I think my PS3 is slowly dying!

[BroncosXR8]

I think my PS3 is on the way out... dear god I hope not!

Now it is an original 60gb (Australian) that was delivered day 1.

In the last montha and a half I have been having a problem with the visuals on certain games - funnily enough GT5P does NOT display any effects.

Now it first reared its head when I bought Guitar Hero III, some of the characters became severly pixelated and had prism like structures coming from them - this only happened to the characters.
Then I bought Guitar Hero World Tour and it started to do this however it doesnt happen to the characters, it happens to the menu screens. When navigating in single player/any navigation screen the backgrounds are all prisms and pixels. Most of the fonts/writing are still legible depending on the menu, some (the first couple) are uninteligable - meaning I have to navigate by memory! quite annoying when your wife and her friends want to play!
Note I tried to play GHWT today and it was fine up until after the 3rd gig - which leaves me to believe the graphics card is overheating and/or has overheated severly in the past.

NOw it was only on these 2 games (that I noticed), the XMB is fine, Home is fine, GT5P is fine, playing music with the visual is fine.
Everything seems fine except for the games.

Then over Christmas I had my 2 brother in-laws stay over and the decided to pop in COD4, Assassins Creed, Heavenly Sword and MotorStorm Pacific Rift.
And lo and behold the same sought of problem started to happen.

MotorStorm every now and then has a large prism cut through the screen and yesterday the water turned pixelated and a funny purple/green colour.
It doesnt happen often and doesnt rerally affect it too badly.

COD4 is pretty good aswell, however sometimes there are small prism's 'leaking' out of the character or furniture/structures.

Assassins creed is bad but still playable with lots of small prisms.

Heavenly Sword almost became unplayable as their were lots of thes prisms, especially when their were lots of characters on screen!


I have some photos that I took of GHWT to show the problem and I will try and take some of the other games.

So far I have tried adjusting the TV settings (46" Bravia X series) and tried various visual setting from the XMB with no luck.

I havent tried another TV (only 1 HD TV) and I havent tried other cables although have tried other HDMI again with no affect.

Help, anybody, Help
Cheers.
BroncosXR8

 

[iwantdownload]

if i were you i'd give sony a call and see what they say
but it doesn't look good to me (i'm sorry for your loss)

 

[Pepsi0]

Are you sure it isn't the TV?

Good luck.

 

[ASH32]

My PS3, which was a 60GB launch just died, it was completely fine until the other day when it wouldn't boot, I got the yellow light, it seems from looking around forums that a lot of launch PS3 are breaking at the moment, but I have never seen any have the problem your describing. I am no electronic expert, but that looks like a cable problem to me, if it is possible try another HDMI lead. If it dose not work, there is no harm in ringing sony, they should know if this is a common problem or not. Good Luck finding and fixing your problem.

 

[Robin]

Its odd because original launch 60GB models are supposed to be the most reliable compared to the later 40GB ones. I havent had any trouble yet with my HK launch machine (fingers crossed) but the problem that you have described and shown with prism structures is a classic sign or either video output issues or graphical issues. Im thinking its the graphics chip (RSX) of the PS3 thats acting up and I doubt thats fixable unless somethings loose and can be soldered back together.

Have you tried running the system vertcially, see if you get the same problems, also try it on a different TV (although I doubt its the TV)... both HD and SD to see if its a video out issue.

Robin.

 

[Paulie]

I knew this'd happen the moment I learnt PS3s would be more like computers. Computers are the worst things for errors, and sure enough PS3s are error ridden. Games freeze, your problem happens, most online stuff in a lot of games doesn't work for people without the best and fastest connections. It's rediculous, but oh well. When it's not having errors the gaming experience is ten times better right? The price we pay.......

 

[hamstrings]

A faulty HDMI lead wouldn't result in artifacts like those. It looks like the graphics chip is cooked. Call up Sony.

 

[Legendary]

No, all of you have thought to deep. When he puts in a DISC (games excluding gt5p) it plays up...this might mean the laser isnt reading correctly. The only thing I can really relate other than the graphics card.

Also, If it dies I really feel sorry for you. 900AUD does not come easily...

 

[hamstrings]

Optical drives have check-summing and error correction. The system wouldn't accept bad data; it would spit out an error message if it could not read from the disc. Those artifacts are symptoms of an overheating video card.

Paulie, that's a slippery slope. The fact is stuff happens. PS3s are not error ridden. For every lemon PS3 out there, there are countless others that are working fine. Nobody complains when their system is working great. People are vocal when things don't work.

Bronco's best course of action would be to call Sony and get a replacement if his system is under warranty.

 

[BroncosXR8]

Thanks guys for your support and suggestions.
I will give Sony a ring this afternoon, but im not holding my hopes high
$1000 down the drain and then another $700 to buy a new one if I cant get it replaced!

Anyway Im of the opinion that the RSX is stuffed. Its cant be the Laser as it happened on one of my PSN downloads (Burnout demo).

So here are the pics of the other games.
As you can see Guitar Hero III (look at the drummer) andWorld Tour are the most severly affected.

Cheers
BroncosXR8

EDIT: one other thing - why do think GT5P is not affected? I would have though this was one of the most graphic intensive for the RSX to process! maybe because its not a port? or maybe it just shows how much PD put into the stability of their software.... It baffles me!

 

[BroncosXR8]

Well I just got off the phone to Sony Customer Support and im going to have to send it off to be repaired. Fortunately I will get the same 60gig PS3 back, I didnt want to end up with one with less features! He also said if it cant be repaired than I would still get another 60 back, dont know how that works as I thought their were no more, unless Sony Aus kept excess stock for such occassions.
Anyway I will be without my baby for between 12-14 days
Its costing me $315 because its outside warranty, but I suppose thats better than having to by another one at double that.

He also believed it was the RSX, I queried him weither he had heard of this problem before as I couldnt find much on the net, and he said he would be lying if he said no, although since launch it was only one maybe two that had presented these symptoms, it is nowhere near as common as the yellow light and update fiasco.

Anyway both guys I spoke to were really helpful and I had a good customer service experience. (except for having to lose it for 2 weeks and paying $315 - but hey I should have got the extended warranty)

Not to mention Im still on leave and it will be coming back just as I go back to work

 

[Robin]

Fortunately I will get the same 60gig PS3 back, I didnt want to end up with one with less features! He also said if it cant be repaired than I would still get another 60 back, dont know how that works as I thought their were no more, unless Sony Aus kept excess stock for such occassions.

Sony do have a stock pile of original 60GB's for repair only incase they fail. I would be really annoyed if I didnt get a 60 back especially because of the lack of card reader slots built in... and the BC. Its good that you will get the same as what you paid for.

He also believed it was the RSX,

Yeah I thought as much, anything polygony and primary colours usually means the graphics chip has gone.

Robin.

 

[BroncosXR8]

Well guys Im happy to report that I got my PS3 back two days ago.
Actually I think they gave me a replacement 60gb...

Anyway gave it a quick run through and all is good. I had a pretty good experience, the guys on the other end of the line while not being technicians were fairly knowledgeable and helpful. It took a ittle longer than 2 weeks but we had a few public holidays in there so wasnt to worried about it.

See you all on the track.
BroncosXR8

 

[Robin]

Congrats 👍 You'll know its a 60GB if it has crome lettering and a chrome disk slot surround.

Robin.

 

[J-PaP]

and a flap for the card reader and 4usb ports

 

[BroncosXR8]

Oh its definetly a 60gb, just not the original one I purchased but a replacement, as in excess stock that they kept for this particular reason.

 

[Legendary]

Congrats 👍 You'll know its a 60GB if it has crome lettering and a chrome disk slot surround.

Robin.

I have the 80gig with chrome lettering and disc slot surrounding.

 

[Quiet_Storm]

I wonder if Sony will still sell those excess 60GB units they still have if I call them up and want to buy one? Has anybody tried asking them to see if they'll sell it or will I have to do it myself if I want to know? I'm very lazy. I already have the 60GB model but I just want anoher one.

 

[Robin]

I have the 80gig with chrome lettering and disc slot surrounding.

Yeah but the PAL 80GB doesnt have card readers.

I wonder if Sony will still sell those excess 60GB units they still have if I call them up and want to buy one? Has anybody tried asking them to see if they'll sell it or will I have to do it myself if I want to know? I'm very lazy. I already have the 60GB model but I just want anoher one.

Worth a try but I doubt they would sell it you because they need them just incase someones machine is beyond repair.

Robin.

 

[Moglet]

I had a pretty good experience, the guys on the other end of the line while not being technicians were fairly knowledgeable and helpful.

The Sony careline are very helplful and polite, it was great to speak to someone friendly and knowledgeable when mine broke recently, the guy on the other end ended up chatting to me about Dead Space as that was the game it had frozen on!

 

[Jeremy Ricci]

About 90% of the time, you will never get back your original unit. It is almost always a replacement. That said, it was a GPU failure, happened to my second PS3. It's kind of Funny sometimes because things won't render right. I was playing Uncharted and Nates arms were unusually long, wish I had a picture of it, lol.

 

[Nicksfix]

I have an 80gb version , I think it is on it's way out ( do not have the YLOD syndrome ), it will not read any disc based games. I can play downloaded demos , I can pm , I can pretty much do anything except play a disc inserted game , any ideas ? laser eye , dust ( although I did clean it out this past weekend ) , PLEASE HELP !!!!!! THANKS

 

[Robin]

I have an 80gb version , I think it is on it's way out ( do not have the YLOD syndrome ), it will not read any disc based games. I can play downloaded demos , I can pm , I can pretty do anything except play a disc inserted game , any ideas ? laser eye , dust ( although I did clean it out this past weekend ) , PLEASE HELP !!!!!! THANKS

You could open up the console and check that all motors inside the Blu Ray drive assembly are working properly and check if the laser lights up when inserting a disk. This way you can rule out hardware as the problem (which likely means its software / firmware).

To do this put in a non Blu Ray disk (important) with the grey metal drive cover off and the top white magnet removed. Watch to see if the disk spins and look through the clear middle bit of the disk to see if laser lights up. Then you know its not lens or drive failure.

However only do all this if your up to it and know what your doing. Its the only way to narrow down the list of things which could be causing the problem.

Robin.

 

[Nicksfix]

Thanks Robin 👍 will try this

 

[paolopepper]

thats weird i get that on my comp when i play the flight sim sometimes lots of things point in the air dont know what it was but its fine now

 

[Nicksfix]

I have been told to take it apart by several and clean the eye. What if I do this and it does not work ? Will Sony detect that I have been inside the unit fooling around and veto any warranty that is left and make me pay for any repairs ?

 

[J-PaP]

If you still have warranty remaining then yes they will be able to tell as to remove the top cover you need to remove the warranty sticker.

If you run out of warranty though, i'm not sure if it matters if you have the warranty sticker anymore.