Hi, Do you have any idea what would cause a PlayStation’s disk drive to burn out?

-- Steve C.

Hi Steve,

Looking at our last article you might think that the only PlayStation problem that we encounter is the YLOD. However just as common is the failure of the PS3’s (and XBOX 360’s and Wii’s) disk drive. There are several reasons that your drive may fail prematurely.

• Manufacturers defect (nothing you can do about this one)

• Dirt and dust from your home and from dirty disks can foul the laser lens inside the drive causing it to stop reading disks (Lots of problems with your game systems can be solved by keeping away dirt and dust, also cigarette smoke can really ruin the insides of these sensitive devices) Keep the area around your system as clean as possible.

• Never force a game into or out of a drive, doing so can damage the sensitive gears and mechanisms inside of the drive, always use the eject button to open and close the drive.

• Lastly the drives in all game systems can burn out by excessive use, make sure that when you are no longer playing your game or watching your movie that you either eject the disk or shut down the system. Leaving a movie running on the menu screen or a game spinning on the games menu while you leave to run errands will greatly shorten its lifespan.

By following some of the simple tips above you can ensure that the drive in your game system lasts for many years, if however your game systems drive fails, do not despair; The Tech Center is here to help you. Don’t forget that we will happily examine all of your devices free of charge and provide you a 90-day warranty on any work that we perform.