How To Clean A Ps3 Disc Drive

In an interview with Hexus, Toshiba Storage Device Division personnel Jim Armour dished the dirt on the Blu-ray's built-in drawbacks. One of the weak spot of the Blu-ray according to Jim is its drive lens.

To allow the drive to read 25GB worth of info, the Blu-ray lens is placed very close to the disc surface

- somewhere between 0.1 and 0.3 millimeters . Here's the potential problem. The Blu-ray disc is coated with Zircon, a substance almost as tough as diamond. When the disc heats up it could undergo warping. Since the Zircon is stiffer than Al Gore, the disc can only warp downwards towards the lens.

"Guess what happens when you run Zircon over glass at 2000rpm?" asks Jim. The heart-stopping answer: you're going to need a new Blu-ray lens . What does that mean to PS3 gamers? "Who can say? To be honest, I'd expect any drive or disc to fail in some way if it was being rattled about whilst trying to run and the Xbox 360 is a prime example, " says Jim. "But it'll be interesting to see how the PS3 is treated by the public when in use and to see what errors are thrown up by the Blu-ray drives. As I said, the tolerances in the Blu-ray system unlike HD DVD, don't leave much room for 'user error.'"

Okay, so he works for Blu-ray's arch enemy HD DVD, but it doesn't mean he's making this stuff up, right?

Anyway, now that you know the dirt, we bring you a video on cleaning your Blu-ray lens in case it gets dirty (not warped!) . We are not suggesting you do this to your PS3, but it can be used. Even the video tutorial from Xtreme Tekno warns about the system's delicate nature. Sure the hands make it looks easy. The same way Martha Stewart makes you think renovating your kitchen will take only 20 minutes out of your life. That's a big "Ha!"

Accessing & Removal of the Blu-Ray:

1. Turn the console to the left so that the rubber foot that is circled in red in the picture below can

been seen. Use a small flathead screw driver to remove the rubber foot off. Now that the foot is

removed used the Torx screwdriver to unscrew the screw.

2. Once the Screw has been removed it should look like the picture below.

3. Now face the ps3 towards you and slide the top of the ps3 to the left this may take some force if

it your first time opening the console. When the case has slid as far left as it will go lift the case

upwards as shown in the picture below.

4. After the top is removed you will be faced with yet another cover to remove this cover start by

removing the 7 long screw circled in red in the picture below using a Phillips head screw driver.

5. Now undo the two small clips at the back of the console using a small screw driver then lift the

cover off the console as shown in the picture below this may take a bit of gentle force.

6. While taking the cover off you will see a connector as shown in the picture below.

To remove the silver connector use a Small flathead screw driver as shown in the picture below

to help you wedge it out.

7. You will now be able to see the ps3 insides as shown in the picture below.

8. Now to remove the Blu-ray drive. This is relatively easy. Lift the drive up about 2" and you will

see a really wide ribbon cable connecting the drive to the motherboard. Unplug it. There will also

be a plug near the front of the Blu-ray drive. Unplug it as well. The drive will then just lift out.

What you will need in order to clean the Blu-Ray drive:

● Screwdriver

● Q-tip

● Clean lens liquid

1. Turn the drive over so as that the board on the Blu-Ray drive is facing up towards you.

2. Take out the 2 screws that are on the bottom left & right hand corners. (Not on the board of the

Blu-Ray but on the metal part of the drive.)

- When they are unscrewed, take the 2 screws out along with the metal piece that is with them.

- REMEMBER: when you assemble the Blu-Ray drive, screw the 2 screws back in with the

metal piece.

3. Now unscrew the 5 screws on the board of the Blu-Ray drive. (1 top right, 1 top left, 1 bottom

left, 1 bottom almost right, 1 bottom right.)

- Bottom right screw: comes with metal piece that will need to be reattached upon

reassembly.

4. Once the screws are out, you will be able to disconnect the motherboard's connectors.

- To extract the connectors, you will need to lift the lid (on each connector) & pull the

connector out.

5. Now, lift the motherboard to your right as it is still connected, to the Blu-Ray drive, with a cable.

6. To extract the cable from the motherboard, you only have to pull the cable from the motherboard.

- Now you can remove the motherboard, as nothing else is holding it on.

7. Now turn the Blu-Ray drive over (as you will have to be able to lift & extract the upper case) .

8. Once you have turned the Blu-Ray drive over, lift up the on the upper case to take it off.

- Be sure that when taking it off the push back on the case while lifting it up, as the case is

hooked into some tabs.

9. Now you will need to take out 4 screws on the drive (1 top right, 1 top left, 1 in the middle on

the left side, above the white piece, & 1 straight across, from the one above the white piece,

on the right) .

10. Once you have taken out those 4 screws you will need to remove 1 screw in the middle on the

bottom.

11. Now, you will need to move remove the white part that holds the Blu-Ray disc.

12. Once you do that, you can lift the black case towards your right side.

13. Now take a Q-tip & dampen it with the lens cleaner liquid.

14. Now take the dampened Q-tip & make smooth circular movements on the lens (located in the

square black part) .

- NOTE: You will want to be careful as the Blu-Ray is very delicate.

15. Now use the dry end of the Q-tip to dry the lens.

- You will want to make the same smooth circular movements on the lens, as you just used

to clean it.

- NOTE: You will want to be careful as the Blu-Ray is very delicate.

16. Now put the black case back on that you turned to your right.

17. Put the white part back on.

18. Screw back in all the screws that you took out & be sure to put the metal pieces that they came

with back on too!