I have a PS3 I'm trying to fix for someone. The console has an issue playing any type of media that is on disc. Blu-ray movies/games and even DVD discs refuse to work. The PS3 seems to auto boot to any disc media that is inserted but the screen will stay black. The disc will spin and for any game the menu will display the game icon and even play the audio and short looping video. What I've noticed is the screen goes black and after a little while the screen flashes a bit as if the resolution is changing but the screen will stay black. The thing is already taken apart since it was very dirty and in need of a clean. I watched a quick You tube guide on cleaning the laser lens but I still have the same results when I run a disc. So where should I go from this point? Should I look for a spare drive assembly? Or can this issue be fixed? Edit: I forgot to mention that from time to time I can get a game to load but it will lock up shortly after loading. The lights on the PS3 stay blue and green.
Yea, dead laser or in need of adjustment. What you cleaned, was only the eye. Not the actually laser. So underneath the eye, may be a lot of dirt on the reflector. Looks like a glass square most of the time. Very tiny of course. Use iso-propyl alcohol to clean it with a q-tip if you can. Use compressed air under the eye and try to get it off. If all fails, you can just buy a new laser from eBay and install it - or - buy a entire new deck and just swap the drive boards over so they have the correct key to match the mother/mainboard. While the console is open, it is best to replace the thermal paste. This will prevent the YLOD or a ball joint under the CPU / GPU from lifting / cracking. I use diamond IC thermal paste. Top stuff. I used to use artic silver 5, but it is not as good. Just be sure, that you clean the IC heat pads and the heatsinks with iso-propyl alcohol and use a micro-fibre cloth with it. No heatsink is flat, so this is a must. Following that, rub a thin (VERY THIN) layer onto the heatsink to fill those 'micro holes' on the heatsink. Once done, apply a thin (VERY VERY thin) coat to the IC heatpad on the GPU and CPU. This is done by putting a small drop of thermal paste (size of a rice grain) and spreading it with a credit card. Make sure, no hair or oils from your fingers touch the heatsink / heatpads on the IC's. Just look this up on the net if you get lost... Good luck :thumbsup:
This isnt allways the laser, especially due to the fact that it does actually start to read the disc (disc spins, and displays the game icon etc...) This is more than likely a software related issue, a dead or dying PS3 laser, wont detect the disc and simply will not initialise it(spin),on blu ray discs at least. The first thing to try is to do a PS3 "system restore" unfortunately this will delete any data on the console so back everything up before hand. You can do a system restore by forcing the console into the recovery menu and selecting "Restore PS3 System:" from there, you can allso rebuild the database from there by selecting "Rebuild Database:", just incase. This doesnt cost anything and you will surprised how many times it solves disc issues. Also are you sure the console has its own original blu ray drive in it, and no one swapped it. PS If you dont know how to access the recovery menu you can go here: http://community.us.playstation.com/thread/2184764?start=0&tstart=0
The system wont even boot games unless it is the original blueray daughterboard. Also yes a system restore sometimes fixes laser problems. Usually it only fixes error code problems.
I will try the system restore later tonight. After messing around with the laser assembly last night I could get the Need for Speed game to run and others as well but they will still lock up some sooner than others. Everything in this console is the original from the day it was purchased. To add to the list of issues if the disc is already in the console it seems like it won't work unless (icon won't show up) unless I eject the disc and reinsert it. I'm working with a KEM-410ACA pulled from a CECHH01 PS3. Didn't even know this? Why is that? I was planning to replace the entire drive but if the laser is the problem I will go that route instead. I already have an eBay listing lined up to purchase from. Anyway thank everyone for the advice. The system was a breeze to take apart but being that it is the first PS3 I every worked on I knew I could get good advice here. Edit: The system restore seems to have done the job. I had an issue loading NBA 2K11 before the restore and now it works great. The other games lent to me for testing are working as well. Really can't say it enough but I appreciate the help and advice for future PS3 consoles. Going to hold on to my eBay listings just in case but so far everything is working great.
Im glad to hear that solved it , it does happen sometimes, most of the time its the laser, but if the disc actually does detect (Spins) its well worth giving it a shot. Thats true, but the reason I was asking was ,a few months ago I got some dodgy "refurbished" drives from china, after re-marrying the drive, it would only last a few weeks then would start giving random random reading problems, lasers were always fine but the controller would start failing,never figured out why, just sent them back to the supplier.
