PS3 Sync Issues (controller) - Page 4

Right. The fact that people who have restored their systems still have the problem is what leads me to believe that permanent damage was done by bad software. It's either that or faulty hardware in the first place that is just doomed to fail after some number of hours of use.

If you're writing software for an operating system like Windows on a PC, it's pretty tough to damage your hardware - but you certainly could damage your hardware with a bad firmware or BIOS upadate. That's why most vendors will tell you

"WARNING!
Please do not download / upgrade the BIOS UNLESS your system has a BIOS-related issue. Flashing the wrong BIOS can cause irreparable damage to the system.

In no event shall Xxxxxxxxx be liable for direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages arising from a BIOS update. "

You have a point there. I suppose its possible that something like that could occur, although I am leaning more toward the issue being caused by hardware that just goes bad in a very small % of the units.

My understanding FWIW is that with this type of issue they just send you a replacement and do not attempt a repair.

What are you planning to do? Is your unit still under warranty?

BTW guys is it true that when Sony sends you back a replacement unit that they send it next day air? If so that is very good service indeed.

I have experienced all the same problems as the rest of you. This week it has gotten worse. I have a 40G bought in March. Contacted Sony and was told they have not had one complaint like this which I find hard to believe. They have already had my PS3 once due to a disc read problem. I really don't want to send it back again.

Sorry to hear about your trouble with the unit. It is very frustrating to hear them say they have not heard about the issue. However to their credit it does seem to be a relatively very small % of users, and given the number of calls they must handle, its not hard to imagine that any particular agent may not have handled a case like this.

How long ago did you first notice a sync problem with your unit? It does tend to get progressively worse, at least in my case and other reported cases. Due to the intermittent nature of the issue, and how it tends to get worse over time, I am leaning toward it being an issue with a faulty hardware component.

Unfortunately it seems that sending it in for an exchange is the only way to have it addressed. Assuming the unit comes back fixed, and further assuming the issue does not return, I think its well worth it to be without the unit for a couple weeks to get it straightened out.

For me it took a while to convince myself to send it in. I was going to just deal with it. But it started occurring more frequently and became more frustrating, and I was at the brink of my warranty expiring so I had to go for it now.

Keep us posted on what you decide to do and on how things go.

That is exactly what I thought at first. But then the number of consoles which are updated when new firmware is released is enormous - tens or hundreds of thousands at minimum for each firmware release - which suggests that in that case this problem should be much more widespread than it seems to be. I think this is purely BT hardware related issue.

Of course it is possible that this problem is much more widespread than it seems to be and some folks are not recognising this as a problem of are not willing to admit that their $400 piece of hardware has a problem.

My replacement unit is still working fine after two firmware updates (2.52 and 2.53).

I agree that it is BT hardware and not likely firmware related. That being said, I don't necessarily think that hundreds of thousands are upgrading firmware with each update. IIRC these updates are not forced. The avg consumer is not going into the menu to periodically check for updates. Us AVS nuts represent a very small % of normal usage.


Originally I thought it was more widespread, but now that I've been entrenched in it for a while and talking about it and researching it, it seems that it is a rather small number of units. For instance a Google search shows just a dozen or so folks reporting this. And this thread has been going for a month or so now and we've only had a few dozen folks weighing in to say they have this issue. I would think there are thousands out there with the issue that don't realize it or don't find us here, but compared to the millions of units sold its likely less than 1% of the units. Just speculating here.


That's great to hear! Am I correct to assume that by now if you were using the old unit (since the time you got your replacement back) you would have had a least a few instances of the sync issue? At this point you are confident the issue is fully resolved IOW?

BTW, when Sony sent your console back to you did they use next day air shipping?

Just like to add to the woes of all affected parties here that I too am affected by this issue. 40 gig and all the symptoms that have been described here. Its been happening for months now. I can't pin point which firmware update created this problem ... but that is where I'm leaning towards as well. But from what I'm reading in this thread it could be related to the 40gig version. Both mates of mine have the original 80 gig PS3s and none have reported to me of this problem. I've taken my controllers over there and connected to their PS3s without any issue. Therefore controller defect has been ruled out on my behalf. Therefore could be one of the firmware updates that have created this problem ... or a piece of the 40gig PS3 hardware is faulty (maybe due to Sony cost cutting and creating a cheaper version with faulty hardware, who knows) and fails after a certain period of time. Oh well ... I haven't had time to ring Sony ... but will give it a go .. and give them my two bobs worth and see where I get ....

Mine was CECHG01 and I received a confirmation email that said my unit was exchanged for the same exact model.

I know exactly where you are coming from on this - it is very frustrating. I have to think at this point it is a faulty part in the hardware that goes bad in a very small % of units and we just happen to have those units.

There are millions of people with this unit and a few hundred or a few thousand like us here that have the issue is incredibly small. Think about it - there are huge PS3 threads on this board one of which that is focused specifically on PS3 problems/issues. Must be thousands of AVS subscribers on those threads. And in the past I've posted info in those threads about this thread. Yet still there are just a few dozen of us here dealing with this issue. In summary I think it is a very, very small % of units that have this issue.

This is a good thing because hopefully it means that once we suck it up and go through the service/exchange PITA stuff that hopefully we get a unit that works well and don't have to deal with this again.

ok lovingdvd it's been 2 weeks since I purchased the charging pad and changing controllers that actually clip on to the ps3 controller and I have not lost connection once. Is this fix? I don't know but it has not happened since buying these. I agree that a firmware update caused this and it's hard to believe that Sony has not heard more about this. So, while I can't guarantee this accessory is a fix, I just know it has not happened since installing it. Take that for what it's worth...OZ

Thanks for the update. How frequently was the sync issue happening before?

I agree it seems like too much of a coincidence and there may be something to it. Let's all brainstorm a bit on what it could be. How does the charging pad work?

How does the controller being on the pad actually charge it? Is there some sort of electrical contact or is it somehow done wirelessly? If wirelessly perhaps its transmission is somehow helping the issue?

Where do you have the charging pad in relation to the PS3? If its right near it, can you try moving it to another room for a few days and see if the issue returns? That would be very telling!

it charges through the use of magnetics - there is a unit that wraps itself around the controller and plugs into the charging port of the controller. On the bottom of the "wrap" it has three metal "points" that when placed on the pad make a magnetic contact and thus charge the controller. That's the best example I can give - short of a picture. As for the charging mat, it is sitting directly in front of the PS3 - my guess is that the wrap contains it's own battery and that is what is powering the controller - peharps averting the controllers battery? Before using this device I was losing a connection on a daily basis - I really did not buy this in the attempt to fix this issue - I just bought it to charge up the controllers - and I got this added benefit. I'll try moving the base father away from the PS3 - but I doubt that will have any effect - but, who knows. I'll keep you updated. OZ

Thanks. Well the odd thing is that the issue is apparently with the consoles themselves and not the controllers. So the charger must be having some sort of impact on the console. Hard to imagine it is juicing the controllers in a way that makes the console work better with them - a full charge should be a full charge no matter how it gets the charge. It'll be interesting to learn whether moving the charger away from the PS3 makes a difference.

I've tried to put in more hours this weekend on the PS3 trying all four controllers. I played games for several hours, even got three movies in. No issues what so ever. After the movies (1.5-2.5 hours at a time), the controllers were still sync'd. Everything still works as it should. I will update if my syncing issues return.

Great. Glad to hear it. If the sync issue is gone for good than it was likely something other than what is causing most of the issues reported here. Even Sony told me that there are several possible causes for a sync issue.

Yes. If I still had my old unit I would have had this issue already several times so the replacement unit definitely has solved the problem.

I live in Europe so cannot say anything how Sony USA handles returns. Mine was sent as a next day ground package. Finland is a small country so packages sent by ground service are delivered next day unless you happen to live in a very remote place in which case it may take two days .

Thanks for the update. Glad to hear the replacement is doing great. I'm expecting my replacement to be delivered on Wednesday. Will post back how it goes.

I posted this in another thread, but this one seems more up to date:

Just started happening to me this evening. I have a launch 20GB model and I have never had this problem before.

Last night I had a brief power interuption in the middle of the night as evidenced by my blinking clocks this morning. The PS3 was in standby mode connected to a Surge Protector. This has to be the reason. I can find no other reason or explanation.

I have 1 DualShock, 1 Sixaxis and 1 BT remote. None will synch now. I get the four flashing lights on the controllers, but they won't synch up. I'm going to dink around with it and see if I can get them re-synched.

There is definitely something odd going on here. Wonderful. I am well past my warranty date.

If you haven't had this problem REPEATEDLY than you may be ok and perhaps your controllers/system lost sync and all you need to do is reset it. Try the standard things like plug the controller into the system via USB, press the PS button and you should get one light. Now disconnect the controller. Does it start blinking? If so, then you may have this issue and you and try the soft reset with the power button (search through my posts in this thread for details). If the controller remains synced after you remove the USB then congrats you may still be good - I wouldn't sweat it then unless this problem keeps occurring.

I'll report back after I test it out a few times. Thanks!

For a data point, I watched DVDs (not Blu Rays) last night for about 2 hours and even though my controllers turn off after 10 mins, I was always able to get sync back.

It seems like I tend to permanently lose sync while watching Blu Rays.

There is an option in the PS3 menus that turns the controllers off after a period of inactivity. Check to see if you have that option engaged.

For those of us with the sync issue, once the controller disconnects you cannot press the PS button to get it to sync back - that just results in the 4 controller lights continuously blinking. Only way to get it back at that point is to physically turn the unit off and back on again with the back switch.

For me, the controller turning off does not mean that the bug has arrived. I can press the PS button and the controller will sync as usual. Once the bug occurs, there's no syncing possible until a hard reboot. I suspect you'd find the same:

1) Hard power cycle your PS3
2) Set your controller to power down after 10 minutes
3) Let the PS3 idle for 10 minutes
4) Presss the PS button

Do you sync?

Cannot try that as my PS3 went in for service of this issue. I'm expecting the replacement to arrive shortly. My guess is that if I performed the above that it WOULD resync. Something else other than the auto power off (which I do not use) causes it to lose sync and when that happens the hard reset is needed.

Hey I have the same problem with my 40GB model. Sent it back for repairs and it was OK for a while but now acting up again. Using my USB IR remote instead now but that doesn't always work either.

That is disappointing to hear, and one of the reasons I put off sending mine back. But as my warranty was about to expire I figured I might as well give it a try. Now that I have another Blu-ray player and already have an XBOX 360 the value of having a PS3 has gone down a great deal. If the problem persists for me after I get a replacement I may just bag it and not deal with the hassle.

Agreed. I do not have other BD player but I have XBOX 360. If this (or some other) problem hits my replacement PS3 and I cannot get it fixed under warranty it is time to say goodbye to PS3 and I will buy a standalone BD player. The prices of profile 2.0 standalone BD players have come down so there's really no point to buy new PS3 or get it fixed if not under warranty for a few PS3 exclusive game titles.

Does anyone lose sync with operations other than BD playback? I've had mine on for a couple of days just doing DVD and games and I haven't had to power cycle. I wonder if the problem only surfaces upon BD play?

No the problem would happen sometimes when gaming and idle, and even sometimes while in the middle of gaming and actually using the controllers (or even while navigating the PS3 menus).

I got my PS3 back yesterday. I haven't used it too much but the sync appears to be fixed. However my unit runs louder than the original. I had a feeling that might happen if I sent it in. My original was always whisper quiet - higher fan never kicked in. The new one starts out quiet but then goes into a higher fan mode which is noticeably louder. If anyone has some tips about getting it to run quieter please let me know. Its in the exact same spot as the original so its not like its no longer well ventilated etc.

I felt I had to register so I could add to this thread. I've been a long time lurker and these forums have helped me pick out most of the things in my living room, so first I just wanted to say thanks to everyone. But maybe some of my info can help us narrow down this issue, or at the very least add another tally to the "WTF" column. Now on to the juicy stuff...

I recently bought a used 40gig ps3 off ebay, I've had it probably a week and a half. And what do I get for getting one off ebay? Well I get this insanely frustrating syncing issue of course. And while I can't be sure, I am leaning toward it being a firmware problem. Because for the first few days I played it without issue, but then I updated to the newest firmware and only then did I start having problems. It was strange because my first guess was overheating, since the first sign of trouble was it actually freezing during a blu-ray playback. Ever since then though, it's been this unsyncing problem. They could be unrelated, but maybe not. Once the controllers do unsync, the game will continue on, so will the music, but both controllers can't be synced back to the system without a reboot.

And the second controller isn't even bluetooth. It's a Logitech controller that has a little wireless USB dongle. Even it won't sync once the regular bluetooth controller randomly stops. The issue usually happens after a few hours of play, and has maybe happened 6-10 times in the last week and a half, but I'm afraid it's only going to get worse. It seems like most of you here have tried just about everything (formatting, restoring defaults, hard reboots, different controllers, etc.) so the situation seems pretty grim. I think I'm going to try backing up my saved games and restoring everything to default nonetheless, because it did seem to work ok before the update. I don't know, maybe I just didn't play it long enough before I updated. The only thing I've tried so far is putting a box fan on it, but I'm pretty sure its magnetic field interfered because I couldn't get the controllers to sync even on startup with the fan nearby.

Oh well, that's all I've got so far, maybe some of the info is useful. But do you guys have any advice? It seems like since the 40gig only came out around 13 months ago, it might still be under warranty. Can Sony tell when the unit was purchased just by giving them a serial? And would they exchange without a receipt? I'm going to try and contact the seller to see when they purchased it, but they may or may not be helpful. I can still get a few hours of game play out of the system at a time, but it's still rather annoying, and if it ever gets worse it'll only get more frustrating. Guess I should have spent the extra $$ and gotten a new system (so this wouldn't happen until a year from now).