PS3 Green Light On and System Won’t Start

um… simply because the ps3 has AV and HDMI, when it is on HDMI you cannot play it on AV, you can simply change from one to another through holding on the power button when you start it for a bit long until it changes from AV to HDMI or other way.

try that before u restore settings as last resort ;p

Isn’t there a way you can backup game saves on external flash or hd? I mean I would rather die than having to play from the beginning of a game such as Gran Turismo i.e. :/

I don’t have a PS3, yet.. don’t think anytime soon but this is a very odd problem!

Devices are becoming more like regular general purpose PCs, no? :/

I have the same exact problem and when I tried executing your solution I could not get on to the restore screen. When I press the start button and after the first beep the system’s green and blue light turns on. I keep hold of the start button but the system turns off about 10seconds afterwards. I do not know what else to do, I also when through forums desperately trying to find a solution but all I can find is the same exact problem without a solution.

I’m currently having the exact same problem right now…

Though the initial problem might be different than what happened to yours…

PS3 80GB MGS4 Bundle purchased Summer 2008

My brother was playing with the console with Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 and he said that he saw messed up screen, similar to a Nintendo glitch back in the days when you touch the cartridge while playing.

He said he was online but not playing online at the time. He was creating players on the game when the glitch happened.

Anyways, that said, I tried every single solution I found on the internet through google, and also tried your trick, but none worked so far.

It just gives me a blank screen, the solid green light, one flash of hard drive indicator, a swoosh on the fan test, and the controller just keeps on flashing for like 10-15 seconds when the PS button is pressed. Very similar to what you symptoms were. I just cannot get in to that menu that you mentioned.

I’m not sure if the video card, the OS (firmware), the hard drive, or the RAM is fried. Tried with both component and HDMI cables simultaneously and not-simultaneously.
Any other idea what the problem could be?

Any help from you would be appreciated, because other sites does not give me an intelligent answer for this issue.

I tried exactly your solution. Step by step. I heard the single and double beeps.

What do you mean by finder? I actually have a completely blank screen. Nothing is showing on my TV both regular and HDTV.

As I followed up more research, I found out that the firmware software version 2.40-2.42 had problems, which came out on July-August 2008. Its the versions where a lot of people have the same problem as what I am having right now. Its also around the time when MGS4 PS3 bundle came out, which is probably the firmware version that the console had installed when my brother bought it. So I am assuming that the problem would be the firmware, but why would it crash now? Not weeks or days after my brother got the console? And why did it crash after my brother got the software update to 2.53 a couple of weeks ago, which is the latest one right now?

These could be answers that may not be solved at all… Oh well…

Oops… I meant “questions” that may not be solved… :P

Dear God man, you’re actually suggesting he remove his fingers now? :)

Hopefully this’ll help my bud though; his PC knocked over his PS3 (I always knew keeping those two side by side was a bad idea) and refuses to display video or produce audio when he boots it. So, cheers for this mate!

haha!
Well, I did do your solution step-by-step as you noted on your post above, so I should have at least taken my finger off the touch sensitive power button on the front of the console. Still no luck.

I actually called Sony yesterday twice. Once in the morning and once in the afternoon, with one going to my local authorized dealer to get the product service plan receipt. The Sony tech support said that they do not know why its doing it, and they’ll be sending a box. It seems that its not going to take that long, 2-3 weeks, or 3-5 business days for shipping the box to me plus 7-10 business days for a turn around from the time Sony gets our console plus another 3-5 business days before Sony ships the brick back to me.

My issue might be a different one. The tech support said it could be a power supply problem, but I’m assuming a hard drive failure since I tried using the hard drive as an external drive for my mac and it read as unformatted; whatever that means. Being a computer literate, its weird how my computer is detecting “unformatted” rather than “Hey, I’m a PS3 format hard drive.” Or I’m also assuming a RAM failure since I heard that the PS3 OS works directly from the RAM. Since I can’t even get to my log in screen or to that System Restore menu you pictured above.

I’ll post again about the status of my PS3 when it gets back to me, and I’ll make sure to ask Sony what the problem my PS3 had before it got to them. Just for the sake of others who are having the same problem. :)

Can’t format it anyways because if I send it to Sony, they might not fix it. They’ll probably think an intentional erasure of data, etc, etc… and its my responsibility for what I did to it.

I was expecting my mac to at least read it somehow. Just not the words, “unformatted.” I wanted to back-up the files such as photos, and possibly games, but that’s not going to happen.

hi there i am turning on my ps3 and the blue light will not even come on, and i get no pic, sound or anything….what does this mean

but the green light is on, but no picture nor sound

I’m so glad I found this. I had all the same symptoms as you and your solution worked great for me.

I did take me 3 tries before I got the double beeps and the system restore screen. The first two times it beeped and then beeped again 2 more times but the second two were separated by about 5 seconds and didn’t do anything. On my third try it worked. I had the lights pointed away from me so I don’t know if I did anything differently that time.

Anyway, since I didn’t have anything I cared about on my HD I just chose system restore and everything has been working great since.

Thanks!!

Hi , just to help people who had the same problem as the OP, but couldn’t get into the screen to do a system restore.
The same thing happened to me where I couldn’t get into the screen described by the OP.

When I did what the OP said I got 3 fast beeds and nothing else , when I kept pressing the start button my PS3 would just turn off.

My fix was holding the eject button and the start button at the same time. That gave me the 2 beebs and it then asked me to connect a controller and I got in the system restore screen.

Hope this helps

Regards ,

Gigant

Ok I have the exact same problems outlined at the beginning of this webpage but none of the posts provided me with solution.

It all started after I tried to hook up my ps3 (again) to my 52 inch samsung flatscreen after using it on my lenova 22 inch desktop lcd screen. The reason for doing this is because I practically have two homes and very rarely leave my ps3 by itself. I would be more tempted to leave a small child behind before my ps3… ok i’m joking…(kinda).

Anyway after trying to hook my ps3 back up to my samsung tv via hdmi as i did with the pc monitor (with the help of an adapter), my ps3 does not boot up. I get the single and double beeps and i tried holding the eject and power button at the same time and everything along with slight variations but nothing works. My controllers apparently no longer belong to this ps3 since they only flash red and there is no power going to my memory slots and ps eye since they have no lights blinking. My eject button still works, it can eject disks and the blue light comes on and everything. All of this happened today by the way.

I am almost in tears and I have to cry it all out before my girl comes home. Cant show her how messed up i over all of this. Is there anything I can do or is Sony no my only resort???? I am desperate and I have BLP, MGS4, GTA4, ninja gaiden, etc. and a thousand ps store games on this thing. Any response will help. Btw i have the 60 gig ps3

Gigant’s instructions worked for me! I held both the eject button and start button, got to the system restore screen, selected restart system and everything thing was back to normal! I freaked when I found my ps3 like that. I have to admit that I did not read the instruction carefully. When I read hold the start button I though it refered to the start button the ps3 controller. lol.

Hey everyone!

Reporting back after I got my PS3 back. Well, not really back, but rather a new PS3 came running home.

Anyways… Apparently, if you might recall from my previous posts about my PS3 not working, such as no audio/video, controllers not pairing with the console, the system not booting up, hard disk not readable, etc… After receiving the new PS3, it came with the old PS3′s diagnostics, and apparently the console suffered a fatal error. Most likely the hard drive failed or the operating system to run the PS3 crashed.

I sent the PS3 on January 8th, and received a new one back on the 13th. Took less than a week for the process to finish. As I suspected before, firmware 2.40 and above until 2.50 probably have bugs, and if you bought your PS3 with that firmware installed, it is most likely affected by this problem.

So if you cannot fix your PS3 even with the suggested tricks said on this blog, try giving Sony Playstation a call for technical support. If they cannot help out on the phone with troubleshooting, expect your console to be sent over for repair.

By way of statistics, do any of you who had this symptom/problem ever placed your PS3 near a subwoofer or any kind of speaker or magnetic field object? (such as analog tv, other electronic devices) I’m trying to figure out if there is a correlation with this and the symptoms popping up.

That is all for my report. Thanks!

Just pure judgment and I know most of the time electronic appliances don’t really work well with magnetic field, especially computers in general which PS3 is technically considered as one of them. But to be specific, I’m more worried about the hard drive because that is much more prone to magnetic field than circuit boards. They said on the diagnostics that a Fatal Error has happened on the system, which I am assuming on the hard drive because the system is not even booting up. The console is getting power… Everything in the system is getting power, but its just not booting up. Its like the blue screen of death but invisible.

Kamishiro: My PS3 had been ON TOP of my subwoofer for 1.5 years with no problems. I recently moved it to a new room and put it in a TV stand.

As a seperate issue: Friday I lost all power to my PS3 and have started the replacement process. I can’t even backup the system since I can’t power on (no lights of any color). It sucks because if they don’t send me back the same PS3, which I’m learning is going to be unlikely, I will lose all the save data/music/videos I have. I am debating whether or not to leave my HD in when I send the system to Sony. If I send it in without the HD, they will send me a replacement without a HD. If its not the same system the HD will have to be reformatted when I install it and I will lose all the data.
To make things more painful, I was going to upgrade the HD to a 320 GB that is supposed to be delivered this Monday. I would have backed up my 60GB then and wouldn’t have been as screwed if this had happened after Monday.
A moral to the story would be to back up your HD regularly I guess.

um my ps3 wont take in games anymore. if i force one in it wont read but will eject the game but it certainly doesnt suck the game in anymore. help

thanks a lot, this information really helped me to fix my ps3

I actually pressed restore files one and it worked. i had the same problem, originally it just had a grey squiggly thing and then nothing at all. i followed ur advice but went down one at a time and this one worked (restore files system). I have now put all my files on usb incase im not so lucky ;)

just like to say thanks… i was about to give up all hope and pay for it to get fixed… this worked great. unfortunately lost all data tho

my ps3 does exactly the same thing. the green light comes on and does nothing from there on. i tried holding down the Pwr button for the 3 beebs, but all i get is 2 then it goes back to standby mode. nothing is shown on my tv screen at any time to reset. any ideas?

yes, i tried all of them. i held both the eject button and Pwr button. all that happens is the Blueray drive cycles (i can hear it) and then noting. i get no displays on my tv. i dont get any fast beeps. it just goes to standby after third beep.

Haiz, I tried the ‘eject and start button pressed at the same time method’ and the one suggested by this blog but still to no avail. Mine doesn’t gv a blank screen; my Windows desktop screen still remains onscreen even after the PS3 is switched on.

I tried on my TV also; it gv me a blank, black screen.

I donno what else to do…Any other help?

Thank you so much, it work great!

my ps3 has the same problem..but after the red light it turned yellow
HELPPPPPPPP PLEASSSSSSSE!

and i just finished mgs4 three hours ago!

Thanks for this… just sorted someones ps3 nice and easily with this, Great to see someone saving such useful info

Same problem, youll have to do system restore, luckily mine found my old account info.
First, I did the System Update through a USB though…

i did it and it works fine now , thanks.

hello i also have the same problem but mine is different.ive done all the steps but when i go 2 the connecting usb screen i push the ps button and nothing happens.at first i thought it was the cable so i went to buy a new one and it still wont do it.any advice?

This worked for me… you guys should be working for PS3 technical support seen as they couldn’t help me!!! nice one :-)

hey i have the problem but mine was when my ps3 got dropped i was playing cod 4 got 5 games in then the color when whack i woke up the next morning played about 4 games them then the color went whack again so i shut it off restarted it then nothing showed up left it sit for awhile came back played a game and froze then black screen then it played little big planet beat it switched games got 1 1/2 games of cod it froze and ever sense then it has not shown anything on the screen i get the beeps when i hold the start button down but nothing is showing up so if anyone can offer any help im all ears

Well I got it to start again I was sitting down and when I got up the screen started acting weird. So I grabbed the tv cable and it started acting more weird then fixed then messed up again. So I unplugged the cable and 2 of the gold pins where missing so im wondering if that might be the cause. A sony tech said if the tv cable is broke it can cause the system to freeze.

So happy for your post….i thought i had a problem with my 80 gb Ps3 because i was getting a green light and no start up but i held the power button and after the first beep i am back to normal…with no need of reboot! Thank you all.

Bashar…i got an HDMI cable for cheap on Amazon.com, only 5 bucks and shipping.

Well they are worth the amount you’ll pay…and some say they work better than most at electronic stores! Mine works fine.

This was great advice! Had the same problem and followed your solution. Luckily didn’t loose any files. Skipped system restore and went to restore files, now the system is working again.

Right i had this same problem green light only when switched on when Ps3 started up okay. If you have 2 HD tvs like me :P. Connect your ps3 to the other one and repeat the process which was shown at the top ( for me it worked staright away ) this will not work unless you have really messed your PS3 up.

If this dosent work go to Sony and ask for a replacement or the shop you brought it from.

Aswell as many people dont have 2 HD tvs for the ones that do i suggest that you do what i did.

Thanks Mike

I just had this problem and looked up on the net on how to fix it. Your Awsome guy! It worked doing this reset, I didn’t even have to do a full restore so I guess I’m one of the lucky ones

my ps3 would not boot. i did a restore file system and did a system update with a usb memory stick and it worked thanks–

oh and i didnt lose any files

Hey man thank you so much. No where in the manual does it say this! luckily I didn’t have to delete any game files but as soon as I was relieved to hear the opening orchestra when it turned on I quickly grabbed a USB and copied all my game files just to be sure

I can’t say thank you enough! I did exactly what you said at the top and it worked! And we didn’t loose any files.

Mine doesn’t work, cos I don’t have the new firmware version (s.50 and above). Is there anything else I can do..?

does it take a long time when yu click restart system because mine just went back to the wave then to a black screen so i’ve left it like that for now

BLESS YOU ALL! MY PS3 WORKS AGAIN!

I have found a way to keep all your saved data with this problem.
Follow the steps above but first download the latest firmware update from the playstation website and save it onto a USB key. Follow the steps and choose the bottom option “SYSTEM UPDATE”. Wait for it to update and it should restart with all your music, videos and gamesaves.

Hey guys,

I’m having the same problem, get the green light, no display, no sync from controllers… weird!

Haven’t dropped it or anything, was installing app then all of a sudden, graphics went crazy and froze. Haven’t been able to get any display since rebooted.

I’ve tried the above solutions with no luck? Would it still work with HDMI cable?
Held the on/off button until i get 2 beeps, plug the usb cable to the controller and hit the ‘PS’ button with no response!

Any suggestions?

thanks guys!

o thanks so much i had the same problem and my ps3 is restoring data base as i type this as i follewed these steps :D
wow you saved me having to get a new ps3 !
cheers !

Hi i did everything correctly but my screen remains black and my hdtv just says no signal, my controller doesnt want to sync and after removing my finger after 3 beeps the screen stays black. You get a brief Fan buzz and then silence on start up…..im thinking maybe a hardware power surge?
Also my blue ray takes discs in yet somtimes..(no all the time) shuts the ps3 down after ejecting.

Its a 60 gig machine..the ones that play the ps2 games.

Hey thank you for youre reply Bashar!! Yes i did try sudjestions, i tryed pressing eject and start together and i also tested my hardrive via windows pc (which checked out ok), i can repair ylod (yellow light of death) ps3′s but this is a tricky one…. the working method you used should have done the trick yet all im thinking now is hardware or complete os fail. It was an ebay faulty buy so I have sent it away for a free repair quote that might shed some light on the situation.

Also If you or anyone ever has trouble with ylod issues Here is a link for a site that shows you how to repair ylod machines…along with a pdf with full instruction ;)…it works a treat.

Yeah cheers, fingers crossed!!

I did send a link but it appears to have vanished?

here it is again.
http://playstationlifestyle.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2376

Thats ok i think it was my internet, this time round i had to type a code to drop the link so my net musta timed out the last time lol

Anywho Im glad to help, ylod consoles ..well 60gig mainly are becoming more of an issue also so its handy to have just incase ;)

Keep fighting the good fight!!

WORKS 99% OF THE TIME: PS3 OFF, HOLD POWER BUTTEN UNTIL YOU HEAR THE THIRD BEEP, CHOSE OPTION 3. ALL FIXED AND BACK TO THE FUN WORLD NO DATA LOSS

Thanks for the advice worked perfectly!!!

[...] link is being shared on Twitter right now. @peterhough, an influential author, said New PS3 campaign [...]

I’m not sure were to turn now, I have tried every solution mentioned in this blog and comments as well as any other webpages I have visisted today.

Simply put, I have all the symptoms mentioned in the blog without exceptions. Neither my projector or TV(and speakers) can get any signal from my playstation any longer(tried HDMI, Analog, optical(for sound) and any combination I could think of). No luck. Everything works fine when connected to my laptop

This started while playing prototype for several hours, and the monitor sudenly started showing a lot of gibberish, even after restarting the ps3. After another restart the sound also disappeared.

The mentioned solution doesn’t work as I can’t seem to see the recovery menu after I get the double beeps. (I’m 98% sure I did it correctly)

Do you guys think this could be related to this issue, or something else? GPU issue?

I’m already considering buying PS3 Slim, even though it can’t beat the first ps3 version.

Sorry for the long post by the way

Please forget my last comment. Further testing indicates some kind of overheating where the monitor gets crazy after 30 seconds. And I just found out I still had a waranty as I got it back from repair under three months ago. Great blog though :)

I’m having same problem of several users above too.. but it hasn’t solved yet..

my symptom is solid green light and it turned red after 30 seconds also TV keeps showing “no signal” thing.. I’ve tried your tips but it appear to be a beep between each 5 seconds instead of 2-3 times vary beeps, then after the second beep(after another 5 seconds) it turned to standby mode (solid red light)

I’ve also tried gigant’s tips by trying to hold eject button together with the power, but it also show nothing different from my first attempt

can you kindly help me pleaseeeee
and sorry for the long post
thanks

Hey lagxen about the solid red light issue.
I have found, and im not saying this could be the issue with youres but some consoles i bought to repair sufferd from a solid red light issue.

I found 2 hardware faults and 1 part fault that could be the problem.

Youre console could have a damaged fan causing over heat, i have found that you tend to get solid red light stand by from overheat and with further use this causes damage to the boared and you are likly to get YLOD “yellow light of death” issues.

Check the fan is working, you should be able to hear it kick in once the console has sat idle for a few seconds.

Hardware issues as above could be the first signs of YLOD or there could be a seriouse issue with the boards firmware.
I got a free diagnostic on a console that was kicking into stand by and it turned out it was beyond repair.

If you are a uk resident then i know of a company that do free check ups on ps3′s
https://www.consoledoctor.co.uk/

If not my advice would be to send it off to a third party repairs company.

Hope that helps alittle

thanks for replying banditopeepuk.. I’ve checked my fan by holding eject+front power then turn on the back power on.. and it runs my fan very loudly.. could that make any sense?

T_T sadly I’m not an UK resident.. I had sent it to store where I purchase it but it’s sucks that my country doesn’t have enough good skill to solve this as they declare my PS3 already died, they said something about the mainboard and I wonder that heatgun stuff will work, I heard many people talking about this on several forums

oh I forgot to mention this before.. I sent my console to repair because I found YLOD symptom before solid red light issue, then they said my console is dead.. when I tried to turn this on.. It comes the symptom I mentioned at my first post

To lagxen

Damn, it sounds like the same issue i had with one of the consoles i tryed to repair. I sent it away and they said that the main board was not repairable. :(

Re-flowing “heat gun repair” does work on YLOD consoles i shared a step by step video link on this blog for Bashar.
I repair consoles at home with not much experience so if you feel up to it you could always try giving it a go?

http://playstationlifestyle.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2376

They might be right though and youre ps3 could truly be dead!

You can always get cheap ylod consoles off ebay and repair them with this guide though.

sorry i couldnt help further mate

Best of luck!!!!!

I’ve read all posts and tried everyone,but cant get the 6 option restore menu to appear.when i turn ps3 on i get connect controller…press ps button message straight away,but ps button has on effect! help please

Just found the hidden reset button on the back of ps3 controller near the L2 button,pressed it with a pin and now i have the system restore menu! :) about to restore system,i’ll let u know if it works

It worked! thank the lord,praise b to u ma man! if my problem is the same as anyone else remember to press the reset button at the back of the controller! p.s this blog ROCKS

Working on a PS3 for a co-worker the unit has the same problem as other users have stated. Standby to green light one beep then another beep and back to standby. Controller won’t connect. but randomly (twice now) have gotten a display to come up with navigation but as soon as I attempt to select something the picture goes blocky and the unit freezes up. when I power it down and attempt to reboot no video black screen. Stumped… any suggestions?

Just re-flowed the mother board as per the YLOD how to. Leting it cool now I will update if this fixes the problem or not.

After re-assembly system still has the one beep and second to off but will start the system and run. Now in process of installing the 3.0 system update via SD card. Fan is quiet and running.

OK on system update I got an Error code and prompted to call Sony. Since then I pulled the hard drive, put it in my laptop running vista and fromatted the drive. Vista only formats NTFS. Now the drive isn’t recognized by the system and I believe that the update removed most of the OS from the proms in the system. Now it starts, controller lights blink and after 10-15 seconds red light… back to standby. I have tried to force the system to format the hard drive by removing and reinstalling the drive: during startup, after startup, and, before startup, all the the same result. I have loaded a 2.70 update (enough to get a system with the maintenence mode software) on SD card and CD hoping the system will recognize and use the system software and update but to no avail. Does anyone have a forced run file that a fully Bricked system will run?

Mine beeps with a green light and then dies. No lights at all. No YLOD, no nothing.

I tried the PS button you all mentioned, but no responses. Didn’t try the hidden reset button yet.

I took it to a technician, he replaced some capacitors, and resistances from the motherboard, but nothing. He’s still investigating it.

Please, any directions? Could it be solved by a heat gun? It doesn’t look like an overheating problem since a I’ve never heard any loud noise from the cooler.

Sorry for the late reply…

Thanks for the reply banditopeepuk & Bashar.. maybe banditopeepuk’s right, my PS3 is dead now.. I tried to reset controller with the hidden button.. but it didn’t respond beside another beep leads to standby mode..

It’s sad I’m with my PS3 not even half a year and my brother was the one who keeps playing, I though I bought it sooner due FFXIII issue.. sadly I even haven’t done a thing to this PS3 and I still have the brand new vibrator controller packed neatly T__T

I’m not a technician, but I have an assumption that my mainboard had been changed by the store where I brought to repair before.. I’m doubting them because the symptom changes after I brought it back home from repair.. The store isn’t the official repairer though and they just gave me 3 month of warranty when I purchased it..
Please I need your opinion about this..

Thank you very much.. this blog helped me a lot

Thanks so much for this post! The help getting into the system menu was great, though wasn’t right for the model I was using. From standby, I held the power button. The light turned green and I got 1 beep. A few seconds later I got a second beep. A few seconds after that I got a third and fourth beep, then finally I let go of the button. Using the USB-connected controller, I pressed the PS button and selected “System Update,” using the 3.01 firmware I’d saved to my camera’s SD Card. That ran but it didn’t fix the problem, so I tried again and did a file system repair. It went through the file system repair twice automatically, rebooting both times. It was a messy setup, but it worked, and a system that I thought might be dead is now fine, with no loss of data! Awesome.

I cant stop reading this blog…better than official sony help! I only found out about the hidden reset button after searching through loads of pages on web…sony dont even mention it ;) glad i could help anyone with the same prob i had. P.S my ps3 works like a dream now

Please help with PS3 blank screen problem.

while in standby mode, I pressed and held the power button:
- green light comes + 1 beep.
- still holding the power button for a few more seconds, then it turns off (goes to standby mode) + 1 beep.

I can’t seem to get to the second or third beep, it always turns off first.

Also tried the hidden reset button at ps3 controller and simultaneously pressing power n eject button, still no result so far.

Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks.

Hi guys

Have exactly same thing as Bashar. None of your solutions works. I can’t hear the double beep, it gives one beep and turns off instead. Reset button or pressing PS button at any moment does not give any effect. I can eject and insert discs fine tho

I downloaded 5 demos yesterday (installed 3 of them). I left my PS3 switched for 4-5 hrs to complete all the downloads. Later I switched it off with power button. It was yesterday, today, it won’t start.

Some guy on other forum suggested HDD fault. He claims he had similar issue and swapping drives helped out. Of course I won’t try this as I’m still on warranty

Do you guys know if this inspection/repair would be covered by warranty?

Sorry. I meant to have same problem as richie :)

THANK YOU GUYS SOO MUCH!
You sir, have no idea how much of an impact you are making on pple’s lives!
I had a similar problem…tho mine was strange…I could only play COD4 game that was left in my system for months…when I tried to quit or go to the systems menu, or play something else, or restart the system with no disc, all I got was a blank page.
I followed the instructions on the top page, and KAZAM! worked like a charm!
Thank you sooo much! Blessings!!!!!!

hey guys,

My situation seems similar to everyone here. I have a launch HK 60gb console. Crashed on mag beta weird artifacts on screen. Had to turn it off at the back and since then black screen no audio. Woke up next morning got it to start up and had to change display settings, it crashed whilst changing settings. Been black screen ever since. I have held down the ON button. Get one beep, one beep then 2 beeps. Tried syncing controller, nothing, tried resetting controller, nothing. Does it have to be one beep then two beeps? does the order and number of beeps make a difference. I really wanna play uncharted 2 and dont fancy buying a new one if I can avoid it. Sorry for long post.

Paul

sorry just one thing to add. if i send it off to be repaired by an independent party (no way sony will since i’ve had it for 2 years have no receipt and i imported it from HK) whats the likelihood of it breaking down again if it has to be resoldered on the motherboard. im just weighing up wether i should try to fix it or give up and get a ps3 slim.

hey thanks for replying. its always one beep then one beep then 2 beeps. thing is if i leave it for a while it does turn back on and play for a bit before the whole screen corrupts which as you can prob tell is a hardware error, prob GPU. Yes i have tried the reset controller thing, and a second HD screen as someone said above.

repairing will cost around 80 pounds which is about 130 dollars. slim costs about 250 pounds for 250gb. prob gonna have to buy a slim. hopefully that wont have the same prob!

bashar is a legend the 1 then 2 beep suggestion worked 1st time

I have the exact same problem as the OP. None of the solutions posted here have work. My console is a month shy of being 2 years old and I am not about to shell and extra $150 to Sony without trying to figure it out myself. I tested the HDD and appears to be working fine. I think, in this case, the HDMi cables/video settings is a non-issue.

I’m thinking 2 things, the fan died and the system will not start up if it detects the fan is not working. The other is the internal battery. I ordered both pieces and will receive them shortly. I have already opened the console and checked the current fan for blockage. Also, a friend and I tested the fan with a 12 volt adapter and it didn’t work. I’m hoping it’s the fan… or maybe that internal battery (similar to a Bios battery).

Think about it, Sony might be charging $150 for a problem that could be solved with a part that cost a tenth of that.

I will post what happens after I replace the parts.

OK so here’s my story:

I updated to Firmware 3.01 from 2.9. Skipped 3.0 because i had read it was giving many problems so i waited for the next one. So when 3.01 came out i updated my PS3. It worked fine for 2-3 days but then suddenly it stopped working. When i turn on my ps3 it showed the green lights but no audio/video on my lcd. I was FREAKED out!! Only a month was left for Uncharted 2. I searched the whole net and finally i found this site. This site was a blessing. I found out about the Recovery Menu from here! I tried that and vola it worked! I was so glad… i tried the restore PS3 thing and my ps3 was alive again!! But as soon as it came to XMB it freezed again. The same thing happened again. For several days i accessed the recovery menu and tried all the options. Recreating database, formatting, updating again etc. It worked fine when i did one of those options but either it used to freeze again or didnt open again if i shut it once. Then i searched more and saw some guys complaining about format taking too much time. I was surprised cuz my formatting took only seconds. Further researching led me to know that there were 2 types of formatting… quick format and normal format. I was doing the quick format for all those days. I did the normal format… took me 3 hours but it worked!

For two weeks it worked flawlessly during which i even played Uncharted 2 (Awesome game btw) but again this week the same problem occurred. Green light is there but no audio/video! I again went to the recovery menu and did the format but during the format my electricity went off (we have this problem in pakistan). So i tried it again after several hours and this time did on UPS but again the electricity went out and even though the PS3 remained on but it froze. Again after few hours i tried but now suddenly i cant access the Recovery Menu. I don’t know what to do. Did the incomplete format screwed up the access of Recovery Menu? I formatted the hdd through PC but still it hasnt solved the problem.

I know Recovery Menu solves the problem but I CANT GET THIS RECOVERY MENU ANYMORE!! Can anybody tell me what to do!

PS: No warranty and there’s no official Sony Center here in pakistan. Well there are sony repair centers but they’re not good and honest guys. They’ll open up my ps3 and take out all the hardware! :(

I bought a PS3 2 weeks back. Today when I started the system, it asked for an update. While updating, it went blank and it wont start now. I tried the solution given here – Holding down the power button until 2 beeps and then press the PS button on the controller. But the screen is still blank. The green light is on. Tried the reset on the controller as well. Nada ! Nothing is working.

Appreciate any help to get it started. Have contacted Sony Support as well. So far no response.

Thanks

When I turn my PS3 on, the screen stays blue with the message ‘No Signal’. I’m using HDMI cables.

I know the full format works cuz it worked with me too but only for 2 weeks. After that as i mentioned while formatting electricity went out (happened two times while formatting) and after the second incomplete format my PS3 opened for like only two times but during the configurations (the very starting ones where they ask for the city, time date, user name etc) it froze and then suddenly i stopped getting the recovery menu

I formatted my hdd through PC after i stopped getting the Recovery Menu and i formatted my hdd through PC in FAT32 format which i’ve read in other forums that PS3 accepts.

Should i open up my PS3 and clean the inside with a blower??

Venkat: Mate you have to repeat the process twice. Once when you hold the power button…. after two beeps the ps3 will again go back to standby mode. Again you’ll have to hold and press the power button. You’ll hear a beep followed by another beep(sound will be like 2 beeps with the second one) and then you’ll get the msg for the controller)

Like most other posts,… I have owned my PS3 for a while now. worked Great (60Gig, Backwards compatible). Until one day I turned it one and as it was starting up, it looked great. Then it froze and got a bunch of weird colors and white blocks across the screen. Now I get Green light, but no audio or video. I have tried all the steps listed above about holding the button until two quick beeps, to enter the system menu etc. This worked for about 30 seconds. If I unplug my PS3 and wait approximately 12 hours, plug it in again and turn it on then follow the steps above I can get to the menu. I can get controller to be recognized (if it is plugged in) and I have attempted several different options on the system menu screen from Restore File System to System Update. It always ends the same way. It may or may not allow me to select one of the options, then if it does allow me to, it starts to act like it is doing something, but it never gets anything accomplished, because after about 30 seconds from the time I press the power button the first time, regardless of what else I do, the screen colors change to multi colored blurs with White squares and rectangles spread across the screen. I have tried to replace the hhd with a new 120 Gig SATA hhd. It allowed me to turn the machine on and asked if I wanted to format the drive. I selected yes and it formated it after about 10 seconds. The system restarted and …. some problem as before, Multi colored blurred screen with White squares and rectangles. It look a lot like the original nintendo screen when it would freeze. Any help will be welcomed and greatly appreciated.

Like most other posts,… I have owned my PS3 for a while now. worked Great (60Gig, Backwards compatible). Until one day I turned it on and as it was starting up, it looked great. Then it froze and got a bunch of weird colors and white blocks across the screen. Now I get Green light, but no audio or video. I have tried all the steps listed above about holding the button until two quick beeps, to enter the system menu etc. This worked for about 30 seconds. If I unplug my PS3 and wait approximately 12 hours, plug it in again and turn it on then follow the steps above I can get to the menu. I can get controller to be recognized (if it is plugged in) and I have attempted several different options on the system menu screen from Restore File System to System Update. It always ends the same way. It may or may not allow me to select one of the options, then if it does allow me to, it starts to act like it is doing something, but it never gets anything accomplished, because after about 30 seconds from the time I press the power button the first time, regardless of what else I do, the screen colors change to multi colored blurs with White squares and rectangles spread across the screen. I have tried to replace the hhd with a new 120 Gig SATA hhd. It allowed me to turn the machine on and asked if I wanted to format the drive. I selected yes and it formated it after about 10 seconds. The system restarted and …. same problem as before, Multi colored blurred screen with White squares and rectangles. It look a lot like the original nintendo screen when it would freeze. Any help will be welcomed and greatly appreciated.

Hey Tree-Top Fyer
Same problem here. Even i had that color distortion problem. When i used to access the Recovery Menu it used to either freeze or weird color movements/blocks would appear
Anyways now i cant even get the Recovery Menu. Man do tell us what you gonna do and if u get to know the problem then please do tell here. I’d really appreciate it!

Wow that’s a bumer I had a similiar promblem on my iPod touch where the screen is blank and if I plug it in my PC I hear the sound but the screen doesn’t show anything so I took it to the apple center and they fixed it for free

Hey there – sounds like a knowledgeable group of people here.

A PS3 was given to me that has pretty much identical symptoms as the ones listed in the article. The only thing that I can add to the symptoms is that I get a flicker on the TV screen when the unit powers on and off. Also, the unit is lacking a hard drive, but that shouldn’t prevent some sort of message from showing up on the screen, should it?

I have tried doing the reset things many times, to no avail. I cannot get the machine to do a double beep, with or without holding the eject button. The machine beeps once at startup, once in the middle, and once more as it shuts off again.

Again, the TV screen flickers during the first and last beeps.

I am not afraid to take the unit apart, as I got it for free. I’m also pretty sure the unit is fairly old, and I have heard that older units don’t have the restore menu.

Can anyone shed light on my situation?

Thanks, Phil.

Update: The underside of the casing reveals that it was manufactured in February of 2007.

Good news! I left the unit on all night while hooked in to my network in the hope that it might update or something. It worked! I don’t know whether it was the network or the leaving on that fixed it, but I was able to see a “no hard drive” message after restarting it the next morning.

I found a spare laptop hard drive and put it in there, and it booted and formatted just great. When I got to the control panel, I noticed that the firmware was version 1.72. That was probably the reason it wouldn’t enter the hidden menu.

I updated the firmware and now we’re cooking with gas. Everything is working fantastically.

Thanks for the great article.

i tried all the fixes on this blog (no results)
this is my problem:
my ps3 is on stand-by i keep the power on touch button pressed
i get a beep exactly when i pressed then i wait a few seconds i get another beep and it goes to stand-by mode again i tried removing the HDD and put it on back (no results)i tryed turning the ps3 on whitout the HDD and nothings happens still the same.
Hope someone replies me.

I had what sounds like the same problem, and I fixed it by leaving the PS3 on all night. I also had the ethernet cable plugged in, but I don’t know if that made the difference.

Bashar: I also tried that ,it only turn off the controller nothing changes.

Hey! Phil suggestion seems to work!
But i cant connect to internet and if i turn my ps3 off i need to let it on again for hours and then turn in ooff and on again to get it on
and can’t connect to internet i tried doing the connection agian but i can’t because it stays in Cheking network configuration.. and never finish
Hope you replies

I was able to reset the video by holding the button down after having the PS3 on all night. After that it didn’t give me any more problems.

For the internet problem, I don’t know what’s going on. I think what you need to do for that is to find some sort of automatic configuration setting.

-I hope that helps

Thanks for repling me!
The good thing is now im fully able to turn in on and off,watch Dragon Ball Kai on it thats what i love the ps3 systwem can watch lots of video files on it BUT now the connection thingy very annoying.I plug on the ethert cable and the ether light (back on the ps3) dosen’t turn on.
I hope someone replies me whit a Fix.bye.
Thanks you very much Bashar and Phil

i have just bought my ps3 slim.. i have read and read through these solutions and not one has helped me. i have tried holding power and eject in.. i only get 3 beeps and then it goes straight to the playstation store option.. :( im starting to lose patience, my screen works fine but its just games and films that are not loading, there is a sound like loading whn a game is inserted but then nothing.. nothing! i need help, can anyone help me????

why is this??

Hi again
bad news: phil fix work but if i turn my ps3 off for more than 5 minutes i need to start up the procces again. the ps3 seems to only turn on if he is hot and if is cool it will not turn on.it turns on but the hdd orange light will not blink and he will not load up.when i turn it on after letting he on a few hours it turns on well but i cant get connected to internet i try to scan wirelessly and it found nothing O.O and i tried trought cable an nothing happens.

Hey!! i found some new problems….
well i let it hours to turn it on wiht phil’s tricks and guess what i tried to update to version 3.10 to see if the ps3 get fised but my pen drive din’t worked and my brother asked me if the controller charge when he is connected to usb and i doesn’t charge and inter wont woork….can someone figure out whats the problem now?

Ok, so I replaced the fan and the battery to no avail. I found a shop that repairs PS3s and sent them a message stating all the symptoms and they replied that the video went out. They say they’ll charge me only $100 to fix, so I think that’s probably my best alternative right now.

Will post an update soon.

Dear Readers, one day i was playing mw2, and it started to lag, so i shut down the power. The next time i turned it on, it would show the the opening screen(the one with the music) and three seconds after turning the on switch and turning on the ps3, it would freeze. So i turned it on and off till it would go back to normal, but then i got the green light problem. I followed virtually all the steps but still no luck. Btw, After the three beep thingy, the controller has the 1 lighted up, but still the screen is blank. Please help asap or my dad will KILL me! Thanks

Bashar: Well i hav a wireless controller but i connected it to the ps3 with a usb cable.

Heres a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9UQ5ivrMQ4

Alright ill try that and if doesnt work…i just gotta call sony then. -__-

Bashar, i love u. thank u for taking ur time to help me with this stupid issue. It works perfectly fine now, and my dad wont kill me. Again big THANK YOU!

Wait! I spoke too soon.=(. I was able to get to the restore screen, and i tried doing the system update. (i have the latest firmware on a usb) and it downloaded everything and when it gets done, it just goes blank again. =( Please help!

ok ill try.

Alright, all i had to do was the file restore thing, now it works. thanks again

Hello,
my ps3 has the green light but when i try to get to the boot menu it beeps 3 times but the screen stays blank i have a extra ps3 that i use for parts so if someone could tell me how to fix it or get the menu up that would be great

Griffin: Does it go like this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9UQ5ivrMQ4

If so, repeat the process again(from the red light without turning it off)

if anyone can help me on my problem it would be greatly appreciated…

I’ve had my ps3 for about 3 years. it’s the 60g…

it’s always worked fine until a few days ago. It froze up during a blu-ray movie and after that it stopped reading blu rays and ps3 games. it played dvd’s and ps2&ps1 games but now it wont even do that regularly. I put in a disc and the green and blue light stay lit. it will play a p2s game once every 20 tries or so… my warenty is up so i tried cleaning the eye myself but it didnt make a difference. it was actually pretty clean to begin with. i never played ot for more than an our or two at a time and it has always had good ventilation…

any ideas?

if you could e-mail your responses to pepper_0517@hotmail.com it would be great.

Thanks,

Tim

if anyone can help me on my problem it would be greatly appreciated…

I’ve had my ps3 for about 3 years. it’s the 60g…

it’s always worked fine until a few days ago. It froze up during a blu-ray movie and after that it stopped reading blu rays and ps3 games. it played dvd’s and ps2&ps1 games but now it wont even do that regularly. I put in a disc and the green and blue light stay lit. it will play a p2s game once every 20 tries or so… my warenty is up so i tried cleaning the eye myself but it didnt make a difference. it was actually pretty clean to begin with. i never played ot for more than an our or two at a time and it has always had good ventilation…

any ideas?

Thanks,

Tim

Hello! Hope someone can help…
I just bought a new PS3 Slim a week ago, and while playing a game it froze. When I restarted, I experienced the same problems as above–green light on but no audio/video, and none of the controllers will connect. But when I tried the restore system solution, it’s not working. I hold down the power button and get the initial one beep, but after keeping it held down, it never double beeps. It just beeps again after about 15 seconds and goes into standby mode.
Any suggestions??

Casey, from my experience, it sounds like your video went out. It happens when the material they use to ‘glue’ the video processor cracks. If you just bought it, I suggest you call Sony and send it back, but DEMAND a new unit, not a refurbished one.

I had to buy a new slim, my previous one turned out to be ‘unrepairable’. It was out of warranty so I took it to a local repair shop. after they re-flowed and repaired the video connection, they realized the board was fried. This is probably due to the fact that the year before, after i sent it to Sony for blu ray drive replacement (which literally takes about 10 minutes to do), instead of replacing the drive, they sent me a refurbished unit… and god knows what was wrong with that one…

Rick,
Thanks. I just got off the phone with Sony, and they basically told me to just send it back. And I’ll make sure to demand a new unit too, NOT a refurb! Sounds like they screwed you over with that. It’s just frustrating to already have problems after just buying it…

hi i have a problem,1st i upgraded my hard drive from 40gb to 320gb.
this is on an australian PAL model CECHH02> that all worked fine, then i decided to install lynux. so i got the lynux cd and i did not format the HDD properly i just went system other system…install…then boot default system…other os…anyways it went into the lynux boot mode at start up; i forget what i did but i did not have the mouse & keyboard connected so i turned it off from power switch and pluged in usb mouse and keyboard…did thw whole install_ps3_1080p install line…then it frooze at the final deregistered initializing usb thing…it didn;t go further so then i kinda cracked the shits and turned it off from power button again,
then when it reloaded it kept going back to the same thing. far out so i thought screw this i am reformatting this hdd…so i poped it back into my PC and formated it (YES AS FAT32) and put it back in…then i go to load system…loads..gives message “connect your controller via usb cable and insert in usb port” or whatever it it says..ok so i do it…presss the PS button…no response…hmm try again…i try reset the machine…on off..hold button down..not down..upside down…you bloody name it..all sorts of techniques.FAR OUT…there goes 20+gigs of downloads of demos + lynux 4 gigs but oh well…now im more worried about the console. i check with the old 40gb hard drive..format it…as fat32..put inside..green light…turns on…again plug in usb cable and pres PS button…nothing farking…ok now im scared..i keep formatting and reformating in all sorts of techniques the hard drives thinking maybe i fuked up the master boot record? then i think ok maybe its the usb cable…try another..same thing..maybe its controller…try another after market fake controller..no luck. then i go ok maybe these controllers are flat…i also checked the usb cable with my motorolla phone usb plug to charge..it charges…so the usb socket MUST have voltage so can’t be usb plug…i go down to “GAME” @ Northland – Preston and very nice man lets me charge my controller…charges for half hour (ye kinda shit charge holding) come back home thinking it has to work…i tried all sorts of FAT32 formating..activating hard drive..not activatin partition..only thing i couldnt do is do fdisk/clear master boot record….2 usb cords..2 controllers…resetting…praying to all the gods in the world…has to be not enough charge…so i plug in usb…plug in controller…plug in hard drive…turn on ps3….”plug in controller in with usb cord and press PS button”…..so i press it…and i press it…and i am about to go blow up the whole of Sony Australia building at this stage and be tracked down by Australian Federal Police for saying this…but instead i choose to say. PLEASE HELP
email me oen82@yahoo.com.au and if you live in Melbourne Australia and want to help out an unemployed gamer i’ll even come to you 24/7 and bring the console

Help please. My PS3 has no video at all. My PS3 just goes in a loop. It started this problem with a failed update. Got errors but didnt write them down. I have tried the restore but no luck. When I press and hold the power button it beeps once at power on then it beeps again after a few seconds and another as it goes back to standby. I tried the controller reset but the controller just flashes the lights when plugged in. I was going to try leaving it on and hope for an update but it shuts off by itself after about 45 seconds. Is there a way to force a OS reinstall somehow? Any other suggestions will be greatly appreciated also. Thanks

Tim: i had the disc read problem. What i did to fix it was the same process mentioned above. Then select the Restore System Files option. This corrected the issue for me. Now my brother has the same issue with the blue light issue that everyone is posting about, and i’m trying to help him out.

i forgot to mention you don’t lose your files or setting doing the Restore OS software onto the PS3 system rom. The OS software is backed up on your hard drive in case the rom becomes corrupted. (my nephew hit the eject button in the middle of a game and caused my headaches) Hope this helps you.

Ive had my ps3 since it was first launched all them years ago, but now all of a sudden my PS3 doesnt show the disk for games or dvd’s, now i dunno if this is the people all the people above are having because everything eles on my ps3 works fine, as it loads fine, i can get on the internet, it’s just the icon that shows the disk so i can play games or watch dvd’s hope some1 can help me fix this issue as i was hoping to hit level 70 on call of duty MW2 before xmas so i could play assiasin creed 2 :(

i have the same problem and ive tried everything and it works without my hdmi (my screen freezes and does some weird color things on hdmi) and just on av but when i turn it off again it has the same problem. i dont want to have to restore the ps3 cuz i dont want to lose files and games from ps store. can i save games on external hard drive and is my only option to restore the ps3 or is there something else i can do? sorry for long post

i guess i can redownload games so im going to try the system restore. if that doesnt work then i guess ill have to send it out :(

thanks! this site is great! really helped tremendously! my ps3 is working again thankfully and im hoping the problems are behind me!

yeah Bashar everything works for me it connects to the net, muisc plays fine, its just when i put a game or a dvd in it would have a lil disk icon pop up to click to load my game or dvd but now since my system updated itself to 3.0 thats suddenly gone missin now an my ps3 dont show the disk icon, but it shows its loading something in the top right hand corner but never shows the disk, i really dont wanna lose all my game saves restarting it all as thats 2 or 3 years worth of game time an i have nowhere to move the game saves to unless i can move them to my ipod while i restore it, does anyone know if that will work?

bashar yeah i updated to 3.01 thats when my comp stopped working as soon as i updated the new software, ive copied my games to my ipod they al seem to be there apart from the game that u werent allowed to copy, ive wipped everything off the hard drive an it still dont work, really dunno what eles to do with it

Long post alert:

I have the same problem as Nathan. Much like Nathan my problems started after upgrading my firmware. In my case I bought “Hulk” and “Turok” so I would have something to do post op. When I put in Hulk it updated my firmware automatically. It ran okay for a couple days then it stopped recognizing my player. I thought it was dirty and tried to clean it but I noticed that it was not spinning the cleaning disk. I tried several others and they all came out the same way they went in so it isn’t even trying to spool the disks.

The system isn’t bricked but without a DVD it is useless. Sony was waste of time The unit is post warranty and they want $150 to fix it. $150 to replace a DVD they manufacture? If they want to rob me how about using a gun? I was considering ordering a DVD and replacing it myself but I’m expecting a class action because A LOT of people are having problems with their PS3′s due to varoius Sony authorized updates and I don’t want Sony saying I’m not eligible for a free repair because I broke the warranty seal so I boxed and shelved it back in May and pulled out my PS2. It may be elder tech but at least it works.

With that said, I found the reset solution on a different board back in April but couldn’t get my PS3/40 to give me the two beeps using the power button. It would cycle through startup and standby without giving me the magical two beeps that are supposed to signal salvation. Reading your blog has given me some new ideas about how I might get the machine to enter reset mode. I’m going to try the eject button trick as well as take a look at my control for the hidden reset button so I can go back to the firmware that came with the system. One way or the other I’ll let you know what happens. Merry Christmas and thanks to you and everyone else that contributed to this. Yet more proof that multiple heads are better than one.

good luck getting it fixed Amediar, i tried everything i reset it back to factory settings, completely restored my ps3 so everything was cleared a good 2-3 years worth of gaming, tried to clean the dvd player still didnt read the disk, sony were useless in offering me help, they just wanted me to pay money to have it fixed, but the money they were askin was basicly the same amount it is to buy a brand new ps3 slim, so lucky for me my girlfriend bought me a new one, but i think its pretty poor that sony wont take any blame for the problem’s, when for nearly 3 years of owning a ps3 i dont have a single problem, but a couple days after addin the new updates my ps3 an it stops working an by the sounds of it many others are havin these issues

Don’t waste money to find someone to fix it yet! It may be a minor issue that you can be fixed by yourself. Remember, you are not the only one to suffer this problem! Because I had

help so many people to fix the same problem now. You are so lucky to be there. I share a guide for you – It make me like a pro to help my friends and many people. It is too expensive to send back to Sony repair if your machine is out of warranty!

I had solved the yellow / red lights flashing problems after bought this guide. The author of the book is really kind and helpful to his customers. May be you can buy it and share what you have learned !

PS3 Yellow Lights Fixing Guide : http://bit.ly/8fksGD

For those that did the above suggestions and it did not work, heres something you can try.

Even if nothing comes up on your tv after using the suggested methods, it could be due to your tv not detecting it. Mine was like that until i tried turning off both tv and ps3 first then it worked.

For my ps3, i held it down(mine was about 12 secs) until i heard 2 fast beeps like so: beep…beep……..beep beep then let go.

You will also know when youre in system restore mode (I think) when you hold power button down and you can’t turn it off.

No joy on this end of the screen my friends.

I have a PoS3/40 with a mint date of September 2007. The systme info shows I am running 2.30 but due to my efforts to get rid of the update I really have no idea if this version was virgin or it is the update installed by the Hulk game. The booklets included by Sony are no help.

I agree with Bashar that this is likely a hardware issue. In reading some of the other boards it has been suggested that some updates cause the BRD to burn-out due to overheating the laser with increased reads. This would explain why some machines burn out faster than others since not all lasers are equal and not everyone uses their PoS3 the same way. If you are a powergamer with a laser on the low end of the bell curve it could burn out in a couple days. If you have a casual user with a laser on the high end of the bell curve it could last for years.

Even though I am fairly sure it is a hardware issue, it is also possible the firmware did something to corrupt the drivers so the system will not recognize the BRD and that returning the firmware to factory defaults will restore the corrupt drivers. I would try one of the updates from Sony to test this theory but I do not have net access for my PS3.

I tried to enter Safe Mode using the instructions on this site:

http://www.fixya.com/support/r3159339-access_safe_mode_playstation_3

I spent a couple hours trying different variations. With the controller hooked up by USB, without the controller hooked up, with the hard drive in, with the hard drive out, holding the eject button, holding the reset button on the control, as well as while grasping a large hammer in a threatening manner. Nada. As far as I can tell my machine does not have a “safe mode.” If someone has any other suggestions let me know.

Once my dreams of entering Safe Mode evaporated I went looking through the system directory on my PS3 and noticed that it has two of the four options listed in the “Safe Mode”: Restore Default Settings” and “Restore PoS3 System.” I tried both. Nada. However this might explain why my machine may not have a Safe Mode since that would be redundant. Since my PoS3 is the only one I have access to I have no way to check if this is standard on all PoS3′s.

At this point I have several options:

1. Do nothing and hope a class action will force Sony to man up.

2. Find a dealer that will sell me a PS3 compat BRD and fix it myself (assuming the BRD is the problem).

3. Find a repair shop that will fix it for a reasonable price.

4. Trade in the junk PoS3 at Game Stop and use the discount to buy a new PoS3 (I heard they will give you $50 even for bricked machines but I haven’t confirmed this yet).

5. Buy all the bricked PoS3′s I’ve read about and use them to rebuild the World Trade Center.

6. Pay Sony $150 on top of the $400 I spent on the machine and feel like I just got raped.

I wanted to point out is that sending your machine to Sony for repair is the WORST IDEA EVER!

Why? Because it rewards Sony for making a crappy product, consistently putting out faulty firmware updates, as well as encouraging some of the worst customer service on record. Sony should not make money off of this.

The repair is only under warranty for 3 months so if the machine craps out 91+ days later you’re screwed – again – and they do not offer an extended warranty on repairs. You are better off trading in your junked PoS3 on a new one and paying the extra money for the longest extended warranty they offer (3 years is the longest I’ve read about) that way they can eat the cost of repairs when it breaks down every other update instead of sucking money out of your pocket.

Holy crap! I just wrote a novel. Sorry guys but there is a lot of information to trade on this and I’ve had a long time to read about it. Of course I really have nothing better to do since I can’t play Oblivion until I resolve this idiocy. :-)

I went to a game repair place at lunch and they quoted me $103 to replace the BRD.

Keep in mind that these guys have to pay overhead such as the store front they are in as well as buying the BRD’s from Sony as well as pay to have the units shipped, etc. and they are a third less than Sony. Do you think Sony is making a killing repairing these things at $150 per unit? You betcha.

Wouldn’t surprise me if this was intentional. Build a PoS that everyone that owned a PS2 is frantic to buy. Make the system as twitchy as possible. Put out junk firmware updates that stress and crash the system so people can’t play the games they spent hundreds of dollars buying. Watch the dough roll in repairing junk that shouldn’t have sold in the first place or double up on sales as they buy new units. Even better, don’t make them backwards compatible so people keep buying PS2 units and games even though it wouldn’t take much to put a PS2 chip on the board or program a PS2 emulator. Am I totally pissed at Sony. You betcha.

Went to Game Stop at lunch. They will buy a bricked PS3/40 for $50.00.

That means a new PS3/100 will run $250.00 plus tax if you go there.

Talked to a friend and he says that some repair places as well as Sony are swapping working parts from bricked machines instead of installing new parts. This means you might end up with a part that has a lot of gaming / video time on it and is thus more likely to give you trouble or burn out. It seems likely to me this is why Sony only give a 3 month warranty on repairs. I wouldn’t mind it if the repairs were free but it seems dishonest to me to charge $150 to fix a unit using the scavenged parts from another unit especially when they have no idea how much use remains on the harvested part(s).

I’ve been looking at Ebay and for those that do not care if they pop the warranty seal on their PS3 you can pick up new and used parts on Ebay. There were quite a few choices. The cheapest BRD I found new was around $70.00. Some of the used ones were $40.00 or less. There were a few bricked machines that were going for less than $20.00 if you’re interested in getting one to experiment on or for spare parts.

For right now I’m boxing the unit and waiting to see what happens. There is a Class Action out of Florida in regard to the 3.0 / 3.01 Firmware update that looks promising.

Depending on what happens it could lead to Sony having to admit firmware/hardware problems and doing some sort of recall or repairs. I suspect Sony will try to squirm out of whatever they are told to do by saying they’re not going to fix machines if the seal has been broken.

My conspiracy theory is fringe but I wouldn’t be surprised if at least some of it is true accidentally, if not intentionally. A lot of computer companies do the same thing these days. Their attitude is: “80% is good enough, we’ll fix the issues post sale via an update.” They know that most users never test the limits on the product much less reach these limits soon enough for warranty to be an issue. The few that do usually assume it is something they did rather than something inherent in the system.

The problem with doing this with a gaming platform is the demographic is different than with PC’s. Power gamers test the system limits faster and bitch on blogs when it crashes without a damn good reason (I submerged it in my bathtub, did I err?). Most of us are computer nerds with gaming addictions so we’re going to find that missing 20% a heck of a lot faster than some Wallstreet geek that only hits his desktop or laptop to check his stocks, surf for porn, and read eamil.

We all know this is a product defect. Sony knows it too but they are not going to admit it until someone takes tham to court and then they’ll do the absolute minimum necessary to comply with whatever the court orders. That’s big buisness in 2010 where the new slogan is: “The customer is always wrong.”

I am experiencing the same problem with my PS3 that Bashar had my tv says “no signal” tried holding the restart button until it beeps twice, tried conecting controller with usb and still nothing.??? any more ideas guys?

I had exactly same problem. Turned on PS3, green light, but no output to hdmi screen ( but, screen participated some way, turned on, but no signal ). Tried reset many times ( holding power button till 2beep ), but no way. Then, i’ve connected both analog PAL TV and hdmi screen, i’ve normally using. After another reset, xmb appeared on analog TV and there were message:

HDMI monitor is detected, may i display a screen on int?

yes NO

and hilighted is NO. So, if you turn on the controller, wait 20 sec to display that message, then push left and X. Problem will be solved, if it is your case. Symptoms for this problem are, that console is normally working, e.g. if you turn console, then push and hold PS button for 3 sec, then push X, wait 2 sec and push X, console will turn off. It means it is working.

I have the same problem.
I’m able to get into the recovery menu, but when I hit the ps button nothing happens.
The problem is that the only controller I have is a wired 3rd party controller that has no reset button.
Any ideas that could help me, or do I need to buy an original controller to be able to get into the recovery menu.

Im pretty sure I’ve done everything corretly since the message of the recovery menu to connect the controller via usb and then press ps button shows up.
But as I said nothing happens if I press the ps button.
I’ve also read somewhere else that you can use a usb keyboard and the windows key is the ps button but that didn’t work either.

I also tried Plysovej Kaktus suggestion but that didn’t help either.

okay so after reading most the posts here i finally got the restore menu to work by holding the eject button and power button at the same time, now my problem here is i select the option 3 or try to and it works and then the screen freezes, it keeps freezing on me and sometimes i get to select an option and sometimes i don’t, i just get this video glitch on my screen or it freezes…any ideas

to add to my last post i got through the screen options and i selected option 3 and now its just a black screen after it asked me that it detected a hdmi cable so i said yes and now its a black screen, i can see the wireless light blinking so its working there because before there was nothing, am i supposed to wait or is there supposed to be a status bar showing up on the screen….

okay its a no go, i tried switching my hdmi cable with the regular cables and i still am having a hard time here. It sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t, i get the the default screen and i have gotten as far as restoring the system but i get a black screen so i don’t know what to do. this is really frustrating, oh to add to my anger i already redid YLOYD twice and the second time around which was yesterday that is when i couldn’t get the screen to load and i was getting all those glitches in the screen. i hope i didn’t fry my mother board in the YLOYD process.

Alright so in the this event i went out and bought and new hard drive and tried the same steps as before, i got nothing at all, no default screen nothing, holding the eject button and power button at the same time, it beeps once and then twice and im getting nothing at all. is my ps3 done? cause i have isolated all factors to my knowledge.

I’m also in the 1% that lost all out data. so dissapointing. I love the ps# thought. I chose the 3rd option. 60g Ps3 original

Thanks Bashar i looked over that post and its not much help other than telling me that my ps3 is done. Yesterday i did the sync again on the CPU and GPU and still nothing, system starts up but black screen, blue ray works if you load a cd or test but same black screen. so i guess i am going to have to buy a new one.

Hello there, great blog you got here :).

Ok here is the problem im having but i didnt see any similar problems after i read the whole blog.

i got a 80gb PS3 that came with MSG4 i bought some where at the end of 2008. a few months ago, suddenly he turned off totally while i was playing some game, it was a whole shut down, like some one pulled the power cord. no lights on. then when i tried to turn it back on, i had to turn off the back switch and then turn it back on again for the red standby light to come back up, and then when i press the power button it would just beep once and totally shut down again, it happened for a while so i left if off for a few days and suddenly one day it restarted again and worked again for a few months, but it started happening more often after that, and now the last time it did it, i havent been able to turn it back on for almost a week now. not sure if any of you have heard of a similar problem, i talked to a few tech people around here and they where clueless about this one.

Any help or at least some info about what it could be would be appreciated.

Later :)

Aloushy,

Let me start with the obvious. If it is under warranty send it back to Sony instead of dinking with it. Yeah, I know, but you would be surprised how often that escapes people.

Let me explain that I’m not a PoS3 expert but I have been working on desktop and laptop systems since the 80′s so I have quite a bit of tech experience. I’ve also been reading various blogs and talking with Sony so I might be able to save you some time doing the same research I’ve spent months looking for.

Based on what you wrote it sounds to me like your CPU is up and running and you’re just not getting video or audio signal. I would check this by turning on the machine and putting in a game in and watching the blue light. I would pick a game you don’t like or getting a cheap one. You never know what’s going to happen and I don’t want you to think “that a-hole hosed my favorite game with his stupid idea.”

If the BRD blinks as it loads and seems to be working normally then the CPU is talking with the BRD and it thinks that it is sending a video signal. Make sure it is actually running the disk rather than just eating it and sitting. As long as the BRD is getting power it should pull in the disk and blink once or twice so keep an eye on it for a couple seconds to determine if it keeps spinning because the CPU will try to load the intro graphics and audio and that takes several hits.

If the BRD acts like it is trying to run the game and play then it probably isn’t the CPU. If could be the GPU, the video output port, a misdirected signal, damaged cables, or a problem with the video input on your TV. Write back and we can work on figuring that out together if you would like.

If the BRD pulls in the game, blinks once or twice then does a brick impression, that’s what you’ve got.

If you have a brick you have several options:

1. Find a local PoS3 repair place. If you don’t know a good one let your fingers do the walking or go to your local used game place and ask the clerks or customers. I was able to find a place near me that will diagnose and repair a PoS3 for $100 in most cases. Make sure you ask about the repair warranty. If they don’t offer one locate the door and use it.

2. Sell the bricked unit and buy a new one. Game Stop and some other used game stores will actually buy bricked units because they repair these for a fraction of what we can then they sell them used. They’ll give you around $50 for a PoS3 depending on the unit and HD size. You can buy a new PoS3 for $300 and some offer used units for far less. I would advise against a used unit unless there is a warranty that covers it for at least a year. If you buy new unit I’d buy the extended warranty.

3. Send it back to Sony. They charge $150. I have read that they will not work on PoS3′s if the warranty has been popped so I would call them and confirm this. There are several problems with this option such as Sony may not return the same PoS3 you sent in, they may replace parts with parts scavenged from other bricked PoS3′s, and there is only a 90 day warranty on the repair.

4. Box the PoS3, go back to the PS2, and hope the Florida law suit forces Sony to give a free repair to PoS3 users. This is likely a pipe dream on my part. Even if this fantasy does come true if you have already opened your PoS3 then Sony probably won’t fix your machine so I would suggest O1 or O2.

Harold,

I agree with Bashar. What’s your fan doing when this happens? Does the unit smell like ozone or hot plastic? Is it in a well ventilated area? It could be your fan is obstructed or it is not working for some reason. You need to be careful because if this is a heating issue it could cause the CPU/GPU to seperate from the MoBo or even fry the entire system.

A good suggestion for all PoS3 users is to get a hole herd of the cans of liquid air or buy an cheap air compressor and blow out the machine monthly. The PoS3 is particularly sensitive to dust so keeping it as clean as possible is the best way to avoid problems before they start.

Assuming it is not under warranty, Sony has exactly one price to fix a PoS3 and that’s $150. It doesn’t matter if the problem is some defective fan you could replace for 50 cents or not. I think your best option would be to take it to a repair place and have them diagnose it and give you a quote.

Thanks for the answers guys.

When it happens its not hot or anything like that, i dont hear anything weird with the fan either. last night after i posted here, i went back downstairs like 2 hours after it happened, and it came back up, and ran for a good 3 hours without problems before i went to bed, then i checked it back this morning and no problems, and i just came back from work and its working perfectly.

Ive had the PS3 connected to a UPS unit since i bought it to evade any sudden power shutdowns that are quite common around here, this UPS also works as surge and peak supressor so i dont think its anything related to that.

no liquid had been close to my ps3 and it is on a decently ventilated area.

now about the dust hmmm, that could be an issue, i guess i should try oppening it to give it a full dustoff. I live in Venezuela so sending it to an official Sony repair place thing is out of the question, and i dont like the techs that say they can repair consoles around here because many of them will take pieces off your console to repair others and tell you the console is dead and you should buy another one (that they offer ofcourse, refurbished too but they will tell you its brand new.)

Last time i tried opening it to try to clean it, i couldnt find any screws or anything to remove to open it so i didnt insist because i feared damaging the case. is there any trick, guide or any video or whatever i could check for opening it without damaging the case?

Thanks again guys for the answers so far.

I have the same problem as OP except I have no signal whatsoever, even when I use my older TV and the AV cables. I’ve tried to load the safe mode about 15-20 times and I get all the beeps and everything described except there is still no output by the TV and the controller won’t connect so I know that safe mode isn’t hidden behind a black screen. I really do not know what to do so any help will be appreciated.

Daniel,

You mentioned that “the controller won’t connect.” Are you doing this with the controller plugged into the console with a USB cable?

Stephen

Yeah, I’ve tried both with and without the controller being plugged in, and to further confirm the PS3 isn’t registering anything, one of the controllers actually switched on the other PS3 in my house even when it was plugged into my console.

Daniel,

What happened leading up to the problem? New firmware? New TV? Sister used the cable as a jump rope? Left it on all night?

You mention that the controller was able to turn on a different unit. I’m assuming this means you have 2 PoS3′s? If so, did you swap the working unit and the broken unit (cables, controller, etc.)? Assuming that you have access to a second PoS3 test all the controllers and cables on the working unit so you can be sure this isn’t a cable problem.

You might want to pull the HD from the broken machine and install it in the working machine so you can back up the data before you dink with it. Be careful though, I doubt this is an HD issue but sometimes strange things happen inside computers.

Assuming that you do a complete swap and the broken unit still doesn’t work you should try the game test I outlined above in my post to Al.

You might want to load the game in the working PoS3 and watch the blue BRD light so you know what the broken PoS3 should do. Make sure it gets through all the intro material and the main menu defaults to “play game.” Most games do but there are some odd fish out there so pick a game that does. Hit X to select the play game option and keep an eye on what the BRD does.

If the broken machine doesn’t hit the BRD at all then video isn’t your only problem. That’s not good news but at least it gives you some idea what sort of problem you’re facing.

If it hits the BRD like it is loading the game give it enough time to get to the main menu like it did on the working machine. According to theory all it should take to start playing the game is hitting the X button. If the broken machine starts hitting the BRD like it did on the working machine then you know the controller is active. This may not be the most useful information but at least you know that the problem is exculsively a video issue.

If you backed up your HD you can try the reset procedure blind. The reset process should reset most settings to factory defaults but I do not believe this applies to firmware updates so keep that in mind. I am fairly sure factory default is the standard PS3 video not the HDMI port so you should keep that in mind too.

Harold,

The problem is that if this is an overheating issue and the fan is broken you probably wouldn’t know it. I had my PoS3 in the open and it almost never hit the fan. I tried moving it to a book case but it started hitting the fan constantly so I pulled it back out. That solved the problem. You system may not be getting hot enough to make the call to the fan in an hour or two, especially if you have it in an open area but the longer you play the hotter it will get and if the fan isn’t working it will make the call, fail, and continue to heat up. Symptoms of this could range from eratic game play to artifacts on the screen to the entire system shutting down until the chips and board are cool enough for restart.

Amediar,

There was no obvious warning or build-up to it going other then the screen becoming fragmented during a game. I’m actually using the cables and TV on the other PS3 console in my house and it works fine so I know for a fact that it is definitely the console.

After several tries, I got the ‘Safe Mode’ screen to appear, and as I had backed up the HD I just hit factory reset, all appeared to be well until the screen went fragmented again and returned to the previous state.

i was trying to install linux on my PS3 and the system completely died. Only the light, the eject and the on off button worked. I followed the advice and held the power button when there was just a red light. It powered on and off without giving the double beeps but then i repeated the process again, perhaps twice and now it works! Thank you!

Daniel,

Since you have ruled out the cables, the test I outlined above should tell you if you have a working BRD, CPU, and Controller connection. Based on what you have written so far I doubt these have anything to do with the problem but I’ve seen stranger things so I always do my best to localize the issue as much as I can.

Based on what I’ve read the only thing I can think that might be fixable without popping the box is a corrupt video driver and that might be replaced if you can reset the system but you are going to have to navigate the menu blind. To be honest I doubt this will work but it is worth a try.

The artifacts on the screen prior to it not working would suggest a GPU issue especially if the fragmenting started after using the system for a moderate to extended period of time. In addition to the famous YLOD where the CPU gets hot and seperates from the MoBo, the GPU can do the same thing.

This sounds like a hardware problem somewhere between the CPU sending data to the GPU and the video output. It could be anything from dust on the MoBo causing a short to the output slot being loose on the MoBo but the usual suspect when this happens is the GPU heating up and loosing contact with the MoBo.

If I’m correct the question is how advanced are you when it comes to computer repair and do you want to do it yourself or have someone else fix it? Unless you have some sort of MoBo issue all the tech has to do is use a heat gun and push the GPU back into position. That will probably cost around $100 to fix.

If you want to try it on your own you can look for YLOD solutions using a heat gun on the CPU to reset it. If you screw up you have a pretty good chance of brinking the machine so I wouldn’t do it unless you are confident you have the necessary skills.

Forgot to add that if you don’t trust anyone local you can always send it to Sony for $150 but that wouldn’t be my first choice for reasons I’ve outlined previously.

If they gave a full year warranty on repairs I would suggest sending it back but they only offer a 90 day warranty and that means you could be exactly where you are now or even worse depending on what you get back.

Oh hey, Bashar, sorry to hijack your blog man. Hope I’m not ticking you off?

Hello All!

Brilliant page! I felt sure that none of the techniques toward the top of this page would work on my PS3 as I’d tried holding the start button down etc a few times before with no luck.

I thought I’d give it one last try using the technique where you hold down both the start and eject buttons and taa-daa! the System Restore Screen appeared. I chose selection 3 and a few minutes later my PS3 was back to life – thanks!

So just to re-cap, here’s what I did:

1) Switched the PS3 on from the back – Red standby light shows.

2) Held “start” and “eject” buttons down – PS3 beeped once… after a few seconds beeped once again… and then after a few more seconds beeped twice, at which point I release my fingers from the buttons.

3) It then asked me to connect the controller with a USB cable (which I already had connected, so just pressed the PS button on the controller to activate it.)

4) The System Restore Screen then came up – I selected option 3.

Good luck to everyone who has this problem – and remember – keep trying – it took me many many attempts before I got the System Restore Screen to show.

If people could include the PoS3 type and when it was made it would help. For instance my machine is a:

PoS3/40 with a manufacture date of September 2007

i have a 60gb ps3
i bought it used about a month ago
so i have no warranty
and on the day of the psn glitch (2 days ago)
i was playin cod4 and it froze
had to flip switch in back and reboot
tried again with skate
same thing happened
this hapopened over and over
untill yesterday i tried to see maybe it would work
and i have the symtoms from OP
green light
controlller unrecognized
disks eject and insert fine
but when i hold the power button down in standby i get one beep and a green light and then 10-15 seconds later back to standby
tried the eject and power at the same time
and the same thing happens
no results
i just got codmw2 and tekken 6 in the mail
and havnt been able to play :’[
please help me
idk what to do

bashar: i tried the reset on the controller
didnt do any good
thanks for the tip though
never knew it was there
i hope someone can help me and all the others who suffer
since sony cant
unless i pay them too much :[

John,

According to Sony the problem has been fixed by the date change and you should ensure that your system date indicates March 4 or later (link).

http://www.t3.com/news/ps3-bug-is-now-fixed-says-sony?=43905

If you want to search for more information it is called the 8001050F error. That will get you more hits than “PSN glitch.”

Since you posted two days after this suppposedly fixed itself, it sounds like the above isn’t going to be much use to you. The problem is Sony has consistently demonstrated that they will not stand behind their product so even if this was caused by their faulty clock issues they won’t admit it much less fix it for free.

When you turn on the machine do you get any response or do you get a blank screen? In other words, does the OS seem to be loading and running or do you have a brick that beeps?

sorry guys i was on a trip
i got myself a new power supply and put it in
and it didnt fix the problem
and to amediar
i have a brick that beeps
my tv displays no signal
it comes on and after about 1 or 2 seconds i hear the fan get quieter
would a bad fan caus ethis problem?

ya ive ruled out the fan and the power supply
its been too long without my ps3
i think im guna have to cave in and pay for a repair
but before i do
does anyone know of a cheaper secure place to get it fixed other than playstaytion?

ive ordered repair from videogame911.com
ill get back

John,

It seems like you have a pretty good grasp of what is going on inside the machine if you can swap out the power supply so I’m not sure how much help I can offer in regard to repairing it. About the best I can do is try and help localize the problem by offering diagnostic suggestions but that’s probably not going to be much use to you.

Since you seem comfortable working inside the box you might want to hit Ebay and take a look at the PoS3 gallery. I saw quite a few working machines with bad BRDs that were selling for $20 or $30. You could buy one of those and swap out the BRD from the brick and save yourself upwards of $50.

My personal opinion is that sending it to Sony is a waste of money. You’re paying half the price of a new machine and only getting a 90 day warranty. When you add in the fact they are rumored to be salvaging parts from bricked machines it doesn’t make sense to pay a premium price for a repair that’s questionable.

A local repair place isn’t going to be much better. Most will charge around $100 to diagnose and repair just about any PoS3 issue as long as the system isn’t completely trashed. There are two questoins you need to ask before you can decide if it is worth the money. Are they installing new parts and what is the warranty?

In my opinion the best option is taking the bricked machine to Game Stop, getting a $50.00 credit, and buying a new machine. You might get more than $50.00 depending on the type of brick you trade in. My personal opinion is it is better to spend $250 ($300 less trade in) for a new machine with a year warranty than $150 for something that could crap out in 3 months. Some places offer extended warranties which I would definately recommend.

If I can offer any assistance or insight let me know.

neoark, you are the best

Hey! You are a genius!!!
I had the same symptoms and was getting very worried and frustrated. Thanks a million; it worked just like you said!

Couldn’t be more thankful to you guys, after searching for about 6 hours (No breaks, no lunch) I found this forum to be the most precise and helpful bar none.

I was also at the stage of Green Light on, no controller recognition, ran the double start-up to get the beeps and double beep with no success, no signal on TV and so on, and was at the repair/buy new/yell at Sony stage.

I ran the double start-up to get the double beep and HOPEFULLY the “Connect wireless controller” part to get to system restore menu. Took me 20 – 30 tries approx.

Don’t throw your PS3 through the window just yet, keep trying.

Thanks a million guys, I’m one of those that plays 7 – 8 games in rotation at the same time, and the save games would really suck. Good work guys…

i was playing Mag. I had just got out of the match when my screen went black. I then tried to quit out of the game, it wouldn’t let me. i tried to turn off the power by holding down the power button, that didn’t work. so i turned it off from the back of the PS3. when i turned it back on, it didn’t say ‘ u didn’t turn off your system properley.” then i go over to my game section and bam, MAG doesn’t show up. i put itother games, none of them show up, i just get the spinning clock sign thingy. im a hardcore gamer. im a geek, so going with out games will be very frustrating. When i found out i couldn’t play anything except for demos, i cried for about the rest of the day. My friend also has this same problem. I called sony, they wanted me to ship it in. HELL NO, i don’t have that kinda money. $198? i just bought my bro a ps3. lol. I got to the restore data section and and also did top-bottom. i have backed up data on one of those usb memory stick thingys, hoping it would work. IM SCARED TO HELL, i dont wanna buy another system, or ship it! nothing has worked so far. i’ve followed everyones steps, oh and also, i’ve had 3 controllers, 2 wireless and 1 wired… the wirless ones both died when i tried to plug the usb cable into them to restore default setting. now instead of blinking a few then glowing red on 1, the light on my controller just keeps blinking over and over again, as if its charging!!!! both of my controllers dead and now i have only a cheap wired one! please somone help me. im restoring my ps3 system now WITH the game disc inside. is that bad? should i take it out? please someone help me!!!!!!!! PLEASE!

also, if somone could help me BEFORE red dead redemption comes out, then i swear to god, i will be ur slave on the ps3 for one day. if u want me to be ur kill buddy in MW2, so u can lvl up i will. lol, well not slave, but u get it. i will be very much in debt to you. (=. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!

my psn screen name is: TekurWorld

Okay Tek let me see if I have this right. You do not have a brick. You can turn on the machine and the OS loads. You get the PoS3 sound and you can hit your directory but your machine will not recognize games, DVD’s, and BRD in the BRD drive?

In addition to this it will not hit your HD but you can pull the HD and stick it in your bro’s machine and it works fine?

In addition to this when you plug in your remote controller it goes into standby as if it is charging and the machine will not recognize it but the same controller works fine on your brothers machine?

One last question, are you able to get the machine into reset mode or does that fail too?

Sony told you $198? Are you kidding me? It was only $150 back in May in 2009 and that was theft pure and simple. I can’t believe they raised their prices. I swear I’m about to just trade in my games, ebay my machine and tell Sony to bite me.

My PS3 was made in November 2008 it turns on but no audio no picture, I put a usb drive into the slots it didn’t light up so I assume it doesn’t recognize that either.
It ejects it reads discs from what I can hear.
But I’ve tried 2 hard drives and nothing.

yes it just turns off after holding for 8 seconds

Johann,

What happened before it started doing this? New firmware? Playing a game for a long time and it locked up? New TV with HDMI support? Cable got caught in the vaccum when you were cleaning the living room? Anything irregular that occured before this started might give me some insight what this might be.

Funny thing is that a few weeks before my BRD broke I had problems with color issues and the sound would fade in and out. Turned out it had nothing to do with the PoS. The RCA port was loose on my TV and the weight of the cables was causing connection issues. All I had to do was open the TV, put in a pop rivet, and everything was peaches until the BRD blew.

Something quick you can do if you have access to a second PoS3 such as a friend’s or relative’s you should try hooking it up using all of your cables, TV, etc. so as to rule these out. If Machine B works with the exact same accessories and Machine A doesn’t then you can be confident it is the box rather than the TV, cables, etc.

For anyone trying to figure out what’s wrong with your PoS3 or any electronic device for that matter, the first step is trying to figure out what prompted the failure then localizing where the failure occured. I have had all sorts of cords go bad on me. I spent two hours trying to get a machine to work, pulling memory, cards, etc. I moved it from one work station to the next and accidentally changed power cords in the process. Instant fix. I tested the other power cord and it was zorched. Two hours wasted but I learned a lesson. Always check the simple stuff before you swap out the power supply and start cussing at the Mobo.

Something PoS3 users need to grasp is there are not very many quick fixes especially if you are not qualified to open the box and even if you are trying to get reliable replacement parts is no where near as cheap or easy as fixing your desktop/laptop.

The biggest enemy of the PoS3 is dust and that’s especially true for the BRD. From what I’ve read Sony’s BRD technology essentially consists of putting a magnifying glass on the lens of a standard DVD player so any dust will make your life a misery.

THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE IF YOUR POS3 IS UNDER WARRANTY!!! I have read several posts where Sony has refused to reapair warrantied machines that are “too dirty” blaming the accumulation of dust on the failure. So blow it out hard core before you send it back or your warranty might not be worth the paper it is printed on.

You can try to reset the machine using the procedures and links outlined above. This will typically cure certain problems, typically video issues where the PoS3 is sending signal to the HDMI port when it should be sending it to the RCA port or visa-versa. I think Sony should have had sig run to both indicating which broadcast format and the option to switch to the other format but that’s because I’m not chargin $200 a whack to fix something that isn’t broken. Bet that glitch alone makes them a mint.

Aside from the reset there could be cable issues. This can be difficult to test if you don’t have access to a second machine because (to my knowledge) none of the Sony cables interact with PC’s. In the past I had problems with a PS2 so I bought a new one, figured out what was wrong with mine (power cable), and returned it. That saved me a lot of time and headaches.

Another option is the Hard Drive. These are fairly easy to replace but make sure you pull your HD and bring it with you so you can be sure it is PoS3 compat or it will be a wasted trip.

That’s everything I can think of that you can do without opening your machine and I would not recommend doing that unless you have a firm grasp of what you are doing and have a firm grasp on where you can get reliable parts.

Could be the USB won’t light up until it gets hit for data. I have USBs that don’t light until called and I have others that stay lit from the moment I plug them in until the moment I pull them so don’t assume the USB is hosed.

I have had the screen pop up now and then asking me to connect a PS3 controller, my friends has the controller right now so hopefully I get it up and running.

It takes me a while to get the screen, but I connect the controller via USB and it doesn’t recognize it the controller or the ps3.

update
so i placed my order with videogame911.com on 3/10
and yesterday it left their facility in nj on its way back to me
it cost $25 for shipping
and $29.95 for the repair
they said it was “UNREPAIRABLE Significant Motherboard Errors”
and they now say it passed all the tests and seems to be working fine
im glad i didnt pay sony $189+shipping
to do something that now only cost me $55

ill update once i receive my system and let you know if it was a true success

THANKS!!!
ps3 would power up, with a disk in get blue light and green light but nothing on TV. started reading here, did the hold button wait on beeps…nothing
tried both start and eject …nothing
did back and forth maybe 5 or 6 times got some triple beeps…nothing, THEN…
finally got a double beep and “no signal” box went away on tv…a few seconds later ps3 is on screen and i am rolling again!!
THANKS…..

good news good news, I’m very exciting, I just solved the problem, My game console is CECHA01, this problem bother me long time,at here I get some idea, thanks everyone, thanks Bashar

Symptoms:

■On start, PS3 Green light comes up but nothing happens. No sound or video
■Insert game or any disc into the slot, blue blinks and again nothing happens
■Try to assign wireless controller, nothing happens.
■Try restart the console, unplug it for a while, or keep it on for long time again does not solve the problem.
■Turn off and hold the start button just get one beep,keep hold on,can’t get two beeps the system turns off
■holding the eject button and the start button at the same time, still like before

I found actually the problem is similar YLOD problem, according to fix YLOD problem,I solder the RSX and CELL chip use heat

gun,so right now everything is ok.

I solve the problem, you must can too, good luck

bashar:
the problem was reported as UNREPAIRABLE Significant Motherboard Errors
i imagine they replaced the motherboard since it itself is unrepairable
not the system
sorry for any confusion

update
i got my system back today
plugged it in
got ready
and it had the same problem
idk whats goin on now
i have emailed videogame911
and tried calling
no reply yet

I have the whole problem with the green light nothing happens thing. its on standbye *beeb* then its beebs again and then a double beeb. but… there is no screen at all, ever. the reset button also didn’t work. my tv still shows a blue screen, as if its not connected. (witch it is ofcourse). Does this mean my ps3 is really dead? because. I really can’t pay for another one. I’m not technical and i’m dyslectic so i didn;t read through the entire post.

so ive emailed and called several times and videogame911 has not responded
i went down to toys r us and got the slim one
at least i can play untill i can get it fixed

Our 60G PS3 stopped working 3 weeks ago.When switched one beep and green light came on and but it didnot connect to the TV( We tried both HDMI and AV).Went through forums and you tube. We tried resetting again and again nothing worked. I spoke to Sony 3 weeks ago.They said they could give us a refurbished 60GB pS3 for £131.00. But my children wanted their PS3 repaired as they wanted all the data on it.
My 11 year old son kept on trying resetting several times( hundreds of times). Sometimes green light,sometimes YLOD, then flashing red light.He kept on trying.
It suddenly started to connect to the Tv from yesterday, but stopped when a disc is inserted. I rang Sony again yesterday. Same old story, it is likely to be a problem with the mother board. They don’t have a repeair service.They can only give a refurbished 60 GB PS3 for £131.00. Warranty for 3 months. I asked what do they do with my PS3.’we don’t know. another department will deal with it’
We tried resetting on numerous occasions again and again. Installed the new firmware downloaded to a USB storage device. Installation went fine but it didnot restart. So we gave up yesterday.
When switched on today it is working absolutely fine with the new firmware all the data is there. My children played for several hours.
I feel most of the problems with PS3′s are likely to be software than hardware. Very likely it will correct itself if resetting is tried.
My advice is
1. Be patient and try resetting several time. ( disconnect all the cables. Connect a controller via a wired connection.)More likely it will work. If starts then connect to the TV.
2. Update the firmware via memory stick/USB device (It is easier and quicker than downloading directly into PS3). You have to creat folders for PS3 to recognise.
I thought of sharing this as we had lot of help from forums and You tube.
We hope it will work for everyone.

After reading Steve’s post I was wondering if anyone knows if you can DL the new firmware from Sony to USB via a PC then update the PoS3 from the USB since I don’t have net access with my PoS3? If I don’t get a reply pos or neg I’ll try it and let you know how it goes.

Thanks. That was definately helpful since I would not have known to stick in in a folder called PS3/UPDATE.

I stuck in a 2 gig usb flash and put the PS3UPDAT.PUP in the folder as instructed on the site. Hopefully the PoS3 recognizes the extension because Winblows was clueless.

The computer I’m currently using to type this has surfing restrictions so I was not able to find a place to DL 3.1 that wasn’t blocked but I was able to get 2.76. I’m currently running 2.3 so the update should work.

From what I can tell 2.76 was a relatively safe update but just about every update Sony has put out has prompted complaints. It has been suggested that the firmware updates overtax hardware in various ways such as burning out the BRD laser by increasing the number of seeks. That makes sense but I think it is possible the issue is some sort of driver corruption. I’ve had similar issues on PC’s and 9 times out of 10 it is software rather than hardware. I’m hoping updating to 2.76 will overwrite any corrupt files allowing the machine to recognize the BRD again.

I’ll try it tonight and let you know how it goes.

I was able to install 2.76 but it didn’t correct the problem. Unless the update doesn’t overwrite the driver it would appear this is a hardware problem so this seems to rule out any of the quick fixes.

If someone doesn’t have access to the net for their PoS3 and you want to update firmware using a flash drive the process outlined worked great. It was a complete no brainer. Just follow the instructions.

One thing I found interesting is that once I installed 2.76 I was able to enter the reset screen from my PoS3 with ease. I suspected that my machine couldn’t do it and it turns out I was right. I’m not sure when Sony added the reset feature but it was definately after 2.3.

I spent days pressing the power and eject buttons in various ways and nada. After I installed 2.76 I did it 5 times in a row and got in easy each time.

I wanted to mention this in case someone is reading all of these posts about how to reset their PoS3 but can’t get it to do what’s being described and screaming “I TRIED EVERYTHING AND IT STILL WON’T RESET! IS THIS SOME SORT OF SICK JOKE!!!!” It isn’t a joke. If you’re running 2.3 there is no reset. You are wasting your time. You need to upgrade your firmware.

I have not seen this mentioned on ANY blog in a year of search so this appears to be an exclusive. Do you think I’ll win a Pulitzer?

Hopefully it helps someone because it has been bugging me for around a year now and it was nice to find out that it was a sys issue rather than something I was doing wrong. I’m not much better off than I was but at least I know why I couldn’t get the reset screen. :-)

so the problem here is the motherboard
anyone know what to do with a broken ps3?
i feel like all the good parts are still worth $$$

I feel for you John. First Sony now VG911. I was skeptical when you said they swapped a mobo for $55 but that didn’t keep me from hoping.

I’d imagine VG911 has a contract and I’d bet they have a “diagnostic fee” in there or something similar.

Sony and Toyota. Japan: Land of the unrepentant product defect.

ive just had all thows symptoms u guys wer on about. n this is the first forum ive went in to. at first a tryed an tryed. so i reset controle pad and then did the on button lyk discribe in erlyer posts. an u no wat. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. i dont no eny thing about wat u lot wer on bout with rams and watever. but u fixst it it works agang. i was just about to gave up to. THANKS AGANE

Hey i did this and when i got to restore menu and i choosed file restore and i started restore evrything but when it finshed i just said it needed to restore evrything again and it says i evrytime i do this, and now i can’t get to the restore menu again and choose another option.

Anyway sorry for the badspelling….

Mz,

What I think you’re saying is that you entered the restore menu and it tried to restore the system but it got interupted and didn’t finish the restore and now it tells you that you need to do a restore every time you turn on the PoS3 but won’t let you into the restore menu? I’m guessing that it dumps you to the same screen where it says it needs to run the restore but you can’t do anything from there?

My problem is somewhat different from what I’ve read. I turn my ps3 it shows the red light, I try pressing and holding the ON button but it does not show any light neither do I hear a beep. I try removing the power cord then plugging back then turn it on but still to no avail. The problem happens periodically. Sometime I just press the button and it comes, other times it doesn’t. So PLEASE what do I do!!!?!?

Nakane,

It seems to me that your power supply is okay. You are getting the red light so that means juice is getting into the machine but when you try to turn it on sometimes it will go on and sometimes it won’t. This would seem to indicate the juice is getting to the switch and waiting. Sometimes the switch works and everything is peaches. Sometimes the switch doesn’t work and you’ve got a PoS3 shaped paper weight.

NOTE: I’m talking about the switch on the front of the machine NOT THE BACK!!!!!!

Before you do anything make sure the membrane is not torn. If the switch is damaged or exposed then you might make things worse if you apply liquids to it.

If the switch is worn or dirty there is a chance you can fix it by cleaning the switch but you need to be careful when you clean it. UNPLUG THE MACHINE!!!!! Use a DAMP washcloth with HOT water NOT BOILING. DO NOT GET WATER IN THE BRD!!! DO NOT GET WATER IN THE MACHINE!!! ALWAYS BE AWARE THAT YOU CAN GET A NASTY SHOCK!!! ALWAYS KEEP IN MIND THAT WATER AND ELECTRICITY DO NOT MIX!!! MAKE SURE THE ENTIRE MACHINE IS DRY BEFORE YOU PLUG IT IN AND TURN IT ON!!!!!

You are probably smart enough to know what I typed above but I have to put that up in case you do something dumb and end up getting zorched.

What I’m hoping is there is a buildup of grime, skin cells, Twinkie filling, hand oil, etc. on the switch or the membrane on the switch is in a state where it is either constantly providing a signal (always depressed) or cannot provide a signal (will not depress) and by heating, cleaning, and massaging the membrane and the switch it will allow it to return to a normal state. Of course I’m making a few assumptions, the first being that this is a switch issue rather than something else and the second being that the switch isn’t completely hosed and needs to be replaced.

The problem is that I really think this is a switch issue. This would be good news if we were discussing a PC because it would be a cheap and easy fix. Unfortunately Sony has a flat rate of $150 US (I’ve heard this has gone up to $200 but haven’t checked) to fix a PoS3 so you’re paying major bank for a switch they manufacture for 50 cents. So what are your options if the clean and massage doesn’t work?

1. Spend $150 to send it to Sony
2. Take it to a local repair place and ask what they will charge to swap a switch
3. Fix it yourself (you can get a junked machine off ebay for parts)
4. Trade it in at your local Gamestop for approx. $50.00 and get a new slim line PoS3.
5. Box it and see what happens with the law suit
6. Toss it and buy an Xbox

I boxed mine pending the outcome of the lawsuit and went back to my PS2. I got God of War I and II, Shadow of the Colossus, and a dozen other games for less than $100 so I’m not really missing Oblivion. It seems likely to me that the cost of the PoS3 will keep dropping like it did with the PoS2 so I’m waiting for Christmas to see if they drop it from $300 down to $250 and I’ll trade in my brick for a new PoS3. Seems to me that it makes more sense to get a new machine with a 1 year warranty for $200 (with trade in) than to pay $150 or more for a repair with a 3 month warranty.

Bashar: it doesn’t come on at all! Even if I put my finger on it from now till tomorrow. Nothing happens. I don’t know what to do? I’ve tried the cleaning stuff “anonymous” mentioned but nothing!

Bashar
I already tried unplugging it and allowing it to cool down for like 5 minutes. Cleaned it again. Then tried out what u suggested AND IT WORKED. Hearing the DOUBLE BEEP was like HEAVEN!!! Lol!!! THANKS!!! Sure saved me some unnecessary money! Thanks Bashar!!

The Anon was me. I didn’t type in my user info.

Glad Nakane got it working. Sorry that it wasn’t my suggestion that worked.

Good job Bashar. :o)

I tried all the methods but no luck. I’m not sure but I compared the boot ups of two fat ps3 and notice this one does not have a huge fan surge on start up. Although I did manage and was able to do the fan test on my machine. In fact I can’t hear the fan at all during operation. Any suggestions gentlemen?

Haider,

I seem to recall reading that the PoS3 does a self test on startup and part of that is hitting the fan. If it gets a ‘no go’ from the fan it won’t start to prevent overheating. You have to remember that my reading was focused on the BRD so I only skimmed the post so this isn’t gospel but you should be able to confirm it with a search.

In real computers you would get an error code or beeps but I don’t think Sony put in anything user interactive like that. I don’t understand why they don’t have a “Critical Stop: Fan Hosed” error but my guess is they don’t want you to know they just charged you $150 to replace a fan you could pick up at Fry’s for a buck.

I can’t think of any way to determine if the fan is screwed without opening the box and grabbing your meter. I would suspect the fan is modular and easy to replace but based on Sony’s behavior to date it wouldn’t surprise me if they hard soldered it to the board and used an odd sized unit just to make life a bitch on DIY guys that don’t want to pay uber bucks for trivia.

Of course we’re assuming it’s the fan when that may not be the case. It seems likely you are correct but it could be the brick doesn’t have the same startup as the phat machines so keep an open mind.

What are the manufacture dates on the machines? Are they all using the same firmware? Have you swapped out power cables? Are you getting a red light? Are you getting beeps or beeps followed by screen flicker followed by dead or no beeps at all? Will it eat and spit discs or is that down too?

Thank you for the input Bashar & Amediar!

The machine was manufactured in Q4 of 2007. Its a PAL 40GB console with manufacture code 7D. The firmware is not the same. The working ps3 had the latest one while this one has one of the older ones (not sure which one). I’ve tried different power cables, different video cables (HDMI & RCA). The standby red light works. I’m getting all the beeps as mentioned in the OP. With the RCA cable there is a minor flicker on the television when the unit powers up and powers down. No such thing with HDMI. The power on beep is there along with the single and double beep. The unit goes into standby if I hold the power button any longer. Inserting and ejecting discs works fine as well.

The fan test (holding eject while switching on) works just fine and actually blows cold air out of the back of the system. I’ve even tried swapping the hard drives of the two systems but no luck.

Interestingly, when I follow the directions and get the double beep the controller lights flash for a second (while connected through USB) but then powers off.

Any thoughts?

IT DOESNT WORK!!!!

My first thought is “So much for it being the fan.”

My second thought is your machine seems to think it is working fine but the signal to the TV is dead. I’d imagine that if you insert disks they act as if everything is peaches. The flicker would suggest that the machine is sending signal and the TV is getting some input but not a clear signal.

My third thought is others have posted similar symptoms and they were solved by reseting and that does not appear to be working for you. I seem to recall someone had this problem where the reset didn’t work ealier in the blog and he fixed it by doing the YLOD fix on the GPU (warm the GPU and reseat it on the mobo). I think there was a link to the YLOD fix somewhere above.

Never give up hope. It seems every time I think a poster has a hardware issue Bashar finds some link that has a quick fix and I end up with egg on my face. :oP

It was a compliment. There have been a couple times where I’ve been thinking “he’s screwed” and you’ve pulled a rabbit out of your hat. Good job.

Haider,

When you power up and the red light changes rather than staying red, right? The machine isn’t powering up, hanging for a second or two, and dropping back to red without you powering down? It will go on, spool the disk, and sit until you press the on/off switch? In other words it is acting like it did when it was working but you are not getting video, correct? In other words, the video output is the problem not the system doing something strange at powerup?

Mine is a CECHA01 (November 2006 / 60GB, backwards compatible); got it from a friend because he got a 250GB slim, and didn’t realize that this was a rare piece.
Anyway… I power it on, and I have no video or audio output, over the AV Multi or HDMI. I have made sure to reset the video mode when changing between the two; and I can get to the double beep (recovery mode); but I still have no video or audio. Could it be the GPU or the PSU?

WOW man, you saved my PS3 from total anihilation!! Your trick works (altough, I had to it a couple of times before the restart/restore screen appeared). The option that really work is no.5 : Restore PS3 TM System.

What a relief, man. I tought I would need to by another PS3, because my warranty has expired. OUF!

Bashar: Yeah, I was making sure to release the button and everything. I tested it with a composite AV cable, and a HDMI cable, and even tried just optical audio. Nothing.
I have taken it to a guy my friend told me about. He charges a flat rate of $75 for PS3 repairs, so it’s cheaper than going to Sony; and I still get the original back.

very imformative post, could a hd repalcement / software restore solve an issue with a ps3 that turns on and only shows the ps3 logo ??

If not can you point me in the right direction re repair please.

Graham

Oh the irony. I got my ps3 3 years ago, on my birthday. And guess what day it decided to go and die? =3=;
Meanie D’:

Anyway, read through the post, and the first half of comments (God there are a huge bunch of ‘em O.o), and I tried most of the things suggested.
Though my problem seems slightly different than for most others : |
Summary: It turns on, the green led lights up, and nothing else happens. Putting in a game lights the blue led, and the drive starts spinning, but nothing else happens.
I get a single beep when I turn on, another single beep when I keep power pressed, and then after a little while a third beep signaling that the system is powering down.
As for the alternate way with pressing both the power and eject buttons, all that happens is the standard 3 quick beeps telling me that the drive is empty, and nothing else.
And the difference that I noticed from most of the comments I read, my controller still gets assigned to the ps3, and I can start it with the controller as well (maybe I just misread something above though).
So long story short, I can’t even get the system restore menu to appear : .>

And now I can’t play my beloved Agarest D:
Way to spoil my birthday. (Also, yeah, I know, I can’t keep it short, I just can’t)

And this comment system really isn’t optimal, it left out several lines.
For example, it made it look like a happy smiley at the end D:
Anyway, as for the missing lines, I tried saying that I’ve backed up most of my saves, the ones that I’m allowed to copy.
The rest though (Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires, Demon’s Souls, etc) would be lost.
And I also mentioned that the last option that I’m left with seems to be sending it in to Sony. Without a warranty, since it expired 2 years ago.. That’d cost me a bunch, wouldn’t it? And I’d probably get a Slim if they replace it as well D:
Ah.. I see what happened to the comment.. Apparantly, putting something between ‘lesser than’ and ‘greater than’ symbols, it disappears xD…

Back again : o
And.. I managed to fix it ^^;
Don’t know really what I did, but my persistance got through after a while (after a 3h night of uneasy sleep)
I kept trying the different solutions found here, and suddenly, it decided to work again~
My conclusion: This is The most awesome blog entry Ever.

[...] It all started after I tried to hook up my ps3 (again) to my 52 inch samsung flatscreen after using it on my lenova 22 inch desktop lcd screen. The reason for doing this is because I practically have two homes and very rarely leave my …. I am debating whether or not to leave my HD in when I send the system to Sony. If I send it in without the HD, they will send me a replacement without a HD. If its not the same system the HD will have to be reformatted when I install it …Read more… [...]

i tryed several of these ideas i couldnt get nothing to work then i tried the reset button on the controller now im getting a flashing screen that kind looks like strobe light any help.

I am sure glad I am not alone with this problem.

Sony Referbished CECHG01 40gb PS3 suffering from the No video, no sound no controller green light from hell.

When I try to power up, green light comes on, you can hear the HD spin up and the fan must be spinning slow because I can feel air. I can insert and eject a dvd, the blue light comes on but nothing else happens.

When I turn on the back switch while holding the eject button I get the normal full speed fan.

Have tried booting into safe mode by holding the power down but it keeps returning to standby with no beeps. I don’t think this system has been updated to have a safe mode.

Tried booting without harddrive but that made no difference. Put in a different HD and still the same.

Opened the system (first person in) and the system was dust free and had no burned electronics smell.

Tested voltage at power supply, 12v, 3.3, 5v and ground all present and accounted for.

Noticed that @ the USB plug I only get a max of 2.1 volts for a brief second when I press the power button.

Tried shimming gpu & cpu with 1mm copper shim no change

Tried heatgun reflowing and no change

Going to try shot gun and skeet launcher soon if I can’t make it work.

I would give my working 360 for a good motherboard/dvd card

Ashcat,

If you have a PS3/40 I’d imagine the manufacture date is around 2007? If you didn’t do a firmware update the odds are your machine won’t reset. I tried everything for months and got nada until I installed 2.76. I can reset at will now. If there is a way to reset a 2.3 machine I have yet to find it and I spent a year reading and experimenting without any luck. 2.76 cured this instantly.

You didn’t indicate if you tested to make sure you don’t have HDMI signal. From what I understand in a 2.3 system if there was a shift from RCA to HDMI you wouldn’t know it and, as far as I can tell, there isn’t any way to get it to return to RCA blind without being able to reset. You can test the HDMI for output with your meter or buy a HDMI compat TV and return it after you’re done. Whatever works for you.

When you say, “Sony refurbished” did you have a problem, send it in and get back a repaired machine or did you buy it from a store as a refurb so you have no idea what the history is prior to you owning it? Maybe you got it from a swap meet, Ebay, or a garage sale and when you got it home you found out you had bought a brick?

What happened before it bricked? Did you have a working machine one night, turned it off, and found that you had a brick the next day? Were you playing a game and you suddenly lost sound and audio? Was it a slow process where the audio and video faded? This might give us a clue what caused the failure so we know where to direct you to look.

Amediar,

Sorry I left out those details.

When hooked to my HDTV I still have no video no sound condition. Tried on two different HDTVs both same result.

I purchased this ps3 from a woman local to me. She said they turned the system off after playing and then the next day it would not power up past the green light. This ps3 was a refurbished unit sent to them 6 months ago as a replacement for another bricked console. I was told that this unit had never been online so I doubt it had even been updated. So I am not really sure what update level it’s at.

A few more little details. The console was spotless inside. No dust, no animal hair no nothing. There are no burn marks on the metal trays to signal any major overheating. Hell this thing still smells new. As I said I was the first person inside since Sony.

Is there a way to do an update as the system sets?

Thanks

Ashcat,

Hopefully one of my previous posts about 2.3 not having a reset function helped you. It took me forever to figure that out and I have yet to see it posted anywhere else.

Unfortunately Sony isn’t as thorough as they could be and I’ve read they are scavenging bricks to fix bricks. Seems dishonest to charge a premium price and fix the machine with used parts or returning a completely different machine with entirely new problems.

I’m assuming you don’t know why it had to be sent in the first time so you probably can’t tell me if this is a reoccurring problem or a new trick it learned?

I hope you don’t think I’m being an A-hole by asking this but I want to be thorough. You hooked up the PS3 to the HDTV using the HDMI cables not the RCA cables (red, yellow, and white)? Sorry if this bugs. I’m actually wincing as I type it but there are people that will read this and think “I had no idea.”

With no output to the RCA port or the HDMI port then I doubt resetting will help but I have to admit I’ve seen it fix things I didn’t think it could in the past so it is worth a try. Worst that could happen is you end up exactly where you are now.

I’d be happy to help with the blind update but keep in mind I already updated my v2.3 and I’m not sure if the change to v2.76 adjusted the menus. I might tell you to go left 4 times and down 10 times based on 2.76 when on 2.3 it is left 4 times and down 9 times. With this in mind, we really can’t do much harm if we screw up. About the worst that could happen is accidentally formatting the hard drive or adjusting video and audio settings you can’t see or hear anyway.

The good news is the process from the USB drive is very simple. If you decide you want to give it a shot let me know and I’ll type out detailed instructions. You’ll need to decide which update you want to use ***** NOT v3.00 ***** and a flash drive large enough to hold it. Stick the update in a directory called PS3/UPDATE (make sure the extension is .PUP rather than a zip file) and you’re ready to go.

Let me know what works for you and we’ll make it happen.

My final thought is that if you’re getting the green light then the sys thinks it is running correctly so I doubt it is a mobo issue. Based on the behavior this sounds graphics port related (i.e., the machine is fine except the video output it thinks it is sending isn’t getting to the TV. If we can’t fix this with minor repairs you might want to hit ebay and get a brick with different problems and play Franken

All,

I went to Gamestop today and they have stopped buying bricks, at least at the one near my house. If you have a brick you want to sell but have been putting it off then you might want to take it in ASAP because there is a chance you are already too late.

The reason Gamestop is no longer buying PS3 bricks? Too many of them. I wish it was hard to believe.

Amediar,

I have tried both HDMI and RCA cables on each of my HD tvs when I was swapping everything around. And that was a good question so don’t feel bad for asking.

As for what the original cause of death was I am not sure but the family told me Sony sent them a different unit.

Last for a blind update can it be done from a cd or dvd? I ask because I am only getting brief voltage at the usb ports? If you have a walk through for the blind update that you can post that would be great but you don’t have to type one up just for me.

Thanks

The cd version just don’t work for me either. It’s a shame someone hasn’t found a way to restore the machine some other way. Like being able to copy a new update to the machine via cable like we are doing with the jtag 360.

Oh well I am just going to sell off a stock 360 and pick up another ps3 CECHG01 board on eBay.

Thank you everyone for your help!!

Ashcat,

Are you confident that the machine was hitting the CD and the update was installed but it didn’t work or could it be that it isn’t hitting the BRD? The BRD isn’t reliant on the CPU to eat and spit disks so unless you heard it spool or saw post insertion flashes it could be that it ate the disk and ignored it.

I could be wrong but it is my understanding that the USB should register 5V/2.25W and it should give an initial surge and drop off if it doesn’t detect a device. I was told this is to protect USB devices from a sudden spike when you plug them in.

If you have an old flash you don’t mind zorching you might want to plug it in and hit it with your meter to see if I’m right. You’re getting a low V/W so even if I’m wrong it should sit rather than frying but you never know.

I’d imagine someone has mapped the inside of a PS3 but I couldn’t find it with a quick search. You should be able to hit various paths with your meter to determine where the flow ends so you know if it is getting to the CPU and dropping or getting to the GPU and dropping.

Good luck with the new board. Let us know how the install goes.

Bashar,

Glad to help. If you don’t mind I’ll stick with this blog rather than speading out the information all over the place.

Brainstorming some of the problems on here has helped me with my machine. Just figuring out that v2.3 doesn’t have a reset was a load off my mind even if it didn’t cure the problem. Hopefully it helps other people because that was very frustrating.

I was talking with some fellow gamers at Gamestop the other day and I thought Sony had worked out the bugs in the slim line but it turns out that’s not true. It is better than the fat machines but there are still a lot of bugs. They said the newer slims have a better record than the older ones so it is a good idea to wait for a couple of months until the older slims are off the shelves before you buy one. That’s how I found out GS wasn’t buying bricks anymore. Oh well. There is a rumor Sony is going to drop the price again for Christmas so I’ve got that going for me.

Amediar,

When I tried the CD I heard the system spin up twice but and flash the blue light but nothing like a full read spin up.

As for the USB power I get the brief power but then it zeros out. I tried powering my usb fan while taping it with my vom and still only the brief power. It acts like there is a bad cap that build and then dies.

I need to look for a map to the board just to check voltages and grounds. I still think it’s a software problem though but it never hurts to check.

Why would a software problem cause the bad USB or do you think the two are unrelated?

This reminds me of something I did with a desktop a couple years back when there was a shift from 486 to Pentium (Yes, I know I’m old, thanks). When I swapped mobos I forgot to swap power supplies (DOH!) and I ended up with a little less juice than was required to run the sys so it looked like everything was peaches because the CD opened and closed, lights came on the floppies, etc. but it wouldn’t do anything. I was about to get quite annoyed when I looked across the room and had my Homer Simpson moment.

How does this help? I’m not sure but between the behavior and the USB issue it could be a power supply problem. Even if you’re getting the right numbers coming out of the wall and into the box it might be getting lost on the board somewhere. A bad capacitor(s) could explain the buildup and drop in the active USB. A line issue overnight (if you don’t have it on a bar) or a startup surge could have triggered it which isn’t much of a stretch since it is a rep’d brick. Just a thought. Not necessarily the right one.

Amediar,

I am thinking that it’s a software issue preventing the system from a full power up. I have had a corrupt bios cause the same situation before and a reflash fixed the issue. That would explane why some people can fix their system with a safemode restore. And you think your old? 486 is nothing, I remember fixing old Commodore 8088 and Amiga systems.

Ashcat,

Good point. I’ve been assuming the problem is either pre load (no power) or post load (video) but I didn’t consider corrupt OS not allowing a boot.

I’m not sure how this explains the USB issue because I don’t have any experience with the inner workings of the port. I’m not sure if the port is supposed to get a constant flow or if it is powered upon insertion. My guess is the sys checks to see if the port is in use and software keeps it hot. If this is correct then this would explain the initial surge at startup and the failure to remain active since there is no software to regulate the port. This is just a guess until I get a chance to research how the USB works. Sorry for my ignorance.

If this is a startup failure then this also explains why the update from the CD didn’t work. It ate the disk and ignored it.

The problem is if this is an corrupt startup and you have v2.3 then there isn’t a software reset and it isn’t taking any input so that’s going to be tough to get around. There might be a hardware solution that will force a reset but I’ve never read about it and I doubt Sony would share the trick if it exists since they don’t want us inside “their” machine. Of course collecting another $150 on top of the $550 they’ve already harvested always makes the day brighter. At this point my opinion of Sony is so low it is subterranean.

As I understand it the firmware is stored internally rather than on the HD like it is on a PC so pulling it won’t do any good.

You might try writing to Sony to see if they can tell you how to reset a v2.3 sys that I’m not aware of. There may be a series of button presses that is more complex than the one used for later versions.

How about this…

If we assume the PoS3 works the same as a PC then there are two levels of OS. BIOS which talks with the chip directly and the OS.

So what – might – be happening is the sys is going through BIOS and the electronics check so you get the green light but it is crapping out when it comes time to load the OS.

If this is correct I’d bet you can do the fan check and it will blow.

Now from there I’m not sure where to go but if the fan test works it suggests that the sys is okay but the OS isn’t loading so it could be the flash that storares the firmware seperated from the mobo, got zorched, etc.

Building on these wild assumptions…

If the machine was up and got hot during game play and we assume the sys doesn’t call to the flash after the OS is loaded into RAM this would explain why it worked until it was shut off and wasn’t able to load the OS when it was turned back on.

This might mean that if you can figure out which chip holds the flash and assuming that the flash has seperated rather than being fried or erased and assuming it doesn’t react poorly when heated you might be able to do a YLoD fix on it.

Does this make sense or am I mad as the Hatter?

On my end of this I need to track down a new BRD if I’m going to fix this myself. The Sony part number is KEM-400AAA. I’ve seen it offered for prices ranging from $20 to $130 and I have no idea which of these sites is legit, if any, so that’s were I’m at with my PoS3. If anyone has had a postivie experience with a vendor and wants to recommend a place it would be appreciated.

just to be clear lol.. when trying this u hold the “power” button down for one then two beeps or you hold the start button down on the controller?

Kina,

Here’s a link to how to reset:

http://www.fixya.com/support/r3159339-access_safe_mode_playstation_3

To do a reset all that should be necessary, if your machine can do it, is to hold the power button. Some have reported that they need to hold the eject button as well. I’m not sure what firmware versions require button combinations. To my knowledge there is no way to reset v2.3 and v2.76 and after only use the power button.

I’m not sure when Sony stopped using 2.3 as a default on the PS3. I know that it was at least until the end of 2007 since that’s when my machine was manufactured. If your machine is from late 07 / early 08 or before you can’t reset.

Oops. Messed up. It should read:

To my knowledge there is no way to reset v2.3. v2.76 and after only use the power button.

So I have a CECHG01 that I bought from a lady for $25 because of the no video/audio problem. I’ve done the reset steps listed above and haven’t gotten anywhere. Now I see that since this unit came out in 2007 it may have an older software installed.

My question is: I’ve downloaded the newest version from Sony (v3.30) and have placed it on a thumb drive in the folders PS3/UPDATE, but how do I update it if I can’t see anything on the screen? Amedlar, you said you were able to do it, how?

Thanks in advance, this site rocks!

NumbaG,

I didn’t do it blind. I get a full boot with vid and aud. The problem with my sys (99% certain) is the BRD is shot. As soon as I find a vendor I trust that sells them at a reasonable price I’ll pop my box and fix it.

I offered to help Ashcat give it a shot but he tried an update from CD and it didn’t work because the sys didn’t recognize the BRD (it ate the disk and ignored it) and he couldn’t get it to recognize the USB either (power at startup dropped off after green light). Without access to one of these boxes the only thing I can do is guess.

If you’re not comfortable opening up your machine, which I can understand, I would check to see if you can get video from the HDMI cables. Sometimes the PS3 starts sending signal to the HDMI port rather than the RCA. The reset forced the sys to return to defaults which means the RCA port. If this is the problem and you’re getting signal to the HDMI port then you should be able to switch it back through the PS3 menus.

Some people have reported success using the hidden button on the control pad. I’m not sure what this button is for but if it worked for othes so you might want to give it a shot. It can’t hurt.

My current theory in regard to this error (assuming it is the same problem Ashcat’s machine had) is the onboard memory has seperated from the mobo. I’m confident the PS3 has onboard flash rather than storing the firmware on HD because when you change HD’s the firmware version doesn’t change and it doesn’t return to factory defaults if you install a blank HD. Unfortunately when it comes to internal tech issues I’m entirely in the dark becaue I have yet to find a PS3 mobo map or a diag chart so I’m basing my opinions on my experience with PC’s rather than working inside a PS3.

Amediar,

Thanks for the reply. My system boots up like normal, hard drive light blinks a couple of times, fan starts, and it will even take a CD and spin up like it’s starting to play.

When I insert my USB thumb drive the light on it turns on and blinks like it is being accessed. So I know that it is getting power. Will the PS3 update automatically from the USB drive after I insert it? Or will it work better with a CD?

Also, when I got the unit it came with a third party wireless controller. So I asked a buddy at work yesterday if I could barrow one of his controllers with the USB cable. He brought it in this morning so I’ll give that a try tonight after work.

I’m not afraid to get inside the console. I’ve torn down xbox’s, ps2′s, laptops and ipods to fix them. So if you have any suggestions, let me know. Thanks again.

NumbaG,

Okay, let’s assume your machine is 100% besides V/A.

The place I’d start is trying to figure out if you have a misdirected HDMI signal. If you don’t have the HDMI cables you can get them any place they sell PS3 products. You can get a small/cheap HDMI compat TV for around $100 and return it after you’re done with the diag. Here is a previous post that describes a similar situation:

*****

I had exactly same problem. Turned on PS3, green light, but no output to hdmi screen ( but, screen participated some way, turned on, but no signal ). Tried reset many times ( holding power button till 2beep ), but no way. Then, i’ve connected both analog PAL TV and hdmi screen, i’ve normally using. After another reset, xmb appeared on analog TV and there were message:

HDMI monitor is detected, may i display a screen on int?
yes NO

and hilighted is NO. So, if you turn on the controller, wait 20 sec to display that message, then push left and X. Problem will be solved, if it is your case. Symptoms for this problem are, that console is normally working, e.g. if you turn console, then push and hold PS button for 3 sec, then push X, wait 2 sec and push X, console will turn off. It means it is working.

*****

The description suggests your machine might be doing the same thing. This is up near the top of this blog if you want to look at the previous posts.

If you don’t get any output from the HDMI and the RCA you can try a blind update. I’d recommend using 2.76 rather than 3.3 because it hasn’t been around very long and you don’t want to make things worse using a twitchy OS. I used 2.76 because there aren’t many complaints about it. If you want to install 3.3 later that’s always an option but if you install 3.3 you can’t go back to previous versions so you’re stuck with it until Sony comes out with their next update.

Here is the link Bashar provided for the update:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071215194329AA1W1Hr

if we get to the right menu the PS3 will do the update on its own, but the thing you have to remember is I did this a couple months ago and the PS3 won’t let me install 2.76 over 2.76. About the best I can do is tell you how many times to move left and down on the menu screen. Unfortunately there are differences between the 2.3 and 2.76 menus so I might tell you to move left 5 times and down 8 times when it is left 4 and down 10 on the 2.3 screen. Hopefully someone with 2.3 will read this and provide the exact number of lefts and downs. If we get it right the LED on the flash should go nuts as it reads the data so it should be obvious if we succeed. If we fail or the machine is ignoring us it will be less obvious.

Assuming the HDMI and update don’t work the problem could be the GPU seperating from the mobo. That doesn’t take much to fix if you have the right tools (same as a YLOD fix) and if you are comfortable inside the machine.

Let me know how the HDMI test goes. If you get nada I’ll unbox my PS3 and try to get you to the right menu.

Thanks Amediar. I do currently have it connected to my HDTV by an HDMI cable.

I have briefly tried having both HDMI and AV cables plugged in with no effect, but I can try a few more times tonight.

When I found the site, I read every post from top to bottom and made of list of everything I could try. The only thing that was difference between me and the other posters was I didn’t have an original PS3 controller. Now I have one and will go over this list again tonight.

I agree on updating to 2.76 instead of 3.3. So I will try and find that and hold off on updating until I do.

Thanks for taking the time to help me through this. I’ll post any findings from tonight in the morning.

I hope it works out for you. I’ll unbox my PS3 tonight and write down how to get to the menus in 2.76. With some luck they will be the same for 2.3 but I’m not certain. I’ll keep an eye on the menus to see if any of them represent a potential problem but I think the worst that can happen if the menus aren’t consistent is we’ll end up formatting the HD or changing some video or audio settings which will make it look or sound strange if you eventually manage to get it working.

If you end up at a dead end and don’t want to play around inside the machine you can always take it to a repair place. Most only charge around $100 for diag and repairs unless you have a complete brick. From what you offered it sounds like the worst this could be is a GPU issue. $100 is a bit high to reseat a GPU since it only takes pulling a dozen screws and hitting it with a heat gun but I recommend leaving it to professionals because if the place is reputable and they toast the mobo it is their responsibility rather than yours.

One last bit of advice is if you go shop hunting ask about warranty. Sony costs $150 with a 3 month warranty. You can’t extend it. If the refurb bricks at day 91 you get to pay another $150. Lucky you. You can use this to compare what your repair shop offers relative to Sony.

I’ll write back with the instructions tomorrow. Good luck.

Hopefully Ashcat checks in. I’ve been doing some reading on USB and found the following:

*****

When a USB device is first connected to a USB host, the USB device enumeration process is started. The enumeration starts by sending a reset signal to the USB device. The data rate of the USB device is determined during the reset signaling. After reset, the USB device’s information is read by the host and the device is assigned a unique 7-bit address. If the device is supported by the host, the device drivers needed for communicating with the device are loaded and the device is set to a configured state. If the USB host is restarted, the enumeration process is repeated for all connected devices.

The host controller directs traffic flow to devices, so no USB device can transfer any data on the bus without an explicit request from the host controller. In USB 2.0, the host controller polls the bus for traffic, usually in a round-robin fashion.

*****

This would seem to indicate the USB port is software dependant so this supports the concept the USB is hosed by the failure to load the firmware.

The next thing I need to check is where the firmware is stored, if it can seperate from the board, and if it can be fixed.

Here’s something else I found interesting:

*****

The hardware and OS of the playstation 3 is controlled by a hypervisor that is in strict control of all its functions. You cannot hack the hypervisor because it is hardware-based, and you can’t mod it or bypass it because it’s not a simple little chip or circuit. It’s more like a BIOS, you can’t run the ps3 without it and you can’t alter it, and if you try to alter it, you will just ruin your ps3.

*****

Bad news. Nothing worked. I connected the PS3 controller and the lights just blinked several times and went out completely. I tried the reset button the back and the lights would blink a few times and go out. Its like the system isn’t recognizing the controller, wireless or wired.

I also switched tvs and cords and I still get no signal on HDMI or analog. Is there a way to test the outputs for a singnal, like with a multimeter? I tried everything, holding both eject/power, reseting the controller, and even leaving it on over night while its connected to the internet. Still nothing. Just for kicks in loaded a game disc that my buddy gave me, and the BRD started right up and stayed spinning like it was running the game.

So, I’m beginning to think it is the graphics chip and the machine will have to be opened up. I don’t mind, I kinda look forward to taking it apart and checking it out, plus I’ll be able to clean it too.

Any thoughts?

Stupid question. You remembered to press the PS3 button, right?

Haha, no question is a stupid question. But yes, I did press the PS button.

I was hoping you would say no. Not just because it would be funny but because it would have made things easier.

How certain are you that the BRD is actually hitting the game disk because the back of my head is telling me you and Ashcat are in the same boat.

I haven’t seen a working PS3 in over a year so I can’t remember if the blue light only blinks at entry or if it blinks periodically during game play. With my machine the light blinks on entry but it doesn’t spin the disk. So it acts like it has life, it even sounds like it has life, but it is actually dead as Latin.

Hey G,

If we can’t work this out and you have to take it in would you do me a favor and write back with the diag? Ashcat hasn’t been on in something like a week now so it looks like he’s given up and I’m betting he’s not going to come back on and tell us what happened. He was talking about getting a new mobo. I’d be stunned if that didn’t cure the problem but it doesn’t tell us jack about what the problem was so when someone like you shows up we’re back at square 1. It would be nice to have some insight WTF is going on. We might not be able to fix it but at least we can tell them what’s up, how screwed they are, etc. It may not be what they want to hear but at least it saves them some time and frustration. Finding out there isnt’ a reset for 2.3 was a load off my mind. It would have been nice if it didn’t take me months to find out.

Hey all I am still here just having to deal with the aftermath of a car wreck and an upcoming surgery on Friday.

Here is what I found from a friend with a working ps3. He said that when you power up there is the brief surge of power to the USB. Then that dies back to zero volts but when the menu loads the +5 volts returns to the port full time. This is the exact same thing that happens with a normal computer.

Now because I was bored and know that I will eventually order another board off ebay I ran +5volts from the power supply directly to the usb +5 line. This didn’t accomplish anything other then a flashing red light with 3 beeps. Remove temporary power and red light goes away and back to just a green. I was really hoping that I would be able to jump start the system like if there was a bad component blocking the full time 5volt switch. But I was wrong, no harm no foul.

I must go because my meds are kicking in and the laptop screen is pretty bright. I will post back on Sunday when I go home. Later all.

Amediar,

When I inserted the game disc the blue light comes on, flickers a couple of times then stays solid. I can actually hear the laser searching the disc while it is spinning and it continues to spin.

If I find out anything more I will be sure to post it here. I heard that there is a guy locally that will give a free diagnosis, but I don’t know how “official” he is.

The bad thing is, I just bought a house and am in the process of making repairs/moving in. So it might be a little while before I can really get into the PS3.

Ashcat,

Sorry to hear that. Good luck with the surgery.

all my games works fine online however when i TRY to play MW2 the game always freezing while it is in launch mode, i’m @ wits end i have tried other MW2 disc from friend but all with the same results can anyone tell me whats going on . I’ve tried all of the hold down the power options …

No worries Bashar. Mine does the same when I insert a disc.

Well another night of nothing. Tried unplugging everything, then followed the order in the PS manual I found online for this model. I had it connected via AV and HDMI cable just in case it decided to come on one of them.

All I can think of is a board issue. Last night I found a really good guide and videos on how to reflow the board. So unless anyone can come up with something else, this will be my plan of action for the weekend.

(Side note: In the guide it says to heat the two flash memory chips to one side of each the Cell and RSX chips. Could this be where the PS3′s “BIOS” are located? When I open it up, I’ll take a good look at all the chips and see if there is anything noticeable.)

Ashcat,

Sorry to hear about the accident and surgery. Hopefully we can get your PS3 working so you’ll have something to do while you’re recovering.

Glad to see you’re still around. The failure for the 5v to run the USB doesn’t surprise me because the USB needs to be hit by sys to send info. It isn’t getting power because the sys isn’t making the call so when it’s hot all that happens is the USB is yelling “READ ME” but the sys isn’t listening. However what NumbaG posted just above this gives me some hope for both of you. Read on.

NumbaG,

If you could post a link to that guide I’d be really interested in seeing it. I would bet the flash mem in the reflow guide are the ones I’ve been looking for. My guess is the firmware is stored in there. My hope is one of these has sep’d from the mobo. I doubt it would be visible with the naked eye but it wouldn’t hurt to check. I know that Ashcat reflowed his CPU/GPU but I don’t know if he reflowed his flash. Hopefully he’s in good enough shape to reflow the chips and let us know how it goes.

My guess at this point is the OS isn’t loading because the chips have sep’d or been zorched or the hypervisor chips (BIOS) is spe’d or zorched. Unless the chips are hosed I am hoping a complete reflow will solve the problem.

King-187,

I’m assuming the game runs well on your friend’s sys?

I’d suggest checking to see what firmware he’s running compared to yours. It could be your firmware is older and it isn’t compat with the game. In that case all you need to do is update your firmware.

Amediar,

I’m thinking along the same lines as you on the flash memory chips. I’m thinking on my system, it could be one of them related to the graphics chip since it seems as though the system boots without any problems, but this could narrow it down for others in the future.

Here is the link to the site that I found the guide and videos:
http://wheretobuyps3.com/index.php/tag/gilksy-pdf/

I will look real close at the chips this weekend when I open it up.

Pred,

I agree with Amediar, you might just need to update your firmware to something newer.

I think I might have found something that will help pin point the chips that hold the firmware.

This site: http://www.edepot.com/playstation3.html

Under the section of “RSX Reality Synthesizer” there is a subsection titled “PS3 Flash Memory”. It talks about how the firmware is split between the two chips (one chip in later models) for faster speed. It also shows a chart showing information about the chips including serial number and manufacturer.

Seems to be a lot of good info on that site. Don’t know if you know about this or not. Hope it helps.

G,

Great links. Thanks. My firewall at work won’t show the pics on the first site. The second site has a lot of information to read and digest. The photo of the mobo rocks but I can’t make out anything on it. I’d love to find something like this with arrows and tags running to each chip. Really great contributions. Thanks!

Test

My messages are being kicked to spam or something. Nothing is posting.

Ok wierd.

Amediar,

You can click on the image of the motherboard in this link:

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/8492/40gb_ps3_dissected_65nm_cpu_after_all/index.html

and it will show it full size. It’s the best detailed image I could find.

If you want/need more let me know. I could take some pictures when I open my machine(if I can remember what box my camera is in).

I had the same problem and followed these steps. When i held down the button it beeped once then a few seconds later turned back off. I plugged in my remote and the PS3 button would not turn it on. So i hit the power button on the front of the console and a message popped up on the screen. It asked something about allowing a HDMI devise. I hit yes and now my PS3 works.

Thanks

hey people.. ive tried the above holding down the start button untill beep one den 2 beeps.it happens but then nothing happens no display ? ive tried hdmi and av? my contoller doesnt connect so im guesing it hasent worked.i even tried resetting the controller with no success. any suggestions to how i can get to the restore menu as im doing the steps but just not gettin no display. my blue light doesnt flicker whilst holding down the start button or wen the beeps come either. thanks u

hey people.. ive tried the above holding down the start button untill beep one den 2 beeps.it happens but then nothing happens no display ? ive tried hdmi and av? my contoller doesnt connect so im guesing it hasent worked.i even tried resetting the controller with no success. any suggestions to how i can get to the restore menu as im doing the steps but just not gettin no display. my blue light doesnt flicker whilst holding down the start button or wen the beeps come either. thanks u please help

Raz,

It sounds to me like you are able to enter reset mode but that’s not helping. If you enter the reset menu it should set the sys to the default which is RCA output. If you’re getting the two quick beeps and you’re still not getting AV output that does not bode well. Another thing that concerns me is the sys not recognizing the controller. That suggests a similiar problem to what Ashcat and G descrived a couple posts ago. Unfortunately I don’t know if either one tried a complete reflow and what the results were, if any. Hopefully they will write back at some point to let us know if it worked. The problem with being on this side of the screen is I can find a lot of people complaining about the same issue or similar ones but I have yet to find a fix. If I knew a complete reflow would probably work I could put up a link to that but for all I know it would be a complete waste of time or make things worse. Hopefully Cat and/or G write back after they reflow to let us know if it worked or not.

Raz,

Sounds like the same issue I’m having with my PS3. Unfortunately, I recently bought a house and have had to make repairs, move in my family, and get everything put away. I haven’t even been able to get my workbench set up.

I’m sorry to leave you guys hanging, but as soon as I get some free time I’ll open it up and let you all know what I find.

Thanks G,

That will be a big help. I’ve been tempted to buy a couple bricks off Ebay to see if I can figure out what’s wrong with them, reflow them, and salvage parts to fix other bricks but I really don’t have the time for that or the storage space. I got into a bike frenzy and desktop frenzy then a reupholstering frenzy and I’ve got to get rid of some clutter before I can move on to another frenzy. If it gets much worse I’ll end up like those crazy old ladies that horde rubbish floor to ceiling that end being crushed by their collection and half eaten by feral cats.

Hi there,

Bought a PS3 yesterday with intention to fix. A PAL 60gb model. It was advertised as not reading discs so I was just planning on replacing the laser however when I got it home I had problems getting the video working, Contacted seller and they said it was working fine with their tv. Managed to get into the “Hdmi found” screen once or twice (after say 10 times resetting it, then again after leaving it a few hours and trying again multiple times). The second time I got into it I pressed yes to use Hdmi but it locked up when trying to find correct resolution. Haven’t got into that screen since but I did manage to get to the service menu intro once today by holding Eject & Power while turning it on and letting go after the 2 reset beeps(it came up Connect controller by usb…). I don’t actually have a controller but before I ever had a chance to connect anything it locked up and green vertical bars appeared across the whole screen. I think I have a very similar problem to a few of those above really.

The console seems to heat up very quickly, as after having it on for about 5 mins earlier mostly power cycling I removed the hard disk and it was quite warm to the touch, as was the top of the console. I cleaned out the dust after with some compressed air blown from the outside but it dosen’t seem to have made any difference.

Oh yeah, Im using both Hdmi and the normal AV cable, sometimes one at a time, Im generally not getting any video from either. When I switch it on I get a green light but Im pretty sure it dosen’t boot correctly. While it’s on with the green light if I press the on/off button once nothing happens, I have to hold for about 10secs to turn it off. I believe the correct functionality here is you press it once and the green light starts flashing, shutting the sytem down correctly. Another reason Im pretty sure it’s not booting correctly is that it’s not requesting an Ip address from the network (have it connected via ethernet, light isn’t coming on ethernet port either)

This console has never been opened either, so Im just tempted to dump it on ebay tbh, id like to have a functioning ps3 but I could spend quite a bit trying to get sort it myself..

Anyone have any other ideas I can try?

Ive actually just seen a functioning mainboard on ebay for the same model..says the drive connector is a bit loose but otherwise fine.. tempting.. but again, Id probably end up spending way too much on it.

Red,

The first question is how much you trust that the seller is telling you the truth. There isn’t much of a market for a complete brick so it is in his best interest to say, “Everything was peaches until you took it home.” Did you see it working on his TV or are you taking his word for it?

The second question is how much did you pay for it so we can figure out if it is worth trying to fix or if you would be better off using it for spare parts.

Assuming the seller is telling the truth and the sys was working fine with his TV I’d suggest hooking it up using the same connection. Odds are he used AV so you should too and only AV since you know you get a response. I’d be as bare bones about the sys as possible. I’d recommend disconnecting the sys from everything besides the TV and the controller. No Ethernet. No USB devices. Just the box, the TV, and the controller.

Which brings up question 3 which is how are you making selections on the screen without a controller?

Heat might be an issue but it seems unlikely to me. I’m not sure how to make the 60 GB machines run a fan test but you should be able to Google a site that will tell you how. I was under the impression the PoS3 does a self test of the fan at startup and will not give you a green light unless it checks but I have no idea how thorough the check is. Considering Sony’s attitude towards the PoS3 my guess is not very.

The thing that makes me doubt that heat is the issue is that you do not report that the problems are time sensitive. If you had video at startup and things got worse over time then it would indicate a heating problem but this sounds like it starts the moment you push the power button. However this might be the result of a previous heating issue that unseated chips or damaged the mobo and a broken fan would go a long way towards explaining that.

From what I understand, when you connect the HDMI cable the PoS3 should auto detect the HDMI and take you through the setup. It will not allow you to use both AV and HDMI at the same time. Once you select HDMI it should remain the default at startup so I’d guess the reason you can’t consistently get to the HDMI detected screen is because the sys thinks that it is running HDMI and you can only get back into that screen when you reset back to AV and it redetects the HDMI.

Unless I am misunderstanding you pressing the power button should not turn off the machine unless you hold it for 5 seconds so you don’t end up dropping out of a game because you accidentally press the power button while reaching for a slice of pizza or the last of the nachos. The following should be the PoS3 protocols.

Press power button – sys comes on.
Hold power button for 5 seconds – video reset
Hold power button for 5 more seconds – power off
Repeat above 2x = 2 beeps for Reset menu (unless running v2.3 or earlier).

Hi Amediar,

Thanks for the reply,

The fan seems to be working fine, the system hits the fan at startup and it goes to full speed then goes to a very low speed again. It then sits there with a green light doing nothing! Pretty much the same as the title of this blog post I think. The heat may not be an issue at all, I have not had a ps3 before so Im not sure how hot they normally run. If I leave the ps3 on for a bit the fan does kick back in after a while so Im guessing that whole system is probably fine.

I paid 65euro which isn’t too bad really, I could probably make it back by splitting the ps3 and selling for parts, Not sure I would make much selling as a unit, especially factoring in shipping costs.

Im taking the sellers word for it but I bought it off a mother selling on behalf of her son, Im fairly sure she was telling the truth about the video.

I made the selection on the hdmi screen using a usb keyboard.

I have tried to use the AV cable on it’s own but to no avail really. The one time that I managed to get into the hdmi setup screen I was able to switch between hdmi and av on my tv and see it on both. I have tried video reset many many times and do it every time I power up anyway but the av output does not work. The impression Im getting really is that the console is just not booting correctly, what we really need is some kind of serial interface to tell us what is going wrong :)

I have taken off the top of the case since for no reason other than curiosity, Id consider doing the heat gun on motherboard thing if I thought it might help but Im not sure if chip seperation is the cause of this particular problem really..

any help and i would be greatfull!!!! i turn on my ps3 the fan kicks on light goes green then it shuts off and goes back to solid red all of this happens in about 5 sconds. i have NO flashing yellow or red lights. any ideas?????

Red,

That’s interesting since that would seem to indicate that your sys is recognizing the USB ports. Other posters with video issues tend to report their USB’s won’t work so this would seem to be an inportant difference.

It also seems to indicate that you are getting video in regard to “BIOS” issues like the reset and the HDMI detection but it is not loading firmware from flash.

Since it sees the USB keyboard this might mean that you can load new firmware from a USB drive. I think you can do that from the reset menu but it has been a couple months since the last time I was in that menu so you are going to have to check. Here is a site that explains how to update firmware from a flash drive.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071215194329AA1W1Hr

Chris,

I have quite a few ideas but the unfortunate truth is that I have no way to test them and the list of posters that return to give us input on the success or failure of our suggestions is not particularly long.

This could be something as simple as the power button getting stuck and cycling through video reset to off. When you turn it on it should beep once. If the button is held it will then beep 1 more time after 5 seconds indicating video reset and 5 seconds later it will beep again indicating power down. If you only get 1 beep rather than 2 or 3 times then I need to know more about your machine such as what sort of system it is, if you have updated the firmware (what version), if you can get into reset mode, etc. It would also be useful if you could give me some idea what happened before it learned this trick? Did the machine act strange before it did this or did is suddenly learn how to do this overnight after you shut it off? Did you move it from one location to another? Did it get dropped? Did a game perform some sort of update? Did you try a firmware update? Did you switch hard drives? Did you get a new controller? Anything different might give me some idea where to start.

thanks for the response. i only get one beep when it tries to turn on and when i hold it to try and do a video reset it does nothing just shuts off before it restarts or does the 3 beeps. it is a 80 gig “fat” with the latest firmware. the only thing i can think of is we had a bad storm and the power shut off but i have the ps3 plug into a surge protector. if you think it has to be sent off can you recomend a place to send it like PS pros? never dealt with them so if you could tell me anything you have heard that would be great. thanks again

oh yea and no mods to the system either hard drive or otherwise. and no new controllers

Chris,

Have you tried starting it without the hard drive in? I’ve read that sometimes a bad hard drive can prevent the system from booting.

G,

When I pulled my drive it wouldn’t boot at all. Have you been able to get your machine to boot without an HD? If you can it could be that my old firmware wasn’t able to support a driveless boot? No idea. Interesting to think about though.

Chris,

If this were a PC and it wouldn’t go to BIOS much less OS after a storm then my first guess would be power supply.

You can try an insertion start from the BRB by putting a CD/DVD into the empty BRD. Since the BRD is independent of the BIOS and OS it should eat and spit disks. If it won’t this would reinforce the power supply diagnosis.

Can you tell if the machine is spinning the fan before it dies? I think the fan check is one of the last things it does before loading OS so it could be hitting the fan and failing?

You should check the power bar and the outlet to ensure they are working properly. If the bar is damaged the PS3 may not be able to draw enough power to do anything past the initial power up. This is a long shot but worth a try.

Unfortunately there isn’t much that can be done if the machine won’t stay up long enough to accept input from the power button to enter reset. You can try repeatedly hitting the hidden reset button on the controller as well as holding down the eject button during startup but I do not have high hopes that either of these will be successful.

I’m digging deep into some year old memories here but I seem to recall reading that one guy solved a power supply issue by turning off the power button on the back of the machine and unplugging it for 24 hours then putting it back together, turning on the power in the back, and hitting the power button up front. No promises.

If that doesn’t work then you can try removing and swapping the HD like G suggested. Make sure it is a PS3 compatible drive of a size that your sys should be able to recognize. If the experiment fails you can return the drive.

I can’t think of anything else you can interact with on the PS3 pre-boot that would have any chance of affecting the startup besides the power button, eject button, BRD, HD, and controller. It might take input from a USB keyboard but I’d doubt it.

If I’m correct and it is the power supply then you will probably need to send it in for repair if you are not comfortable with the idea of popping the box and swapping the PS on your own. My biggest problem in fixing my machine has been not being able to get parts for a reasonable price from a vendor I can trust so I can’t offer any suggestions.

The advantage to sending it in for repair is the repairman will diagnose the issue and fix it rather than you having to rely on my theories. I would hate to have you hunt down a power supply and swap it out only to discover that I’m wrong.

What I would recommend, depending on where you are, is to take a trip to your local consol gaming place such as Game Stop, Replay, etc. and see what our brother gaming nerds have to say about local repair places. I was able to find a place down the street that is pretty reasonable. They will diag and repair just about any issue for $100, which is $50 less than what Sony charges. They have a 3 month warranty, which is the same as Sony. If you live someplace rural your only option might be Sony. So it all depends on where you live and what sort of access you have to local techno geeks.

I have not had any personal experience when it comes to online repairs but one of the guys that posted previously sent in his machine and ended up paying something like $50 for a diag only to learn that it couldn’t be fixed. That’s fairly pricey for nada. That’s why I tend to favor store fronts where I can talk to the guy before he does anything. Caveat Emptor especially on the net.

If you take it in and they tell you what is wrong I’d consider it a favor if you would drop in and let us know.

Thanks.

Hey, just found this forum and have spent all evening going through all the Q&A’s.

I have a 60gig PS3 that worked 6 months ago but has not been used since for one reason or another. I turned it on a few days ago and the green light and blue lights flash up as normal but my TV says there is no signal etc. This was with the HDMI cable so I swapped to the AV cable and got the same problem. I then took the HDMI cable out and tried it in my Sky HD box and that worked fine. After that I tried it on my mates TV to make sure it was not a compatablity issue with my new TV and it still did not work.

Steps I have tried;
1, Holding the Power button down for one extra beep.
2, Holding the power button down for two extra beeps.
3, Holding the power button down and the eject button down at the same time.
4, Pressing the PS button on the controller with the USB cable in after all of the above steps.
5, All of the above steps with a Game inserted and without.
6, All of the above steps then pressing the secret button on the Controller.

A few points;
1, I can hear the fans whirling up.
2, There is no HD light flashing.
3, The PS3 recognises the Controller.
4, With the Power off I get a basic ‘No signal being recieved’ message on the TV but this changes to a slightly more indept message when I power up the system. But basicly says no signal is being recieved. It reverts back to the basic message when I power down again.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Andy

Andy,

Let’s start with trying to get into the reset menu. According to theory this should reset the video to AV (RCA red, yellow, white).

Unfortunately depending on what firmware you are running that might not be possible. I know that machines built in late 2007 (September in my case) had v2.3 installed. This does not have a reset feature so you might not be able to get into it. If you know that you are running v2.76 or later then you should be able to get into the reset menu. If you are not sure take a look at the bottom of your machine for the manufacture date. If it is late 2007 or before then there is a good chance you cannot get into the reset menu.

First hook up your PS3 to the TV using the AV cables (RCA – red, yellow, and white).

Assuming your machine is able to reset you can access the menu by holding the power button until the machine turns on (1 beep), goes to video reset (2 beeps), and shuts off (3 beeps). Take your finger off and quickly put it back down It will power up again (1 beep) go to video reset (2 beeps) and somewhere around this time you should get two quick beeps. If you keep cycling through start, video reset, and power down without two quick beeps after several attempts then it is likely your machine can’t be reset (at least not by any quick fix I’m aware of).

When I was told how to enter reset I tried this for several days using as many different variations as I could think of but it didn’t work becuase I was running v2.3 but once I updated to 2.76 it was easy to get in so if you don’t get in after a dozen attempts you probably can’t.

Hey, thanks for the fast reply. I will go try that now. Hopefully it will solve it!

I should add that I updated the firmware regulary and most likely the last update was about 7 months ago so I should be ok. Ill go see!

Ok, well I tried the fix you mentioned Amediar but although it worked, ie I got the double beep it did nothing to change the problem I am having. I tried two different AV Cables and also a HDMI cable just in case. I guess I should mention I am trying it out on a Samsung LED TV and it does not have a standard AV input. I have to use the supplied adaptor that reduces the three pins into one small Jack. Maybe not a big point as I tried it on my mates TV with normal AV inputs.

Very weird!

amediar thanks alot for your input and suggestions but sadly none have worked :(((( but i thank you again for them though cause i didnt know of most of them and it was worth a shot. but yes the fan does try to kick on before it shuts off and im like you i dont think its the power supply mostly because i dont think it would even try and kick on based on most others having power supply and reading there posts. its weird because before it would boot all the way up blu ray light on and all but with a blank screen but that was before and now all it does is what i stated in my first post. but i have decided to send it to PS Pros to have a free diag. test and if they can fix it they will send me a quote on price anywhere form $59-99$ lets hope for the 59 lol but i will keep you guys posted on the process and hopefully the ressurection of my beloved ps3. thanks again

ps numbaG thanks for the input also tried your idea but nada but i look at that as a good thing cause hopefully they can keep everything on my hard drive and its not related to the problems im having.

Amediar – to answer your question, I can remove my hard drive and the machine still starts like normal. Funny thing though, when I tried it last night after I got home, I actually saw artifacts on the screen then vertical white lines. That is the most I have gotten from this unit since I got it.

Since I have a little time in the evenings now, I decided to open my unit up and take a peek inside. What I found inside may shed some light on my problem. See what you think…

When I opened the cover and started taking things off and inspecting each piece, I found that the clamping arm of the connector on the motherboard that holds the BRD ribbon cable was broken. It wasn’t holding the ribbon in place like it should. I do know there was some type of connection because the drive would spin up and accept and eject a discs. Is it possible the system will not boot fully if there is a bad connection with the drive?

Also, I found a little note written in sharpie on the heat sink assembly saying, “Reflow by JBJ 5-17-10″. I thought, ‘Son of a….the woman I got this from lied to me. She said no one had opened it.’ So it seems this unit had had problems in the past.

Other than these two things, I didn’t see anything else wrong with the board. All the chip connections seemed to be intact. So this morning I cleaned off all the thermal paste on the chips and heat sink (whoever did it before did a horrible job, it was thick in some areas and really thin or non-existent in others) and decided to go ahead and reflow the board. When I get home tonight, I’ll finish it up, put some new paste on and put it all back together. Hopefully I can come up with a way to fix the BRD connector problem. I will post the results tomorrow.

Chris – Sorry I couldn’t help more. Keep us updated.

G,

Great post. Thanks tons. That really does shed some light on the subject.

I was suspicious that she was either lying or misinformed but it is a hard call to make when all I have is a vague description.

I’m not sure about the BRD question but it seems unlikely to me. My BRD is hosed and the machine boots fine except there isn’t a disk icon once it is up. I’m not sure if the PS3 will boot without a BRD but I can’t see why it wouldn’t since you don’t need it to play MP3′s, hit a USB, go on the net, etc. On the other hand Sony does strange things so if I were to find out you can’t boot without the BRD I’d be more annoyed than shocked.

It seems more likely to me that JBJ tried to reflow the board and it didn’t work, worked but bricked again, or made things worse so he gave up. The messy paste job might be a sign that he was tired, angry, and frustrated and when it didn’t work right he said, “screw it.”

I really hope the reflow works for you.

Andy,

It sounds like the machine thinks it is working but the video isn’t being sent to the TV. This could be due to the converter going bad on you but since it doesn’t work on your friend’s TV with AV it would suggest the problem is with the PS3 rather than the TV or the converter. I don’t suppose your mate has a PS3 you could borrow to test if your setup still works?

Since the machine is going into reset but not giving you any signal this would suggest a video/GPU issue similar to what G is going through. I’m hoping that his efforts to reflow the board will fix the problem. If so you might want to consider trying a reflow. If that kind of techo challenge isn’t something that interests you then you should probably consider sending it in for repair. Hopefully Chris has a positive experience with PS Pros and we’ll have someone reasonable and ethical to recommend to service machines.

Andy,

It sounds like the machine thinks it is working but the video isn’t being sent to the TV. This could be due to the converter going bad on you but since it doesn’t work on your friend’s TV with AV it would suggest the problem is with the PS3 rather than the TV or the converter. I don’t suppose your mate has a PS3 you could borrow to test if your setup still works?

Since the machine is going into reset but not giving you any signal this would suggest a video/GPU issue similar to what G is going through. I’m hoping that his efforts to reflow the board will fix the problem. If so you might want to consider trying a reflow. If that kind of techo challenge isn’t something that interests you then you should probably consider sending it in for repair. Hopefully Chris has a positive experience with PS Pros and we’ll have someone reasonable and ethical to recommend to service machines.

Sorry I couldn’t be more help.

Andy and Chris,

Both of you indicate you update your firmware regularly. Since your problems sound similar I was wondering if you are both using the newest firmware (v3.15, I think?). If so I’m wondering if Sony has come out with yet another update that is going to brick an entire herd of PS3′s like 3.0 did. Gotta luv Sony.

Hey Amediar, thanks again for the reply. I’m not sure what Firmware the PS is on to be honest, its not been updated for around 7-8 months though as thats the last time it was used. I did take it from the UK to Norway with me in my Carry on luggage when I moved over. I have since bought another PS3, its the slim though and I really dont like it compaired to my Phat. The Slim hooked right up to the new TV no problem so it must be the GPU as you say. I will give the reflow ago, Ive got nothing to loose now and I do like to play around with things. Do you know of a good step-by-step guide I could follow?

Andy,

This is a really good guide to disassemble and reflow your PS3. I’ve used it.

http://wheretobuyps3.com/index.php/tag/gilksy-pdf/

Keep in mind that your screw locations and cable connectors maybe in different locations because Sony changed board size and layout with each model. Mine is a CECHG and the one shown in the guide is one of the original models, so things were a bit confusing at first.

Also, Gilksy, the guy who wrote the guide, has a series of videos on Youtube showing the process from beginning to end. Just search for his name if you want to watch a video instead of reading. Both the guide and videos are very good.

Hope this helps.

Andy,

No problems.

I think 7 to 8 months puts you in the middle of 3.0 Hell. I think it was released in Sept 09 and started bricking machines with vigor soon thereafter. I’m not an expect on the problems 3.0 is supposed to have caused but there was a global yowl of pain and anger that dwarfed all previous updates combined.

Since it sounds like the machine is going into reset mode but you can’t see the options you might want to try two things. The first is trying to reset blind. After you get two quick beeps press the PS button on the controller. It should go from flashing red lights to a single red light if the sys recognizes the controller.

The PS3 reset menu should be:
1. Restart System
2. Restore Default Settings
3. Restore File System
4. Rebuild Data Base
5. Restore PS3 System
6. System Update

Assuming that the macnine is really going through a normal boot without video when you hit he PS3 button and then hit X it should restart the system (I’m not sure if there is a “confirm” or not since I haven’t tried it. I’m hoping there isn’t but you can confirm this on your Slim before you try to reset the Phat.

If it looks like the phat is actually working then you can try Option 2 (Reset default) and Option 5 (Restore PS3 System). You should probably walk through what’s going to happen using your slim but be careful with option 5 because it will blank the HD. That probably isn’t an issue in regard to the Phat but if you’ve done much gaming on the slim I’d hate to see it zorched.

If these seem to work but don’t restore the video you could try running through Option 6 (System Update) blind. All you need is a flash with v3.1 / v3.15 which you can DL from the net. You might try it on your Slim before you try it blind on the Phat so you know what the directories should look like. The update shouldn’t blank the HD but the firmware will not back date so once you install 3.1 or 3.15 your can’t go back to an earlier version so keep that in mind.

ok got an update for you guys… sent my ps3 off 2 days ago to PS Pros they recieved it today and gave me an diag and estimate of repair it was as follows:
Problem found: PS3/80gb STANDBY
Repair Required: PS3/80gb Repair STBY (Standby)im guessing
and the repair cost is $99.00 plus Shipping and comes with a 90 Day warranty.

anyone ever heard of this “Standby” issue i cant find any research on it for repairs to do myself to try and save some cash before i give them the green light to fix my ps3. and yes Amediar i do have the latest i think it was 3.15 thats BS if there software is bricking ps3′s and there not replacing them even when there out of warranty but thats big corps for ya.

Hey NumbaG\Amediar , thanks for the link NubbaG, I will give that a go if Amediar’s extreamly helpfull last post to me does not work. Thanks for the assistance guys, its much appreciated. I have passed much of the helpfull info I have been told on here to friends etc. I am currently working off-shore for the next three weeks so I will not be able to try anything out. I wonder if I could swap out the Phat’s HD with the Slim? As the Phats HD has amm my game saves on it?

Thanks so much Basha and Amediar for all your info on this blog! I had the blank screen/green light poblem and was able to reset the system. One thing I need to point out is you need to hold the power button until the system turns off first (3 single beeps). Then the second time around, you will get the 2 beeps (seems a couple of the earlier posters didn’t do this?). Sony Australia wanted to charge me $250 to fix this problem!!

Amediar, one interesting thing I came across, with system completely off, if you hold the power and eject buttons at the same time and turn on the main power at the back, my fan would turn on at full speed for about 20 seconds then turn back off, is this a fan test function?

Chris,

I can’t say that I have heard about this standby issue but there are a lot of issues with the PS3. I’ll see what I can find.

Sony has had a lot of complaints about firmware bricking machines. Sony denies that any of their updates have caused problems but the volume of complaints that happen to occur after updates would suggest they are wrong. Sony typically blames dust and other factors rather than their updates. What they don’t seem to understand is that even if they are telling the truth and dust is the issue it is idiotic that such an expensive machine can be ruined so easily. If dust is PS3 kryponite and Sony knows it then how about making a filter available? Beats the heck out of spending $150 every couple of months or $300+ on a new machine.

Andy,

I would imagine the Phat and Slim use the same HD and you should be able to switch them. Pulling the HD is pretty simple. All it takes is opening the side port and removing 1 screw (at least that’s all it took to pull mine).

Ronsta,

Glad to help.

On some models the fan test is the power button with the eject button but from what I understand that is not universal for all models so there is a chance someone might try that combo and not get a response even though the fan is working properly.

Nothing on the “Standby” error as yet. You might want to ask them to clarify what the problem is and if it is hardware or software related.

Two things I did find while looking for the standby problem.

1. You must release the power button after the second beep for a hard video reset. It appears that if you hold the button until the third beep it assumes you were trying to shut off the machine and will not reset the vid.

2. A hard reboot procedure:

Hard boot the PS3, turn off the PS3 to stand-by, flip off the back switch and remove the power cord. Let it site for about 5 minutes or longer. Reconnect your power cable and flip the back switch up again. Then make a new network connection.

Amediar,
Do you know of a chip or chips that the video/audio run through before it gets to the HDMI/AV jack? I’m thinking that maybe the main processors might not be the problem in my case and there is a “middle man” that could be the snag.

Oh and by the way, the reflow didn’t work. Nothing has changed.

G,

Sorry to hear the reflow didn’t work.

NVIDIA made the RSX chip for Sony. I think it is some kind of GeForce. This chip is a monster. In PC’s you have entire cards dedicated to audio and video but, from what I understand, the RSX renders both video and audio. If you’re not getting both the GPU is the usual suspect especially if you’re not getting signal from AV as well as HDMI. If it was one it might be a port or a cord but both being out means the source problem is likely further back in the stream.

If you look at the mobo on the site you provided (below) the ports are on the left side of the screen and the RSX chip is the white chip on the left hand side. I can’t read what’s on the other white chip but my guess is that’s the Cell CPU. (This photo is nice but it doesn’t label anything and it isn’t high enough def for me to read it).

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/8492/40gb_ps3_dissected_65nm_cpu_after_all/index.html

If you look at the RSX chip you can see two black paths leading to chips in front of the ports. I can’t read what is on those chips but I can read the word Marvell on the upper right of the path that runs towards the HDMI port. Marvell manufactures audio and visual equipment so my guess is this is what controls the HDMI audio and visual coding before it is routed to the HDMI port. Now it could be this chip is dedicated entirely to the BRD/DVD but the proximity of the other two chips to the ports as well as the heavy pathways between the GPU and these chips suggests they are responsible for coding data for transmission to the TV.

In reading Chris’ post and the failure of the reflow to work it makes me think that Ashcat might be right to blame this on a software issue. I can’t find anything about a “standby error” but that doesn’t sound like it is hardware related. Hopefully Chris can get some more information on what this problem actually is so we can determine if there is anything that can be done without some sort of Sony approved interface but my guess is the system or drivers get corrupted (Martians? Ghosts? Gremlins?) and they need to reinstall the OS the way you or I might reinstall Winblows or a video / audio driver on a PC. I don’t think this justifies a $99.00 investment but they have us over a barrel.

Please note that I am essentially talking out of my A$$ until I get some sort of feedback from the repair guys.

Found this little bit of info, not sure if it’s been confirmed so take it for what it’s worth, but imagine the possibilities.

“The PS3 can enter a special “Service Mode”. When it does the bottom right hand corner of the screen has a red translucent rectangle with the words “Playstation 3. Factory/Service Mode” inside of the rectangle. It is rumored that by plugging a special JIG in the USB port (and then pressing both Eject and Power button at the same time), the PS3 shuts down and is triggered into Service Mode the next time it boots up. This special mode then accepts firmware code loaded in from the USB port, and allows reflashing the firmware chip.”

i have the green light of death too.

tried what you said and i got into safe mode. tried to recover database [4] and after a minute or two the screen went blank again. no response. then i tried the thing with the system update and i had the same problem. no i can only boot and unboot my system. holding the power button gives one beep, 5 seconds after that one beep again, and then 5 seconds later 2 beeps and turns off. D:

im screwed arent i?

G,

That’s what I was talking about when I mentions a “Sony approved interface.” My guess is repair places have a laptop they link up via USB (maybe some other access if USB isn’t hot) for diag and firmware repair in much the same way car repair places have special computers that link up with the onboard sys. It seems likely Sony charges some sort of licensing fee, a steep purchase fee, or a combo of both to get one.

The “standby” error suggests to me that the sys is corrupt and it is going dead until repaired in much the same way a PC will beep at you and immitate a brick if your memory is loose, monitor isn’t connected, OS is hosed, etc. Unfortunately we don’t get the coded beeps or error mesages, we just get a $400 pet rock.

It wouldn’t be so bad but I think this is exactly what Sony had in mind when they released the PS3. It takes about 3 seconds to find articles about how Sony underpriced the PS3 and took a billion dollar bath. What these articles don’t mention is how much of this money has been recouped by repairs. Only the smallest fraction of gamers have the confidence and skill to crack the box and those of us that do can’t reload firmware, can’t self diag, and can’t find hardwar so most of the time we’re every bit as screwed as everyone else. In most cases all Sony has to do is plug in an interface, restart the sys, and send it back.

Pikachu,

I need to know what your machine is and the mint date (i.e., PS3/40 manufac Sept 07). I also need to know if you have done firmware updates and, if so, which version you are running.

It would also help if you told me what got you to the point you needed to reset. Did you get artifacts on the screen that increased over time? Did the system start shutting down after extended game play? Did the sys stop recognizing disks? Were you exploring the PS3 GUI and changed some settings? Did you shut off the machine and wake up to find it was pretending to be a pet rock? Some insight what got you to this point would be appreciated.

What I think you are saying is that you were able to enter reset mode twice and now you can’t get back in?

The first time you tried Option 4 (Recover Database) and the screen blanked and stopped working. [‘m guessing you didn’t look at the HD LED to see if it was still working before you shut off the machine? When you say “no response” were you able to shut off the machine at the standby power button or were you forced to turn it off in back? Did you notice if the fan was running and the box was hot?

The second time you entered reset mode did you try Option 5 (Reset System) or Option 6 (Update firmware)?

What I would suggest at this point is shutting off the machine entirely. From the standby (red light) turn off the power button in the back and unplug the power cord from the wall and the box. Leave it off for at least 5 minutes but loner wont hurt. Leave it overnight if you want.

You might want to grab a spare usb flash and download firmware 3.10 or 3.15 in case you can actually get back to the reset screen. If the current firmware is corrupted but is still in good enough shape to enter reset you might be able to solve the problem if you update the firmware before the current OS unravels.

Plug the PS3 back into the system and power bar and turn on the power button in the back. Since you have successfully gotten into reset twice I’m hoping you can get into it a third time at this piont. If all it does is cycle through on – reset – off / on – reset – off without two beeps there is a good chance you are screwed but let’s not give up just yet.

I accidentally hit submit so make sure you read this before you try Option 6.

If you can get back into reset try Option 2 (Restore Default Settings) first. After that try Option 5. If it shuts off (goes red) then try getting back in. If it locks you out again then unplug the machine and let it sit again. Hopefully it will let you in a fourth time so you can try to update to 3.1 / 3.15

DO NOT USE v3.0

Amediar,
Sorry, forgot to post.
i have a ps3 80 gb slim, bought at december last year [i dont know where i can find the exact manu.date.]
i was running the latest firmware [3.14].
the whole problem happened rather quick actually. i started up the damn thing because i was trying to help a friend with his internet connection, so naturally i was meddling around with the network settings.
i noticed that everything looked a bit weird. best described as drawing a straight line in paint, and then moving a part of the line just one pixel down or up.
thought it would help by starting a game [modern warfare 2] because then the color palette would be different, everything on my screen would refresh etc. this is when it occured. black screen.
i thought it was just loading or something. but after a few minutes, nothing. i looked at the [HD?]led [not the one that glows green when you turn the thing on, but the one beneath, next to the yellow led that glows when it is reading/writing the hdd.] and also, nothing. i turned it off, strangely the green on/off led would blink and after a few seconds three beeps and goes red [stand-by]…

…then i got the whole green light off death thing.
the cd was inside. and it would eject normally if i pressed the eject button. but there was no screen, the startup sound was still there, though. i ejected the cd and still nothing would happen.
i forced the thing off [three beeps] and let it rest for an hour. i thought it was just condensation. but after an hour or so the problem was still the same.
i looked this thing up on google and tried the first suggestion here. didnt work.
looked it up on the playstation site and found i did it a bit wrong
[you need to keep the power button pressed in and let it boot and unboot first, lol]
but when i got into safe mode, i chose rebuild database, it started rebuilding, but after a minute or something, the screen went blank again and as a matter of fact, i did look at the two leds on the downside of the ps3. the green one occasionally flashed, but the yellow one not at all.
i forced it off again.
booted it up again and entered safe mode to try the patch method [system update]. i loaded version 3.14 on a usb stick the way it should according to the online manual and chose option 6 the second time i entered safe mode. it started patching. it was around 28% when the screen went black again and this time it didnt respond if i just pressed the on off button. from this point on, i can only turn the thing off by holding the power button for 15-30 seconds.

now if i boot it up: power button led goes green. no video, and no more starting sound. no sound at all. no HD leds [the two ones below] no ejector led. and i can only turn it off by holding the power button as above.

Just as i am enjoying my holiday…well, not anymore.

Pikachu,

If you bought it December of 2009 it should still be under warranty so send it back to Sony and let them deal with it rather than pounding your head against a wall that literally thousands of people have been trying to demolish for over a year now.

If that’s not an option (why?) I’m happy to help but from your description it does not sound quick-fix friendly and that’s especially true if it shut down half-way through a firmware update. The fact it won’t let you back into reset does not bode well at all.

If this were a PC then no problems. You hosed the OS so grab your Winblows disk and drop it in the CD. End of the problem. Unfortunately that’s not an option for the PS3.

You know the world is upside down when a tech is hoping it is a hardware problem rather than an OS problem because it is impossible to diag or reload the firmware. Ergo my pet name for the PoS3.

Assuming the warranty is still valid my suggestion is to call Sony and send in the machine for free and “rent” a new PS3 (buy and return) while you’re waiting.

Amediar,

Thanks for the help, i will follow your advice, and if that wont work, send my playstation back to sony then.
do i need the receipt? because i usually dont keep those things for more than 3 months…

Pikachu,

Sony requires a receipt. If you bought it from a major chain like Target, Wal-Mart, etc. they can probably look up the purchase and print a second receipt for you.

If you bring in the box they might be able to scan it and hunt down the SKU in the system but some places can’t or won’t do that. If that’s not an option I’d check my credit card statement or hunt down the canceled check to get the exact date and time if possible. This will cut down the search time significantly.

Good luck and please check in and let us know how Sony treats you, what the problem was (if they will tell you) and if the advice helped you get back to gaming. It is always nice to hear that we were able to help.

Hello, I was playing COD last night online and it froze. I shut it down and went to bed. The next day I turned it on and got the main screen selected COD the game to play and it went black as if the game was going to start but it just remained black. I checked all my connections and setting 50 times. I have held the start buttons down like in all the above mentioned post’s say to do. I got double beeps, connected the controller and hit the pos3 button. Nothing happens- no menu comes up to restore. All my lights work as well as the fan. Please help??

If anyone has a number to call for playstation to set up a repair or troubleshoot it would be a big help as well. The number for the USA.

Libra,

If you want to contact Sony you can get that information from:

http://www.Sony.com

I wish I could help with the black screen but as of right now there is no way for me to do much besides guess because I don’t have a machine with that problem to experiment with.

As or right now my best guess is it is usually due to software corruption but in some cases I’ve read about it was the GPU seperating from the mobo.

Sony was not kind enough to include anything to help diag the issue nor do they have a software package you can load into your PC to repair the system. Essentially they want you to pay $150 US to reload their sys/reseat the GPU and they only give you a 3 month warranty for repairs so if it bricks 91 days later you get to pay another $150.

I can help you try out a few quick fix options. As you may have noticed there has been some marginal success but if it turns out that your sys is corrupt there isn’t much that can be done without Sony or a repair vendor.

From what i hear people saying i am probably going to pay for a refurbished console, so i thought it over and i am going to ”buy a new one”. however, if i could help out the people here by calling sony and posting their reply here, i’ll call them this week. just send me a reply.

Pika,

Sony won’t do a diag over the phone. Even if you sent it in I don’t think they give you info on the diag so we probably wouldn’t know any more than we do right now. if you took it into a repair place they would probably give you more information for less than Sony.

Buying a new one might be your best bet but I think you might be better served finding a reputable repair place close to you that will do the work for a reasonable fee. Most places will repair just about anything besides a fried mobo/GPU/CPU for around $100 with a 90 day warranty.

If you decide to buy a new one I’d recommend waiting a couple of months. The last time I was at Game Stop talking with some fellow gaming nerds there is a rumor that Sony is going to drop the priceb by $50 when Christmas rolls around. I’m not sure if that’s just for the phats or if it was the slims as well in case that matters to you.

If you’re going to go with the slim buy one of the newer ones (minted after August of this year) because the older systems have a reputation for being twitchy.

hey guys here to leave another update just got my ps3 back from “PS pros” and man when i say this i mean it NEVER DEAL WITH THEM IN ANY WAY if you read my above post you will see what was wrong with my ps3 before i sent it to these guys anyways they told me they couldnt fix it and they would ship it back and refund my money just not the shipping 19.99 so i said fine give me it back and i will try again so i get it back today open it up tried to turn it back on to see if it did the same thing as before and now it somehow has the YLOD really ps pros really i send you a system that doesnt have the ylod and you return it to me with the YLOD how the hell is that? anyway just a heads up stay far FAR away from ps pros

Chris,

Sorry to hear that. Are you going to try a local repair shop, junk it, send it to Sony, or give up and buy a new machine?

I am getting the beeps, but am not able to see any menu. All I’ve got is a black screen that stays that way.

I’m an idiot. I figured it out.

yea it sucks but im gonna try gopher mods and if they dont fix it im gonna ebay it for as much as i can then uprgade to a slim. and does anyone know if hitachi is the factory hdd in an 80gb “fat” ps3 wanna make sure they didnt switch it out

Chris,

Try a search on “ps3 spec” on Google, Vista, etc. Gaming sites are filtered so I can’t get the info for you. I tried “ps3 hitachi” and got no hits except how the PS interacts with hitachi TV’s. Nothing on who manufatures the BRD for any of the PS3′s, fat, slim, 20, 40, 60, 80, etc. Seems strange I can find out who makes the GPU fairly easily but not the BRD.

Here is a list of known hard drives and manufacturers for the different models.

http://www.edepot.com/playstation3.html#PS3_Harddrive

HELL YEAH BIG G!!!!!! POST OF THE CENTURY!!!!

“Note that the lens in the Blu-ray drive went through various evolutions as newer PS3 models were released. Many of the initial 40GB models (CECHG) used a cheaper version of Blu-ray lens, which had a high failure rate, requiring replacement.”

This is my machine and my problem and something I’ve suspected for over a year now and you finally confirmed it! Well done! Thanks!!!!!!!!!

G,

I just noticed this is the site you provided earlier with the photo of the PS3 mobo. It was huge so I didn’t read much of it but when I noticed the thing above I kept going and found this.

“The PS3 can enter a special “Service Mode”. When it does the bottom right hand corner of the screen has a red translucent rectangle with the words “Playstation 3. Factory/Service Mode” inside of the rectangle. It is rumored that by plugging a special JIG in the USB port (and then pressing both Eject and Power button at the same time), the PS3 shuts down and is triggered into Service Mode the next time it boots up. This special mode then accepts firmware code loaded in from the USB port, and allows reflashing the firmware chip”

This is in line with what we were talking about in regard to what’s wrong with your machine and Chris’. In reading about the way the HYPERVISOR works it could be that this chip is seperated or the data is corrupt. Without the hypervisor the machine could be 100% and still play pet rock.

Glad I could help Amediar. That site is very informative. I keep going back to it to read up on things and I still haven’t read all of it.

I have the same model as you, unfortunately I can’t tell if the BRD is working yet. Any idea where the chip that holds the hypervisor might be?

I’ve tried reading about this “special JIG” to get more info, but really haven’t found anything useful. Just for kicks, I plugged the PS3 into my PC via USB cable and turned it on. Nothing happened, the PC didn’t even blink. So, I’m still stuck.

I wouldn’t expect the USB / PC interface to do anything besides ignore you. Sony probably has a special USB. It might be physically different, carry a different voltage, etc. before it is recognized by the PS3 sys. My guess is it needs to be, in essence, a remote hypervisor so it probably has the same or similar coding.

Essentially it is a Winblows CD with a unique USB connection to put it in PC terms. When the PS3 goes to boot it hits the USB rather than the onboard hypervison in the same way the PC hits the Winblows CD instead of booting from the hard drive.

Now as to where the hypervisor lives on our machines that’s a good question. The hpervisor is stored in the onboard flash. On older machines there are two flash chips (Samsung) but in newer models there is only one.

The thing about the older machines is the hypervisor is broken up and stored seperately in the chips so neither chips holds the entire sys. If there is a problem with either chip it returns an error and goes brick.

I can’t read the chips in the photo and nothing is labled my guess is the two chips to the right of the CPU are the flash. In looking at the specs these chips should be manufactured by Samsung and start with the letters “K9″ if I’m right. The hypervisor should live in those chips. If you didn’t reflow them that might be an option however keep in might that after what Chris reported in regard to his machine I’m more inclined to believe that the issue is software related and this will likely mean a repair place with the “magic” USB/laptop.

G,

I tracked down a pic of the K9 chip and the rectangular chip next to the black chip at the top looks similar. I only see one of these so this might be a newer machine with only a single flash.

Crap. I just noticed that I’m looking at a different pic than is on the web site you provided. I’ve been talking about this one off of tweaktown.

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/8492/40gb_ps3_dissected_65nm_cpu_after_all/index.html

Do you have a mobo like this one or the one on this “PS3 Secrets” site:

http://www.edepot.com/playstation3.html#PS3_Harddrive

Amediar, on the PS3 Secrets page just below the image of the motherboard and chart, there is a link for “motherboard evolution”. Click there and scroll down some until you get to the CHCEG board. There are front and rear images but unfortunately you can zoom in. They are of really good quality, so maybe you could see what you are looking for.

I agree, it has to be a software issue and needs this magic usb device.

G,

Good eye. I didn’t see that.

Still can’t read the chips but I’m getting better at identifying them by sight.

Looking at the “G” board the RSX GPU is left, the Cell CPU is on the right, the main sys memory are the four chips to the right of the Cell, and the I/O Bridge is the big black chip above the CPU and to the right of the Marvell chip which it turns out is the Ethernet/Storage Device Controller.

According to theory the Flash memory should be the rectangular chip just above the sys mem and right of the I/O bridge. It should start with K9 or S2 or K8.

After further reading, this “Black Scree of Death” kind of reminds me of the “Red Screen of Death” problem they mention on the Secrets site expect no red screen or error timeout.

Just an update on my ps3. Left it alone for a few weeks but something inspired me to give it another go.

I read on another forum about restting the bios by removing the bios battery (bottom side of motherboard) and shorting out the two battery pins. This was actually a fix for a completely unreleated problem but I said Id give it a a go anyway. Took it apart and did this and afterwards it didn’t boot as usual. However I gave it a few goes and firstly got it to go into the service menu screen (connect controller.) but then it froze with colourful vertical bars on the screen. What’s interesting is if I shook the ps3 slightly the bars would go away. This suggests to me that there is a loose component or dodgy connection on the video section of the motherboard. Next I tried booting it normally and for the first time since I got it it actually went to the menu and seemed to be working fine. Stuck in a dvd and it played just fine. Also tried a ps2 game which also booted just fine. I don’t have any BR discs to test but Im assuming they don’t work (as this was the original fault). Of course I couldn’t leave it on forever and sure enough when I turned it off it would no longer boot as usual.. So Im back to stage 1 again.

This time however Im almost certain there is a component loose somewhere, not really sure what to do about it, I may reopen the entire thing including heat sink and have a good look around, another option is reflow but that may do more harm than good!

Disconnecting the battery and shorting those pins might be an idea worth trying for others with problems too, probably won’t do anything but maybe worth a shot none the less.

Possible New Theory:

In reading the new specs the “G” should have a single 16 MB flash instead of 2 x 256 as a “cost saving” measure.

16 MB isn’t big enough to hold the entire sys so it saves a lot of it (most of it) to the HD.

If you or Chris has access to a working PS3 you might try swapping the HD’s to see if that sys is corrupt rather than the stuff sitting in the 16 MB flash.

Red,

Thanks for keeping us up-to-date.

Interesting.

Do you think the short is the fix or do you think you might have accidentally partially reseated something that was loose when you pulled it apart?

Now that it has rebricked does shaking do anything or is it only effective post batt short?

The shaking certainly suggests something loose rather than a sys issue. That’s good news since you can’t fix software but reseating the GPU isn’t particularly difficult. Even if you can’t fix it this suggests the machine is still viable if you take it someplace. That might not be ideal but at least you’ll know what was wrong and get a working machine out of it.

Since you’re not getting signal out of the AV or HDMI it seems to point at the GPU being loose. The only other thing I can think of would be the graphics emulator but I’m not sure if that’s used by the AV or just the HDMI. There are two paths leading from the GPU so my guess is they are handled seperately but I haven’t confirmed this yet.

Amediar,

I think it’s more likely it started working due to accidentally reseating something as you say. I think it’s the most likely explanation. When the console booted to the restore screen and froze I actually shook/moved it around until the lines were gone, it was still frozen but the vertical lines where gone. It was at this point I rebooted and it worked fine. Kind of gives the impression that I temporarily reseated whatever component is causing my problem.

I have tried shaking it again but it dosen’t seem to be responding. I may try shorting the battery terminals again tomorrow as it would be interesting to see if this alone had any effect.

I do have a heatgun so I could certainly try reflowing it, but it just seems risky, especially if a component is not in the correct position when I reflow and it gets soldered into the incorrect position!

Red,
Thanks for the battery info, I haven’t heard of that method. I’m willing to try anything, so I may try to open it up this weekend and give it a go.

Amediar,
Good info, while I’m messing with the battery I’ll try and locate this chip and see if anything is wrong with it. Also, I have a co-worker who is willing to swap out his HD for mine to see if it will boot on his PS3.

Red,

The response to shaking means this is hardware since software doesn’t care what goes on in the real world.

I was thinking about this on my way home last night and I’m not comfortable with the GPU diag. That might be the answer but I just can’t see shaking seating and unseating the GPU like a loose tooth. That might be exactly what’s happening but it doesn’t “feel” right.

What typically happens when the CPU/GPU sep from the mobo is the machine gets too hot and the mobo twists a little causing the solder to crack. The solder is keeping the pin from making contact so the reflow heats up the solder so it is soft, not a liquid, so you can press the chip back into the slot. In most cases you can’t see the issue with the naked eye so it isn’t like the things are flopping around loose where shaking the cosol is going to bounce it back into place.

Another problem I have with the GPU seating issue is it seems to me the shaking should work consistently. Even if it locks up because of some sort of data SNAFU it should return to normal after a reboot rather than locking down until a tech pops the box and shorts the batt.

In fact, the battery having any affect on the Bios is interesting because the only thing I can think of the PS3 needs the batt for is the internal clock. The Hypervisor (Bios) is stored in RAM so when the machine goes off it blanks until it is reloaded from flash. It would be interesting to read what problem this is supposed to fix and why. Could you post the site?

I think the symptoms point to a short somewhere. I can’t say where but my first impulse is the HD power supply. I’m going to have to get out my machine and check but as I recall when I pulled my HD all I got was a blank screen. Everything looked fine but no one was home because I’d pulled out its brain.

A short in the power supply could explain the artifacts (Bios and OS are swapped to save RAM). Shaking bouncing around the HD seems more likely to me than seating a chip and it would also explain why you don’t get anything from the sys at startup (not talking with the HD) and why you need to reset the power supply by shorting the batt.

The only problem with this theory is I think an HD short should give you a YLOD but this might not happen if the HD isn’t detected or the short results in the HD not getting power. Can you tell if it is hitting the HD at startup?

In General:

This demonstrates the biggest problem with trying to diag something remotely via a blog. I just wrote 8 paragraphs and need to wait for Red to read it, chechk what I wrote, and get back to me. If it was in front of me it would have taken far less time to check my hypothesis that it did to write it out. >>heavy sigh<<

G,

That’s great.

I think you need to be running the same firmware for the swap to work so keep that in mind before you do it. I don’t think it will crash (though I never rule out anything when it comes to Sony) but I don’t have any idea what he’ll get if they don’t match. It might return an error (incorrect/incompat firmware version on HD), it might lock up, he might get nada, etc.

Here’s something I don’t get.

If the – majority – of the BIOS and Sys is on the HD when you swap the HD’s how does the info get on the new HD since you need to turn it off to install the HD in the first place? As far as I know you don’t need to do a firmware update after the install so it has to come from somewhere.

It makes me wonder if there is another flash or a chip with the baseline sys that firmware only updates. If anyone sees anything that explains this I’d appreciate seeing it.

Amediar,
“Note that you need to install firmware from USB device each time you upgrade your harddrive in the newer PS3 models (because the firmware is partially stored on the harddrive and changing harddrives require system files from firmware update file to be re-written on to the harddrive). If this is the case, the PS3 will request this PS3UPDAT.PUP before formatting your new harddrive, and when you have done so, press “SELECT” and “START” buttons on the controller to tell the PS3 to start reading the firmware file.”

G,

Thanks. I suspected as much.

I’m thinking that if you give your friend your HD and it isn’t running the same firmware version it will ask him to format and install whatever he’s running which could complicate things for you since you can’t get into a screen that will allow you to update your firmware.

I’m not sure how to get around that snag. Perhaps you coudl buy a cheap HD and put it in your machine to see if it reacts differently?

Amediar,

Didn’t get a chance to look at it today but what you say about the hard disk is interesting, it does seem to be the only physically movable part in the console so a bad connection could explain the problems. The only issue I see with this is that when I got the console working and turned it off again (Had to turn it off with the power button on the back due to stupidly ejecting a ps2 game while it was on) and turned it back on, I didn’t move the console in any way yet it still did not work. However turning off the console suddenly does kill power to the hard disk in a sudden manner which may explain why it didn’t work next time.

I will start it up tomorrow and keep an ear on the hard disk to see if it spins up at startup.

I tend to agree with you about it being unlikely that shaking the console is reseating the gpu, I just can’t picture such a large chip being so free to move, in fact everything on that board is tiny SMT stuff and if it were to get dislodged I doubt shaking would fix it, especially with multi layer pcb’s as Im sure we are dealing with here.

Regarding the battery I found the fix on a thread relating to firmware update loops, shorting the battery pins seemed to sort out many peoples otherwise bricked consoles. This suggests that the battery may be responsible for more than just the clock, or perhaps that the update loops are caused by the clock in some way.

Thread is here — http://bit.ly/9WWkrD

Tried the battery trick again, no luck this time.

The hard disk seems to be spinning up consistently at statup, but I can only hear hard disk access noise at the very beginning. It does seem to be checking something on the hard disk at about the same time it hits the fan.

It would be interesting to find out how a functioning ps3 behaves if booted without a hard disk, may help with diagnosis.

From looking at deconstruction videos I really doubt shaking had any effect on the actual gpu, the hsf assembly is held down very tight using the springed backplates on top of the mainboard so there’s no way it could be loose enough to be effected by console movement really.

red,

the ps3 system starts a almost the same without HDD.
the most noticable difference is that powering down the unit (slim version) goes different. it almost shuts off immediately, while with a HDD you need to hold down the power button for quite a while.
cant provide much backup. not in vicinity of my ps3 system right now so i cant exactly much information.

Amediar,

My friend is worried about the same reasons you listed happening to his PS3, so he will let me borrow his old original HD to test with. He recently upgraded his HD to something bigger and isn’t worried about anything happening to the old one. It was working when he pulled it. So as soon as I get it, I’ll swap it out with mine and see what happens.

Numba,

Im not sure someone elses hard disk will work with your console, according to this the hard disks will only work with the original consoles — http://www.ps3-hacks.com/forums/about1423.html

Thanks for the info Pikachu, It’s probably not the hard disk if the console will actually start without one.

Well, thats not good news. I’ll give it a shot anyway and report back the results.

It Doesnt Work for me becaouse i have a slim model and my ps3 first workd en then is started making weird voices and now it makes a sound every 3 seconds i tryed evrything and search all the internet but it still doesnt work can anyone help me :(?

i ment noices i now my english is very bad -_-

i tryed what u said i holded the sart button on my ps3 i heared 1 beep then 2 beeps then my ps3 just turned off

Red,

What you get when you boot without the HD may depend on the sys or Firmware because my Phat machine gave me a green light and sat (blank screen) when I pulled my HD using v2.3 so “normal” may be relative. I haven’t tried it since I updated to v2.76.

There isn’t much I can see shaking affecting. The HD, the video and power ports (cables swinging would pull on them), and perhaps the BRD cable and ribbon. Not much else comes to mind. I have problems with shaking doing anything to reseat chips but it can’t be ruled out.

One thing this did do is make us start hunting for a hardware issue afain rather than software so that’s a good thing.

G,

I can’t read either link that Red posted since Surfcontrol filters game sites but Sony itself has given the okay to seap out drives and includes video and instructions how to do it on their site so it shouldn’t be an issue. If the PS3 HD won’t work for some reason take a trip to your local Best Buy, Frys, etc. and buy an HD then return it once you’re done with the diag. (or keep it if you like how it works). Make sure the connection is the same and it is physically small enough to fit in the port (I’d take your old drive with you to compare).

Dude,

Slims haven’t been around long so my first question is if the machine is under warranty? If so then don’t waste your time trying to find a solution on-line, call Sony and send it to them so they can fix it for free and do it ASAP before the warranty expires.

If it isn’t under warranty and you want to try a reset then from standby (red light) hold the power button down. First you will hear 1 beep. 5 seconds later you will hear a second beep. 5 seconds after that you will hear a third beep (power off). Remove your finger – quickly – and push down on the power button again. It will do the same thing except you will hear 2 quick beeps in a row. When you hear those take your finger off the power button. Remember you need to cycle through on, reset video, to off then start going through the process a second time before you will hear the two quick beeps.

When you hear the beeps you will know that you were successful when your screen shows the reset menu.

The PS3 reset menu should be:
1. Restart System
2. Restore Default Settings
3. Restore File System
4. Rebuild Data Base
5. Restore PS3 System
6. System Update

You either want to try Opt 2 or Opt 5 first. If these do not work we can try Opt 6 later.

@Amediar Wow Thanks For Replying I Didnt Touth about sending is to sony because i heard that u have too buy like 100bugs or more man if they dont do it free i try what u said man thanks alot

@Amediar I Hear 1 beep than 5 seconds later i hear 1beep again and after 3seconds i hear a dubbel beep and then the ps3 turns of

Dude,

If your machine is still under warranty Sony does not charge – unless – they determine the issue was caused by you. They have to tell you before they fix it if you have voided the warranty and why.

If the machine is not under warranty they charge $150 US to fix it. any repairs have a 3 month (90 day) warranty). Exchange rates being what they are I’ve read $100 pounds to whatever yen to $200 Australian. I can’t tell you what it would be for your area.

If this were an older machine I would offer that your firmware might not support a reset but I’m fairly sure all of the updates after 2008 supported a sys reset.

Assumign that you’re doing everything correctly it could be that the slim doesn’t go into reset the way that phats do or there is a different sequence. I’ll look around to see if I can find anything but I’ve read a lot and I have yet to see anyting that says slims won’t reset or have a special procedure.

Here is the site I’ve posted previously that gives step by step instructions. It sounds like you are following them correctly but since I can’t see what you’re doing I thought I’d make sure you had all the information I can offer.

http://www.fixya.com/support/r3159339-access_safe_mode_playstation_3

I can’t get into a single site that discusses the firmware loop but I can read enough on the search to get some insight into what I think it is supposed to cure.

In the days before flash you used CMOS to hold information necessary for the boot that wasn’t burnt on ROM or stored on a drive such as the boot sequence (at one time the universal default was the A: boot floppy which held DOS X.Y.

As far as I can tell the PS3 normally doesn’t keep anything in CMOS since all the settings are flashed or on the HD. However when it is doing firmware updates it appears that restart info is stored as CMOS so when it comes back up the state change takes priority over the flash since that’s what it is changing. Sometimes this leads to a reboot loop where the sys forces a reboot, craps out, reboots, craps out, reboots, craps out… you get the picture. The only way to fix this is to discharge the CMOS.

It was worth a try. :O)

Yeah,

That would explain how it would fix a reboot loop alright. Im not sure that the fix is common knowledge though, it could be useful for people who get stuck in a loop if they attempt to update firmware without the blu ray drive connected.

Im still quite puzzled as to what my actual problem is really though. The thing that bothers me the most is that it was working perfectly that one time but would not work after an immediate reboot without moving the console in any way. I could try reflow but Im doubtful if it would have any effect, It’s not exactly exhibiting classic YLOD symptoms and I can’t see how moving/shaking would reseat the GPU. Attempting to reflow may be my only option in reality though, can’t think of anything else to try since almost everything in the console is on the one mainboard, so there’s not much of a margin for loose connections/cables.

Ah well, even if I can’t get it fixed it’s still an interesting learning experience!

can i ask a question concerning my psp? i want to be able to connect it to the internet with like a cybercafe sort of wi-fi network that requires username and password but it doesn’t seem to be working

@Amediar I Life In Europe (Holland) I Dont Now Sonys Number And How To Ship It Too Them And How Much That costs

Haba,

Sorry but PSP is alien tech to me. Can’t say I’m much of a PS3 expert either but I’m pretty good with PC’s so I’m learning fast even in an intentionally generated knowledge vaccum.

I’m ticked at Sony for not providing a service very much like this but with real techs where they at least TRY and help you diag and fix your PoS3 before they kick you in the nads for $150 US. Wankers of epic proportions. Customer service? What’s that?

Good luck.

Dude,

Go to http://www.Sony.com and they have all the contact information you will need to reach them. You can try their customer service number to see if they have a quick fix but Sony typically wants you to send it in.

If it is under warranty I don’t think it costs you anything to ship the unit. They send out Fed Ex or UPS box for the machine.

If you did have to ship it I think it runs around 15 Euros ($20 US).

If it is NOT under warranty and you don’t want to try and fix it yourself then I’d recommend going to a local consol gaming store and asking fellow gamers if there is a place near you that is reputable rather than sending it to Sony. Typically Sony charges around $150 (120 Euro) to fix a PS3 but most repair stores will do it for $100 of less (80 Euro or less).

If your machine is NOT under warranty and you do a little research locally you can save yourself close to 50% compared to shipping it to Sony not to mention they will tell you what zorched your machine, Sony won’t and you will get back the same machine you gave to the repair place (Sometimes Sony sends back a completely different machine).

Red,

If you feel like giving up you could always take it into a repair place and have them do a diag. The machine is likely reporting an error code the tech can read with the “Magic USB.” A diag and short conversation with the tech might give you some insight where to look. If it sounds like a war you don’t want to fight you can either give up or have them fix it for you. $100 isn’t bad especially considering how much time you’ve spent trying to work it out on your own.

Amediar,

I wouldn’t say Ive given up really, I just made some progress in fact. Also I wouldn’t be willing to spend any money on this tbh (Apart from replacing the laser if I manage to get it working correctly). I also doubt any normal Techs would have a “Magic USB”, if such a thing exists it is only in the posession of Sony themselves! If it was available generally then something like this would have happened years ago —
http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/19/ps3-modchip-claims-to-finally-allow-backing-up-games-without-inv/

Anyway,

I just took the whole thing apart, including fan assembly and heat sinks. Interestingly found a piece of loose solder that looks to have broken off a pad somewhere, could easily have been causing short circuits rattling around in there.
The underside of the motherboard had some very messy patches of epoxy too for some reason, although this should be non conductive so shouldn’t be causing any problems.

Cleaned down the whole mainboard with compressed air and cleaned off all old heatsink compound. Considered heat gun but decided against it. Just put everything back together and made sure all connectors were properly connected and everything was nice and tight. Of course I then had a nasty setback, as I was reconnecting the drive ribbon one side of the latch on the mainboard snapped off, very common problem I believe, have seen a few for sale like this. Held it down with some insulating tape and finished assembly.

Didn’t power on the first time but after a few resets etc I DID manage to get it on. Tried a dvd and it started loading but locked up with a green screen. Pretty sure this is due to my dodgy connector! After this I managed to get it to come on twice more, once to recovery screen and once to main menu. On trying the dvd this time nothing happened, so I figured my tape had given up.

Opened it up again and sure enough the tape was peeling off the connector. I was very surprised how quickly things heated up, the top of the power supply and the top of the mainboard heatsink were all very hot after only a few minutes usage. The heat was actually the reason the tape was peeling off. So this time I held it down and put a spot of hot glue over the broken latch, hopefully it dosen’t get hot enough in there to re-melt!

Hasn’t powered on since then, but it’s possible my hot glue isn’t doing a good enough job with that connector. I think Ive read previously that the consoles do come on without the drive being connected though so I don’t know if thats my problem. The problem could still be anything really but I am wondering if perhaps it is heating up far too quickly, especially the power supply.

Red,

Well the loose solder would explain why bouncing it around caused so much activity. Hopefully nothing got zorched while it was laying across a path.

Sucks that you broke the latch. I’m going to look up Bondo and JB Weld when I get in tomorrow. If hot glue will fix the problem until it warms up then something that deals with heat might do a better job. The only problem is I’m not sure if you can use them with plastic and what their temp ranges are. maybe a fiberglass tub repair kit would work? Just thinking out loud, don’t mind me.

You’re on the scene and can draw better conclusions but heat doesn’t work for me at least not that quickly, especially if the fan isn’t screaming. When I moved my PS3 into an enclosed space that restricted air flow my fan went nuts. A couple seconds after I pulled it out, smooth sailing. These new chips are desinged to run hot. I’ve bounced off of older chips like 386 and 486 and gotten some nasty burns but when I hit the edge of a Pentium it branded me like a steer. I’m not sure how the newer cooling techs work with the thermal paste and pipes but that kind of heat has to go somewhere (Second Law of Thermodynamics) so something that’s warm to the touch doesn’t sound hot to me at least not relative. Melting the glue on tape can happen if you leave out on a sunny day and a really warm day can soften hot glue so I’m not surprised. They had special tape for binding heat sinks to the top of CPU’s. I haven’t bought any in ages so I don’t know if they make it anymore but if they do that might work.

Right,

What seems to be happening now is this.

When the unit is cool (left for a good while without power) it seems to power on and go to the main menu consistently. Except now it locks up with green artefacts after about 10 seconds. Managed to make it behave like this multiple times today now. First thing this morning and then a few hours after, same behaviour. Not sure what the cause of the artefacts is really, may be due to not enough/too much thermal compound, or anything really!

Haha, I think JB Weld might be a bit much for repairing a little plastic latch, that’s the stuff I use when I want to repair heavy things made of meatal :) I think the hot glue may hold anyway as the latch has space around it so the glue shouldn’t contact the hot heatsink.

Red,

I have the same problem with the latch that holds the BRD ribbon cable to the motherboard being broken. I have it in place with some scotch tape, but it doesn’t seem to be helping any. I don’t have access to a hot glue gun, but do you think super glue would work? I guess there is no other way to fix unless you get a whole new MB.

correct me if im wrong. but isnt super glue dangerous because of the fact that even IF it holds verything together you might get dangerous gases? i thought vaporizing glue is extremely flammable as well as its unhealthy in any way.

Yeah, I just checked and super glue has a fairly low boiling point so it could easily vaporise. Id stay away from super glue for that job anyway, even if it did work it’s very messy and impossible to remove. If you didn’t get it right first time you could end up with a cable permanently connected in the wrong position.

Obviously haven’t tried it long term but hot glue seems like a good option and it should be possible to remove it should the need arise. You you should consider purchasing a hot glue gun anyway, they are inexpensive and a very useful tool to have around the house.

In my case I just held down the clip and put a spot of hot glue on the broken side, then waited for it to set. It seems to be holding for now anyway.

Of course thats no good to me even if I can’t fix this new green artefact problem!

Red,

I wonder what the flash point for super glue is relative to the flash point and melting point for hot glue? If you’re worried about the superglue bursting into flame I’d imagine that’s hotter than what it takes to liquefy hot glue. I may not work for Sony but I’m fairly sure flaming super glue and liquefied plastic epoxy running all over the place will not improve your situation.

I know that JB Weld might seem like over-kill but if it works then why not? It can take temps up to 600F, it isn’t toxic, doesn’t conduct and it can take pressure up to 4000PSI so shearing isn’t an issue. The site says it can be used on plastic and PVC. You could use the hot glue to hold it together until you are satisfied the board is seating properly then use the JB on the other side or apply it over the glue then forget it ever happened. I can’t see why it wouldn’t work just about anywhere you need something that’s heat resistant and durable.

If you’re still not convinced, I grabbed a package of the thermal tape I mentioned yesterday and as strange as it might sound it is called “thermal tape.” Imagine that. If it will bond a sink or fan to a CPU it should work for what you have in mind. When it sticks it is possible to get it off but it isn’t easy so I’d recommend getting it right the first time. It is flexible enough that you’ll get a couple millimeters of wiggle room if you need it. If you want something that is more forgiving than the weld this would probably be your best bet. .

Your problem keeps getting curiouser and curiouser. Is it doing the exact same thing at the exact same time in the boot process or does if vary from boot to boot? Do the artifacts appear at the same place? Does it make any sounds with the video artifacts? If you are using AV have you tried HDMI (or visa-versa) to see if it does the same thing?

G,

Hot glue guns are around $5.00 at Target, Wal-Mart, etc. Glue included. They are in the Office Supplies section at Target. You could also try Staples, Office Depot, Rite Aid, etc. I’ve seem them in most these places for similar prices.

Amediar,

I was only talking about superglue because of the previous two comments. I have no intention of using it myself. Might look into that thermal tape if the hot glue dosen’t work out!

Anyway,

Ive tried the ps3 at least 10 times today and every time it is booting up perfectly from cold to the main menu, it just freezes with green artefacts across the screen after about 10 secs. Same on both hdmi and av. Im thinking it’s the thermal compound I used or perhaps and gpu does need to be reflowed.

It’s looking like I have somehow solved the original problem and caused another :)

Even if that is the case Im happier with the way it is now than when I started because the problem seems much clearer.

Ive just ordered some new thermal compound since Im out anyway so I may just replace the stuff I used with this when it comes to see what happens.

Thanks to everyone about the super glue question. I wasn’t aware of the glue’s heat tolerances.

Concerning the hot glue gun issue, it’s one of those things thats handy to have around but just never got around to getting one. This will be my excuse.

Red, i read somewhere that the video artifacts are usually caused by an overheating problem or cracked solder points on the GPU/CPU. So a re-flow and some new thermal paste just might be the ticket to get you up and running again.