Reverting to OFW troubleshooting help

[kadhimA]

Hey guys, i've been trying to go back to OFW from CFW 3.55 Kmeaw so that i can play online, i thought the process would be easy however i have ran into some trouble.

First i took out the 500gb HD in my ps3 and switched it back to the original 60gb HD which i had been using as an external hard drive. The HD has been formatted to FAT32 via PC before i put it into the ps3. I placed the update file onto the USB and it installs it however after the install the screen tells me that 'the system software cannot be run correctly' and to essentially either restart the system or try to install again, no matter how many times i try and reinstall it comes up with the same thing.

Note: Also when i go into factory mode and select 'Rebuilt Database' or 'Restore PS3 System' i get the error 'the hard disk cannot be accessed'.

I'm really confused and would appreciate anyone that could shed some light on the matter, i'm worried i fried my ps3

Thanks

[BlyackScorpio]

I think you were supposed to put the system back on 3.55OFW before you took the hard drive out. If you did that I think it should have worked smoothly.

Have you tried putting the 500GB back and putting 3.55OFW back on?

[coinstar]

The file system on ps3 internal hdd isn't fat 32, so you have to format the hdd first otherwise the console will not recognize the hdd and you'll get that error: 'the hard disk cannot be accessed'.

[kadhimA]

Unfortunately i tried updating straight to OFW 3.72, id rather use my 60gb in the ps3. Sorry i thought it was fat32 that the ps3 requires, what should i format it to? Bear in mind ill format via PC

[Pereb27]

The PS3 formats HDD to its proprietary format when you install firmware, so there should be no problem with that.
Your problem is most likely the HDD you put in it is dead/dying. Try with another.

[alternativejohnsmith]

Try deleting the whole hard drive with Gparted and the ps3 will format it by itself.

[RandomUser]

Or you could zero fill the hard drive using the manufacturer's hard drive utility.
This supposedly reset (user access) the drive back to factory default. This will not reset the S.M.A.R.T. info and what not. You need hyper-terminal with the proper ATA commands and with a hardware to communicate to the HDD via serial interface to be able to reset the S.M.A.R.T. info.

[BlyackScorpio]

You were supposed to put the PS3 System back on 3.55OFW before trying to update. You're also supposed to put it on 3.55OFW before switching the HDD. Not sure how you can fix it. You're not the first person who's done this so just search the web for an answer.

[BlyackScorpio]

I don't think the problem has anything to do with your HDDs because, as you said, you were using it as an external. I think because you didn't have it on OFW when you tried to format it and do system "things" it didn't work. I remember hearing about this a long time ago. All the CFW authors said that you have to put your system back on 3.55OFW before you can upgrade or install/change an HDD

[Pereb27]

All the CFW authors said that you have to put your system back on 3.55OFW before you can upgrade or install/change an HDD

BS. It's probably best to go to OFW before upgrading, but as soon as you're not going to 3.56+, theres no difference between OFW and CFW.
A CFW isn't something that requires you to be extremely careful or you will brick the PS3. Hell, I've been updating and downgrading PS3's from CFW to CFW, hot-swapping HDD's on CFW and what not. Never had any problem. A CFW isn't even really a hack to begin with, since you're installing a firmware approved by Sony (or at least that's what the PS3 thinks, and you're not actually doing anything to the PS3 to make it think that, see what I mean?).
As I said, the HDD is dying. The OP most likely hasn't noticed before because it's dyING, it hasn't died completely yet.