PS3: Recovery menu – fix your BluRay issues

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)