xbox 360, it's glowing green light mocking my plight. Truly I must live in some sort of bizarro world when the world's most unreliable video game console lasts longer than what I often considered the most solid piece of video game hardware to come out in years. If I had to guess, I'd say the PS3 committed suicide after too many viewings of A Knight's Tale on Blu-ray. I shall be more careful of my viewing habits in the future.
Comments
*removes extra last week*
Wow! Looks like Sony just ducttaped two PS2s together!
...
Just make sure to back up your saves before you send that baby in, Mike!
I've heard of your case before, but it's very rare (like all technical problems with the PS3).
I believe a wise, and annoyed, Microsoft exec once spoke these words,
"You know, things break."
His wisdom even proves true for other consoles.
That sucks but it's bound to happen. Sorry for you. Play some 360 stuff. Hurray.
I'm surprised they didn't offer to repair the system for free. Even if its out of warranty but it does beat buying a new one as long as it doesn't crap out again.
there was something similar that could happen to ps2(and did):
sometimes ps2's would just stop reading dvds. everything else worked fine (ps1 games and cds) but any disk on a dvd was a no go.
Oh boy. Here come the fanboys.
My Wii has been acting up and I just shipped out my 3rd broken 360 (I just got it back a month ago; apparently the disc drive gave out). I must have bad luck w/ hardware.
PS3's are little? mine like a gleaming obelisk!
although that really blows =/
That's terrible. It always sucks when a console kicks it, especially out of warranty.
PS3, 360, we're all gamers, and its tragic when they die. It's like cats and dogs. I just hope this doesn't turn into one of those 'your dog died! hahahaha' comment sections.
@sitsalot: The pS2 was rampant with problems like that, though I actually fixed mine by realigning the lens using the little white dial inside the system somewhere. Of course I broke the eject mechanism in the process, but it still functions!
*sorry for another post, but i meant anything on a dvd was a no go...and i misspelled disc.
that sucks, i know the feeling my launch ps2 was starting to give me DREs, but thats for my daughter to worry about
Hmmm, that doesn't make too much sense... Maybe the blue laser died. That's very sad, and slightly worrying. I hope my PS3 doesn't die... then again I've been relatively lucky with hardware problems, as I tend to be in the group of people without them.
You might be able to get a pretty penny for it on eBay, Fahey. Just advertise it as a one of a kind PS2.5, and I'm sure hordes of people will flock to the listing in no time.
@ca$h: Amen to that sir.
A friend of mines' PS3 crapped out on him too, he got a 100 GB HDD though and that fixed it no problem. Almost makes me want to buy a dead 360 HDD and see if I can pop it open to connect a bigger hard drive. Doubt it though.
Ahhh, my PS3 also died, only it wouldn't play anything. It was well timed, considering GTAIV came out five days after it broke. Very annoying, but it should be home soon. I had a warranty, so I didn't have to pay for anything. All in all, it could have been much worse.
Jaja, something similar happened to my ps3 a couple of months ago. I was playing UT3 and for some reason some servers tend to freeze my game, and so it happened. After giving the PS3 a hard reset I noticed that the game didn't pop out in the game menu. I tried dvds, psx, 2 and 3 games and nada. I also wasn't gonna risk opening the ps3, that level of technology is way too advanzed, so I sent it to get fixed...whole thing cost me exactly $140...damn blue ray diodes...
I bought a 80 gb ps3 and a week later the lazer died on me. I took it back and luckly they had a 60gb in the back. i got that one and so far its been working like a champ for 6 months.
well i think i spotted what is wrong... "I went to pick up Iron Man" maybe the ps3 broke down and said F this im not playing this crap or melted from the pure suckage of the game
Well, it's a simple fact of life.
With a 30% fail rate, that means that 70% of all 360 owners will never have a problem.
With the 1% fail rate of the Ps3 and Wii, of course a minor portion will suffer.
Oh it's a shame. I bet you're so happy you spent 90 bucks on iron man too aren't you?
@ManjiKengo: I'm just saying, you REALLY should have rented it first dude. it so wasn't worth buying.
haha my buddy had the same problem. but for him it was after he had gotten back from his native sweden over holiday break and tried to fire up some guitar hero 3.
Wouldn't it be more like 1.5 since the backwards compatibility isn't perfect?
@Allcars: man, 60gb ones are the perfect ones...I have a 20gb which is second to the 60gb..I don't trust those 40gb or 80gbs...ps2 emotion engine...humbug!
If it's the lens, which it sounds like it is, just open up the PS3 and swab the lens gently with a bit of alcohol. My ps2 had issues like that with dvds, and the fix worked perfectly.
Of course, this probably would void your warranty, but I really doubt your PS3 will break anyway.
Sometimes the editorial pieces on Kotaku are rather poor, :P
>elgabo - that level of technology is way too advanzed
come on man, it's just a disk drive.
My PS3 has a DLNA server connection problem, it drops out of the server three times in a row before reconnecting. It doesn't bother me now, but when In-game XMB comes around it will. I thought about calling customer service, but I thought it'll fix itself too and I'm not about to pay $150 for them to repair it either.
It was Iron Man not Knight's Tale. Knight's Tale as corny as some think it is, is fun in my book.
Weak im a 360 guy buy im on the verge of buying a PS3 for bluray movies. I may even trade the controller in for a remote lol. But reguardless its never good to hear things like this.
@Trowble (XBL/PSN): did you open up the correct ports in your router?
Odd.
I, myself have had problems with my launch 60GB, mainly with the DVD drive though. My Blu-ray drive works like a charm, never screws up, but my DVD drive refuses to read discs (not all of them) in the upright position. It confuses me.
OMG...I am so sorry to hear that story. I teared up at the part where your launch 360 still had its three green lights. It mad me furious inside. All I'm seeing is green. The blochy hulk on wii green make a very angry zombie...GGGRRR. But I am really sorry to hear that. As a hardcore sony fan I want to help you out.
The panda reflection. It eludes me.
Mike, before you cough up the $150, give Maxell's brushless BD lens cleaner a go. Ironically it's DVD-based so you're safe there.
Same thing happened to me. My Blu-ray drive crapped out and stopped reading discs within a day.
Same thing over here [www.nvnews.net]
I'm on my second 60GB PS3 but it was do to a faulty HDMI/graphics issue yes this was a wiered support call as well. Luckly for me it was only after one week from purchase so it was replaced for free under warranty. Once I got it back it has been problem free. I am glad I got mine while the 60GB systems were in full swing. I dread the day my 60GB dies since there aren't anymore to replace it and if fixed I would have to prey that my system wouldn't be switched for a less capable system (40GB/80GB)...!
ah. it can't be because of blu-ray. I have loaded my PS3 with tons of blu-ray movies I own 49 and rented many. Likely just some odd thing.
My buddy has had the worst luck with next-gen consoles. His 360 was DOA because it was rendering random red and green lights in games. His Wii was turned into a brick by a system update, messing up his 30-hour Zelda file. And his PS3 had a strange love of eating his PS2 saves. He lost a 40-hour FF12 save and another not-as-lengthy save of another game I can't remember.
I'm pretty sure it's a dust issue.
It will be back and better than ever :)
Just as long as the inside isn't caked with dust, which we all know voids the warranty :-D
I second the "clean the lens" comment. My launch-day 20 GB exhibited exactly the same problem twice, and cleaning it solved the problem both times.
Yes, I have a very dusty house. :p
I had a problem with my PS3 60GB(UK ver.) about a week and some days ago, the entire thing just stopped working, giving me the flashing red light error. I had a heart attack, as this was the day before my GTA4 copy was scheduled to arrive.
The thing is though, I loved the Sony customer support, I had expected to be tossed around and transferred for hours, as my 60GB version has been discontinued in the UK. Except, when I called them, they told me that the problem had been noticed before in some systems (rarely occurs) and that they would send out a rebuilt brand new 60GB PS3 to my house within 2 days.
That's exactly what happened, 2 days later a guy knocks on my door, hands me a brand new PS3, and takes my old one away. No questions asked, no checking for what the fault is, no hassle, and absolutely no cost. I loved them for it.
Compare that to when my X360 had to be shipped back (4 times) to M$ each time lasting 2-3 weeks for the Red Ring of Death.
Well every console has its bugs, im sure many wii owners that play SSBB sooner or later will experience issues or maybe a quicker laser failure because the ssbb disc is a double layer dvd, and the wii drive was not made to use those discs...
I had a friend who's PS3's harddrive crapped out.
I had issue with my PS3 too. Sent them back but had to pay $149. It took them 2 days to send me a Brand New PS3. They shipped it with next day air (or 2nd day air i forgot). Got it the day GTA4 launched.
Sweetness
So the real question here is, if you have a PS3 with full BC and have to send it in for "repairs", are you just going to be given a new gimped system? I don't think I'd feel terribly good about paying them to take functionality away while restoring some.
This is actually a more wide spread problem than people know. People complain about their PS3 not reading BD disks on the official playstation forums on a daily basis.
Bummer dude. Wonder if that's under warranty?
@Mike Fahey:
Maybe Sony would send you one..
My friend is on his 4th PS3 (since EU launch). Reading the comments in this post I can't help but think the PS3's reliability really isn't any better than the 360's.
I am on my third 360 (only one hardware failure, gave the replacement to a friend when I got an elite for extra blackness), and out of everyone at my work (a games retailer with ~30 employees, most of whom have 360's) only one other person has had a hardware problem compared to my friends 4 ps3's and 2 other guys at works ps3's dying.
Kotaku, I want a survey of some kind! Though I suppose it will just end up with people from all sides of the fanboyism quadrilateral (Sega still counts, damn you) lying. So...never mind.
Lies! I don't believe you Fahey. A Knight's Tale? Really?!
;)
@DigiMish: Yea, they're opened correctly.
DISC READ ERRORS?!?! On a Playstation console?!?! NO! I have never heard of such a thing.
Seriously though, that's a real bummer,$149 out the window.
I just picked up a NEW 20GB model from that "giant chain store" (yeah i know! 20GB!). Sadly I only get a 1 year warranty from Sony and niether they nor the store would offer a warranty extension. :(
@Grave: A Sony support tech told me (two weeks ago) they can fix my 20GB model if needed.
You watched A Knight's Tale multiple times?
On purpose?!
My friend's PS3 had the same exact problem. A week before GTAIV also. From what I've heard its only a certain batch that was defective but I'm praying my full-BC ps3 doesn't have this happen :(
@DarrenIndeed:
"Reading the comments in this post I can't help but think the PS3's reliability really isn't any better than the 360's."
Uhhh, Don't you think there'd be a massive shitstorm if PS3's were failing left and right like 360's have? Honestly, there are goign to be cases of failure with every product, but there are no specific hardware issues with the PS3, like there was with the 360.
@Grave:
Grave I was thinking the same thing. If I received the gimp'd version so help me god I would raise holy hell until they soddered a ps2 on to the ps3 board....
@FAHEY
Have you tried one of those CD's with the brushes embedded in them? That always worked well for my CD players.
@LittleBigPlaneteer: never heard much of a massive shit storm when PS1 and 2s had the same problems (DRE). I only know 1 person that still has the big PS2 model everyone else has been through an average of 3 PS2 consoles. I guess they didn't mind buying a replacement every now and again.
I just ran into the exact same problem. I wish you luck on your console being fixed...it only took me three tries with tech support before they even sent me a CONFIRMATION email...
woops.
If you google this issue, there's a lot results. Mine was a 40gb and died within 36 days (can't read discs). customer rep said it was their most common problem but it is not A common problem. Word for word.
Luckily they handled the repair quickily go everything back within 2 weeks.
Microsoft fixed my brothers 360, which was out of warranty and not red ringed for $15...Why is Sony charging $150 for repairs that could be as simple as cleaning dust off a lense and take like 5 minutes to fix? Shouldn't it be a "we could fix it, but so and so is broke and will cost $x, do you want to pay it?" and have variable costs for what's broke and amax of $150?
Also, someone claimed the Wii and PS3 have a 1% failure rate above. I can only laugh at that with how many DRE's Sony's consoles (all of them) get and the Wii's inability to read dual layer DVDs due to "dust and smoke". PS2 had a 30% or more failure rate on launch models, but Sony denied it and blamed users for the DREs and thus, the failure rate does not go up due to their "tests" proving otherwise. Same for the Wii and PS3s this gen. They're not 30% or anythign drastic, but they're higher than they should be.
@SAKY: It's all a giant coverup!
That said, where did you get the Ultra Panda model, Fahey?