Sony PlayStation 3

[BillCable]

Man... I hope they don't use it to adjust difficulty on the fly.  I get pissed off when I'm stuck on something, and it'd cheapen the eventual victory if the task got progressively easier the more it stressed me out.

[BrentS]

My son's PS3 died last night - Merry Christmas on the first day of your vacation.

I'm getting the blinking red light of death which based on my internet research indicates its likely a problem due to long term over-heating and a malfunction with the Motherboard.  By all accounts, Sony can fix this for the tidy sum of $150 + taxes, shipping and of course time.

He was getting some Christmas money from Grandma so we were able to go out and buy a new 160GB version.  I was under the impression that I'd be able to pull the old HDD out of the malfunctioning PS3 and slide it into the new model.  The old HDD was upgraded to a 500GB drive in February and I figured that I could just swap out the drives.  Apparently that is not the case... each PS3 encodes an individual HDD so that it will only work in that system.  I suppose that makes sense but its incredibly frustrating.

So my son was completely devastated, first at the thought of no PS3 for Christmas vacation (he's expecting several new video game gifts!!) and then second when we got the new PS3 and found out his old files can't be transferred.   

At least his two favorite games we were able to "recover" the most "important" information - For MW3, apparently all his "status" is saved with the PSN account and when we logged in on the new system he didn't lose anything.  His second favorite game is WWE12 and he had made several in-game purchases... all of those were still "recognized" as purchases and we could re-download them.

He has still lost any saved games / progress in any game he owns though...

So now I'm wondering if I can find a "cheap" way to get the old PS3 up and running long enough to do the data transfer or at least back-up the saved game files.  According to the internet research I did last night, you can repair these with some solder and a heat gun.  Not something I'm proficient with so I'm going to look around for a local "tech" resource that can help... I do not want to send this to Sony for $150.  I don't need to the old system to work for long... just long enough to try and recover the data files. 

[BillCable]

There are tricks to overheat the unit to the point where the solder melts and the connections are reestablished.  Some people run it wrapped in a towel, or put it in an oven.  There are tutorials on YouTube.

[BrentS]

There are tricks to overheat the unit to the point where the solder melts and the connections are reestablished.  Some people run it wrapped in a towel, or put it in an oven.  There are tutorials on YouTube.

I'm going to give those a try tomorrow. Nothing to lose at this point!

[Phrubruh]

PS3 rosting over an open fire.....MW3 snipping at your nose.

[BrentS]

The PS3 hair dryer trick got the system back up and running!!! Recognizing this isnt a permanent fix, I've started running the backup utility (very slow!!!). I hope the system holds out long enough to complete the backup - 6 hours to go 

[BrentS]

Back-up was completed... just need to restore to the new system now!

[BillCable]

Congrats!

[BillCable]

Amazon Goldbox has the 320-Gig PS3 on sale for $249:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/goldbox

[iFett]

I just won a free copy of Uncharted 3 from Subway...some kinda second chance prize from some online "taste for adventure" game.  neat.  Last thing I ever won was a Rancid CD from a radio station when I was a kid - oh and some SW figs here at JD years back.   

Meh - it's just some leather armband and some journal...oh well still free!

[BillCable]

That's probably more valuable than the game... sounds like some of the promo merch or maybe some of the deluxe game pack-ins.  The wrist band is pretty sweet in-game.

[iFett]

Is that a decent trade for Batman Arkam City CE?  Still not sure why I'm being contacted after all these months, but ya....I would have rather preferred the actual game myself.  Uncharted is good stuff!

[iFett]

Got my UC3 promo stuff.  Kinda lame.  The dude I'm trading it to is going to dress up as Drake for Halloween so good for him.  Picked up DukeNukem for $5 at Target yesterday..should be fun?  Never played one of these games.

[BillCable]

With the PS4 just over the horizon, it's great to see the old girl still has something left in her...

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/06/05/the-last-of-us-review

That's the first game they've given a 10 since 2011.