PS3 won't read discs

[IronBrig4]

I was playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution on my PS3 last night when the game froze. That happens sometimes so I didn't think much of it and just rebooted the system (no, I didn't unplug it). When it restarted, it couldn't read the game disc anymore. No autorun, no icon in the menu, nothing. I put in a couple other games and Blu-rays to see if it was just the game or the entire system, and met with the same result. I restarted again, turned it off and unplugged it for a few minutes, and it didn't work. It was late so I just went to bed.

This morning I tried it again, and the Blu-ray worked just fine! Then I put in a game disc and that launched without a hitch too. So I went about my day (left the machine on) and when I finally sat down to watch the Blu-ray, it launched but then said it couldn't read the disc. I ejected the disc and re-inserted it, and again it autolaunched and then refused to play it. After a third time, it just didn't show up in the menu altogether. The whole time, I could hear the disc whirring inside and it sounded like the PS3 was just about to eject it.

Just to be clear, everything else on my system works fine. Downloaded games run well, and so does Netflix. I think it's a minor hardware fix; I might have pushed a little hard when putting in a disc, and that may have shifted a gear out of order.

Any suggestions on what to do? I've had it for four and a half years so I'm sure that's outlasted any warranty.

 

[Hailey Knight]

Are you sure it's not a PS4?

 

[Eliwood]

I had a similar problem about a year ago, PS3 wouldn't read discs and it make a gravelly ejection sound. I took it to a local repair guy in San Francisco and he replaced something in the system, the blue laser diode I think? I don't quite remember the specifics, but apparently it was a fairly simple fix, and if you're willing to fiddle with the system yourself there might be some instructions online to replace the diode. Does the PS3 still read normal DVDs, just not games/Blu-rays? If so it's probably the blue diode problem since there is a separate laser for reading DVDs.

 

[IronBrig4]

Yeah, it's reading DVDs like normal. Problem is there aren't many electronics repair shops in a small town like College Station. I'm just gonna back up my data and send it in to Sony. I spoke with them earlier tonight and they'll fix it. And you know the strangest thing? The guy I talked to wasn't from India!