PlayStation®3 Technical Help

[liortal]

Hello,

I turned my PS3 on today, to discover it cannot boot (getting the message: 

The system software cannot be run correctly. Press the PS button to try to restart the system.

If the system cannot be restarted, you must reinstall the system software.

Connect storage media that contains update data of version 3.10 or later, and then press the START and SELECT buttons at the same time.

I have created a USB drive with OS 4.11, but this gets stuck on 99% and does not finish (attempted 3 times).

What can i do to fix this problem? (and what can be the cause?)

[strangeplaice]

This could be caused by a variety of issues. Usually data corruption caused by not turning it off properly.

Try working your way through safe mode options 1 to 5, to see if that can rectify the problem. You can find the safe mode guide thread here: http://community.eu.playstation.com/t5/PlayStation-3-Technical/Using-the-Safe-Mode-function-on-your-...

[liortal]

I have tried safe mode, although not going through 1-5 in this order.

The problem it now won't go to safe mode anymore, as the update is attempted and gets stuck.

I wonder if it is possible to somehow remove the drive and format it or replace it to solve this, although as you say the issue may be caused by many other reasons...

So what else can i do...

[strangeplaice · Accepted solution]

Where did you get the update data? Make sure you only use data from uk.playstation.com

Also, externally formatting may fix this issue, however you may find it will still ask for update data. (Though may have more luck installing.) To do this you need to either install it internally in computer and run either the windows format utility if it's a slave drive, or a linux partitioning tool if it's the master.

Alternatively, look for external usb drive caddy for 2.5" hard drives. You can then format it using any computer then stick it in the PS3. (If you go down that road I'd recommend buying another hard disk to put in it afterwards, but that's escalating the cost.)

If you're reasonably competent with computers and know your SATA from your IDE, then you can try swapping out your computers hard drive and using Ubuntu to format it.

[liortal]

What is the difference between a slave and master? I have only one drive in the console.

[strangeplaice]

Slave and master drives are to do with internal computer components rather than the PS3. It's a lot to explain but the Master is the one with everything important on it and the Slave usually is just for data and the likes. Thinking about it, as it's a laptop hard disk, putting it inside a PC probably won't work anyway, so you're best buying a caddy case for it or putting it inside a laptop and formatting it.

[liortal]

I didn't just get the part of the explanation about the different ways to act in case it's a slave or master. The PS3 comes only with a single HDD, so i assume it will always be configured the same.

I have taken the HDD out, i am now trying to figure out which sort of format should i use, and what to do next?

Should i format it on windows as FAT32, or on linux as you suggested?

I am not sure.

[fi8767]

Windows formatting will be fine Make sure its FAT32.

[strangeplaice]

It doesn't matter so long as the drive no longer has PS3 data on it. FAT32 would be safest

[liortal]

I have formatted the drive as NTFS though.

I have inserted it into the console, and tried to install the updated OS but received a message: a serious error occured.

Not sure if the HDD is the issue anymore.