PS3 hardware failure

[RobertR1]

For those with older systems that might be on their way out, Gamestop is offering a $200 trade in value for you PS3.

I have a MGS4 80GB system which has been getting increasing louder over time. I'm going to go trade it in and see what bundles and such come out in fall or if I just want a BR player instead. In the meantime, I can use my friends spare BR player until I decide what I want to do.

http://www.gamestop.com/gs/specialty/tradeins/

 

[Sigfried1977]

Yuck! I've used a Slim and the buttons are a real let-down after the classyness of the original. Purely utilitarian.

Totally disagree with you here. I hate all that touch-sensitive crap and I think the buttons on the slim have a very nice feel to them. I also really like the blue-ish white lights. The Slim model feels like a higher quality product in general to me (not to mention it's so much more pleasing on the eyes)
Nothing about the original PS3 felt classy to me. It was just big.

 

[deathindustrial]

My new 250GB slim I just bought has apparently already failed (model CECH-2001B). Even after a full system wipe it will not sync trophies without locking up and is displaying some strange shutdown issues (does not like to do so). After talking to support my options were to return it or send it in for repair.

What really sucks is that using the data transfer utility resulted in me losing my protected saves (since I had to wipe the target machine during the troubleshooting process).

Saving to the cloud cannot come fast enough. . .

Cheers

 

[patsu]

What really sucks is that using the data transfer utility resulted in me losing my protected saves (since I had to wipe the target machine during the troubleshooting process).

I'm going to upgrade my other PS3 to a higher spec HDD soon. What do you mean by the above ? Doesn't the Data Transfer Utility copy protected saved files to another HDD ?

 

[deathindustrial]

The transfer utility copies everything from the original PS3 to the target machine. This process wipes out your protected saves on the old box and locks them to the new machine. Since you cannot copy protected saves anywhere, I could not back them up during the troubleshooting process on my slim. My only potential option was to use the data transfer utility to move the new box's contents *back* to the old box and I was not too keen on that since the new machine was already acting up (I could lose both machines if something went wrong).

So when I had to run the format utility from safe mode (since nothing else worked) I lost all content including my protected saves. Thanks for the wonderful "feature" of protected saves Sony.

=(

Protected saves are now something I will be checking for when considering game purchases and trying to avoid if at all possible.

Cheers

 

[patsu]

Ok, the transfer tool copied the protected save to another PS3 successfully but circumstances forced you to reformat that PS3.

Agreed that protected game save is a pain. They can solve it by locking the save to the PSN ID so we can copy it anywhere. A cloud save will solve this issue (and a handful of others) too.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Why even bother locking saves? If some people want to 'cheat' games, that's their business, but don't prevent the rest of us using saves for our games how we want.

 

[Billy Idol]

Why even bother locking saves? If some people want to 'cheat' games, that's their business, but don't prevent the rest of us using saves for our games how we want.

What I wonder: does it take effort from the devs to unlock the saves? For instance they have to implement something with respect to the trophies which takes time+money?

On the other hand: if it would take effort to lock the save games...then locking saves is crazy!!

 

[Shifty Geezer]

It takes effort to lock them. You have to encode the saves to the PS3, whereas standard saves are just files you can move around.

 

[Billy Idol]

It takes effort to lock them. You have to encode the saves to the PS3, whereas standard saves are just files you can move around.

But on the other hand, you don't have to borther with the trophy issues when you copy saves on different PS3s...which needs maybe more effort at the end?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

My point is why worry about trophy issues? Trophies are worthless, and someone having more than you means squat in the grand scheme. Whereas actually losing your saved game data or not being able to use it on another PS3 under your own account is a real frsutration that hits most people. sod the trophies! Let trophy cheaters cheat if they want to. Games consoles are about having fun and if someone's idea of fun is cheating trophies, they should be allowed to. Unlike other forms of cheating this sort of thing doesn't impact anyone except the cheater.

 

[findhorn_elves]

The older models are so unstable but better hardware this is so confusing should i keep it or not huh.....

 

[Cornsnake]

Ok, I have 12 Gb of free space on my harddrive. Now I want to download 7 Gb for Infamous. It tells there isn't enough space on the harddrive. Has anyone had this problem before, and knows how to solve it?

 

[Rotmm]

Ok, I have 12 Gb of free space on my harddrive. Now I want to download 7 Gb for Infamous. It tells there isn't enough space on the harddrive. Has anyone had this problem before, and knows how to solve it?

Isn't it because the game has to be downloaded and then installed? If so, then you're going to need more than the 12Gb (7 to hold the download and then 7+ for the install).

Can't you delete a few GB worth of stuff and try again?

 

[Cornsnake]

Isn't it because the game has to be downloaded and then installed? If so, then you're going to need more than the 12Gb (7 to hold the download and then 7+ for the install).

Can't you delete a few GB worth of stuff and try again?

Your right. Thanks.

I don't I'll be downloading games this big anymore if it requires me to free up so much space for it.

 

[Arwin]

My point is why worry about trophy issues? Trophies are worthless, and someone having more than you means squat in the grand scheme. Whereas actually losing your saved game data or not being able to use it on another PS3 under your own account is a real frsutration that hits most people. sod the trophies! Let trophy cheaters cheat if they want to. Games consoles are about having fun and if someone's idea of fun is cheating trophies, they should be allowed to. Unlike other forms of cheating this sort of thing doesn't impact anyone except the cheater.

I'm going to find out about this now, as my PS3 just died after 3,5 years of faithful service (EU Launch, so 23 March 2007). Will be buying a Slim, but I'm also considering sending this one in for repairs as well, not sure - I definitely can use a second PS3 to play GT5 online on or create LBP2 levels while the wife hogs the TV I think. Also, it died while receiving new gifts in EyePet.

Slightly annoying timing though - I'll have to either wait for the new Move bundle, or find a deal like I saw a few weeks ago (120GB Slim for 249,-). Anything inbetween (which is everything online right now) just doesn't make sense - the 349 bundle gets me a Move controller that I want anyway, which saves 30 euro, and another 320GB drive (which I don't strictly need because I already had one). If I get a 120GB Slim now for 279,- from Mediamarkt (which is tempting because that's open and five minutes from here, so I can go get it right now), then I get the controller, camera (about 55 euro worth) and 200GB more HDD space, for just 70 euros more. Should be an easy choice, shouldn't it? It's just three weeks, after all. But the thing is, I use it every day (and so does my wife) and then three weeks is suddenly very long.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

. Isn't there a 'trade-up your busted PS3 for a Slim' service available, rather than getting it fixed?

 

[Arwin]

. Isn't there a 'trade-up your busted PS3 for a Slim' service available, rather than getting it fixed?

Not that I know of. After an hour or so of thinking I went out to the mediamarkt and got a Slim, checking the numbers to make sure it was a 40nm/45nm chipset @ 60W.

My quick impressions:
- I still wish I could just plug in my old harddrive and continue as I was. Plugging it in now means I have to reformat
- there are, on the other hand, advantages to having a clean setup (cleans up a lot of stuff I didn't play anymore at once ), so I think when I do get my old one running again, I'll just copy the save games
- will try to get the old one fixed (saw something like 80 euro for a new laser or 35 euro for redoing the cooling paste). I've wanted two PS3s for stuff like LBP2 level building and playing online games in the study anyway.
- the Slim doesn't like standing on its side. It can do it just fine, but it gets noisier, and particularly the BD drive noise becomes much louder.
- it's true what they say about the fan-noise - it's quieter, but at the same time more focussed (if you'd make a wave recording, you'd see a narrower noise bandwidth) and it stands out initially just because it's such a different sound from the old one. But setting it down flat makes a big difference.
- I actually like the new lights in the new buttons. They make the system look much nicer.
- replacing the harddrive was easier (but turned out pointless). My hdd was manufactured on 26 May 2010, so pretty recent.
- there is no question that the Full RGB setting is what I need for my Samsung TV. I was shocked at the washed out image I got from the Slim with the default settings.
- Home installs and runs very quickly, was surprised at that. I couldn't get into the Wipeout space before due to some kind of corrupted download file, but now I could.

The guy at Mediamarkt also mentioned that the new 160GB wouldn't be coming at the Move's launch. They'd get the 320Gb Move bundle and its variants in September, but the 160GB packs wouldn't come until mid-late October.

All in all, I just wish my old 60GB (320GB) PS3 hadn't died. I liked its USB ports and memory card slots. And Sony, a deal with Steam to have savegames
in the cloud wouldn't be a bad idea at all ...

 

[Rotmm]

- I actually like the new lights in the new buttons. They make the system look much nicer.

This I'll disagree with you a little... not so much about the lights and buttons, but their ability to make the system look much nicer. The reason I went for a repair is that I think the finish on the Slim makes it look cheap, like a toy. And yes, of course it is a kind of toy, but it doesn't have to look like one. The reason I upgraded my old 360 Pro was not because of the extra HD space, but because the black 360 looked much nicer than the cream in my media centre. The reason I'm hesitant to downgrade from a FAT to a Slim is because the Slim has levels of attractiveness around that of the old white 360.

Ihmo, of course

 

[Arwin]

This I'll disagree with you a little... not so much about the lights and buttons, but their ability to make the system look much nicer. The reason I went for a repair is that I think the finish on the Slim makes it look cheap, like a toy. And yes, of course it is a kind of toy, but it doesn't have to look like one. The reason I upgraded my old 360 Pro was not because of the extra HD space, but because the black 360 looked much nicer than the cream in my media centre. The reason I'm hesitant to downgrade from a FAT to a Slim is because the Slim has levels of attractiveness around that of the old white 360.

Ihmo, of course

Well that was my exact same first impression of the Slim as well, except that I wouldn't ever in my mind be able to think of the looks of the original 360 when looking at the Slim, because they have just about nothing in common. But once I had it on and placed at the exact same location as my original 'Phat', I thought it looked rather attractive with its light-blue lights on the eject and power buttons.

Of course now that I discovered the Slim prefers to 'lie down', the point has become very moot for me.