Depending on how much you value the data on the hard drive...Gain access to the repair mode by doing the following:
1. Turn off Playstation®3.
2. Hold The power button down; The system will turn on and turn off once again.
3. Once the System has been shutdown, re-press you finger until you hear 2 consecutive beeps
4. When you hear the 2 beeps take finger off power button.
5. You will be promted to plug in your controller via usb and then hit the PS button
6. The Recovery menu will pop up.
The only option that will destroy any data is Restore Default Settings (this just resets the system's settings, none of your game data is touched), and Restore PS3 System, which will bring it to a like-new state. I'd try to restore the default settings, rebuild database, and restore file system. Hopefully something is just corrupted and that can fix it.
