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[me262]

I got a broken 40GB PS3 from ebay, which had problems playing any blu-ray discs, yet would work fine with DVDs and CDs. Typical laser problem.

After opening the BD-ROM to determine what kind to use (410A: twin laser), I put it back together only to find that it was no longer accepting any discs. In fact, the motor wasn't spinning at all. I figure since I tried cleaning the lens while I had it out that I probably knocked something out of place, and waited for the replacement assembly.

Assembly got here on the 13th. Same problem. Discs aren't spinning up.
This is either another bad unit, or there's something else going on.

I'm near convinced that the problem lies in the drive lid. The video shows that the two wings on the lid don't part or retract like they should, but I haven't found anything that would make them move properly.
Another post here suggested that there's a sensor in the new series drives.
I'd like to double check this while my supplier is checking with their supplier, I have a couple of days.

Video of problem: http://www.me262.net/PICT0002.AVI (14MB)
Pic 1: Outside of lid: http://www.me262.net/pict0003.jpg (2.3MB)
Pic 2: Inside of lid: http://www.me262.net/pict0004.jpg (2.2MB)
Pic 3: Exposed drive assembly: http://www.me262.net/pict0005.jpg (2.1MB)

1. Where is the sensor on this drive, if it exists?
2. What am I missing with putting the lid back on?

[Lakers1969]

u r missing a  spring.

if you have money, i recomend u to get a broken drive for parts
get this, it should fix ur problem, cuz it fixed mine
click here


This post has been edited by Lakers1969: Aug 15 2008, 08:53 AM

[jdbkbuddy]

Test the drive with the lid off. Lay the lid to the left, or unplug the disc sensor switch and remove lid completely. Turn on the PS3 and with each hand push each disc "wing" of the disc re-tractor in all the way and that will start the two tray lifters to start to slide (left side forward, right side backward). This lift the laser tray up to play a disc. You need to help the left lifter move forward all the way, slight help with your hand is all you need. When the tray is lifted the laser will attempt to read a disc and the blue laser flashes first, the the red laser flashes.

If there is resistance to manually moving the retractor arms, then the cogs could be out of place. The retactor can be removed by the 1 screw in the middle of it. Take photos as you got to help in re-assemble. Careful when you take this off as the cogs can fall to the floor or silde down into the front of the PS3.

If and when the re-tractor works, turn off the PS3 now and set a DVD on the spindle and put the white CD Clamp on the spindle. Turn on the PS3 and see if it spins and reads a disc. Next try a Blu Ray game or movie.

[me262]

QUOTE(Lakers1969 @ Aug 15 2008, 03:26 AM)

u r missing a  spring.
get this, it should fix ur problem, cuz it fixed mine click here

Funny, nothing fell out or came out of place... where would the spring go?

You mean something like this?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...N:IT&ih=003

QUOTE(jdbkbuddy @ Aug 15 2008, 11:05 AM)

Test the drive with the lid off. Lay the lid to the left, or unplug the disc sensor switch and remove lid completely. Turn on the PS3 and with each hand push each disc "wing" of the disc re-tractor in all the way and that will start the two tray lifters to start to slide (left side forward, right side backward). This lift the laser tray up to play a disc. You need to help the left lifter move forward all the way, slight help with your hand is all you need. When the tray is lifted the laser will attempt to read a disc and the blue laser flashes first, the the red laser flashes.

If there is resistance to manually moving the retractor arms, then the cogs could be out of place. The retractor can be removed by the 1 screw in the middle of it. Take photos as you got to help in re-assemble. Careful when you take this off as the cogs can fall to the floor or silde down into the front of the PS3.

If and when the re-tractor works, turn off the PS3 now and set a DVD on the spindle and put the white CD Clamp on the spindle. Turn on the PS3 and see if it spins and reads a disc. Next try a Blu Ray game or movie.

Where is the sensor switch at?
Ah. If this is the thing on top lid, then it appears that I don't have one. In which case, there could be something with the cogs

I think I see what's going on actually. There's a black bar running along the right side of the assembly on a rail, which is connected to a tension spring and a switch lever. Pull the bar to the rear, the right side of the laser assembly lifts up, and the switch releases. The bar goes in, the switch is pushed in. Same on the left side, only this engages via the top section.
Currently the right section is the part I'm having trouble with, it seems the left does catch and raise that section of the laser.
This is proving to be a bitch to get back into place...

This post has been edited by me262: Aug 15 2008, 09:18 PM

[me262]

I managed to get the drive spinning, but I still have not been able to put on the top.

I'm letting the laser run a BD movie on repeat while I'll be out visiting for 5 hours, so far it hasn't given any problems, and I'm not expecting any at this point.

So, how exactly do I position this top lid so that it goes on clean, and I can slide a disc in there to get it working?

[jdbkbuddy]

The sensor on the drive top is a small metal rectangle clip that trips the sensor it is attached to.

That can be tricky. The only thing that I have been doing is to set the drive to the elected disc state.

As in... remove the disc from the spindle, do not put the top on. Press eject and help the tray lifters stride in the opposite direction to tilt the tray down. Now lay the top down and position it in place, do not screw it down yet. Hold the top down with one hand and insert a disc. If it inserts all the way and spins up to speed and the menu register a game/move to play, then eject the disc and do it again. When you are confident that the drive is functioning, put the screws back.

If it is not start again form the top!

[me262]

Yeah. Then that's not my configuration. My sensor is along the right slider that lifts the assembly.

I've been looking while it's playing comparing points, but I'm just not sure...

The laser survived the 8+ hour torture test (playing Chain Reaction on BD), so now I have to get the lid working, or run the PS3 with the lids off (given the heat that comes out of this that may not be a bad thing).

This post has been edited by me262: Aug 16 2008, 06:01 AM

[me262]

I also want to add that if I put the lid on when everything is in a "neutral" position, then I get a lot of resistance from the right slide bar. It partially lifts the lens, but it can't go far enough to free the sensor switch.
There is either some gear or lever on the back (picture 2, left side) that isn't giving enough push to the right slide bar on the assembly (picture 3, right side), or there's something else at work that I can't figure out.

If you need a picture of this setup, let me know and I'll get it in the morning. I've tried numerous positions with the lid and slide bars, to no avail.

This post has been edited by me262: Aug 16 2008, 08:15 AM

[darkzero]

I'm sort of in the same position, but my drive wont spin up.  
I know it does because it has before, but I took it apart and when I put it back together again it stopped spinning up.  It catches the disc with the cover on fine, I just can't get the thing to spin.  
Is there a switch that does that that I'm missing?

[jdbkbuddy]

me262 & darkzero

But, there are acctully 3 different senor switchs on the drive. I don't think you have any problem with the switches.

1. On the drive lid. It is optical. It is located at the front and has the red and black wires that run on the top of the lid to the left outer side of the drive and plug in there.

2. Sensor at the front right side under the two wings that is tripped by the the black sliding tray lifter.

3. Senors (2ea) that at also located under the two wings that are tripped by by the right wing as a disc is inserted.

The only time I had to replace a drive top is when a PS3 would eject any disc I put in it after about 60 seconds. I am not sure what caused it , but I had brought a working drive, without the control board for parts and changing the top fixed it. So I don't think you guys need a new top.

When ever I open a drive, I always remove the top, unplug the door sensor (#1) and then manually put the 2 wings outward to engage the tray lifter. Then I test the laser or replace the laser. When it is working, I turn off the PS3 and then remove the test disc and then turn on the PS3 again. I press the eject button to set the drive to the "no disc" position. This is the position that the lid is in when it is removed. There are spring loaded arms and trip devices in the lid that are naturally in the ejected or empty drive location. Put the lid down, and hold it in place by hand and turn put a disc in through the door.

If the disc is pulled in by the drive and the the drive attempts to spin it, but only turns for 1 or 2 seconds and then stops, try ejecting the disc. I f you cannot eject the disc take to top off and again return the tray to the empty or ejected disc position. Try again with the lid. Sometimes it takes 3 or 4 times.

The slide bars have only 2 positions, tray up and tray down. The left side bar is moved a motor under the 2 wings, the right side bar is moved by the left side bar. There is an aluminum lever that you can see from the bottom drive when you remove the bottom metal shell. This lever has a pin on each side that is inserted into the left and right slide bar. The lever then forces the right slide bar forward or backward, keeping it in sync with the left slide bar. If you look at rear area of the each slide bar you will see about 3/4" of the track that this lever rides in. If you see the metal pin attached to the lever then it is not in the proper loation, it must be under each side bar so the they are in sync.

Also, the metal tray the laser and spindle motor reside in has two metal pins that stick into a hosing under the each slide bar. The slide bars then move the pins up or down to lift or lower the metal tray. I had a customer that dropped his PS3 and the force moved the pins on the left side out of position and the tray would not lower any more. If you tray is lowering and lifting, then they should be fine.

I hope this helps. To bad there are no tuts on this drive yet. I will check back later, I have to go to the shop, I am behind on dozens of 360's, PS3's, DS's, PS2's, and a Wii to fix!

[jdbkbuddy]

QUOTE(me262 @ Aug 16 2008, 03:47 AM)

I also want to add that if I put the lid on when everything is in a "neutral" position, then I get a lot of resistance from the right slide bar. It partially lifts the lens, but it can't go far enough to free the sensor switch.
There is either some gear or lever on the back (picture 2, left side) that isn't giving enough push to the right slide bar on the assembly (picture 3, right side), or there's something else at work that I can't figure out.

If you need a picture of this setup, let me know and I'll get it in the morning. I've tried numerous positions with the lid and slide bars, to no avail.

I would check the right side slide bar,(picture 5).

If you are looking down at the drive, top off... the forward area of the drive is were the disc enters the drive, the rear area is the back of the drive. Look down at the rear area on the drive, just past the right side bar and see if there is a metal pin exposed there. If not check the same location on the left side bar.

It sounds like the pin or pins have slipped out of place under one of the side bars and that would keep the bar from going back far enough to release the slide bar senor.

Take a picture of this area if you have any questions.

[me262]

Thanks for all the info.
As I'm looking at it, I do see the metal wing on the bottom of the drive is out of place on the right side. I had unscrewed that by mistake when I first opened the drive, and didn't think of it's position when I set it back in.

I'll be trying this route now.
Success! Everything works now.

Pictures of problem:
You'll notice the location on my server's been changed, I've put all the media into that folder, and the old links are softlinked (ln -s) to this new location.

Inside drive: looking at loose pin on the top right:
http://www.me262.net/ps3lidfix/PICT0006.JPG (2.3 MB)
on this picture I also popped off the loading mechanism to show where the switch is. (right side, front of the drive)

Bottom of drive: metal wing is not in right place:
http://www.me262.net/ps3lidfix/PICT0007.JPG (2.3 MB)

Video demo of fixed metal wing:
http://www.me262.net/ps3lidfix/PICT0008.AVI (26.8 MB)

Video of PS3 accepting and spinning the disc:
http://www.me262.net/ps3lidfix/PICT0009.AVI (18.7 MB)

Thanks for all your help jdbkbddy!

This post has been edited by me262: Aug 16 2008, 07:21 PM

[jdbkbuddy]

No Prob... Glad to hear your drive making that sweet wizzzzzzin again!

[darkzero]

hey me262 congrats!  
What did you do initially to get the disc to spin up?  I can't figure it out for the life of me.  It just accepts the disc, the laser shines on it and it stops.

[me262]

In order to verify functionality I ran the thing without the lid. Putting the disc on the drive and putting the magnet over it.
My drive doesn't have an optical sensor at the top, so I don't know how to bypass it (maybe a white Lego taped to it?)
Be very careful with these steps, this has your laser assembly exposed!
Steps:

1. Pop out the loading gears in the front.
2. Take out the loading motor (unscrew the two screw that hold it down, but don't remove it completely).
3. Slide the left bar toward the front of the drive, and put back in the loading motor, locking the bar in place (be sure to screw the motor back in too).
4. Take a disc (preferably an audio CD that you have no particular attachment to (for me this was a nicked up Dave Matthews Band CD)), slide it through the loading gears so it's held securely in there by the back two gears.
5. Put the loading gears back on, while pushing the disc over the motor (it should be able to set in there nicely), and put the magnet over the disc. Be careful of the pilar that rose up when you slid the left bar into place.
6. Slide the right bar all the way to the back, and hold it in place (for my 8+ hour laser test I used a piece of tape, but for a quick test you should be able to just hold it with your finger).
7. Make sure those loading gears are not touching the disc, they should be out a little ways further.
8. Turn on the console. It should spin up and ID the disc.
9. From this point you can swap discs just by turning off the console, taking off the magnet, swap in a new disc, and re-power the console.