Received a copy of Ni No Kuni today and was playing it when the game decided to freeze on me. Restarted the PS3 and now neither games nor movies show up on the dashboard and from googling the problem it looks like my bluray drive has gone and died on me. Tried the hard reset that people recommended but no luck.

I now need to decide if I should try and get myself a good deal somewhere and just buy a new PS3 or with the PS4 coming out this year and knowing that I was going to get one at launch anyway, should I just wait it out.

Or I guess the third option would be buying a replacement bluray drive for my current PS3. Anyone done that and know how easy they are to fit?

You can swap out just the laser part. It's not very hard if you have the tools. Hardest part is actually getting the cassing off since there is a safety screw with a custom(ish) indentation. I think it's like a 5 pointed star or something (been a while since I did it).

Once you're inside just screw off the cover on the BR-drive and you should be able to figure it out fairly easily unless you're super nervous about that sort of thing.

Different models have specific mounting systems for the laser, if you decide to just swap that out, so make sure you get the right one by matching your serial number.

The biggest mistake you can make in this scenario is to forego Ni No Kuni. It is as close to perfect a "classic style" JRPG as I can recall since the end of the SNES.

My launch drive died about three months ago. I didn't want to buy another PS3 with the next gen systems around the corner. I found a replacement laser and track on amazon. It was a little intimidating, but ended up being quite an easy fix. The trickiest part of the swap was unplugging the extremely fine wire.

I would recommend trying to change it out. I think it was a total cost of $58 (CAN), so even if it doesn't work you're not out much. Plus Ni No Kuni was delightful.

Thanks guys, I guess I'll try and find a replacement laser then.

Just sitting here sulking at the moment. It had to happen on the day Ni No Kuni arrived didnt it.

sucks sorry to hear that man, i know what your going though my hdd is about to die soon so have to replace that one. atleast thats insanely easy.
its not that hard to replace the laser parts so if your up for it you can try that and at least you learn something. as@gothmoogle said there are some custom'ish screws in it but a good advise i get a think rubber band and place it over the screw that way you can actually get better grib and screw/unscrew them very easy. if your not willing to go though the hole ordeal just buy a ps3 they dont really cost that much anymore.
and if your willing to cheat a little you can buy a ps3 that is the same model and size as the one you got and wait a few months and take the old one in for repairs for free, but it is morally wrong. but then you have an extra just in case or one for a friend/family member

That sucks - feeling that pain too. I just went through the same pain with Last of Us.

Bought 7am day one on way to work. Put disc in ps3 on the evening, wasn't being recognised. Tried other discs I had lying around they were fine. Took LoU back, and tried to get another copy (day 2 of it's release) and everywhere was sold out.

Had to wait to Monday, managed to get the last copy from the drawer in my local Asda (Wallmart to you guys over the pond). Took that home same thing.

I then noticed it seemed to be just dual layer blue rays my ps3 couldn't recognize, which is signs of the lazer crapping out.

Ended up looking at various options including a gumtree (uk ghetto-ass ebay / craigs list kind of site) dude who wanted to swap a ps3 super slim for a 360 (desperate times), but ended up with a used 500gb from a local retailer who happened to have a sale on.

Still hurts to lay out 50% of the next gen on a replacement 6months of it arriving, but there's no way I'd miss out on Last of Us, or Beyond, or GTA V.

Ni No Kuni is an awesome experience as well - there's plenty of content in there, and if you're any fan of Ghibli anime, then you'll enjoy the ride, another difficult game to miss.

On if you have a way of getting old and new console side by side, the data transfer utility is a bitch to get going, but once it works it'll take all your saves, game installs and DLC and restore it into the same folder structures as you already had.

To save you looking there are several non-intuitive steps to get you through that:

Before you start:

1) with both ps3s turned off connect the two directly with a LAN cable (otherwise the systems can't recognise the link)

2) Check for / carry out any firmware updates needed - seems to have a baked in requirement for the transfer to work.

On your Existing / Old PS3:

2) Sign in to PSN, then under Account Management, De-Authorise your exisiting / old ps3 for games / video as needed.

3) Disable the internet and media server functions.

On your Replacement / New PS3:

4) Disable Internet and Media Server connections

Back on your old ps3:

5) Under the system menu, start the Data Transfer Utility, it will first prompt you to switch off / connect LAN cable but you will have already done that in step 1 above. It will then give you two options 1 = send data, 2 = receive data. You need option 1 to send from the old ps3.

New PS3 again:

6) Under system menu select Data Transfer Utility. Ok on that same message about LAN connection. Select option 2 from the list (receive data).

...no seriously, WAIT:

I can't stress this point too strongly - I tried several times over before I realised I'd connected the LAN cable with the units turned on. It would hang with a message saying something like "waiting to start data transfer", then error out saying no cable connected or other PS3 is not turned on.

The time I got it to work it hung at the "waiting..." stage - I was sat there on my laptop trawling forums for anything else I might have missed, when after just shy of 5mins it suddenly sprang to life and started to do the transfer. I had am 120gb drive pretty much full, and it took almost 3hrs.

On the plus side once the data is over all your file's are there, in the original folder structure you had set up. Final step would be to authorise the new console to play your content and you will be fine after that.

One thing I've read incorrect advice about is the use of the content on the old ps3 following the transfer - if you have much in the way of DLC you would still use via the old machine then you can simply re-authorise the old ps3 for use (so long as you're not already at the 'X playstation systems' limit for your licences I suppose).

I ended up giving my old ps3 to my daughter for her room (spoiled!), to be fair that was more about me - she still regularly plays Lego Indiana Jones 2, and Toy Story 3, and it takes those away from my main tv.

Sorry - hadn't planned to spill into full on how to, but figured it might be useful information for you that I could offer while it was fresh in my mind.

Hope you get sorted out one way or another.

It might vary from model to model, but the screw in the PS3 will be a security torx. They are pretty common in electronics.

@happenstance You should use an iFixit guide for the repair, they are very well done.

Be very careful when buying the laser, as each model of the system requires a different laser

Make sure the laser is compatible with your model (you can find the model number on the back of your system)

Also, just in case, you arent just buying a diode. Be prepared to pay between 70 and 90 bucks for the whole laser piece

My drive died a few months ago. I'm too cheap to replace the console so it's been relegated to streaming Netflix and playing downloadable games in my bedroom.

Ordered myself a new laser so hopefully that will arrive in a few days.

Opened up the PS3 to take a look earlier and the amount of dust was just embarrassing. I always thought I kept it quite clean lol

How do you know if you need a new laser or a whole blu ray reader? I was watching Alien and it took a shit. Now games and movies barley work. I tryed a restore file system and that wasn't the issue. It still plays things until it freezes.