i think my ps3 just broke, help?

[squall4008]

Ok, im angry I was playing Kingdom Hearts RE: Chain of Memories on my 60gb ps3, bought around march 07, it shut down and the red light began to blink, scared i decided to press the power button. This made the red light go solid as if it were in standby but now when i hit power or eject the light turns green as if it were turning on but then it shuts down and the red light starts blinking again.

From what i have found so far on the internet this means it overheated, shocking since it has plenty of room to ventilate. My only idea is that upconverting the ps2 game taxed it too much and it died, also shocking since i played for about an hour and a half last night, and i did notice the fan was a bit noisy after i quit, but this happened after about 20 minutes of play today.

so here is what im wondering
1) Is this truly the end of my ps3, or if i leave it off for a while will it fix it?
2) If it is the end, the sony's warranty is out, but i bought 2 years from Best Buy, anyone who has gone through Best Buys protection plan do they replace it with a new one of their choice, my choice, do i get my money back, or do they fix it?
3) My Kingdom Hearts is still inside, anyway to get it out?
4) I've never backed up my HDD, are all of my gamesaves gone?
5) No other ps3s are currently registered on my PSN account, but i did go through a situation where a friend of mine gave out my password to some people, i got then to unregister with my account and i changed my password. However, they did download some purchased content of mine, mostly RB DLC, as long as i can get on my PSN can i still redownload previously purchased content, or is there a limit of the number of times it can be downloaded?

Thanks for any help you can offer!!

[Hunting Wabbits]

Chances are you'll be fine. If you think it is overheating let it cool down a bit before trying to turn it back on.. To get your disc get the system to where it has a solid red power light, then just try hitting eject. Unless your HDD fried than all your saves and such are most likely intact. For DL content, I believe there is a limit on the number of downloads, but don't know offhand.

I'm not certain that this is always an overheating issue.. I've had an issue with mine not wanting to start on occasion, and it sounds like its because the drive hasn't spun up properly. Usually after cycling through solid red, blinking, red and solid green a few times I'll hear the drive spin up an things will be fine. However you may want to check the online help an follow the instructions for cleaning out dust buildup in case it is heat related.

[squall4008]

Chances are you'll be fine. If you think it is overheating let it cool down a bit before trying to turn it back on.. To get your disc get the system to where it has a solid red power light, then just try hitting eject. Unless your HDD fried than all your saves and such are most likely intact. For DL content, I believe there is a limit on the number of downloads, but don't know offhand.

I'm not certain that this is always an overheating issue.. I've had an issue with mine not wanting to start on occasion, and it sounds like its because the drive hasn't spun up properly. Usually after cycling through solid red, blinking, red and solid green a few times I'll hear the drive spin up an things will be fine. However you may want to check the online help an follow the instructions for cleaning out dust buildup in case it is heat related.

no, just figured out its definitely broken thanks for hoping though. I've been on the phone with Sony and Best Buy. Sony would cost $150 and there would be a possibility i would get a 60gb back and i could get the game back
Best Buy i would get the price of my purchase back so i could buy a new ps3 and have $200 to spend but i wouldnt get the game back and i would lose BC

probably going to go with Best Buy, but either way i would want to try to back up my HDD or at least try to get my save files. From what ive read on the internet i guess you cant swap HDD and have it run on another PS3 like you can with the 360? If you cant do that, can you put the HDD in a USB enclosure and use it as an external with another PS3, or could you plug that into a PC and just backup the files there?

[CXK]

Id go best buy for sure, mine just broke but it was under Sony's warranty. I wish I would have said "Yes" at best buy when the girl at the register asked if I wanted a warranty. But nooo....silly me thought since it would just be used for movies, no need to worry haha.

[squall4008]

so does anyone know if i can put my HDD in my friends PS3, would i be able to back it up that way?

[TheAnalogKid]

There is a limit on psn downloads - I believe it is 5 times.

There is no reason you shouldn't be able to go to your friends house, change out the hdd - log in under your name - go to the psn and download whatever you need to download..As long as it hasn't been downloaded the 5 time limit yet.

And - not to harp on this..but..dude..why in the world would you ever give out your psn id and password? Thats just insane!

[squall4008]

There is a limit on psn downloads - I believe it is 5 times.

There is no reason you shouldn't be able to go to your friends house, change out the hdd - log in under your name - go to the psn and download whatever you need to download..As long as it hasn't been downloaded the 5 time limit yet.

And - not to harp on this..but..dude..why in the world would you ever give out your psn id and password? Thats just insane!

we did it to swap RB DLC, not a good decision in hind sight... but some guy over at the ps forums seems pretty sure that it can be downloaded multiple times, but you can only have up to five accounts active at a time, i hope he is right

well thanks for all the help guys, i think im going to wait to get back to school swap the HDD with my friends there and back it up then get the giftcard from BB, im still deciding if i should sell the gift card to get a 60gb or 4 USB 80gb of ebay or from Gamestop, or if i should just give up on BC and get a new PS3, any thoughts? and also does anyone know about how large a PS3 backup is, do they compress it any or is it just as large as whatever is on your HDD?

[Hunting Wabbits]

no, just figured out its definitely broken thanks for hoping though. I've been on the phone with Sony and Best Buy. Sony would cost $150 and there would be a possibility i would get a 60gb back and i could get the game back
Best Buy i would get the price of my purchase back so i could buy a new ps3 and have $200 to spend but i wouldnt get the game back and i would lose BC

probably going to go with Best Buy, but either way i would want to try to back up my HDD or at least try to get my save files. From what ive read on the internet i guess you cant swap HDD and have it run on another PS3 like you can with the 360? If you cant do that, can you put the HDD in a USB enclosure and use it as an external with another PS3, or could you plug that into a PC and just backup the files there?

My condolences..

I've never tried swapping it into a different one. Unless they encrypt the files I don't see any reason it wouldn't work in a different PS3. As far as PC that would depend on the file system is. They put the game files on a seperate partition, so its doubtful that a PC would read it off the bat. You migth be able to get to it under Linux PC but even there I wouldn't hold my breath.

Were you at least able to get your disc back out?

[ulyssessthgreat]

My .02, buy a used ps2 from Game Stop for 49.99 and use the rest to get the 160gb w/o BC!

[squall4008]

My condolences..

I've never tried swapping it into a different one. Unless they encrypt the files I don't see any reason it wouldn't work in a different PS3. As far as PC that would depend on the file system is. They put the game files on a seperate partition, so its doubtful that a PC would read it off the bat. You migth be able to get to it under Linux PC but even there I wouldn't hold my breath.

Were you at least able to get your disc back out?

yeah some posters on the PS3 forums helped me too, you cant swap the hard drives because whenever you put in a new HDD it makes you format it. And you are right about connecting it to a PC i have to partition before i can use it. So my last hope is using it as an external on another PS3, i bought a cheap enclosure and i just have to wait until im back at school so i can plug it into my friends PS3, the older structure should be the same so i dont see why it wouldnt recognize the files, however i couldnt get any feedback on whether or not it would work on any forums so i just have to wait and see.

And no i wasn't able to get the disc out Im going to try and exchange the box for a new game saying the disc was faulty, broke my ps3 and got stuck inside. I hope that works too...

[squall4008]

My .02, buy a used ps2 from Game Stop for 49.99 and use the rest to get the 160gb w/o BC!

i dont really need 160GB i would rather go with the 80, but what i think im going to end up doing is selling my giftcard on ebay for hopefully a small loss then just ebaying an 80gb with BC

[Luv Blu's]

I believe Sony will want the HDD drive? Unless they know you're keeping it. But if you go Best Buy route they might never check for the HDD so you might get away with keeping it, but if you get a smart tech person they might check to make sure the HDD drive is present.
Best of Luck, sorry to hear about the disaster. Nice thing is you should have a new one before all the new games come out like Killzone 2 or RE5.

[squall4008]

I believe Sony will want the HDD drive? Unless they know you're keeping it. But if you go Best Buy route they might never check for the HDD so you might get away with keeping it, but if you get a smart tech person they might check to make sure the HDD drive is present.
Best of Luck, sorry to hear about the disaster. Nice thing is you should have a new one before all the new games come out like Killzone 2 or RE5.

yeah the BB route is definitely the way im going, i get a $200 profit versus paying $150 to get it fixed

[fugazied]

A friend of mine had his PS 3 just stop reading discs. Still under warranty from sony, the process is actually simple.
You call them, and give them details of what happened. They get your email address and email you a bar code for free postage. You tyake the barcode to the postoffice and they give you packing materials so you can send it off. 2-3 weeks later you get it back. If you get YOURS back or simply a refurbished one back I don't know.
My friends PS3 was noisier when he got it back, makes me think he got somone else's refurbished one.

[bryenfury]

rock and a hard place for sure.
Losing the hard work and Downloaded content is bummer for sure :/.
At least you have the best buy warranty!