I have recently had the misfortune of my PS3 not reading any of my games or my Bluray dvds. This was going on for the last week and although it would eventually read the discs after much putting the discs in and out and turning on and off I decided to phone tech support. Solution, Bluray drive was broke and would cost £130 to replace like for like. Was I satisfied with this, no!
As a result I fixed the problem myself and currently no problems with reading games or Blurays. So I have decided to write up all the tips and hints I found along my journey.
Firstly you need to work out if this is a software or hardware problem.
For software turn your PS3 off so that it is in standby (red light will be on). Hold the power button down on the console and the PS3 will start up. Keep your finger on the button and the PS3 will eventually turn itself off again. Now press the button again and hold it in. It will beep once and then beep twice. Release your finger and you will be brought to a menu. You will need to have your controller plugged in with the USB cable. The first thing to try is option 3 which is a file system restore. The will load up the PS3 again and say the the hard disc is corrupted and will restart the PS3. If like mine the PS3 will reboot again and the Bluray will attempt to read the game. This worked for a while for me but I had to do this everytime and for every game. Note keep the game in the PS3 when attempting this.
If the above did not work for you repeat the same steps to get to the options and then select option 4 which is rebuild the database. IT says this can take up to 2hrs and 59min but it done mine in under a minute. May not be the same for yours.
If this didn't help next step, brace yourself call tech support. Number for the UK is 0844 7360 595. Press option 1 and then option 1 again to get through to technical.
What you will be told to do is a system restore. This can be found in the system options in the XMD under Restore PS3. Please note that this will wipe all your saved games and data. So any music, photos, videos and game save files back them up now. USB flash drives will do the trick but an external hardrive is probably your best bet. The idea behind this is that if you have anything that has corrupted the software on your PS3 it will restore it to normal. This will take 2hrs and 59min, so make sure you find something to do.
If this still hasn't fixed your problem it is looking more and more likely there is a hardware fault. However there is one last hope. In the XMD under the system option select Format Utility. Then select full format to wipe everything from your PS3. Similar to the above step it will take 2hrs and 59min so you should have backed up from before so you should be ok.
If this did not work then I'm about 99% sure its the hardware. This is where Sony said they would replace mine like for like for £130. Now my PS3 was a 40GB and was just under 2 years old. If you have a different system price may be different.
These next steps should ONLY be carried out if you have gone past the one year warranty and you do not have an extended warranty. Reason what you are about to do will void any warranty you have on your PS3. You are about to open the bad boy up. Sounds daunting I know but I though what the hell, out of warranty and was going buy a 250GB slim line if this didn't work.
What you need to do is clean the Bluray lense. Search Youtube for instructions on how to open the PS3 and then how to clean the lense. It really is not as hard as it sounds. Just be very careful with the cables when you are disconnecting them.
For me this worked a treat and like I said currently no problems. However saying this I accept no responsibility if you try any of the above steps. They worked for me but I cannot guarantee they will work for you. I also cannot stress enough if you are in warranty do NOT remove the warranty sticker.
Anyway if you are reading this I hope it has helped, just think like me. What have you got to loose as ong as you're out of warranty and if it saves you £130 all the better.
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