My PS3 no longer loads games!

[Kaladron]

A weird thing just happened.

I switched on the PS3 to play FF XIII but the disc didn't appear in the XMB and my friends list appeared empty. I rebooted and got a message saying that the HDD database would be reconfigured. The friends list returned but the game still wasn't appearing in the menu.

I've tried a whole bunch of discs now and though it will happily play blu ray movies, the console doesn't recognise a single game disc I insert and refuses to auto load them.

Any help, or is my console basically screwed?

[Daragon]

I think mine did this at some point, you'll need to format I'm afraid.

[doodledude]

badumpby bump!

Mine has been doing this on and off for the last month or so.
I tried restoring the file system from the system boot up menu and that worked for about 2 days then it stopped loading blu-ray games again, so I then tried removing my EA Active USB dongle and its been working OK for the last 2 weeks.
This morning after going to the XMB from quitting Stacking the blu-ray game in the drive isn't loading again.

Is it worth doing a format to sort this out OR do you think the blu-ray drive is dying? it reads blu ray movies, DVDs & CDs OK

[Darwock]

This happened to my original 60gb PS3, had to send it off to Sony for repair - came back with a note that it was caused by an extreme build up of dust :/

[Daragon]

A format has prevented my issue from reoccurring, so it might be your best bet. If the drive will still read BR movies then physically it's fine.

[doodledude]

A format has prevented my issue from reoccurring, so it might be your best bet. If the drive will still read BR movies then physically it's fine.

Thats what I would have thought, apparently there is a blue & red laser in the drive, the blue is for blu-rays. But as it works with BR movies it is peculiar.
This afternoon its deceided to work again so I'll hold off re-formatting until it becomes completely unresponsive.

My room with the PS3 in does suffer with a lot of dust for some reason so that could also be a source of the problem. Looking at my PS3 though apart from the top I can't see much dust. I wonder if theres some sort of mini air sucker/blower that I can use in the vents?

[Radical]

You could use a can of compressed air, but you probably shouldn't use it unless the case is open so the dust can escape. Otherwise you'll probably just be blowing the dust further into the case, and you won't have any control over where it settles.

[doodledude]

You could use a can of compressed air, but you probably shouldn't use it unless the case is open so the dust can escape. Otherwise you'll probably just be blowing the dust further into the case, and you won't have any control over where it settles.

Yeah did a bit of research and compressed air could cause more harm than good!
Decided to order one of these USB vacuums and see how much it can suck up!

[Radical]

With the vacuum, keep in mind that it can generate static electricity and ruin electronic equipment. Since you're only vacuuming outside the case with a small vacuum, you probably have nothing to worry about, but be sure to leave your PS3 plugged in (but turned off) while you're doing this.