Sony: PS3 disc drive errors not a firmware issue

i may have suffered a disk drive issue ,on my 360 once. but MS solved my issues rigth away .but to read all this about sony is just priceless ,who would have thougt that sony would ever put it's consumer's thru these kind's of issues . wow am at a loss for words .wait found a few ha ha ha ha ha .

am I the only one that misses the "clinky-clink" chimey sound that used to play when games boot up? they said it makes the games take longer to load but I don't notice any difference...i want it back.

Well, either the firmware jacked up my ps3 or the ps3 hardware just sucked it up on it's own, all I know is that it's broken after roughly ~150 hours of disc use... Is that supposed to be a lot? Getting a little disillusioned with this generations hardware between that and my Xbox red ringing, and Sony's lost so much money they'll claim ignorance forever, they can't afford to fix the PS3s.

Live and learn, I'll never buy the first gen of a console again.

PR use to be a honorable profession.

Mine is the "newer" 80gb stripped model they released at around September last year. Do ALL of the models have issues or just the earlier ones?

@esposch I work with a guy named Da Wei and we all call him David cause it's easier for most English speakers.

I'm afraid of turning my system on after having Resistance and Uncharted hang on me. At least with my 360, I have 2 years of a warranty left covering the whole system. *Bought a warrenty from MS. I really should see if Sony does such a thing.*

I seen this coming a mile off. While everyone was loling at the 360 for the RROD, my friends were getting DRE like crazy. Granted I have 6 friends that have PS3s, but they all got hit with DRE around the middle of last year. I think it's a larger problem than we believe. Either Sony can't program for their own console or they are using 4th world clones of 3ed world parts. We're playing for them being cheap.

It's the way I explained above or this is Sony's scheme to make the PS3 profitable. That's my .002 cents.

Whether it's software failure or hardware failure, Sony is at fault here, not the consumer.

This is why the god of capitalism invented extended service warranties.

That way you don't have to deal with the douchebags at Sony when your system breaks.

hey joystiq! why not try out a user poll again like you did with ODST? you know, the one where it showed that 1/3 ODST discs didn't work?

o, what's that? you don't want to show bad light on anything ps3 related? not even questioning the price of the PSPgo but instead breaking down the price values for ODST? gotcha

Really? Is that why it took a class action lawsuit for Sony to address the rampant disc read errors with the PS2?

A historical fact that the Sony fanboys convieniently forget.

"I demand that you shut up and go back to whining about how the government mistreats you"

What the hell are you talking about?

What does your comment have to do with Sony?

I've got the original 60 gig model, not had a problem with it until recently. I've always kept my PS3 sitting upright next to the television. I recently decided to put it on a shelf on the TV stand. While my TV stand is open air - Just glass shelfs no sides or back it was just enough extra heat trapped that after extended movie watching that blu-rays would not read, or it would skip or it would stop altogether. I moved back to its original position and not had a problem since - no permanent damage I guess.
Some tips, albeit obvious tips. Make sure not to put it under a shelf, an enclosed space, blow the vents out with compressd air. Its unbelievable how much dust gets traped in it. Especially do not put it on top of anything that generates heat - IE a receiver. It seems heat is the biggest problem with this generation of consoles.

@esposch

It should be "small, soft leather"

Or what describes him most: "No leather, but still soft"

The usb was apparently at fault. My point is that they didn't care about the issue because it wasn't reported enough. I was even told it was reported a few times before but not enough for them to do anything about it, unless more people called and complained.

Me being a writer doesn't have anything to do. Sorry, I should've explained myself more. Not a lot of sleep today. I brought that up because I market what I sell and if there's an issue with it you owe it to the customer to find out what that issue is and try to fix it. If it is a problem with another product breaking your product they should still be concerned enough to try to get to the bottom of it. That's all. Sadly most large companies don't care unless they're losing enough money. If I had issues with my film I would want to know and hopefully take care of that problem, or tell them how maybe fix it if the issue was as simple as the dvd not playing. Sorry, just makes me disappointed. I work around a lot of large corporations and helping the customer is usually the last thing on their mind. I once attending a film festival in Little Rock and as we waited for the awards the company took everyone's money and skipped town. Very disappointing since I grew up respecting their horror films as a kid. I won't say who it is unless anyone wants to know.

Didn't pick up the Ps3 slim. This happens several months back.

Again, not trashing the Ps3. I'm going to play mine now. It would just be easier sometimes when something breaks and a company doesn't make it feel like it's your fault and not a few bad systems instead. Everything has a few bad bugs here and there for each product. You'll never get any industry to admit that though.

Take care guys and thanks for the input. I appreciate it.

Best,

Craig

Wait. What? These problems didn't happen until the release of 3.0. A disc read error possibly can't be the blame for this. Of course some consoles are defective, but this started to be a major problem after the release of firmware 3.0. It has to be the OS since it runs simultaneously with the game itself.

This looks like the early PS2 days again. Now I'm a sad panda.

Seriously, though, this is sad news.

They're lying and they're not.

The actual reason the PS3 can't read discs is likely that the laser diode is broken (it's a single piece of hardware that reads blu-ray, dvd, and cd). It's very possible for the diode to lose partial functionality.

However. It is highly unlikely that the hardware failure is purely coincidental with the firmware updates. It's possible, sure, but every bone in my body is screaming "bullshit".

So they are correct. The firmware is not responsible for the read errors. The disc drive is malfunctioning and is responsible for the read errors... and the firmware is probably responsible for the disc drive.

Sony are a bunch of wankers, i bought my ps3 on launch day here in the UK, had it 2 and a half years, was playin infamous on hard just beat kessler and the credits were rolling as i eagerly awaited my tropheys then bang the system shuts down and i get the yellow light of death! It wont start back up, spoke 2 sony and they cudnt give a shit basically said it was out of warranty and wasnt there problem, all i was offerd was a 'refurbished console' for 150 quid! but i can sell my damaged 1 on ebay for £100 then buy a new PS3 slim for £250! Not that i really feel liek giving sony my money now,,,
So the lesson 2day is make sure u get an extended warranty, oh and SOny are Assholes! The yellow light bug is obviously a serious design floor but they tried 2 blame it on me and seem to think 2 and a half years is an exceptable life span for the console!
Grrrr....

An sorry i know my last comment doesnt really have much 2 do with the update just needed to vent my frustration!

Thanks Ken,

I try to be nice. There is no reason to blame Sony in particular when it just isn't them not putting the customer first. It's most companies. It's all about money to them. They just have to remember that eventually that catches up to them. Keeping people happy keeps the customers devoted to your product. Same with fast food. If I go to a drive thru and someone continues to shove my food out the window, while giving me a dirty look I would rather go somewhere else. The food is great, but you don't want your day ruined because someone wants to take their bad day out on you. I used to work at a retail store and I would always say thank you, have a good day etc and keep my emotional problems to myself. The customer is there spending money. They don't deserve that.

I agree. I'll be the same when my Ps3 catches again. I'll be sucker #2 with the Ps3 slim, hurrying home to play it, lol.

Best,

Craig

This is what is really going on. You can read the full story here

http://www.dvdtown.com/news/alert-some-ps3-owners-say-sonys-latest-firmware-killed-their-blu-ray/7064

Dan Lawlor, a 36-year-old IT consultant from Charlotte, N.C., is one of the PS3 owners who says SCEA's firmware broke his PS3, as well as those of two other people he knows. He is one of many consumers posting about the problem on Web sites, signing petitions, complaining to the Better Business Bureau, and even helping to start Web sites about the problem — including ps3circleofdeath.com.

"We are now staring at well over $2,100 worth of hardware that was purchased at launch [purchased by himself and his friends], at a premium, to have the 'best' PS3 that Sony made. Worthless. All rendered useless by a firmware update that pushes these early launch systems beyond their original intended parameters," he said.

Lawlor said he believes SCEA didn't test the effect the new firmware update would have on older PS3s.

"The firmware update that was intended to decrease Blu-ray Disc read times by speeding up the motor and spindle, is causing an increased power draw," he said. "This is fine for the newer systems made with 60nm [nanometer] and 45nm chipsets that use less power and therefore create less heat.

"But for the older, original 90nm chips, that already ran towards the hot side to begin with, it's fatal. Too much power draw creates too much heat and leads to overheating and failure. It's blatantly obvious to anyone who has worked with computers and laptops."

Lawlor said a SCEA customer service representative told him that the firmware update had nothing to do with the hardware failure. He and other consumers complaining about the firmware have been told by SCEA that they can pay $150 to have their system fixed, he said.

What a joke, you are going to tell me the reason that my PS3 60 GB has stopped reading blue ray disks is because of faulty hardware. OK your kidding right...

It worked perfect before the update, never had any problems... update firmware and all sorts of hardware and software problems occur. Even the thumbnail search goes awol. It scrolls left and right but you are locked into this menu and you cannot leave unless you reset the console. Its a plain and simple case of bad testing.

The real question we should be asking is why is there no rollback feature???? Then I could continue using my so called faulty hardware as it was before,
the firmware update.

HAHA. :P

But seriously, what ISN'T built like sh*t anymore? You could toss a SNES out the window and it would still work. You can't even sneeze around these modern consoles without them getting a ring or a disc error or a brick or whatever. It doesn't seem like thicker shockproof plastic casing would be that much more expensive, game companies are just cheap bastards. Besides, they're already making the consoles at a loss anyway (software = chief profit bringer for game manufacturers), why not just say "screw it" and design a console that is built right from the get-go? Nintendo ALMOST had it right with the Wii, but it's still a flimsy console when you consider things like the port doors, the power/reset buttons, etc...

Oh well, Sony is one of those companies that I curse at one day, then go buy their newest 16gb Net Walkman the next. After you had a couple of Sonys, you know what you're in for.