I've had a broken 60GB Playstation 3 for almost a year now. I bought a new slim to replace it, but wanted to keep my original in order to fix it. Well, I'm planning on fixing it now. My problem lies with my disc drive not looking like all the rest I've seen online as a replacement. Before I go further I think I need to spill the history of my problem.

I had gotten the YLOD on my launch console. Instead of taking the advice of everyone I went ahead and paid Sony to repair, which they just sent me a refurbished unit. After about 2 months or so the disc drive stopped reading all disc. I called Sony and they basically told me "tough shit, deal with it", and so I just let the console sit until I could repair it myself.

I've taken the console apart and when I looked at the disc drive I noticed the board wasn't visible, that I had to literally remove a metal plate on the bottom in order to get to the electronic board. Now, every drive I view to purchase, at least the ones with pictures, have one of the flat connectors going to the board on the left side, the same side as the grey and black wires, but mine is on the opposite side, and I believe mine is smaller as well.

Is this some sort of trick from Sony to keep people like myself from repairing their console? Or is there another drive I just haven't found out yet that would be a perfect replacement?

I was under the impression that refurbs/repairs came with a 3 month warranty? Can't really help with the repairs I'm afraid but good luck getting it sorted. My phat still works but recently got really loud, to the point where I won't use it. Bought a slim to replace it which got very hot, apparently thats normal but just didn't seem right to me so returned it and now I'm stuck in PS3 limbo.

Having repaired my fat PS3 a few months back, yours does sound different from my experience. Worryingly I wouldn't be shocked if Sony did this for that exact reason, to stop you messing. Might be worth getting in touch with someone who stocks replacement parts/repairs PS3's. For me it was helpful to get advice from someone whose messed with a variety of PS3 versions so it might be worth a shout.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

@pessh: You're probably right. I just remember that I was 5-10 days over the warranty and the console's disc drive stopped working, and customer service was less than sympathetic to my woes. Yeah, the warranty ended, but I couldn't help but feel cheated that Sony couldn't back their work, and it almost felt like the console was on a timer...just my paranoia I guess.

I'm still hopeful that I just need a different part.

*update* I think I found the solution, but wanted to still ask on these boards first. It looks like Sony gave me a modified 80GB PS3. Not sure how I can check if the BC is hardware or software. Or they could have just placed a 80GB console disc drive into a 60GB model, but from what I've seen I need the 80GB disc drive as a replacement. Has anyone dealt with anything like this before? Is Sony running out of parts for the original 60GB PS3s and just mix matching from various PS3 models? Is there anyway to be sure of what part number I need, as I've seen three: KEM-410ACA, KEM-410AAA, and KES-410A, or does only the system board for the drive matter?

Go on eBay and look up your PS3 Model # and Disc Drive. How sony does the Refurbs is they send you the same model or a better model; so if they sent you an 80GB you probably have the MGS4 Bundle or the one that came after that, which had no BC.

You can find the different SKUS here; http://www.ps3devwiki.com/wiki/SKU_Models

Replacement Laser shouldn't be that expensive on eBay.

Go on eBay and look up your PS3 Model # and Disc Drive. How sony does the Refurbs is they send you the same model or a better model; so if they sent you an 80GB you probably have the MGS4 Bundle or the one that came after that, which had no BC.

You can find the different SKUS here; http://www.ps3devwiki.com/wiki/SKU_Models

Replacement Laser shouldn't be that expensive on eBay.

go to ifixit.com you can find any problem with your ps3. i had yellow lite, my system was over heated, ordered a kit for fifty dollars and repaired it myself. Instructables may help also. Dont send it to Sony, you can fix yourself.

My model number is the same as my original 60GB PS3, the disc drive in the refurbished model they sent back looks nothing like the 60GB disc drive. It looks more like the disc drive replacement for every fat model after the 60Gb launch model. I still have my four USB slots in the front and I still have the media reader hidden behind the flap in the front. If I hadn't had opened up the console I would have assumed everything was for the original 60GB model, but the disc drive has the system board inside the dive itself, where the original drive was placed just outside of the drive in plain view. I've thought about just replacing the laser, but the more I think about it the more I want to get the entire drive...besides the system board.

There was an 80GB Model that had 4 Ports, it's the MGS4 Bundle version as well as the Motorstorm Bundle. The difference between it and the 60GB Launch was that it was Software emulation for PS2 vs hardware based.

If you know you are on a 60GB Launch model, get the drive for that. It could of been sony running out of drives for the 60 or they messed up; heck it could be why it failed so quickly.

Not that I'm not trying to take your advice, it's just that those two drives, the 60GB and the every other model after the 60GB model, look different. The 60GB model drive has both the grey and black cable and a small ribbon cable on the left side, while mine has the grey and black cable on the left side but the small ribbon cable on the right, while I also think the size of the ribbon cables are different sizes but it's hard to tell from pictures. If I buy the 60GB disc drive then I'll more than likely not be able to hook it up properly since the ribbon cables are at different ends.

What I think Sony did was take a launch 60GB model, and yes mine is a CECHA01, and married it with a KEM-410ACA drive, which were the drives placed in every fat PS3 after the 60GB model; or they could have simply put in a 80GB model with the shell of the original 60GB case, and possibly added the media reader (not sure if the 80GB had the media reader).

I'm going to go ahead and get the KEM-410ACA drive and call it a day.

I've got an idea that the circuit board on the bottom of the Blu Ray drive is actually paired to the system. I had a launch 60gb die and my friend's launch 60gb had the BR Drive die, so we put my drive in his system, but I think we had to swap the boards on the bottom of the optical drives so that his original PCB stayed in his system with my blu ray drive. Hopefully that doesn't screw you over.

Yeah the 80GB with BC had a Card Reader. Go with that drive and see what happens, honestly it should be fine.

@damodar: Yes, the circuit board on the every PS3 disc drive are paired with the system board of that console, which is why if you buy a replacement drive they don't come with the circuit board.