What may have happened?

[atreyu187]

So I have been away from the PS3 scene for quite sometime as PSX-S**** was still a good site and hadn't merged yet with the other site so it has been a while so bear with me a little please as I have been trying to catch up a lot in the last week or so but here is what happened. My PS3 was shipped off to a friend to install rear USB ports and install a fan speed switch in my launch 60gb model PS3. He did the mods all was fine and dandy I even got a new bottom shell to cut out a spot for the fan to breath better and I was really excited to get it back. Anyhow he finished on a Saturday and missed the post so he went to UPS and shipped it back to me three day guarantee.

Well day three comes along. and I am awaiting my package all day and it doesn't arrive!! So I contact UPS and they said it will be here the next day. Well it didn't arrive either so I freaked and for good reason as after two weeks UPS claimed it as a lost package and give me some BS about getting the money I insured it for even with the original receipt from launch day and box with matching serials. Anyhow one day I get a call and asked my serial number to my PS3 as they may have found it. The lady told me not to get my hopes up as after 10 years there she has only seen three recovered. Well guess what it was my PS3!!!

I was so happy and they told me it would be shipped and back to me in 7 days, I mean WTF the cheapest shipping is what you give me after losing my thing? No biggie it has been this long and it was returning to me!! Well it arrived in a crushed box, ripped along the edges with the PS3 visible as the driver tries to drop it off without me seeing it so I called him back and made him get my signature. I open the box to see a crushed PS3 that doesn't work!! After battling with UPS for weeks to get money for the PS3 to no avail I quit wasting my time and will no longer use that service as it was no fault of mine and I don't want to dwell on that here.

So on the 1yr anniversary of the jailbreak scene I went to see what I could do about fixing my PS3. I got it to boot busted case and all but the darn fan doesn't work so I followed the traces and resoldered the two wires and still no fan. So I just removed the switch and ran it back to "stock" wiring and BAM the PS3 fan is working!! So now I have my PS3 working again and I tried to see if the game that was in the drive got biffed up through all of this stuff as I shipped it with the PS3 when it left initially to his house. So I freaked and pulled it all apart and manually got the disc out and got the laser moving and all seemed right.

Put it back in and still no dice :( Well I recalled 3.41 being better at discless playback so I QA flagged so I could downgrade easily. Well in the middle of that I freaked out as I got an error and it was because of my bluray not working. So back apart and turns out the clip broke!! so I put a sliver of plastic on top of the cable to it would stay in place and this time the update loop was able to complete.

So I look into this and I guess it is because my logic board to my bluray drive is still ok and the PS3 during the update sees it was there and working though it isn't. So this got me to hoping I could still get this thing working as I rarely used it ever with seriously less than 200 hours use on the system. So I called the tech that did the PS3 and he said the drive wasn't working when he got it but he said he got it working by doing something inside the drive what he said I can't recall as I was side tracked and now I have lost the notes I wrote down on things to try and his cell is dead not working for me to call.


This has all been one huge nightmare and I wish I had cash to get a new one but alas this must do for now. The guy said it happens often to older PS3's were something gets stuck and do something and it should work again. Well this is where you all come in as I have no idea what I should do from here or things I can try to fix this laser so I can get back on 3.55 and using the drive to play games as it truly sucks having no drive. I can't play God of War 3 as my backup doesn't work discless and I can't use my bluray right now. So what can I do here guys is there any hope? Lets recap shall we?

Drive was working 100%, was not working when arriving to modder, he did something drive was 100% and working great again. Then he return ships and UPS man handles my PS3 like it was a UFC fight drive doesn't work now. Laser is able to move properly on sled and all seems in order under the metal casing but alas I have no idea what it is I should be looking for really. The drive does work enough to allow updating of system under normal circumstances without the need to mod a PUP file for the no bluray drive patch and that is where I am.

Any ideas on how to fix this? Also someone said something to me about booting troublesome games from the XMB if discless will not work and I can't fix the laser. Said something about making shadow links in MM but I have no idea WTF this is either and I can't seem to find a clear guide or at least a clear explanation how one would go about doing this with the games that one owns and wants to play but has no drive like me. Sorry for the long winded explanation but I needed to get that off my chest and hopefully get back into what looks like an awesome scene as I have been bored with no PS3 as my DC & PS1 got played to death for the last few months. So help a guy out down on his luck and cash.

[B3nji]

so back apart and turns out the clip broke!! so I put a sliver of plastic on top of the cable to it would stay in place and this time the update loop was able to complete.

First off I can't believe I read all that...

So everything works just when u tried downgrading u got a error and jammed some plastic bits into the ribbon cable clip, and was able to downgrade to 3.41. Are all the pins connected to it? There may be more damage to it then thought perhaps. Can u run any home brew as it is like can u open multiman? If not the drive is not connected correctly. Again but may be more damage to the system then visible.

DONT USE UPS THEY FOOTBALL PUNT UR BOXS!!!!

Wait u said ur playing your games damn that was a lot too read lol. Well shit, did u inspect the motherboard? Cracks chips? Broken connections?

I'm slightly baffled... U can play games on ur system, bd drive works but when connected to ur system it doesn't work. No eject? Blue led work?

[atreyu187]

The system works the drive isn't even detected in the XMB. Doesn't show up and I can't insert a disc at all. And my clip broke so I put it as needed and put a small piece of plastic on top as a wedge between the top of the ribbon and where the clip should have gone and it holds the ribbon in place, put a piece of electrical tape on there to make sure it stayed and then I was able to get out of the update loop then as the PS3 was able to detect the drive then.

And I can play games just not the ones requiring a bluray disc in order to play properly. app/home doesn't work for some good games so I want to see if I can fix my drive that was working jut fine before but now it doesn't see the game that was stuck on there and after removing it the PS3 will not take a new disc. Eject does nothing when pressed but the drive doesn't seem to have any visible problems. I just wish I knew what he did to fix it when it messed up on initial ship to him. BTW this is what I did to fix my broken ribbon clip

And my drive doesn't work at all but my controller board is still good thus it allows completion of normal updates thought the drive actually doesn't function. You don't have to have a working laser just a working drive controller board, that is what I have. What I want/need is to get my PS3 to accept disc again so I can see if my laser is dead or fixable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls5TbcE1GRg

[wizdumb]

It sucks to hear what happened to your ps3 and the UPS situation. Anyhow, this might be a long shot, but perhaps all your drive needs is an alignment in order for it to accept/eject disks again. You can see how to do this here (http://www.wikihow.com/Realign-Your-Ps3's-Blu-Ray-So-That-a-Disc-Can-Load-and-Eject).

[xPreatorianx]

Holy shit dude. You have some bad luck. I hope to god you get everything sorted out and are able to play the PS3 like it's intended. I would seriously sue UPS and make them replace the damn thing. That's utter BS!

[CloneD]

hmm, check this out and make sure the internal drive switch is in the proper place, being made and is not broke off.

Use my guide for the pictures to help you out a little on the assembly part of your problem.

If that switch is not in the correct place the drive would show the symptoms you are reporting. Would a swift jolt or drop or hit make this happen, I'm not sure but it's definitely worth looking at before trying to align the laser.

The guide for drive pic reference is here (http://www.ps3crunch.net/forum/threads/201-3-switch-mod.-An-old-TUT-I-made-way-back-when.):

and the specific switch I am talking about is here:

672

After re-reading your post, you took a disc out of it, so you may have missed the button in question when you put it back together. It is VERY easy to miss and is vital to the function of the drive.


Hope this helps,
CloneD

[atreyu187]

Thanks for all the help guys just got home and I am going to give this a shot and since I have no top on my PS3 as the case got smashed it shouldn't take long. And I am tired of wasting my time with UPS, if you google not many if any had luck with those arse holes. I shipped it to Texas, they found it in Utah and repackaged it and shipped it to me with just newspapers but funny thing is the papers were from friggin Ohio. I hate that company and all I can think of now when I see one of their trucks is my PS3 being subbed in the opening scene of Ace Ventura. HDS coming through!!! Got a package people!! We're going downtown!!

[CloneD]

Good luck with it. If you need any parts, let me know. I got an extra drive laying around from an old 60gb phat but the laser is bad. :)

[xPreatorianx]

Thanks for all the help guys just got home and I am going to give this a shot and since I have no top on my PS3 as the case got smashed it shouldn't take long. And I am tired of wasting my time with UPS, if you google not many if any had luck with those arse holes. I shipped it to Texas, they found it in Utah and repackaged it and shipped it to me with just newspapers but funny thing is the papers were from friggin Ohio. I hate that company and all I can think of now when I see one of their trucks is my PS3 being subbed in the opening scene of Ace Ventura. HDS coming through!!! Got a package people!! We're going downtown!!

Well I will say personally here in Virginia I've never had a problem with UPS. They are timely, and all my packages have been undamaged. But I do also make sure I insure everything or shop at a retailer who guarantees my product. I usually shop at newegg for all my computer related stuff and so far UPS hasn't damaged anything from newegg. So that's good. But I have heard a lot of doomsday stories about UPS. They have a bad habit of dropping heavy ass boxes on fragile boxes. I seriously think it's a game with the idiots at the warehouses. They try to see how much shit they can break with one big box.

[atreyu187]

Well I got that tab put back in but my drive doesn't respond when I press the eject button. The right side moves freely but the let side feels as if it is stuck. Hey CloneD how much you want for that drive as I know my laser is good. Might be easier. There maybe bigger problems as some games that should run discless don't, like FF13 it goes into the game then boots me right out. I am going to go back to 3.55 tonight as 3.41 isn't giving any better results. I just wish I could afford another PS3 or could solder a progskeet.

[CloneD]

what do you mean it doesn't respond ??

Do you get beeps when you hit the sensor ??

Are you sure the sensor wires aren't damaged and is plugged in ??

One side will feel stuck because it's the drive side. The other side is the slide side that conforms to the disc and applies pressure to the disc as a guide.(referring to the top plastic piece that covers the motor and rails) When the motor pulls the disc in the switch on the left is made and it tells the motor when to stop and start the 2nd procedure,(spin) but if the switch isn't being made it will beep telling you that you don't have a disc in it and that the disc needs inserted. There is the possibility that when you took the disc out the laser and mechanism was not reset to the home position. If you can use your fingers and manually turn the laser/drive rail all the way back until it meets the switch and will go back no further this doesn't just bring the eye back it also resets things at the end of the drive rail.

You also have to get the attached piece on just right or nothing will work. It will beep and possibly plastic will pop if you have it wrong.

The drive I have is for parts only, I wouldn't sell it to anyone and expect it to work even if you changed the laser. Yours SHOULD be ok if you get everything back to home position, I believe that's all your problem is and it can be frustrating, I know. If you can take some good pics of your drive apart and share them and tell us exactly what happens when you say it doesn't work.
Do you watch it try to work without the metal cover on it ??
Does it beep ??
No beeping ??
Nothing moves or budges ??
No straining to move ??
Plastic popping sounds ??

Help us diagnose it, I could probably fix it if it was in front of me, I hate it.

[atreyu187]

Well the wires from the drive to the board was damaged and I put tape around it but I am seeing that it needs a lot more than tape. I ordered a new cable today off of ole eBay to see what happens. Anyhow it doesn't beep when I press eject at all and I don't hear anything coming from the drive at all as it will not even take a disc. I am not even sure it is worth messing with as there is something seriously wrong with this thing as seriously I can only play maybe 5-6 games out of the 30 some odd I have. Everything black screens and locks up or just kicks me back to the XMB.

I have tried multiple C/MFW builds, all variants of syscalls with said FW's 3.41 and 3.55 and nothings improves compatibility. I am just hoping at this point that the drive will work and I can just use it again as I feel there is some damage to the board or something. I know a guy that could reball it for me and i just may do that to see if it helps. I mean I have tried everything, heck the fix permissions app kicks me back to the XMB and different managers don't help either. It isn't the HDD as it didn't even have that in the PS3 when shipping I sent the 60gb along with it and it is of course destroyed and not working.


EDIT

Went to restore file system and got a corrupt HDD error so I am formatting that HDD and putting my Wii HDD in there right now as I know it is good as I have been using it for video's for my kid. Maybe this will help me out in the black screen and this cord will fix the drive, man I hope so I will report back once all the files have been restored. I think this might work as I recall now when I was transferring a lot of GB of data at one time I got the system freeze and this was shortly after fixing it so I may have a semi working PS3 by nights end.

I just want to play some games and it is so disheartening thinking about the PS3. I mean I still have original receipt, box with matching serials and foam inserts and everything still sealed in plastic baggies. Now it is a remnant of it's former self.