I recently had a problem with my fat 60GB PS3 where it wouldn’t read discs. It occurred while playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. I tried a PS3 game, Blu-ray movie, DVD movie and none of them worked. I could do most other things like surf the web, connect to the PlayStation Store, play movies off of the hard drive and USB stick.

I contacted Sony’s technical support and they asked me to turn off my PS3, turn it back on holding down the power button until it turns off again, turn it back on holding down the power button until you hear two consecutive beeps. Once this has been done your PS3 will boot asking you to “Connect the controller using a USB cable, and then press the PS button.” Once I did that they asked me to try each option. None of the options helped, it still wouldn’t read. After telling them my model number they said I had the option to send it in to be fixed for $149.99 or to exchange it for a new PS3 slim for $129.99. Each also had a charge of $29.99 or $39.99. I forget the exact price for shipping, but fixing or exchanging were both too pricey for me having spent $599 for the console.

I decided to look around online to see if I could fix this myself. I found a new PS3 laser for under $60 including shipping on ebay. After receiving it in the mail it was time to install it so I could get my ModernWarfare 2 fix. You’ll need a Trox10 and a Philips screw driver, I used a PH00. I followed these videos and had no problems swapping it out. Thanks a ton supermodchips for putting these videos out there.

UPDATE:
Well it’s happened again. My laser died in my PS3. It’s been about a year since I replaced the laser. Back to eBay. This time it was while playing Call of Duty Black Ops. I’m beginning to wonder if there is an issue with the way the Call of Duty games are read. The PS3 not reading discs seems to be a pretty common problem across the various models. Playstation Technical Help Forum.