Fat PS3 stuck in loop

[jbowie]

I have an old fat PS3 running 3.55cfw on a 640GB hard drive. I started it the other day and ran multiman but it froze and then my PS3 tells me that the file system was corrupted. I go through the steps of trying to fix it and end up formatting the drive. But now I'm just staring at a screen that says "The system software cannot be run correctly. Press the PS button to try to restart the system. etc etc". I've taken the drive out and reformatted on PC, I've even installed the original 80GB. I've tried to reinstall the firmware with 3.55ofw and 3.55cfw but it always goes back to the same screen saying it cannot be run correctly. I'm at a loss here on what to do and suspect that my poor PS3 has kicked the bucket. Anyone know something I could be missing here? Any help would be appreciated.

[hawkY]

Have you tried all the options from the recovery menu ?? and none helped ?

[corpse101]

First can you access recovery menu?
If yes, rebuild database, then rebuild filesystem.
If those two options do not work, reinstall firmware.

Now from your post it sounds like you have done some of those steps already, but redo them for good measure.

If this does not work, take the drive out and delete the partition. Do not format it, just delete, you can do a multipass wipe if you want but that is overkill

Put the unformatted drive back in the ps3 and boot. It should ask you to format the drive for use with the ps3.

If all of this doesnt work, you may need a flasher or have some other hardware issue.

[jbowie]

I have tried all steps from recovery menu, one said couldn't access the drive, another just restarted the PS3, and the format option didn't do much either. I did take the drive out and deleted the partition but I made another before putting it back in, I guess I'll pull it out and delete it without making another.
When it tells me to enter 3.55 firmware or higher, I put in the 3.55ofw and it installs to 100% and reboots but it goes right back to the same screen each time.

[jbowie]

Ok I took the drive out and deleted the partition, put it back in and the PS3 didn't even care. The first screen I see is "connect usb cable to controller and hit PS button", then the dreaded "the system software cannot be run correctly. Press the PS button to try to restart the system. If the system cannot be restarted, you must reinstall the system software. Connect storage media that contains update data of version 3.55 or later, and then press the START and SELECt buttons at the same time.

It seems as if the internal flash memory is messed up somehow, no matter how many times I install firmware it goes to this saying it cannot run.

[InTrouble]

I am having the same dramas with a ps3 i picked up from my sister with version 4, and to top it off my nephew took a knife to the blu ray drive so thats ruined too. any idea on what to do? I have tried to put rogero 4.3 on a usb stick after i deleted the partition with bd bypass and still same message appears even after pressing select + start to search for it. Help please.

[jbowie]

I booted into the recovery menu again and tried all the options:
Restore Default Settings - restarts system
Restore File System - restarts system
Rebuild Database - The hard disk cannot be accessed
Restore PS3 System - restarts system
System Update - installs 100% then restarts to the same error message that the system software cannot be run correctly

[jbowie]

Anyone have any ideas on what I could do to fix it?

[jbowie]

I have now tried to install the lastest ofw, I think 4.21, downloaded straight from sony's site. It installs 100%, reboots, then goes to the same screen and still says install 3.55 firmware or later.

[dave11674]

long shot guys but do u have a fully working new hdd ?
if so give it a try to rule out a nackered hdd here

dave