Please help - PS3 Problems

[rally2001]

Ok, I know you can't help me with any techinal advice on how to get my PS3 fixed. The problem is I bought a Slim PS3 in August 2009 when it was released and is out of warranty by 4 months. I've had no problems with the console and just four weeks they brought out a software update which you have to download if you wish to continue to play online. Since I did the update my system doesn't work no more.

 

I rang sony and told them what the problem was and they talked me thought a few things to try and correct the problem. After a few attempts with these instructions, it never really fixed anything and it still doesn't work. I have been working away a lot leading up to christmas and only just been able to contact them again. They said they are willing to replace the console if I was willing to pay out £132!!!! I told them im not willing to pay anything because my system was working fine till this update came out. The problem only started when this update came out and I had no choice but update my system if I wanted to continue to play online.

 

Could anyone give me any advice on what I should do? I feel like Im being bullied in paying out for something that wasn't my fault.

[buzby]

Check PS3 forums to see if the fault is known. If it is, you'll have a good case, but not otherwise as 'bricking' an item due to an incorrect update is invariably a user issue.

[rally2001]

There are other user on the ps3 forums with similar problems. There are a couple of threads people have posted experiencing difficulties since the lastest update.

 

I received an email from a complaint I sent to Sony. They have said they will arrange for me to speak to one of the management team asap.

 

If they think I'm just going to be a mug and buy another ps3 they think wrong. Not when I can get a brand new xbox360 for £180.

[Conniff]

Similar to the 'lead free' solder problem which they admit is their fault and a design problem, but also say won't do anything about unless you pay for it to be done.

 

I have done a lot of work on Sony laptops and can say that I'm not a great fan of Sony as they do things that other manufacturers don't do. One such instance is 32bit laptops can't be upgraded to 64bit Windows even though it has a 64bit compatible chip. Instead of just disabling the facility in the bios like other do, they disable it in the chip so you can't just enter the bios and enaable it and then upgrade, you have to buy a new laptop if you want to go 64bit..

[rally2001]

So would this mean I haven't got a chance against them?

 

I've always bought Sony products but I'll be going with other brands.

 

Would it be wrong of me to get gadget insurance, which have been advertised of the tv? I even think I have it with my bank but I haven't registered it! Don't get me wrong I'd still being paying for the cover because let's face it things don't last forever.

[perplexity]

The story told here seems to be a sophisticated case of "bait and switch", which is defined as a criminal offence under 6. of SCHEDULE 1 to the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

 

 

Making an invitation to purchase products at a specified price and then—

 

(a) refusing to show the advertised item to consumers,

 

(b) refusing to take orders for it or deliver it within a reasonable time, or

 

© demonstrating a defective sample of it,

 

with the intention of promoting a different product (bait and switch).

8-)

[buzby]

Firmware upgrades are 'Bait & Switch'? Only if you believe in the Tooth Fairy. The item was fully working as supplied, a firmware update is always done at the consumer's risk, and a failure to do it correctly chargeable. The benefit of checking that others are in the same boat is in mitigation to seek a discount on the cost of restoring it to full working order. Firmware changes are not the same as filling a car with petrol ot renewing a tax disk, it goes to the heart of the item, and is still seen as a 'modification'. As I recall, Sonly also have a dsclaimer stating that updates are at the users own risk.

[Conniff]

So would this mean I haven't got a chance against them?

 

 

You certainly have a chance and a good one. All you need to do is gather as much evidence that the product failed as a result of the update and not as the result of finger trouble by you and then to be persistant in you claim that they fix it at their cost.

It's the persistance that is the hardest part. They know that most will give up after a while so they win and by that they drag it out until you get fed up and disappear.

[perplexity]

As I recall, Sonly also have a dsclaimer stating that updates are at the users own risk.

 

 

As I recall, the appropriate requirement of a supplier is "due diligence", which I would take to mean that a firm with the reputation of Sony should know damm well whether or not an update will work, which is to suggest that when they fail to tell that it wont that's a strict liability omission under section 6. of the CPUT Regulations.

 

It is immaterial that an update is free, it is still a commercial practice.

 

A supplier's terms and conditions are not an immunisation against a criminal conviction, rather the opposite in a case like this, perhaps.

 

8-)

[Conniff]

As I recall, the appropriate requirement of a supplier is"due diligence", which I would take to mean that a firm with the reputation of Sony should know damm well whether or not an update will work,......

 

You're making it sound as if they have just thrown something together and told their customers to get on with it. This will have been fully tested and if the update was at fault, then all PS3s would have failed when the update was done which isn't so. There can be a lot of other reason why an update fails and locks up a computer.

[buzby]

Even if your assertion was plausible Perpy, the stated warning is all that is required to shift the burden of responsibility. As Conniff notes, a change in the wind direction is enough to brick a phone - the slightest error is enough to make the install fail. Sometimes they fail-safe, other times they do not. If the upgrade itself was badly coded - making all upgraders brick their gadgets, then I might agree with you. However, as it only appears to affect very few. this would not appear to be the problem.

[perplexity]

... This will have been fully tested ...

 

Are you kidding?

 

As a user of software I know full well what happens. Because of the pressure of competition they shove it onto the market as soon as they can, so the test in effect is the number of complaints they get. Microsoft go as far as providing a crash report facility to prove the fact that the customer's use is a test in progress!

 

My sympathy is with the consumer, having leaned from bitter experience to beware of software updates because as often as not the performance of a program is worse after the update, not better.

 

[Conniff]

Are you kidding?

 

As a user of software I know full well what happens.

 

No, I am not kidding and you know nothing as a mear user.

 

Microsoft does not issue RC software and use customers as testers.

Edited January 7, 2011 by Conniff
typo

[perplexity]

No, I am not kidding and you know nothing as a mear user.

 

Microsoft does not use issue RC software and use customers as testers.

 

I know that Explorer crashes, so if it was "fully tested" to start with, it must have been intended to.

 

[stevo7790]

hi there,

 

I fixed PS3 for a friend whose ps3 after an update would not play games anymore.

 

Basically he didnt use the ps3 online, but as you might know version updates are included on the games disc, what happened was strange but a fault I diagnosed nonetheless. For some reason when he ran the update an error occurred and caused the motor that control the disc read speed to overrun and subsequently burn out.

I read this on a forum somewhere and bought for £50 the assembly that includes the blu-ray laser, spindle motor and drive motor for the disc, repair took me about 15 minutes as the assembly that locates the disc in the drive was a bit awkward and it worked fine there after.

 

I also had a look at my OH's nephews console that died after he updated black ops, his fault was console turns on, then beeps 3 times and red light flashes, indicative of a mobo failure, I could not fix this. - chances are a reflow machine could repair any surface mounted components that were loose but with out schematics or known common fault components your going to be stuffed.

 

Just my 2 cents worth

[Conniff]

I know that Explorer crashes, so if it was "fully tested" to start with, it must have been intended to.

 

 

How do you know it crashes? Has it crashed for you?

[Conniff]

hi there,

 

I fixed PS3 for a friend whose ps3 after an update would not play games anymore.

 

Basically he didnt use the ps3 online, but as you might know version updates are included on the games disc, what happened was strange but a fault I diagnosed nonetheless. For some reason when he ran the update an error occurred and caused the motor that control the disc read speed to overrun and subsequently burn out.

I read this on a forum somewhere and bought for £50 the assembly that includes the blu-ray laser, spindle motor and drive motor for the disc, repair took me about 15 minutes as the assembly that locates the disc in the drive was a bit awkward and it worked fine there after.

 

I also had a look at my OH's nephews console that died after he updated black ops, his fault was console turns on, then beeps 3 times and red light flashes, indicative of a mobo failure, I could not fix this. - chances are a reflow machine could repair any surface mounted components that were loose but with out schematics or known common fault components your going to be stuffed.

 

Just my 2 cents worth

 

Have a look in Youtube for 'PS3 red light of death' and you will find step by step instructions how to fix the red light problem.

[buzby]

How do you know it crashes? Has it crashed for you?

 

In my case, on one PC it crashes all the time, yet on another it runs flawlessly.

 

This leads me to the logical explanation that there is something extra/missing from the PC that makes it crash all the time, but I've not got the time to reinstall the OS. Based on this, it would be impossible to state that IE is 'buggy' as it cannot be stated as such across the board - only your implementation/installation of it.

 

With so many variables in play, no judge would accept an assertion that the S/w was not fit for purpose.

[perplexity]

How do you know it crashes? Has it crashed for you?

 

Yes, if you want to know.

 

MS Explorer seems to fail to cope with complicated interactions, where two terminals on a network take turns to access the same directory on one of the machines while another program wants to access a file in the same directory.

 

You can't kid me that there is such a thing as fully testing with software that has to interface with the work of somebody else, especially if the somebody else is hell bent on proving the fact. Updates happen because of "vulnerabilities", which is to say that a means of attack was not yet anticipated, let alone the chance of a test.

 

[Conniff]

MS Explorer seems to fail to cope with complicated interactions, where two terminals on a network take turns to access the same directory on one of the machines while another program wants to access a file in the same directory.

 

 

An example please.

[perplexity]

An example please.

 

Do you think I make it all up?

 

It gets to the point where I want to visit an Explorer window and it comes up with "Program Not Responding" instead. I surmise that this is because of the circumstance I describe for that is when it seems to happen but I am not going to spend all day on working out exactly what the problem was. To expect me to do that it to expect me to fully the test the program, conceding that MS failed to do so, which proves the point for as far as I am concerned.

 

8-)

[Conniff]

i don't want to know what the problem was, all I want is what you did when it stopped responding ie i was viewing x folder and when i tried to open xx folder it stopped.

 

You also moved on to the subject of 'vulnerabilities', that has absolutely nothing to do with it and is in not way connected to something being tested.

[perplexity]

i don't want to know what the problem was, all I want is what you did when it stopped responding ie i was viewing x folder and when i tried to open xx folder it stopped.

 

You also moved on to the subject of 'vulnerabilities', that has absolutely nothing to do with it and is in not way connected to something being tested.

 

I know of nothing to be done immediately except to end a program that fails to respond, and start again.

 

Vulnerability could be the cause if a trojan infected the system, intending to access the files by stealth. My son manages the network so if you want to take it seriously I could ask him to fill you in on the details but I don't want to waste his time just for the sake of the argument.

 

If there is something constructive to be done about it the better approach would be to tell us what.

 

8-)

 

P.S.

 

On one or two occasions, come to think of it, I have had to reboot; nothing short of that responded.

Edited January 7, 2011 by perplexity
P.S.

[Conniff]

If there is something constructive to be done about it the better approach would be to tell us what.

 

 

Can't tell you what to do about it until you explain what you did that brought it about.

[perplexity]

Can't tell you what to do about it until you explain what you did that brought it about.

 

I used a PC.

 

I am not pretending that it is not a terrible mistake to rely on anything from Microsoft.