Just bought a used PS3.. where to I begin?

[TNtitan]

Hello gang. I'm very new to the Ps3 world.. and really backed into a PS3 whilst looking for a Blu Ray player.. I read many reviews that had the PS3 near the top for Blu Ray play. I searched this site as best I could (taking into account 5 minute intervals!) and have learned alot already.

So - I picked up a 40GB PS3 for cheap today from some guy off craigslist and he included 3 games with it. (Madden 09, Midnight Club LA, GTA4) He powered it up for me and I played a game for a while. Everything worked flawlessly. I took it home and started looking at the settings and when I acquired my wireless network, a notice came on the screen saying there was a necessary update available.

I neglected to install the update at that time as I had read some posts saying that the updates could cause data loss/hurt functionality in some way (bogus?). I am not sure if this is accurate, so I thought I would ask the pros (you!)

In addition to the protocol regarding automatic updates from Sony, are there any other bits of maintenance I should do with a new (to me) Ps3? HDD formats, cleaning, registering, etc..

Any bit of advice to a new owner would be great.

[CJPC]

Well, in regards to updates, there is always the risk that it "could" brick the system, although in actuality, it rarely happens. With most Consumer Electronics devices, the updates are tested and checked, so it wont brick.

However, unless the power is shut off during the update, or something catastrophic happens while its updating (like you take a magnet to the hard disk), you should have no problems upgrading the system.

Now, some do not like to upgrade there systems, in hopes of a hack for a lower firmware version, however if you wait, you will not be able to use PSN, or play newer games.

As to formatting the system, its up to you. If he has some game demo's installed, I say keep them. If you want a very fresh system, you can use the option in the PS3 to restore the system, which should return it to its factory condition.

[TNtitan]

Thanks for the input. Regarding formatting.. I will probably leave the system alone. not sure where to look for demos.. I will search for that. I went ahead and did the updates and everything went fine.

Question: Does the system restore revert back to the original factory condition BEFORE the updates?