Slim PS3 Blu Ray drive replacement advice help?

[PR0r]

My Blu Ray drive has completely died on my Slim PS3. I was in the middle of a game when it wouldn't read the disc and then wouldnt eject it either. About half an hour before this happened the drive made the eject sound while I was playing with the disc in. I ignored the sound thinking, that was weird but maybe that noise was something else.

Anyway, I really need this thing replaced. I'm out of warrenty but sending it to Sony could be an option if its expensive or troublesome to replace.

I read on the official Playstaion community forums that the slims are swap and play, meaning no need to keep anything from my existing dead drive. How true is this?

I'm looking to buying from either ebay or the market place forums here. Are there alot of cheaper china knockoffs on ebay? I'm not really sure what part to look for.

My PS3 is a CECH 3002B (320gb). After reading one ebay add i'm now more confused...

SONY PS3 SLIM BLU-RAY DRIVE
KEM 450DAA (Fully Working)
Fits the 160GB & 320GB models.

Please note this will not fit the very latest CECH 3000 series models this type of drive has a bright shiny silver top.

I took my drive apart yesterday and it has a shiny silver top. But I thought all the PS3 Slims had the same drives?

If anyone could help me identify what drive I'll need, ill be very happy.

Thanks a lot

[racer0018]

You don't need to buy the whole drive. You just need the laser inside of it. If you do replace the whole drive you will have to remarry it to the ps3 and that is a pain in the butt. I have just replaced the lens on all my drives.

[PR0r]

So I buy a replacement drive and just plug it in? you say I need the laser only... Am I taking the laser from the new one and putting it in the old? I've s forseen replacement lasers for pretty cheap so that sounds good.

Another thing, no lights come on the bluray drive and drive doesn't pull the disk in? So would replacing the laser only make it operate as normal? Thanks for the quick reply racer0018

Also the wire that you connect from under the drive to the board ive very slightly bent or possibly damaged it from trying to plug it back in. If you've worked on this drive you'll know. You need to pull the wire out as your plugging it in. A complete drive would include that too wouldn't it.