Anyone else experienced the "Blue Ray of Death"?

_tony_

Hi all,

I've got one of the early/launch day 60GB PS3's which is now out of warranty. Last night the disk drive just stopped reading disks in the middle of a game and now it doesn't seem to be able to read any type of optical disk - music cd/data cd/blu ray/games/etc... Games on the harddisk still work fine.

I've googled around a bit and it seems that this issue is becoming quite common over the last few months for the older PS3 models and in the December batch of 40GB models.

From what I've read online it seems that Sony in the US charge 160$USD and ship out refurbs to people with the problem - and it takes 1 - 2 months before you get a working ps3.

Has anyone here experienced this yet? Any advice would be great. I see it's possible to just buy a new Blu Ray laser and throw it in myself, but some people online say that replacing the laser didn't fix this issue (although it did for others...).

Any advice would be great,

thanks

It happened to me back in march. Ring the support line in the manual. They send out details on how to get a replacement. If it's out of warranty like mine was it will cost €250. Someone else mentioned a repair company in a thread here a few days ago.
I finally got round to sending my 60gb back last week(two ps3's in my house ) and a replacement was sent back 3 days later. They messed up though and sent back a 40gb model. I sent that back and am still waiting for a 60gb.

Anyway to send it back to sony, call the support line-0818365065. This is what they told me.
Call Nightline couriers on 01 883 5400.
Arrange a pickup date for your console. Make sure its well packed in bubble wrap in a tough box if you threw out the original box! They will want a cheque or postal order for €250 if it's out of warranty or your receipt if it's in warranty.
Sony paid for the courier btw.

The address to send it to is:
FAO Tim Fitzgerald
Jenkinson
36 Airways Industrial Estate
Cloghran (Swords Road)
Dublin 17.
Call they support line first so they are expecting it.

I hope that helps.

_tony_

cheers for the fast reply!

Can't believe they charge 250euro for it!
Could nearly buy a new PS3 for that price - GTA bundle is 399.

Was a bit worried that they'd try to offload a 40GB onto me as well. From looking into it today though I guess the 40GB's are less likely to have this problem - they have 2 lasers that are used to read disks so the Blu Ray laser is only used when needed, as opposed to the 60GB model where it's used for everything! I guess sony may have been aware that the original blu ray lasers had a limited lifetime!

I reckon i'll just try replacing the laser myself - looks easy enough and costs about 60euro. Although there's no way for me to be certain that it's actually the laser until after i try to fix it!

Helix

250 is absolute obscene for something that was only launched over a year ago

_tony_

Helix wrote: »

250 is absolute obscene for something that was only launched over a year ago

agreed. From what I read online it seems that they just ship out a refurb unit (i.e. not your original PS3) and give you 3 months warranty. Anyone know how much a 2nd hand ps3 is these days? surely not much more than 250euro? maybe 300 i guess?

Helix

id rather buy a new one to be perfectly honest, or get a receipt off someone who bought a new one recently and bring it back for an in store replacement

Retr0gamer

Hmm, looks like the old playstation brand disc read error gremlin might be making a come back

Clover

Helix wrote: »

id rather buy a new one to be perfectly honest

+1 to that , there is no way i would pay €250 to get it fixed .

Vyse

Try consolerepairsireland.ie. Got my 360 fixed there.

€250 is an absolute disgrace. I cannot believe that anybody would charge that much. I thought MS had some neck charging €120 but at least that is in the realms of reality.

_tony_

_tony_ wrote: »

agreed. From what I read online it seems that they just ship out a refurb unit (i.e. not your original PS3)

Thats what happened to me last week. I sent back a 60gb and recieved a 40gb labelled as a 60gb.
I was not happy considering the money I've spent so far. €630 to buy the console on launch day, and €250 for a replacement machine which was the wrong type :mad:

311

Don't be under any illusions that this problem is to batches from certain times ,this problem happened a lot back to last october 07.
Personally I think it was down to ps3's being thrown around when they first came out ,you wouldn't see someone in DID throwing around a €900 Blu-ray player:eek:

I had to take back a 60GB myself at christmas ,it didn't really bother me as I appreciate the trouble sony went to on the ps3.

syboit

a friend of mine is on his 3rd console within a year. first 2 broke with the same bd-drive issue

witnessmenow

If your looking to get it repaired send me a pm, I wont be charging €250 for it (although that would be nice )

skywalker

€250 is outrageous. You shouldnt give them that kind of money out of principle.

Retr0gamer

311 wrote: »

I had to take back a 60GB myself at christmas ,it didn't really bother me as I appreciate the trouble sony went to on the ps3.

Eh? You appreciate the trouble sony went to to bring you an under performing faulty consoles? Don't be daft.

AtomicHorror

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Hmm, looks like the old playstation brand disc read error gremlin might be making a come back

Try to suppress your joy- it might piss some people off a bit.

Helix

witnessmenow wrote: »

If your looking to get it repaired send me a pm, I wont be charging €250 for it (although that would be nice )

curious as to where youre sourcing replacement br parts? just for my own curiousity should i ever decide to take my ps3 apart

byte

This is one site I seen mentioned before that sells the BD laser...
http://store.richspsxparts.com/pl3laaskeke.html

unklerosco

311 wrote: »

I had to take back a 60GB myself at christmas ,it didn't really bother me as I appreciate the trouble sony went to on the ps3.

They must love you....

€250 is a crazy crazy amount of money... €630 + €250. €880 on a PS3. That is sick.

grumpytrousers

Would the small claims court be of any use in these circumstances? I realise that if you've a 60Gb machine that's not being made anymore it's hard to replace, but a product should be sold as fit for purpose.

furthermore, the fact that, it appears, Sony tweaked the 40Gb model to have 2 lasers rather than the one, implies that they *know* there's a problem with the 60Gb in some cases.

just a thought, like...it's only 6 quid to apply.

LookingFor

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Hmm, looks like the old playstation brand disc read error gremlin might be making a come back

Really..

Shouldn't you be fapping over Ubi-soft's brilliant looking new Wii games, or something?

whiterebel

grumpytrousers wrote: »

Would the small claims court be of any use in these circumstances? I realise that if you've a 60Gb machine that's not being made anymore it's hard to replace, but a product should be sold as fit for purpose.

furthermore, the fact that, it appears, Sony tweaked the 40Gb model to have 2 lasers rather than the one, implies that they *know* there's a problem with the 60Gb in some cases.

just a thought, like...it's only 6 quid to apply.

I wouldn't let Sony away with this. They fan tell from their system the manufacturing date. Ring Sony and tell them you want the exact manufacturing date for your small claims court case and see what they say.
In Apple, for example, when you put in the serial it gives you the manufacturing date. If this is within the 12 months, no questions asked. if its over, but the customer insists he bought it within the last 12 months, they ask for a faxed receipt.

grumpytrousers

Well no - you'd take the claim against the vendor. That they have to replace the shoddy product...The Retailer have the comeback against Sony. Your 'contract' was entered into with the retailer - they offer something for sale with a given price on the understanding, by you, that it's of merchantable quality.

If they had two bundles of Playstations, one marked 'guaranteed to work till the end of time' and another marked (for €200 less 'guaranteed to give you heartbreak from 18 months of purchase) and you bought the latter, you'd have no comeback.

This isn't the case, however. You've an entitlment, beyond warranty, to something working correctly assuming you take all reasonable care of it. Otherwise you have the situation where you could buy a PS3 on Jan 1 2007, play a game on it, decide you prefer the Wii and only go back to the PS3 in 2009 and it doesn't work despite you having done nothing wrong.

like i say - I'm pretty convinced that the whole idea of a company offering a warranty is to try and get people to think that their purchase isn't embraced by territorial consumer protection law which isn't the case. Note the small print; it always says 'this does not affect your statutory rights'.

http://www.consumerassociation.ie/rights.html

Like I say, it's only a thought...

witnessmenow

LookingFor wrote: »

Really..

Shouldn't you be fapping over Ubi-soft's brilliant looking new Wii games, or something?

Ah stop talking sh1t.... everyone knows theres no brilliant looking wii games!:p

Jello

€250 is an absolute joke.

I had the same problem with a 40GB model I got in December, only had it two months before it went. Brought it back to the Sony Centre I got it in and was only offered a refurb, but I argued a good bit with them and got a brand new one.

I haven't heard much good about refurb models.

Retr0gamer

Isn't it european law that all electrical goods sold in the EU have to have a 3 year warranty? I'm pretty sure this is the reason why Microsoft had to increase the warranty for the 3 RROD error to 3 years although they really should have extended the full warranty to 3 years. You could try that if you are making a claim.

byte

It seems to be two years, but even at that, it's double what many manufacturers offer!

http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/ecd/docs/Leaflet_consumerDAY_en.pdf

Super Sidious

Get a more recent reciept from a friend thats still in warranty...

Creamy Goodness

he has a 60gig whereas a recipt now will be the 40gig.

mathias

Could you argue that point with Sony? My PS3 has just died and Sony want €250 for it. Would they legally be required to repair for free if this is the case or is the EU law just a guide line?

Well there is the reasonable life thing , a product costing 3-400 euro should be reasonably expected to last longer than 2 years , this falls under the " reasonably durable " part of your rights

http://www.consumerassociation.ie/rights_knowrights.html

It only costs 9 euros to file for the small claims court , worth a shot I think !

Information on the small claims and a link to file a complaint are in that site as well.

Incidentally , the Sky HD box has a known issue with the power supply , and they usually die after two years or so , Sky were charging 119 for the fix , now they are doing it for nothing , its worth it to complain !

Kev_ps3

My ps3 stopped playing disks this morning. Its a launch day ps3 so my warrenty is up and there is no way im paying 250 euro to get a new one, some way to treat your loyal fans Sony who picked up a ps3 on lauch day.
What options are available to me?

123

people have head great success with emailing the CEO of sony's games department (google for the email its not too hard to find)
Tell them your story(Exaggerate a bit) and say that your appalled at the way they treat their loyal customers who bought at launch

To a CEO, 1 PS3 is nothing at all and they will almost certainly agree.
They would rather give you a replacement than losing a customer.

Try it out and post back here

Kev_ps3

console repairs.ie said they would repair my ps3 for 85 euro so I think ill go with them. I want my ps3 back in action asap so I think thats the best option. I couldnt be bothered waiting ages begging sony.

AtomicHorror

This does all sound quite worrying- it's no red ring of death fiasco but it is still unfortunate. I have a launch day 60gb PS3 and have had no problems at all. Hopefully that will continue to be the case- it's a great machine and I'd hate to have it out of action so soon. My old PS2 is still going strong somewhere...

eVeNtInE

This post has been deleted.

G-Money

That's a bit mad alright. I didn't know PS3's could fall victim to the Sony version of the RROD.

I bought my PS3 in April this year so it's not even 2 month's old but so far, touch wood, it has been ok. It is the 40GB model and I bought it from Argos in the north so I don't know if that means is more or less likely to break. I don't know how old their stock is.

The only problem I have had with it, has been with the Spiderman 2 Blu-ray disc. When I say a problem, it is working, but takes a while to play. When you put it into the PS3 it spins around for about a minute or so before it actually loads. It begin's to sound as if it won't load at all. However Spiderman 3 Blu-ray loads a lot faster.

I bought the Spiderman trilogy on Blu-ray from Amazon UK and from the comments there, it seems like most people are affected by this, however whether it's a PS3 issue, Spiderman 2 disc issue, or some wacky combination of both, I don't know.

At least the PS3 doesn't seem to be as fragile as the Xbox 360. I know a few guys who have the 360 and most of them have received the RROD and had to get their 360 replaced.

Captain Chaos

At least MS are fixing RROD 360s free of charge and are giving 3 years warrantees from either a recipt of the production on the console. Sony should be doing something similar seeing as a lot of people forked out €600 for it here, more than the US, UK or JP payed for theirs.

It just shows what Sony thinks of its customers in general. Especially the EU region as a whole which they treat as second class citizens.

Good luck in getting free replacements from Sony, if and when my 60gb goes because of the blu disc of death (BDOD) as I call it, I'll be e-mailing till I get a free replacement.

Just in case, I'm not a MS fan, my launch 360 packed in last year due to the RROD but it was all sorted with one call and a wait of 3 weeks.

BTW isn't there a law about how long electrical goods should last in consumer rights in this country. I think its 2 years. If you don't have a recipt Sony should be able to tell roughly how old it is from the serial batch number on the console. Just a thought.

_tony_

Just to follow up on this....I got my ps3 repaired at the console repair shop in Bray - 85euro. I think everyone with this problem would have a case against sony about this, but for the time it would take to haggle with sony for them to repair it (and not give me a 40gig refurb), it just wasnt worth it for me. I wanted to have it fixed asap.

The guy in the repair shop was saying that this identical fault is happening with absoloutely loads of ps3s at the moment, he told me that particularly over the last 2-3weeks all of the early ps3 batches are just dropping dead!

I'd really be surprised if sony don't start offering an extended warranty for this...but the thing is...it probably wont happen until they have enough stats on how many of them are actually failing! So maybe in 6 months or something they will give a proper warranty.

Creamy Goodness

where's the console repair shop in bray, never knew there was one?

G-Money

I agree that Sony should offer some sort of a program like Microsoft have with the RROD on the 360. I don't know how long the warranty lasts on the PS3. I have a funny feeling if it breaks within 3 months you have to bring it back to where you bought it, but after that, it has to be sent to Sony or some other place. But I could be completely wrong about that.

Anyway it's not acceptable for stuff to be breaking so soon, especially when it's not like we are using them as a football and kicking them around the place. It seems like there is a "acceptance" of these kind of problems with next-gen consoles that doesn't exist with most other electronic equipment. I dare say if LCD TV's were breaking down as often as PS3's or 360's, there would be blue murder.

grandmaster

grandmaster wrote: »

I agree that Sony should offer some sort of a program like Microsoft have with the RROD on the 360. I don't know how long the warranty lasts on the PS3. I have a funny feeling if it breaks within 3 months you have to bring it back to where you bought it, but after that, it has to be sent to Sony or some other place. But I could be completely wrong about that.

Anyway it's not acceptable for stuff to be breaking so soon, especially when it's not like we are using them as a football and kicking them around the place. It seems like there is a "acceptance" of these kind of problems with next-gen consoles that doesn't exist with most other electronic equipment. I dare say if LCD TV's were breaking down as often as PS3's or 360's, there would be blue murder.

The shop you bought it in will replace it within one year of purchase. After that it must go back to sony.:mad:

Ans Blix

Just being a little bit paranoid... i got my ps3 at xmas ('07-'08), has the whole batch been plauged with this problem or what?

Kev_ps3

Got my ps3 fixed today in console repairs Ireland in Brey. Glad to have it working again, recommend em to anyone with the same problem I had - not reading disks. Sony havent even got back to me yet the shower.

TheMaxDaddy

I have a PS3 60Gig bought in late April 2007. No problems so far. I WILL cry if it happens; and then bring my crying daughter (cause daddy is crying) to Tokyo to Sony corp headquarters (I know where it is). I'll then stand outside with crying two year old till I get it fixed. Flights might cost a bit more than 250 euro, but its the principal!!!

Seriously though. I wouldnt pay 250, or 85. In The Guardian the other day they were talking about electrical goods being expected to last a reasonable time (EU law mentioned earlier in thread). I dont think one year is reasonable.
I still love you Sony. Dont let us down.....

Riesen_Meal

Just about to walk out the door to buy a PS3 and I saw this thread, I already had 2 faulty 360s and I dont know if I can be arsed with this!

I got rid of my wii yesterday to buy my fat black bastard today, now im having second thoughts, I only want it for BR, dont even want any games with it!

G-Money

I've had no problems with my PS3 so far, I've had it about 3 months. I use it to watch DVD's - Standard and Blu-Ray more than anything really, although I do play some games as well on it.

I can see how you would be a bit concerned it might break down, especially considering your 360 has given up the ghost twice. I think if it were me though, I'd still take the chance on it. I bought an Xbox 360 a few months before the PS3 well I knew full well that they seem to RROD frequently. Most guys I know who own a 360 have received the RROD but that didn't really stop me.

Riesen_Meal

Okay grandmaster if it doesnt work im dumping it on your doorstep!

I only really want it for the BR, I was half tempted to buy MGS 4, but I dunno if im as patient as I was when I was 18 - I heard bout the infamous hour and a half cut scene so I dunno if I could be arsed with that nowadays,im 28 now and as I never played MGS3, and didnt like MGS2 (Raiden, you cock) I really cant see myself getting into it, even though it looks like eye candy on the box!!!!

Actually, looking on the back of the box of MGS 4 it says HDTV 720P?

After forking out 1600 quid on a 1080p TV for the sitting room what the hells up with that?

Ive a 32" 720p in my room!

Tell me the BRs go up to 1080p?

G-Money

Some games might have 1080p but it might just be for certain scenes etc. I think for a lot of games during the standard action you might not get more than 720p. I have Formula 1 Championship edition and its normal resolution doesn't seem to be more than 720p.

If you are watching a Blu-Ray dvd film however, that should be a different story. I have the Spiderman Triology on Blu-Ray as well as Superman Returns and the film content for those is 1080p which my TV supports. It's a Sony Bravia 32" LCD.

Older films that have been released on Blu-Ray, I'm not sure how that works. I'm guessing the print doesn't look as good purely because the film is older and maybe of less clarity than the stuff being produced today.

I think I spoiled the whole transition to Blu-Ray myself by having an upscaling DVD player

Riesen_Meal

Thats a bit sh*tty, all xbox games (after the 1st year) are 1080p, but as I said, tis not really for gaming, more for BR, web browsing in sitting room -

Well I do wanna see some decent sony only 1st party games i.e Ico etc so I might have a look at encharted, heard thats good.....

Cheers for the help dude, time to head up to HMV in blanch and part with my vouchers!



Was in swords HMV and the guy looked at me with 10 heads when I told him I didnt want any games with it

They had none in stock after all in the end, so HMV blanch it is!!!

G-Money

No worries. Don't quote me on the 1080p games thing. It's quite possible there might be games that are 1080p for the PS3. I love racing games so they tend to be the only ones I buy so maybe it's just the ones I've bought or the fact that they are racing makes it trickier for them to be 1080p. Either way I know there are people on this board who know much much more about all of that than I do. Having said that, I bought Burnout Paradise and it might be 1080p, but I don't know for sure.

Ah, the adrenaline rush of buying some fancy new electronics, you've got to love it. I guess it's like being a junkie, but without the drugs and needles

Enjoy

AtomicHorror

Fieldog wrote: »

Thats a bit sh*tty, all xbox games (after the 1st year) are 1080p...

You sure about that? Last I checked they tended to be 720p just like the majority of PS3 games. GTAIV, Halo 3, COD4... all 720p or less.

As to the reliability... Maybe I've been lucky but I have a release-day PS3 that is still going strong! Maybe not 100% reliable, but certainly streets ahead of the 360.