Weird PS3 Blu Ray Drive fault

Hi Guys, I've repaired loads of PS3s but I have come across one which has totally baffled me, its a 60 Gb fatty, basicly the fault with this one is that it just will not physically load a disc into the drive or eject etc, its as though no power is getting to it, but when you put the disc into the tray the optical sensor "sees" the disc there as the light flashes but the motors dont draw the disc into the console.

I have tried a 100% working drive to rule out an alignment issue but this Still did not Load disc into the drive.
tried a 100% working ribbon data Cable, still did not Load.
Tried changing the grey power cable also, still does not load disc inside.
Checked with a different unpaired Logic Board, still the same.
Tried the original logic board on another drive in another PS3 and it Does draw the disc inside that PS3 and spins the disc fine but obviously wont read it as not paired to that console, so this rules out a faulty Logic Board.

I can only conclude the fault is somewhere on the motherboard itself, but would like to know if anyone else has come across this before or has a fix.
The PS3 can still play games off the hard drive without any issues. Any help would be appreciated.

thanks

had loads like this and i can say with pretty much 100% certainty its the connector on the motherboard. i find 9 times out of 10 that this probelm usualy arises when the clip on the motherboard as snapped off and people use plastic or paper to jam the ribbon cable in. my advice would be to get a magnifying glass and look behind the clip at the tiny connections to the motherboard. if that all looks ok check all the tiny caps arounf the area to see if any have popped off if any have gone all you will see is two small silver pads about a millimeter apart

sorry didnt read your post correctly if you can play games of your hdd then obviously the drives making good contact

100% guarentee its the connecter on the PS3 motherboard. Some newbie will have ripped the machine apart with the usual knife and fork and pulled the ribbon cable straight out.

To fix that you're gonna need some kapton tape and a replacement FFC connector (0.5mm pitch) from Farnell electronics (sorry don't know the number of pins, you'll have to count them)

Thanks for the reply guys.

:chinscrat Ok now im baffled, the ribbon connector is unbroken and the clip is perfectly intact, I broke the seal myself on this console and i've repaired many PS3s before, i always remove the ribbon cable from the blu ray drive side just incase the clip snaps.
This console has totally stopped drawing a disc into the drive. If you hold down the eject button to reset the drive the motors fail to turn and I can only hear some kind of high pitched noise like the motors are tryin to turn but fail to, if you place the same drive into a different PS3 it works perfectly fine!! So this rules out a faulty drive problem too.

I can only think some other component which controls this function on the motherboard has failed because the logic board works fine on another ps3 in terms of operating the motors etc and it still plays games off the hard drive so i dont think the Logic board is faulty itself.
Is it possible to replace the entire clip on the motherboard?? If so how is it removed?

Thanks

There is the red/black cable to the sensor on top but that seems to work as you described. You might want to review the cables on the Blu-ray controller board to see if they are properly seated.
www-ifixit-com/Guide/Repairing-PlayStation-3-BluRay-Laser/3557/4 (replace - with .) the first picture has the ribbon cable photo. 2nd photo warns about the hidden one under the board. It might be the case of the controller not giving signals to load motor or the load motor is bad. That is my guess.

Hi!


I have been the past two weeks looking at youtube videos and forums searching for someone with the same symptoms. But it seems there are only two guys in the world with this problem!
Did u manage to fix yours? How?

Carlos

Hi!

My CHCG 40g dont take disks and also makes that weird noise and vibration on the laser motor. It seems the voltage is below normal. This happened after i reassembled the drive after laser cleaning.
What puzzles me is that after reassemble the drive accepted the disk but failed to read and after that when i pressed eject it beguns to make the behavior you mentioned
I bought a second laser mechanism because i tought this was the problem but the new one makes the same.
everything else is working fine!

Carlos