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My PS3 turned itself off at the weekend and now just beeps 3 times before showing a red flashing light.  Have Googled it and there are a few suggestions out there about overheating and such, which is a load of bollocks as it was only on for about a minute.  Othere suggestions are a corruption on the hard disk and I need to remove power up re-install and try again, but I'm not so sure.

Has anyone else on here experienced this and if so how did you fix it?

I appreciate anyone's advice with this.

Cheers

If it's in warranty then take it back before opening it up.

It's not!  >:(

Well, after trying to fix my Xbox 360 myself and fucking it up, I'd be of the opinion that you should pay someone who knows what they're doing. Otherwise you'll have yourself a nice expensive paperweight.

ring sony.the number is on the playstation site or av forums will have it.they were very helpfull with me.nothing to lose by ringing them,they might replace the system for you?

08705 998877  sony careline.i had the same problem but as mine was under a year old they replaced it.hardrive is fucked by the sounds of it.

If it were just the Hdd then it is a piece of piss to swap out yourself.

But unless you have a suitable spare lying around, how would you know that is the issue?

i had the same problem batch,and the person on the end of the phone said it sounded like a corrupted harddrive.i'm not clued up at all in technical regards, but am advising on what i was told by the operator.

I wasn't doubting you!

I was telling Bernie a Hdd is a piece of piss to swap but a gamble unless he has a spare lying around anyway.

no probs batch,i did think you were responding to me but it wasn't a bite.just explained why i gave the repsponse i did.
you are better at these things than me

Cheers guys, I'll give Sony a ring tonight and see what they say.

I'll keep you informed.

Think you can get an external HDD for the PS3. Not that it would make a difference if your one is fucked. That's the only problem with the PS3. It's great having a built in HDD but when it's fucked so is your whole console in some ways. Watch our for the yellow light though. That means it's totally dead.

It's only a standard SATA 40gb drive. You could probably pick one up on ebay for a tenner. Like others have said it's a piece of piss to fit. A mate of mine put a 200gb drive in his PS3.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B1mQ21XXLE

It's made very clear in the manual how to do this, Sony have no issue with you doing so. Only issue is losing saved game data if it is an unscheduled swapout like this.

Bernie I'll have a look around to see if the Hdd I took out the PC is SATA or just IDE. If it is SATA you can try it if you like, only issue is I think it too is dying (hence it no longer being in the PC), but it might tell you something.

Cheers for this guys.

Don't worry too much Batch, I work in IT so have no problem getting hold of a SATA drive, was just a bit pissed about losing the data/saved games etc.  I have no problems in swapping it, but thanks for the vdeo anyway Jay!

I'll still try Sony tonight and hope they come up with something that we are unaware of.

If you can stick the HDD in a PC you should be able to get the data files off it onto a pen drive...

Removing the hard disk makes no difference and Sony are telling me it is a overheating problem and they will swap my console for £149, robbing bastards!

Mine is a 60gb version which apparently is well sought after.  Anyone have any contacts that can repair it cheaper?

Overheating even though it's been turned off for days  and doesn't turn on. Interesting...

Could be if for example a key cooling component has failed (fan knackered, heatsink come loose etc) - some components will overheat more or less immediately without cooling. At least I had a CPU that the heatsink came loose off and it overheated pretty much as soon as I turned the PC on. Stuck on a new one and it sorted it. But it does sound like bollocks, I think your HDD thing sounds far more likely.

Suppose so. Worth a second opinion mind!

Hell, yes, as I'm almost certainly talking bollocks. Take it to an independent repair shop

Anyone know any independant repair shops for consoles?

Was there a disc in it?

 camlab might do repairs.

http://ps3.qj.net/Possible-PS3-flashing-red-light-fix-from-MXACE/pg/49/aid/75721

Possible solution.

Yep!

Take it you've tried the manual eject thing (hold down the button for 10 seconds)?

Although I'm not sure this will work if you can't turn it on.

Yeah, I had read that and tried it today but it still did the 3 beeps thing when the hard disk wasn't in it!

I know the guys at Camlab so will ask the question, but I don't think they do.

Any other suggestions anyone?

No, that doesn't work unfortunately.

i'd probably bite the bullet and pay the £149 then berni.at least you will get a machine that has been rebuilt and looked at properly.