Can The Blu Ray Drive Be Swaped Without Flash?, I am sure this has been asked before but google has not helped me in m Options

[syntaxerror329]

I have been requested by one of my clients to repair a damaged PS3. It has a damaged Blu ray drive.
Something is wrong with the tray i think but i havn't seen it yet.

If i need to replace the Blu Ray drive will I be able to just purchase once and swap?

or does it have a security feature like xbox 360 with unique per drive key?

I guess if it has such a feature i could just swap logic/controller board in the drive and then it would match but i would like to know exactly what i am getting into before i say i can fix it.

Any info on this matter or links/tutorials that answer this would be great.

Thanks


This post has been edited by syntaxerror329: Jan 9 2008, 08:39 PM

[pablot]

I did a google search and came up empty.. Might be best to ask in a forum where people are actively taking the ps3 apart. If you do find the answer, please post it here.

[THREE_Consoles]

Im not sure but im read in a forum that the BD-R drive also have a Key like the 360 drives.Without the Key you cant get a other drive worked.
And im guess its not only the Key becouse the BD FW are also found in the PS3 FW so if you have a BD drive with FW 1.0 and the BD FW in your PS3 is 1.1 it might be wont work even with the correct Key.
But thats only speculation


greetings to pablot!!! The world is a littel place huh........

This post has been edited by THREE_Consoles: Jan 10 2008, 05:08 PM

[THREE_Consoles]

But if this with the key is true why will there be some PS3 BD replacement drives on the WEB???
I dont read anythink about a method to flash the key.The only PS3 dump/flash chip available are Infectus and this one dont have a PS3 support for a "change key" feature .

This post has been edited by THREE_Consoles: Jan 10 2008, 06:35 PM

[THREE_Consoles]

Ahhh....SORRY what ive seen was a PS3 BD replacement LASER!
Not a whole drive.So im guess the drive really have a key too.

[syntaxerror329]

Wow, i really expected everyone to flame me and tell me this has been answered a million times as usual.

I guess i am glad i got some discussing going on this.

[HotKnife420]

Hmm, it's possible the drive isn't married, though. If it's anything like the previous PSX designs, there is no logic board (mobo connects to laser directly). If you've got another one that you don't mind opening, why not see if you can swap for testing purposes and post the results here?

[pablot]

Hmm, it's possible the drive isn't married, though. If it's anything like the previous PSX designs, there is no logic board (mobo connects to laser directly). If you've got another one that you don't mind opening, why not see if you can swap for testing purposes and post the results here?

this design is different though. It has the whole BD part on a separate PCB that controls the DVD. So its possible that they have done some marrying process there.

Best thing would be if someone could just give it a try to see what happens.

[HotKnife420]

After some searching, I've found that they are, in fact, married.

[pablot]

can we get a source on that?

[HotKnife420]

can we get a source on that?

http://www.xboxhacker.net/index.php?topic=7450.0

[pablot]

Thanks!

I have confirmed that the drives cannot be swapped between consoles so there is a unique ID stored on the drive. I believe it will be on the Serial Eeprom MX25L1005. I have yet to swap this chip to confirm. This has been the least important issue I have had to deal with as far as PS3 failures so I haven't given it priority.

[pablot]

update:

Seems that in some cases it is actually possible to flash it.. quote from the same xboxhacker thread as before (new post):

Just an update on this. We have found that "some" drives are indeed swappable but it depends on the revision of the board on the drive. If the drive revision does not match the drive doesn't seem to want to boot. We noticed a letter in a circle and then a number in the right corner of the drive board which if they match will allow us to swap the drives between the consoles. Their seems to be three major revisions of the boards.

So the question is why aren't the others swappable?

[THREE_Consoles]

Ah jes there ive read this.

@ pablot

THX for the update.

Hmm....so we know for sure $ony does not use a uniqe drive key for every Console.I though maybe they use unique keys for every drive revision?(eg. D rev. 1.2>1.2=working / D rev. 1.2>1.3=non working)
But any way this is one good news more!

[budmanv24]

Can the laser assembly or the entire sub-assembly with laser, motor, and rails be swapped without incurring issues? I have a 40gb that quit reading discs and don't have a receipt for warranty repair.