Freezing the PS3

Soluzar · Dec 20, 2012

I've only had TPA for PS3 a couple of weeks and it's already starting to look like a bad buy. I enjoyed it a lot on iOS, so I wanted to get it on a big screen. XBOX 360 doesn't have many tables, so PS3 seemed like a good option. Unfortunately, it has been freezing my console on a pretty regular basis. This can happen while I'm browsing the table select screen, or after I finish a game. It is pretty infuriating, and the only solution seems to be to hit the power button. I hesitate to do this because of the risk of hard drive corruption, so I'm in a position where I don't want to play the game.

Anyone else had freezing?

Sinistar · Dec 20, 2012

No sir , this is unique to your own situation . It is probable that your Hard drive is about to die . If not that severe it may also point to a database corruption and the PS3 should be forced to rebuild the databases , which may happen automatically or you can look up how to hold the power button down and access that feature yourself.

Soluzar · Dec 20, 2012

Sinistar said:
No sir , this is unique to your own situation . It is probable that your Hard drive is about to die . If not that severe it may also point to a database corruption and the PS3 should be forced to rebuild the databases , which may happen automatically or you can look up how to hold the power button down and access that feature yourself.

I'd be really shocked if the hard drive was about to die. It's almost new, I installed a larger drive not so long ago. I don't get freezing with any other game on the system, which is why I was a little inclined to blame TPA. I'll be sure to rebuild the database, as you suggested. If that doesn't help I'll simply quit playing TPA on that platform and stick to iOS.

Sumez · Dec 20, 2012

Is the new hard drive you installed an official Sony one? Maybe its specs don't match what most PS3 games are programmed for.

Soluzar · Dec 20, 2012

As far as I know they don't sell official replacement hard drives. This is a fully supported procedure though, there are instructions on the Sony website.

http://uk.playstation.com/ps3/support/general/detail/linked347570/item347564/Replace-the-hard-disk/

Besides, I'm not having any problems with "most PS3 games". Since the upgrade I've played probably over a dozen retail games and as many downloadable with no problem. Honestly I still see this as being a problem that TPA has, rather than a problem which my PS3 has. It will become a problem my PS3 has after I allow TPA to crash it enough times though.

I appreciate the suggestions but really I'm not entertaining the idea that this is a problem with the hard drive.

SKILL_SHOT · Dec 20, 2012

Ive had it freeze a few times.

Lord Boron · Dec 21, 2012

I had a fat model that started freezing up sometimes. Sony used notoriously bad thermal past. I pulled it apart, cleaned the off the old past and put in new high end stuff, and it runs much cooler now.

Soluzar · Dec 21, 2012

Lord Boron said:
I had a fat model that started freezing up sometimes. Sony used notoriously bad thermal past. I pulled it apart, cleaned the off the old past and put in new high end stuff, and it runs much cooler now.

This is a slim model, a little less than two years old. It also gives no problems in any games other than TPA. I can't emphasize this enough.

WildWingMafia · Dec 21, 2012

Its not just you. Read my Attn: FarSight employees post for another TPA owner that has the PS3 version with similar issues.

brakel · Dec 22, 2012

Have you tried deleting the game save and/or the game itself and reloading?

Soluzar · Dec 22, 2012

brakel said:
Have you tried deleting the game save and/or the game itself and reloading?

Actually yes. I deleted the game, because before that I couldn't get it to work at all. It would freeze before starting any table. Now it is possible to start a table, and the freezing occurs only sporadically. Didn't occur to me to delete the save though. Might try that.

Captain Caveman · Dec 22, 2012

I highly doubt the deleting the save would fix it.. it'd crash every time it tried to load it

A 2 year old PS3 Slim probably needs new thermal paste.. I bet its heat related..

iCub · Dec 22, 2012

Captain Caveman said:
A 2 year old PS3 Slim probably needs new thermal paste.. I bet its heat related..

I highly doubt thermal paste is the issue, otherwise it would show on every game that taxes the PS3 once the console has heated up. TPA doesn't even push the PS3 that hard compared to the likes of Uncharted, Wipeout HD or GTA IV. The fan on my PS3 (slim not superslim) never hits the full throttle while playing TPA; Uncharted on the other hand, makes it sound like a small hovercraft.

The PS3 has been known to have issues with certain brands of HDD at the larger sizes (1tb) , but I think these problems have been dealt with through firmware updates. Also, TPA dumps the game into memory at the start so problems would likely only show during initial loading or during saving if it were a HDD issue.

Captain Caveman · Dec 22, 2012

iCub said:
I highly doubt thermal paste is the issue, otherwise it would show on every game that taxes the PS3 once the console has heated up. TPA doesn't even push the PS3 that hard compared to the likes of Uncharted, Wipeout HD or GTA IV. The fan on my PS3 (slim not superslim) never hits the full throttle while playing TPA; Uncharted on the other hand, makes it sound like a small hovercraft.

The PS3 has been known to have issues with certain brands of HDD at the larger sizes (1tb) , but I think these problems have been dealt with through firmware updates. Also, TPA dumps the game into memory at the start so problems would likely only show during initial loading or during saving if it were a HDD issue.

Your probably right.. I thought about that after I posted.. but I doubt its a TPA issue or it'd be widespread..

smbhax · Dec 23, 2012

I have a fairly new slim and it locks up on me occasionally. Hadn't in a while but it just did tonight while flipping through the table select menu.

DarkAkatosh · Dec 23, 2012

I can't recall any freezing issues on my slim. And it ain't thermal paste related either because when my fat died it showed no signs of dying. It just went the next time I turned it on.

shogun00 · Dec 25, 2012

Captain Caveman said:
A 2 year old PS3 Slim probably needs new thermal paste.. I bet its heat related..

The thermal paste issue doesn't exist in the slims. The problem occurred with the solder joints under the GPU. Eventually, the extensive heat would make them crack. This created more heat than what the thermal paste could handle and would dry it up. In the Slims, Sony no longer uses the solder joints that the fat models used, which eliminated the problem.

I say it's broken code in the hard drive. I had the same problem with Zen Pinball 1. Just go into Safe Mode and select option 3 (restore file system). That usually fixes the problem, if not then select option 4 (rebuild database).

Soluzar · Dec 26, 2012

shogun00 said:
I say it's broken code in the hard drive. I had the same problem with Zen Pinball 1. Just go into Safe Mode and select option 3 (restore file system). That usually fixes the problem, if not then select option 4 (rebuild database).

You're right. It turns out that I had to do both before I got anywhere. I also had to re-download the game after doing both of those things. I dunno what exactly caused this, or why it only affected The Pinball Arcade, but I've not had a freeze since. Touch wood.

Red_Krampon · Jan 11, 2013

I have had this since launch and I don't remember it ever freezing my PS3. But then again, I played a lot of DCUO over the years so it is possible that has taken care of my freeze allotment for the next few years.

Freezing the PS3

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