ScuzzBlog: Diaries May 2020
Entry 6th May 2020: Post 01: SONY PlayStation 3 - Model CECHK03.
SONY PlayStation 3 - Model CECHK03.
I have had a couple of very frustrating days but I guess when you
are dealing with older kit that has been hammered over the years
should I be surprised. And so this is what happened ...
On the 4th I spent a good while photographing items for the daily
blog and was well into the process. I then received two parcels
from Hermes. The first was a batch of XBOX 360 games that I needed
as substitute for the PS3 games that I could no longer play. And
the second bigger parcel was the replacement PS3 that I ordered.
Can I first say that given the cost of this package I wasn't placing
much hope on the kit working without a problem. You recall that
my beloved original PS3 from 2007 died the other day with the
red/yellow lights of death making her unusable.
I curtailed my blog update and focussed on the PS3 as I couldn't
wait. The box was in first class condition and the contents for
the most part all as they should be. The only thing missing was
the original manual and warranty stuff.
The computer was also in excellent condition and the warranty
sticker was intact and the blue screw of death to the hard drive
didn't appear to have ever been tampered with. The unit is the
later 80GB version with the cost reduced form factor. Gone was
the lift up lid adjacent the DVD slot and so too the extra USB
slots. This PS3 is not backwards compatible and cannot play the
PS1 and PS2 games. It is model CHECHK03 and made in 2008, a
year later than the date I acquired my first..... Never mind.
So I photographed the box and contents and hot footed up to the
main gaming monitor and set the PS3 up. She fired up no problem
though was emitting a suspicious noise from the hard drive
area. The console worked fine and I was able to synchronise my
trophies online and play a little Lightning Returns. This meant
starting over as I had no saved data. However, my online purchases
allowed me to retrieve outfits and the like.
The challenge was quite daunting having to play through all those
levels again on so many games.
Having switched off a while and then back on I sadly got the red
light of death. I cannot believe it. I did some research, as it
wasn't the yellow / green lights and turns out it was a hard drive
lock up. My suspicions were realised. I lay the machine on its
side and booted again and she fired up. I then decided to leave
her running a while. Chances are the computer has been left in
storage. These 2.5" drives lock up when inactive for any length
of time.
Fortunately during the next couple of days I got no further lock
ups and the games played no problem. However on boot and when
browsing the main interface I got the all too familiar noise of
a failing actuator head. Been here so many times.
I researched how to replace the hard drive and downloaded the
latest system update from the EU PlayStation site. This has to be
in a PS3/UPDATE folder and on a drive FAT32 formatted. I then
backed up the data from the main drive and places on another stick.
Then I also made a backup of my game data for each game.
Next I purchased a 120GB hard drive off Ebay and I am awaiting
its arrival. Swapping over and reinstalling shouldn't a problem
and then she will be working just fine.
I did some research on the failure of my original PS3 and how to
fix it and I am pretty confident I could do so. For now I just
wanted to retrieve my data and HitMan game disc. So I had a go at
the old hair dryer trick involving warming the PS3 for 15 minutes
and then cooling for an hour. Sadly didn't work.. never mind.
So I placed the PS3 in dead store again and face having to play
through all my games again. I thought long and hard about it and
have decided to sacrifice the XBOX360 and play that from now on
and glass case the working PS3 for a future life. I have so many
PS3 games I just can't risk getting another red light of death.
And so the PS3 becomes like Schroedinger's cat ... it is either
alive or dead and only can be proven by using the computer. And
so I have a working PS3 for now and am now playing the XBOX 360.
So what do I hate about the XBOX 360 ..
01: It was made by Microsoft who haven't got one original idea
of their own. They pilfer and acquire everything and produce
crap products based around a grown ups boring view of computing.
This has always been the case. Their stuff works but it aint
ever going to set the house on fire. Boring.
02: The games controller. Too heavy and the the thumb-sticks and
left L1 button are all in the wrong place. It truly is crap.
03: The interface is a typical grown up view of what kids might
find fun and hip. Stupid moronic avatars and that snapshot of a
supposed typical family having fun together. The PS3 was just
slick and didn't try to say anything other than ' here is your
console. Have fun '. Man do I hate this shitty interface. It's
like the Windows OS... they just wanted to have so much that you
can interact with. And its all pointless junk. I just wanna play
the game. Anyway... I can set it to do that so I am able to cut
out all the crap.
04: MS Live or XBOX Live. Like you can't really do anything online
without an account and pay. With the PS3 I paid for nothing and I
got all the online content. My game, my rules, my time. FO !
05: Cheap disc tray, noisy system, poor design, badly made. Looks
and feels like a cheap bit of junk. All cost reduced to the very
minimum standards and basically crap. Looks crap, sounds crap and
is crap. I will say no more.
06: No Blu-ray.
Fortunately in a dimly lit room with a FO large monitor and headphones
I can kinda forget what I am playing the game on. If the controller
didn't feel and handle like a house-brick it would be fine. BUT.. I
aint putting the PS3 at risk and so I will hammer the XBOX for a
while. My beloved PS3 unit sadly is no more, but I aint gonna let
another fall foul of the red light of death.
Finally. I have a massive blood blister on my left thumb. Why ?
I cannot remove the 'bloody' small blue screw from the hard drive
of my original PS3. I can the new unit but not my original. That
is some sick joke by the makers. Just Google blue screw PS3 and
you will see loads of issues removing it. The screw originally
was designed as a tamper proof, sacrificial screw. It was intended
to only be screwed in and so was overtightened. The rest of the
screws on the case were tamper proof by design. The aim was to
prevent users messing with their kit. I have come across the over
tightened screw on older systems like the Acorn and Amstrad. Why
they do it in truth just is mind boggling.
Anyhoo.. I just wanted to get back to business as usual with my
HitMan and Lightning games. I have a little while yet before I
move over to the PlayStation 5. Sadly nothing is backward compatible
so you have to keep your old kit alive.
Onwards.
SONY PlayStation 3 - Model CECHK03.
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