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How would you retrieve the key off the motherboard if you don't have the original drive? I heard something called...

A common thing we see is the power supply in the older model Playstation 3 systems get extremely hot and have to be...

This may be a sign that the laser in your ps3 is going out. The reason the older disk are working and the newer disk are not is because the console is having to pull more information from the newer disk. The laser is most likely going to need to be replaced. Contact Sony and see if the unit is still under warranty.

The yellow light is good. When the light is red on the power brick, that means it needs to be reset by unplugging it from everything and wait till the light goes out. If it turns red as soon as you plug it up to the wall, you know the power brick is bad. If you have it plugged into the wall and the Xbox 360, the system is turned off, and the light is orange, the power brick is good. Now, if you turn the system on and then the power brick turns red, the system is shorting out somewhere causing the power brick to short out. Check the ALL the slots in the Xbox 360 and make sure they are not damaged or anything is stuck in them. This includes the memory slots, USB slots, power cable slot, AV and HDMI input, anything that a cable plugs into. If all the inputs look good, then it's a motherboard issue.

It's a defective cable as well. We had a customer come in with the same problem and we used our cable and the system worked just fine. Try a different plug in as well. I've seen this cause the breaker to trip.

The laser most likely is jammed in the back of the drive. This is a common thing we see when the systems are dropped. Just open up the system and realign the drive. While you are in there, give it a good cleaning. The drive should be dust free. The railing that the laser guides on, make sure that it is clean and well lubricated with gear grease of some sort.

System freezes on the console are a bit complicated. It could simply be the starting signs of the Red Ring of Death or a bridge under one of the ram chips. The system will need a proper reflow job done to it to fix your issue.

If you have a SD card in the system, take it out and see if that fixes the issue. If not, when you actually get the system to pull up, try and do a system update using your internet connection and it could possibly rewrite the file that is corrupt in the system's firmware. If this still does not work, you will need to get the board repaired. Wii motherboards are about $40.00.

To wrap it up in the smallest paragraph, it's a solder bridge underneath one of the BGA processors which 95% of the time it is the RSX chip. The RSX chip is what generates your graphics. BGA processors basically have a bunch of solder beads that are non-lead and due to extensive heat, bridge together causing the Yellow Light of Death or general hardware failure. Several things could cause the extensive heat. - Poor ventilation, it needs 6 inches all around the console. - Severe dust build up, not allowing proper airflow to extract the heat properly from the system. - Sony uses a cheap base of thermal paste and if the system is one of the original launched versions, the thermal paste is probably evaporated or pushed to the sides and not inbetween the processor and heatsink anymore. It also can be caused by the power supply failing as well. Probably 1 out of every 10 we do, it's the power supply that causes the issue.

Just follow this guide here on iFixit and this should fix your problem. PlayStation 2 Optical Disc Drive Lens Cleaning

The easiest thing to do is just replace the foot pedal. It would run you $20.00 - $40.00 to replace it OR you can repair it but you'd have to buy the same type of wiring and solder onto the sensor underneath the pedal.

The drift is a very common problem but infortunately no real fix. Cosmetic issues are really the only thing that is cost effective to be fixed. You can get a used controller for like $20.00 to $25.00.