PS3 Blu-Ray Drive Dead

[imported_Imp]

My one month minus 2 day old Playstation 3 is now "dead". Surprisingly, I am taking this quite well.

About 2 hours ago, I powered on my PS3 as usual, loaded up to the XMB, and started downloading the Devil May Cry 4 demo. After setting it to download in the back, I went to the Game section to load up Uncharted... "Where'd the icon go?" There was no icon for me to load the disc. So I thought "hey, it's a PS3, it's reliable, I'll just eject and re-insert"... nothing. Shocked, I load up the browser, google "PS3 not read disk" and bam.

Turns out quite a few people are having their PS3 drive die on them (**before certain people pounce on me, I am in no way saying this problem is very common, Sony sucks or whatever***). The pisser is that many of these people who had broken drives had warnings like disc-read errors or lock-ups just before discovering it. Me? The last time I had my system on was 3 days ago. After playing Uncharted from the disc, I quit to the XMB and then turned off the system. Some people suggested that there's a problem with the drive's motor so I did some more testing. I put in 4 different disks: Three Blu-ray and one DVD. None of which worked. Also, the usual 'chucking' sound of the drive was absent. I even did a "Restore Defaults", which did nothing.

In the ~28 days I owned it, I only used it on average 6 hours a day for 20 days due to school and lack of stuff to play. Just two weeks ago, our Xbox 360 died, I was talking about how Microsoft has crap Q&A and it is par for the course; at least it lasted 7 whole months. The "reliable" one lasted 1/7 that. W T F?

I'll be calling for a coffin tomorrow (hope their support line opens Saturday). I really hope that this is an isolated incident and that the number of people who also have the problem just got bad batches. And yes, I know thing's just break, I may have gotten unlucky. One last thing, I got my PS3 from Dell cause there was a great boxing day deal, knowing full well that "Warranty is covered my the Manufacturer" so I can't take it back to the store within 30 days for a new one. I thought Sony wouldn't give me issues, guess I got screwed. I'm getting more pissed as I think about it...

End rant.


Anyone else have their drive die on them? How long is the turn around rate after sending it in?

Also, is there anything I should do with the HDD stuff? I made a backed up of my HDD already.

 

[DaveSimmons]

There's been a few other reports of dead PS3s here and at ArsTechnica so you're definitely not alone, just in a very small group.

(My year-old 60GB PS3 is still humming along, but we know from the 360 that an anecdotal "my launch unit still works fine!!!!" doesn't mean anything.)

AFAIK Sony doesn't tie DLC to the one console or hard drive like MS does, so once you get back your replacement (if they don't just swap blu drives) you should be able to restore and if necessary re-download DLC.

 

[beat mania]

Originally posted by: Imp
In the ~28 days I owned it, I only used it on average 6 hours a day for 20 days due to school and lack of stuff to play. Just two weeks ago, our Xbox 360 died,

Only 6 hours a day with school? Do you even study at all?

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: beat mania

Originally posted by: Imp
In the ~28 days I owned it, I only used it on average 6 hours a day for 20 days due to school and lack of stuff to play. Just two weeks ago, our Xbox 360 died,

Only 6 hours a day with school? Do you even study at all?

Oops, I pulled too high a number out of my hat. That's 6 hours on average during the Christmas break and on weekends. Otherwise, it was really 3 hours for maybe 3 days a week. On "real" average, it was closer to 2 hours daily. Guess I didn't want to give the impression of an under-used system dying...

Doing more research. Something about Christmas stock surge and crappy lenses making it through. Oh, and I have the 40Gb model.

 

[Gunslinger08]

I've had mine since December of 2006 and it's working fine. Did you get one of the new 40/80 GB ones?

 

[imported_Imp]

Yep, I have the 40Gb model.

This isn't looking good. The majority of the drive fialure complaints seem to be from 40Gb owners, and they are usually failing within a few weeks of purchase. Maybe my "underuse" made it it last longer.

 

[Unkno]

I too bought it from dell on boxing week (the 40gb model). Hopefully, it's not a bad batch from dell, how reliable is your information regarding bad lens during the Christmas surge?

Btw, I believe Dell has a one or two month warranty.

 

[mlm]

Before you send in your console, be sure to de-activate it in the user account settings--that way it won't count against your 5 PSN machine shares.

Support may take care of this for you, but just in case...

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: Unkno
I too bought it from dell on boxing week (the 40gb model). Hopefully, it's not a bad batch from dell, how reliable is your information regarding bad lens during the Christmas surge?

Btw, I believe Dell has a one or two month warranty.

The reliability of the info is as reliable as me saying 40% of consoles are busted. It's a rumour: no facts except the complaints of disgruntled owners. Other rumours point to widespread problems or firmware specific issues. Just google "PS3 disk not read" and you'll see what I've been looking at. I've been surfing the official PS3 forums, and a few other people just had their drive die on the same day. If it's a bad batch, it sure isn't limited to Dell's stock. And another thing, it may not be the motor screwing up. Someone on another forum with the same problem dissected an out of warranty system, and said that it was the laser that wasn't emitting light.

Edit: Missed what you said about the Dell warranty. I only see the "All third-party product warranties are handled through the manufacturer." There's also the 30 day satisfaction guarantee, but it looks like I would have had to wait until after the weekend to call (day 32 of ownership). Even though my coffin is coming from Sony already, I will double check with Dell on Monday, but I bet they'll say it's Sony's problem.

Service Update:
I called Sony last night at 11pm EST. I'm surprised they operate outside "business" hours. The call was very, very discouraging though. After I told her that my drive died, and that I heard no "reading sounds", it sounded like she was just going through the motions: "did you default you settings?", "are you using PS3 discs?", "you spill anything on it?". I got the impression that this is common enough that they take your word for it pretty quickly. They'll be sending me the coffin within a week. The good thing is that the service center is only about 45km (~28 miles) away.

Also, I'll be getting a refurb, she said there's no chance I'll get the same machine back. For some stupid reason, I'm not too pissed that I paid full price to get a 'used' machine within a month of buying it... As long as it works?


Thanks for the heads up mlm. The CSR just told me that instructions would come with the coffin. Problem is I already 'embalmed' my machine by deleting the user profile and defaulting everything. I gotta re-configure the network connection now.

 

[livingsacrifice]

I had a friend who got one for Christmas 07 and 2 days later he was complaining cus the game he got was stuck in the drive and wouldn't come out. That was the first time I've seen that happen to a system only a few days old. Last I talked to him it only took a week to repair his console and they sent him a free game with it.

 

[sswingle]

Is it bad to leave a disc in the drive when im doing other things? Dont want to make mine die by something i could have avoided.

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers
Is it bad to leave a disc in the drive when im doing other things? Dont want to make mine die by something i could have avoided.

That's up in the air. I left a disk in the drive from day 1 of ownership, which should be fine, but the laser/motor failed. But hey, I do the same thing with my $30 computer DVD-R drive and have done so with all my past computer optical drives and only one of them has failed over a span of 10 years. Sometimes I have a game disk in my computer that I don't use for a few weeks. When I do use it, no problem. If it's bad to leave a disk in the PS3 all the time, then that just means that Sony uses an overpriced POS for a HD player.

Others think it's better to take it out. I don't know where the problem is... maybe so you don't wear down the motor and laser assembly when you don't need to??? Again, points to crappy design/manufacture/components. Unless you like moving your machine a lot from one TV to another, I don't see what could go wrong.

 

[patrick409]

My PS3 died mid December and it took about 3 weeks from when I called to when I got it back.

I called them on a Saturday, I got the box the following Friday and mailed it out the same day. Came back after a week and a half. This was wrapped around Christmas and New Years though, so it might be quicker now. Also, I live in NY and the center is in TX, so travel time might've added a few days.

They do not repair it, they just replace it with a refurbished one. They also make you include everything it came with, i.e. power cable, composite cables, controller, and usb cable. Any game saves you had is not replaced. The PSN store tracks everything you've bought though, so you can redownload it once you get your new system.

Also, I believe you lose your original warranty. The replacement system has a 60 day warranty only. (I think)

random details in case people are interested. You can stop reading here if not.

I bought the 60 gb PS3 around August when they first cut the price. Haven't played it too much, maybe 60-80 hours total usage in the 4 months I had it. I think something on the motherboard died. I was playing Uncharted, and the console just shut off completely. I thought the power went out or something, so I turn it off/on via the switch on the back. The red light turns back on, but when i press the power it turns green for a second and then shuts off.

I wasn't really too annoyed that it died, just a bit surprised. What's funny is that the ps3 sits next to our 360, and the xbox has been humming along just fine for 1.5 years.

The only painful part is that I was almost done with Uncharted (it died on the part where you're jumping around on the platforms with the roman numerals), and now I have to replay the whole darn thing.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: patrick409
Also, I believe you lose your original warranty. The replacement system has a 60 day warranty only. (I think).

I'm no lawyer but that generally just means you get a minimum of 60 days even if the original PS3 died on the last day of the 1-year warranty.

If you bought a PS3 in December '07 and sent it in for repairs in February '08 your warranty would still be through December '08. If instead you had it repaired November '08 you'd have a warranty through January '09.

 

[patrick409]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

Originally posted by: patrick409
Also, I believe you lose your original warranty. The replacement system has a 60 day warranty only. (I think).

I'm no lawyer but that generally just means you get a minimum of 60 days even if the original PS3 died on the last day of the 1-year warranty.

If you bought a PS3 in December '07 and sent it in for repairs in February '08 your warranty would still be through December '08. If instead you had it repaired November '08 you'd have a warranty through January '09.

Interesting. I took it as meaning if I bought it Dec 07, and it breaks Jan 08, the warranty on the replacement would only last until Mar 08. I figured the 1 year warranty would only apply to the original system. I'll have to go home and read it again, I just kinda glanced over it.

Your definition makes a bit more sense to me though. Hopefully I'll never have to find out.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Just to confuse things, store extended warranty / replacement plans can work differently -- I think the Best Buy one gives you exactly 1 replacement then you get NO store warranty at all after that, just the manufacturer warranty.

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: patrick409
They do not repair it, they just replace it with a refurbished one. They also make you include everything it came with, i.e. power cable, composite cables, controller, and usb cable. Any game saves you had is not replaced. The PSN store tracks everything you've bought though, so you can redownload it once you get your new system.

Also, I believe you lose your original warranty. The replacement system has a 60 day warranty only. (I think)

I wasn't really too annoyed that it died, just a bit surprised. What's funny is that the ps3 sits next to our 360, and the xbox has been humming along just fine for 1.5 years.

I went WTF when I saw on the info-sheet that you had to sent in everything. If my system is broken, why the hell do I have to send in fully functioning cables and the controller? Microsoft just asked for the 360, nothing else. Now there's a pretty good chance I'll get a refurb back with a controller the last dude used while on the toilet or after scratching his ass or going through the garbage...

The warranty should still be 1 year from when you bought it; I asked the CSR.

You know what? I wasn't that annoyed that it died either. It was surprising cause of all the trashing of the 360 that made the PS3 unbreakable, but I wasn't too pissed. In fact, I was a bit relieved cause I found myself forcing myself to power it on once in a while just to know that I'm making use of a $400 machine. The funny thing really was that our 360, despite all the trash talk, lasted 7 months as opposed to barely a month for my PS3. The 360 took less than a week to get back from shipping.


Update:

My coffin came today. I've opened it to take a gander, but don't think I saw the courier label, which I really hope is hiding in a corner. I'll try to get it to a shipping office tomorrow. Not too bad timing considering I called on Friday night, got in Tuesday afternoon. However, I'm only 45 km from the repair center.

 

[Ziggy007]

Wanted to add my $0.02 to the topic

I got the Dell Boxing Week Ratchet and Clank bundle for 369 and was quite pleased with it.

However, within approximately a week the PS3 had a complete drive failure that meant it could no longer read movies / games / music

After some time on the phone with Dell they agreed to do an exchange with me for a brand new console and I sent them an old one.

I received my new console last Monday and again, just today I have complete drive failure less than one week after receiving it.

I don't know if this is a comment on the build quality of the 40 gig PS3, or maybe just Dell got a bad shipment, or maybe I just have some horrible luck, but after using a PS1, and PS2 for five solid years each, I am a bit shocked to have two PS3s burn out on me within a month.

 

[Unkno]

Did anything odd happen before the drive failed? For example: drive errors, crashes, irregular noises, etc.

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: Ziggy007
Wanted to add my $0.02 to the topic

I got the Dell Boxing Week Ratchet and Clank bundle for 369 and was quite pleased with it.

However, within approximately a week the PS3 had a complete drive failure that meant it could no longer read movies / games / music

After some time on the phone with Dell they agreed to do an exchange with me for a brand new console and I sent them an old one.

I received my new console last Monday and again, just today I have complete drive failure less than one week after receiving it.

I don't know if this is a comment on the build quality of the 40 gig PS3, or maybe just Dell got a bad shipment, or maybe I just have some horrible luck, but after using a PS1, and PS2 for five solid years each, I am a bit shocked to have two PS3s burn out on me within a month.

Wow... someone with worse luck than me. Sorry to hear that. Mines died right before the weekend so I had to e-mail Dell, and they just told me to contact Sony to get it fixed. Maybe if I pleaded, I could have had a chance, but if I called after the weekend, it would have been day 31 so one day past their 30 day satisfaction "guarantee". Last time I buy non-Dell electronics from Dell.

I doubt it's just a bad shipment. I'm guessing you googled the problem and found this thread. You probably also found all the other ones, which I doubt were all bought from Dell.

As for whether there were signs before failure. For me, my console froze every 2 or 3 days right off the bat. According to other PS3 owners, this was suppose to be "normal". But in retrospect, only ONE out of the 5 or so freezes were outside a game (3 x 5 != 28 cause I didn't use it every day). The other 4 all happened during some time of loading: i.e. when the disc was being accessed. In Ratchet & Clank, it froze once when hopping on a transport (think it did it in R&C one more time, forget where). Once it froze on a load-screen in Fight Night 3. In Uncharted, it happened once right while it was loading the final cutscene. Maybe I'm just looking too hard into a "sign", who knows. I never had a single "disc read error", which preceded the death of the BD drive for a number of other people.

Oh, and my PS3 is at the Sony repair center (got there last Friday). I'm hoping I get it back this week... tired of the stuff I have on my computer.

 

[CKDragon]

Originally posted by: Ziggy007
Wanted to add my $0.02 to the topic

I got the Dell Boxing Week Ratchet and Clank bundle for 369 and was quite pleased with it.

However, within approximately a week the PS3 had a complete drive failure that meant it could no longer read movies / games / music

After some time on the phone with Dell they agreed to do an exchange with me for a brand new console and I sent them an old one.

I received my new console last Monday and again, just today I have complete drive failure less than one week after receiving it.

I don't know if this is a comment on the build quality of the 40 gig PS3, or maybe just Dell got a bad shipment, or maybe I just have some horrible luck, but after using a PS1, and PS2 for five solid years each, I am a bit shocked to have two PS3s burn out on me within a month.

It's obvious you're new around here. When a console fails, you simply have to create your own thread. See the 5000 separate "My 360 RRoDed" threads.

 

[Ziggy007]

Originally posted by: Imp


Wow... someone with worse luck than me. Sorry to hear that. Mines died right before the weekend so I had to e-mail Dell, and they just told me to contact Sony to get it fixed. Maybe if I pleaded, I could have had a chance, but if I called after the weekend, it would have been day 31 so one day past their 30 day satisfaction "guarantee". Last time I buy non-Dell electronics from Dell.

I doubt it's just a bad shipment. I'm guessing you googled the problem and found this thread. You probably also found all the other ones, which I doubt were all bought from Dell.

As for whether there were signs before failure. For me, my console froze every 2 or 3 days right off the bat. According to other PS3 owners, this was suppose to be "normal". But in retrospect, only ONE out of the 5 or so freezes were outside a game (3 x 5 != 28 cause I didn't use it every day). The other 4 all happened during some time of loading: i.e. when the disc was being accessed. In Ratchet & Clank, it froze once when hopping on a transport (think it did it in R&C one more time, forget where). Once it froze on a load-screen in Fight Night 3. In Uncharted, it happened once right while it was loading the final cutscene. Maybe I'm just looking too hard into a "sign", who knows. I never had a single "disc read error", which preceded the death of the BD drive for a number of other people.

Oh, and my PS3 is at the Sony repair center (got there last Friday). I'm hoping I get it back this week... tired of the stuff I have on my computer.

There were no real signs of failure from my PS3 until it happened.

With the first one I noticed some slightly irregular noises when playing Ratchet and Clank, but I just assumed it was normal to get the occasional click in there (happened mainly in places like the towns). Other than that it never froze once on me or anything except for when it died. I was about to enter an online game of NHL08 when it just froze on the loading screen, tried to reset the console but after that it wouldn't read discs anymore.

My second PS3 was dead silent, so I was pleased with that. It just made me think that my first one was a random defecto. I was played NHL on two seperate occasions during the day yesterday with no problems at all (no sounds, no freezes, nothing) however when I went to boot it up and play some more late last night it just wouldn't read any discs.

Anyway I sent an email to Sony customer service last night voicing my displeasure. If my only option at this point is a refurb, it better come with some free swag from Sony otherwise it is just going to go on sale as a used PS3 and I will look into getting a Falcon 360. I have been pretty loyal to Sony over the years with my PS1, PS2 and a shelf of games, it is time for them to show some loyalty back. Sure Xboxs may fail at a 30% rate (though of all my friends who have owned for 1-2 years now, they have 0% failures) it is better than my 100% PS3 failure rate.

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: Ziggy007

There were no real signs of failure from my PS3 until it happened.

With the first one I noticed some slightly irregular noises when playing Ratchet and Clank, but I just assumed it was normal to get the occasional click in there (happened mainly in places like the towns). Other than that it never froze once on me or anything except for when it died. I was about to enter an online game of NHL08 when it just froze on the loading screen, tried to reset the console but after that it wouldn't read discs anymore.

My second PS3 was dead silent, so I was pleased with that. It just made me think that my first one was a random defecto. I was played NHL on two seperate occasions during the day yesterday with no problems at all (no sounds, no freezes, nothing) however when I went to boot it up and play some more late last night it just wouldn't read any discs.

Anyway I sent an email to Sony customer service last night voicing my displeasure. If my only option at this point is a refurb, it better come with some free swag from Sony otherwise it is just going to go on sale as a used PS3 and I will look into getting a Falcon 360. I have been pretty loyal to Sony over the years with my PS1, PS2 and a shelf of games, it is time for them to show some loyalty back. Sure Xboxs may fail at a 30% rate (though of all my friends who have owned for 1-2 years now, they have 0% failures) it is better than my 100% PS3 failure rate.

Clicks huh? I only heard chugs when the disc was reading intensely upon first loading of the game. Otherwise, it was dead quiet, even moreso than my moded computer. Meanwhile, I could hear our 360 from a room away at all times.

If you only got a new one last week, you have a really great "hand" to play with Dell. Try your luck at getting another one or use their 30 day refund policy. I think there's a 15% restocking fee, but that's mainly if you just aren't happy with a working product. If the POS broke on you twice, call Dell up and tell them you had enough and want your money back. As for the Xbox360, if you want to, just go for it. If it kicks the bucket, you have a 3 year warranty on RROD. At this rate, there's almost a 99% chance I will be "forced" to extend my PS3 warranty later in the year.

Edit: Forgot to ask. What's the manufacture date on the bottom of your PS3s? Mines was September 2007, one of the earlier 40Gb runs I think.

 

[Ziggy007]

I just looked on the bottom of my PS3, manufacture date was October 2007. Pretty suprised Dell gave me a PS3 made 3 months earlier, perhaps sitting on a shelf for so long has an effect on the drive?

Anyway as a secondary update the drive has gone into an arbitrary working cycle now. I was powering on my PS3 yesterday to watch a Divx movie via USB key, and was shocked to see it autolaunch into NHL08 (disc was still in the console). Later that night my brother wanted to play so he tried it and it wouldn't detect the disc again.

This morning it currently sees teh CD and goes to the initial load screen but never passes that point.

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: Ziggy007
I just looked on the bottom of my PS3, manufacture date was October 2007. Pretty suprised Dell gave me a PS3 made 3 months earlier, perhaps sitting on a shelf for so long has an effect on the drive?

Anyway as a secondary update the drive has gone into an arbitrary working cycle now. I was powering on my PS3 yesterday to watch a Divx movie via USB key, and was shocked to see it autolaunch into NHL08 (disc was still in the console). Later that night my brother wanted to play so he tried it and it wouldn't detect the disc again.

This morning it currently sees teh CD and goes to the initial load screen but never passes that point.

If it had a "shelf-life", then somethings up cause it should be designed for setup in both a horizontal and vertical position. Now that's really weird that your drive works on and off. Maybe something loose?


UPDATE

I got my PS3 back this morning. It was sent in last Wednesday, sent back Tuesday this week: so about 6 day turn around (10 days if you count from the first call to Sony). I have not plugged it in yet cause I got stuff to do tonight. Surprisingly, it's the exact same console I sent in according to the serial number. Sure glad I deleted everything off my HDD and did a full format...

WTF did they do to it while it was in the shop though? I sent it in with a bit of dust and a few fingerprints, now it's got scuff marks and scratches on every side!!! Makes it look like I got a refurb back. The even bigger pisser is that the service sheet says it got there with "LT SCRATCHES". Wish they had the white PS3 out earlier.

As long as it works I guess. I'm crossing my fingers and hope this one lasts a while. I'll be buying the extended warranty before the year's out though...