Tag Archives: bluray

PS3: Recovery menu – fix your BluRay issues

Posted by on June 2, 2009 10 comments

It appears that more and more people suffer failures on the PS3 where games don’t load or the BluRay drive seems to fail. A number of people have reported that in most instances the issue seems to be a corruption of the BluRay-driver (either due to a firmware update or an improper shutdown).

Since the firmware release 2.5, the PS3 has a Recovery menu with the following options:

  1. Restart System: Restarts the PLAYSTATION®3 System.
  2. Restore Default Settings: Reset all system settings back to default.
  3. Restore File System: Checks for corrupt/missing system files.
  4. Rebuild Database: Rebuilds the OS for the PLAYSTATION®3.
  5. Restore PS3 System: Fresh restore; Deletes everything and starts from Scratch.
  6. System Update: Update the PLAYSTATION®3 System

You will want to select the 3rd option which re-flashes corrupt system files back into flash-memory. The PS3 stores a copy of firmware drivers on the hard-drive and will reload any corrupt files. To access the recovery menu, do this:

  1. Make sure the PS3 is turned off
  2. Press and hold the power button on the PS3 it will power on then power off.
  3. When it’s off press and hold the power button again until you hear two consecutive beeps. When you hear the double beeps immediately take your finger off the power button (if your system turns off before you get a double beep just try again and hold the button, it should double beep the 2nd time you try)
  4. It will ask for the controller to be connected via the USB cable,
  5. Turn on the controller and you will have access to the menu.

Update (2009/12/29): If you would like to manually download the latest firmware, follow this link. Use the URL in the file to download the latest PS3 firmware (note: this is for EU/UK and South African region only)



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Cheapest Blue-ray’s in town: CNA

Posted by on June 16, 2008 No comments

I wish I could shamelessly plug for CNA — if it was not for them over the last 6 months to completely screw up their storelayouts and scatter their stock across stores without much logic.

One thing I must give them though – their Blue-ray prices rock – most of the titles for R 199,00:

Compare this with the following stores: Musica (R 299.95), Take2 (R 274.00), Phase 2 CD (R 235.00 – R 299.00, depending on which shop you go to – bizarre), TopCD (R 275.00), Look & Listen

I must admit, Phase 2 CD has the best selection (stores in Northgate and Sandton City), but it certainly does not justify a 50% markup compared to CNA (bearing in mind that CNA certainly does not sell their stuff off at cost).

One Look & Listen could care less when I asked why their Blue-ray’s are labelled at R 279.00 although their online-website lists them at R 199.00 (“… this is how much they cost in our shop, then buy them online”). A Phase-2-CD was surprised that CNA across their store sells them for R 100.00 cheaper (“… wow, I need to go and have a look”).

Certainly an interesting shift for us consumers, considering that Blue-rays used to cost 400-500 Rand several months back.

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