So, I got a used 40GB PS3, the one that came in the Spiderman 3 bundle. It was working great, up until last week, when it stopped reading Blu-Rays. It reads CD's and DVD's just fine, but not Blue-Rays. Fuck.

So I called Sony customer support. After the usual "have you tried this?" questions, the girl told me that I'd need to send it in for repair, and it would cost me freaking $150. Apparently, the Blu-Ray laser, which is separate from the CD/DVD one, was dying, and this was a problem with the batch of PS3's mine happened to be a part of.

So I decided that I'm not gonna just send it away. I've gained some skills with repairing electronics in the last year, mainly from repairing my PSP and upgrading my laptop. So now all I have to do is find a new laser assembly for the 40GB PS3. If anyone knows a good website where I could find said part, that would be great.

I've learned that as much as I love Sony game consoles, their tech support isn't helpful or worth it.