Dead Ps3 - Flashing red light

[TheLemming]

OK guys, my housemate's PS3 has just died.

Totally.

Flashing red light, 3 beeps and it wont boot - oh and Bioshock 2 is stuck in there

He's understandably not happy and Google isnt getting me much other than people trying to sell fix-it guides.
Are we looking at buying a new PS3? or is there some hope?

(tried the obvious, swap out the hard drive, turn on in "clean out" mode with max fans etc, with no joy_

[freecar]

It could be a complete failure, it could be the thermal paste on the chips has disappeared. You can replace this, and the system shuts down when it detects an over temp. So it shouldn't be damaged, but if it does it straight away cold, I doubt it's had time to get up to a failing temp.

You can ring sony and they'll repair it for a fee if the warranty has expired. I'm going to try to get a free repair as I expect a sony product to last longer than two years! Give it a shot, you never know your luck!

[TheLemming]

Thanks, we'd considered that but it dies instantly on boot (or just never boots...)

Anyone have any experience with the various repair services plastered over google?

The Sony option at £128? isnt that cheap considering a new slim will cost £180 from blockbuster.

I've now been offered the console if I can fix it, sooooo I'm all ears ladies and gents. A cheap PS3 isnt too bad lol and I'll come join the COD7 posse on the PS3 instead of the Xbox :P

[freecar]

I'd talk to sony to see how long a warranty they give on repairs, then check this with the other repair services. I have heard of some of the companies failing to repair properly and it having to go back to them to be done again but no other problems.

[benjo83]

Exact same thing happened to mine and I've had to turn it into a £300 paper weight!!!

Bought another one and extended warranty just in case.

You can get your game out by doing a force start. I think you have to turn the power off, then hold down the eject button and turn the power on. It should start up and sound like its going to explode as the fan goes into over clock but it should eject the disc and then turn itself off.

Sorry to hear about the death of another ps3

[benjo83]

freecar said:

I'd talk to sony to see how long a warranty they give on repairs, then check this with the other repair services. I have heard of some of the companies failing to repair properly and it having to go back to them to be done again but no other problems.

6 months!!! What a joke!!! They did say if after the 6 months it happened again they would see what they could do but they couldn't promise me they weren't going to charge another £130.

Thats some awesome customer service there eh?

[TheLemming]

Shameless bump for the daytime crowd

[freecar]

benjo83 said:

freecar said:

I'd talk to sony to see how long a warranty they give on repairs, then check this with the other repair services. I have heard of some of the companies failing to repair properly and it having to go back to them to be done again but no other problems.

6 months!!! What a joke!!! They did say if after the 6 months it happened again they would see what they could do but they couldn't promise me they weren't going to charge another £130.

Thats some awesome customer service there eh?

I think the repair companies only give three months on their work or 60 days, so no better there!

[benjo83]

freecar said:

benjo83 said:

freecar said:

I'd talk to sony to see how long a warranty they give on repairs, then check this with the other repair services. I have heard of some of the companies failing to repair properly and it having to go back to them to be done again but no other problems.

6 months!!! What a joke!!! They did say if after the 6 months it happened again they would see what they could do but they couldn't promise me they weren't going to charge another £130.

Thats some awesome customer service there eh?

I think the repair companies only give three months on their work or 60 days, so no better there!

Basically, most of these big companies dont seem to care about customer retention anymore. A little bit goes a long way as they say, but I've found you have to go a long way for a little bit with these companies these days

[twinturboz]

On my 4th ps3 here. All three went the same way the last being only 8 months in from when Sony replaced it. You can try to escalate your disappointment in the Sony brand with a manager be polite and you may just be able to blag a freebie, worked for me each time.

How far is it out of warranty?
Try the force eject to get the disc out, although that didn't work for me last time round.

Also google the hair dryer trick may just work.

[A.J.M]

Mine is the same. Died on saturday morning.

Found a repair place 5 miles away so will be taking it to them on wednesday and it's likely between £50-100 for a fix.

Mines is over 4 years old though.

[Jaykaybi]

Curious stuff. Bought my 60GB PS3 in November 2007, used it just about every day since (and regularly fall asleep with it on by accident), no issues to report.

[smack]

YLOD? Mine has died errrr, 6 times I think, I have lost count. About to try and fix it again.

In the end I will just end up buying a new Slim at some point, with a full warrenty, which I would do rather than giving Sony money for a refurb, with a 6 month warrenty.

[benjo83]

When mine died it was on the hottest day of the year after I left it on for about 15hours while I went to the pub...error

Got a slim now though and hoping it'll be as hardy as my old ps2 which was on pretty much every day for over 7 years and never missed a beat.

[williskwl]

This happened to mine after having it for a year and a half. You can get the disk out as stated above. Mine was a fan problem but I couldn't get the ps3 working. I took it apart and tested the individual bits and it seemed like a motherboard problem because the fan and other components worked fine. The problem I have is with the data. If you plug the hdd into any other ps3 then it automatically formats it - losing the data. Sony do the same as soon as you give it to them and PC's cant read the hdd. So I have a new ps3 but the old one in pieces, a very common problem but very few solutions on the internet !!

[130R]

I have (touch wood) never had a modern console fail on me - NES, Mega Drive, Nintendo 64, PSone, XBOX, PS2 and PS3 have all been flawless. The only time I had a problem was when I found my old Atari 2600 in the loft and decided to give it a go, turned it on and it promptly caught on fire!

[plfrench]

The force eject doesn't work for me either... mine died a couple of months ago, but when I saw this, I thought I'd have a go at getting Red Dead Redemption out! Just beeps and flashes red...

I suppose I might as well dismantle it and remove the disc that way. I'm not going to pay Sony for a repaired console with limited waranty, I'd rather get a new one with a GT5 bundle.

[benjo83]

plfrench said:

The force eject doesn't work for me either... mine died a couple of months ago, but when I saw this, I thought I'd have a go at getting Red Dead Redemption out! Just beeps and flashes red...

I suppose I might as well dismantle it and remove the disc that way. I'm not going to pay Sony for a repaired console with limited waranty, I'd rather get a new one with a GT5 bundle.

Thats harsh dude, but on the plus side, I had a great time stripping mine down to the motherboard. The fan is huuuuuuuuge

[smack]

benjo83 said:

plfrench said:

The force eject doesn't work for me either... mine died a couple of months ago, but when I saw this, I thought I'd have a go at getting Red Dead Redemption out! Just beeps and flashes red...

I suppose I might as well dismantle it and remove the disc that way. I'm not going to pay Sony for a repaired console with limited waranty, I'd rather get a new one with a GT5 bundle.

Thats harsh dude, but on the plus side, I had a great time stripping mine down to the motherboard. The fan is huuuuuuuuge

I can strip mine down in no time, probably in my sleep!

[benjo83]

smack said:

benjo83 said:

plfrench said:

The force eject doesn't work for me either... mine died a couple of months ago, but when I saw this, I thought I'd have a go at getting Red Dead Redemption out! Just beeps and flashes red...

I suppose I might as well dismantle it and remove the disc that way. I'm not going to pay Sony for a repaired console with limited waranty, I'd rather get a new one with a GT5 bundle.

Thats harsh dude, but on the plus side, I had a great time stripping mine down to the motherboard. The fan is huuuuuuuuge

I can strip mine down in no time, probably in my sleep!

Yea, the website i used said give yourself an hour...it took about 15 minutes