FYI, if any of you hate that fucking little ticker on the XMB like I do, you can get rid of it (and remain online, unlike the other method) by setting your date to the future. I just put my year to 2015 (time and day is accurate), and no more ticker.

I thought there was an option to remove it in the settings....

There was. Lemme check.

EDIT: Yup. It's under System Settings.

Nope.

There's an option in the systems settings to remove "what's new" from the XMB, but there's no option to remove the scrolling ticker.

I checked again. You're right.

I never messed with it cos I never notice the news ticker unless people mention it.

I'm always tooling about the XMB, what with all the downloaded games and the mass amounts of media streaming I do on the PS3, so I notice it quite a bit - it's like the annoying little distraction in the corner of your eye, mostly because it's constantly moving.

Anyone been having this problem if they updated to the new firmware?

http://forums.highdefdigest.com/blu-...-problems.html

Man, I'm getting so scared of my MSG4 80GB dying on me since i use it so damn often, i literally use it at LEAST 2 hours every single day, whether it's for watching MKV HD shows or playing games or watching blu-rays. I've had it for a year and a half now. I only hear the fan kicking in when i play DVDs but other than that i think it's pretty quiet. I make sure there's nothing around it and when i vacuum my apartment i always try to suck on the vents with it.

Like i said before it sucks to have to prepare to an eventual failure of something that you like alot. Stupid ticking time bomb! :P

I've had my 60GB fat running on 3.15 since the firmware was released with zero problems. I think the PS3's that are "affected" simply had their death clock finally count down to zero.

Agree. I've read a lot about MW2 or a certain firmware causing systems to fail or BD drives to stop working, but I don't think any of that is the cause. These consoles have been in use 2-3 years and that seems to be the time it takes for them to start failing at a higher rate. I think in many cases a lot of people aren't using their systems much right before a major game release or firmware upgrade so simply using it heavily again is what finally brings it to the end of the road.

I'm completely paranoid now. I haven't gamed on my PS3 much since getting a 360 over a year ago and I'm using my LG BH200 most of the time for movies now that I can bitstream HD audio to my receiver and the LG has BD Live as well. I still use my PS3, but I'm going to try and extend its life as much as possible.

I know for my PS1, it died right when RE 1 came out (well, not died, but had to be played upside down). I thin it was because of the loading that game required, as I had played with it without incident, constantly, right before that. In any case, I'm glad I got MW2 for the 360 instead...

Funny how the system starts failing right after the warranty is up...

I remember when Halo 3/Dead Rising/COD4 was killing 360s and everybody blamed the games, which just happened to be the games people were playing when their 360s Red Ringed.

I'm with RocShemp. I think it's a matter of time and the "game of the month" or latest firmware is just coincidental.

Borderlands killed mine though.

Borderlands is so good it will kill your system!

As I've already stated in this thread and others, I believe this is the case as well. It only takes a little googling to see that people have screamed about multiple firmware releases for the same exact hardware failures (YLOD and dead BD drives/lasers).

I never had issues with Halo 3 or COD4 but heard that people had a lot of issues with Dead Rising. But I had issues with Crackdown when I was trying to kill a boss and I was being attacked by dozens of guys...

I just got the YLOD on my second PS3 system in less than 12 months. This wasn't the refurb that they sent me but the 60 I bought about 6 months after my first one. It lasted just over 2 years and this one a bit longer (because it wasn't my primary system for a year). Sony needs to recognize that there is a storm brewing with their older systems and start owning up to it rather than shafting their customers with a 150 dollar repair fee. They can shove it up their ass. They offered me a refurbed (already?) Slim system in exchange for my 60 and 150 bucks and I just laughed. My BC system and cash for a refurbed slim with a 90 day warranty? Get the fuck outta here! My Sony RPTV goes haywire on Tuesday and my PS3 goes down on Thursday. Fuck Sony!

I imagine that Wheatus summed up your feelings with an album they did after a dispute with the record label:

I'm not sure what's causing the YLOD in some of these systems. I think the most popular theory is that it's dust buildup over time that leads to overheating. But, people have reported using it in a relatively clean environment and they've still gotten it, so there could be a design flaw with how it circulates air or something. We probably shouldn't have to vacuum dust out of our consoles, but it seems that can help.

That sucks man.

Are there any numbers or percentages on this? Is the issue really big for BC 60 GB PS3? What about the other models?
I have a 40 GB (HD upgraded to 320 GB) no BC and have had no issues. But I don't play it as much as my 360.

About a 10% fail rate in the first 2 years, compared to 23.7% for the 360 and 2.7% for the Wii, according to this article in Game Spot. I don't think it's as big a problem as some here think it is. My 60 GB system is humming along just fine. (knocks wood).

any article that lists the 360 as <50% fail rate seems pretty questionable.

I wonder what the fail rate on the Wii would be if people used it for gaming instead of dust-gathering?

My thoughts exactly.

mine still works great at gathering dust.

But the fact that I'm 2 for 2 with 60s failing just after two years doesn't bode well for the 60s in the near future. There is definitely a problem and Sony continues to deny it. Neither of my systems were mistreated, they were kept where they could get good airflow and I never left them on to do things like Folding or for extended amounts of time. The CSRs try to tell you that there could be a myriad of causes for getting the flashing red light but there are really only two reasons: 1)Power supply failure (not very common) and 2)Re-flowing needed (seems to be the primary reason the systems die). It amazes me that Sony sold these systems touting durability but yet they really are not. And them offering me a refurbished Slim for 150 bucks and my 60 is laughable. I might take that if I were able to swap out my HDD in the new system and go back to work but even that is not the case. They can kiss my ass! I will still play games but after my PS3 and my Sony RPTV both breaking within two days I'm likely to never deal with Sony directly again unless it is something they are required to pay for to be repaired.

Mine was humming along as well last night until it went beep...beep...beep. Good luck! The only issue I saw was a couple of times it froze in the last few days and I had to do a hard reset. You might also listen for an increase in fan noise.