PS3 Help - PS3 stuck in an update loop - error 8002f14e

[Blight_89]

Hello to all,

I'm in need of some help regarding a PS3. I recently purchased one at a flea market (quite cheaply), and to my utter surprise it seemed to work fine.

The console would boot up normally and go into the XMB, it wasn't jailbroken, and was on the OFW 4.84. The Blu Ray drive however did not seem to work, it would take in a disc but wouldn't read it (tried PS3 games, PS1 games, audio discs). I can't tell you exactly which model it is, due to the sticker on the back being torn off completely, but it's a fat PS3, and one of the later models I'd say (2 USB ports, black power supply, no card reader, 80 GB stock HDD).

Now, I had intended to jailbreak it and make it a gift for my cousin since the system seemed to run fine (it had some demo on it, I left it running for an hour, the fan and the system didn't go into overdrive).

I had jailbroken one of my PS3s in the past, actually quite recently, so I thought I should first update to the latest OFW (knowing that 4.85 can now be jailbroken too). But when I went did the update (over wifi), the system got stuck in an update loop, it would reach a certain % and then give me the error code 8002f14e (which I looked up and found out is related to a faulty BD). I wasn't able to get out of the update loop, nor go into safe mode anymore. I checked the ribbon cable to see if that would help, it was attached normally, I even tried swapping it out since I have a spare that I know works, but nothing. Even tried swapping in a BD drive from another PS3 fat (but without swapping the little boards on it), still didn't do any good.

Ultimately I tried taking out the HDD, formatting it as NTFS via a PC, putting it back in and having the console format it (which at least allowed me to go into safe mode again), then I tried to install 4.85 OFW again via USB, and now it's stuck in the loop again.

Is there any way to save this poor ol' PS3? I'm not an expert when it comes to CFW/jailbreaking (the one time I did it I followed a detailed Youtube guide), so I refrained from trying to install a CFW/HFW/MFW before asking for professional help. I've heard there are some CFW that are designed for PS3s with broken BluRay drives, but like I said I wasn't going to experiment and end up with an even bigger brick on my own (and was also under the impression that you can't just install CFW on a system that had OFW without it going through a process first)

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated Thanks in advance!

 

[Berion]

You cannot install CFW on top of OFW past 3.55. So You cannot use noBD CFWs just like that.

Probably (I'm not an expert in this matter) the only option which left for You is hardware flasher, making dump Your NAND/NOR, patch it, and attempt to install any CFW with noBD.

 

[ElGris]

If you already tried another BD drive that you know is working then the problem is somewhere else, because a PS3 with a dead drive won't even take your disc. And a PS3 drive can be updated with another different drive without any problem. I think you should see what's going on the drive socket in the motherboard. Take a brush teeth and a little bit of alcohol and clean it good. Then use a hairdryer for a seconds to dry the liquid. If that doesn't work, maybe you have a hardware problem on the PS3. Clean the ribbon contacts too.

You should also try installing HFW 4.85 via USB using the recovery mode, then you can paired the new drive if the oldest one doesn't work at all.

 

[Blight_89]

If you already tried another BD drive that you know is working then the problem is somewhere else, because a PS3 with a dead drive won't even take your disc. And a PS3 drive can be updated with another different drive without any problem. I think you should see what's going on the drive socket in the motherboard. Take a brush teeth and a little bit of alcohol and clean it good. Then use a hairdryer for a seconds to dry the liquid. If that doesn't work, maybe you have a hardware problem on the PS3. Clean the ribbon contacts too.

You should also try installing HFW 4.85 via USB using the recovery mode, then you can paired the new drive if the oldest one doesn't work at all.

Thank you for the info, I'll give it a go. The thing is, when I put in the other BD drive it would still take in a disk, and the blue light lit up (even though the PS3 was still in the loop), so I also think the problem lies elsewhere.

Is it safe to install a HFW 4.85 onto a PS3 that basically has no firmware (it had 8.84 OFW before it went into the loop)? Does the HFW 4.85 bypass the BD check?

I've also read a very old post (from 2011) about how another person with this problem fixed it by installing the exact firmware the PS3 had before the loop, after formating the HDD as NTFS on his PC.

What sucks is that each of these ''attempts'' takes hours to even try -_-'

 

[Blight_89]

Here's an update of sorts, I tried cleaning the drive socket contacts, and the ribbon cable, no changes.

I also tried installing OFW 4.84 (the one the PS3 was on before the loop began), still nothing, it also causes the loop.

Going to try installing HFW 4.85 next to see if that makes any difference...

 

[Louay]

Here's an update of sorts, I tried cleaning the drive socket contacts, and the ribbon cable, no changes.

I also tried installing OFW 4.84 (the one the PS3 was on before the loop began), still nothing, it also causes the loop.

Going to try installing HFW 4.85 next to see if that makes any difference...

You just need to have a working logic board ,just put a BD Drive from another PS3 and power on ps3 let it update you will not see that error but when you start a game or homebrew it will go blackscreen then you can do PS3Xploit Dumper,Writer if its CFW Compatible do the flash writer then reboot and install any 4.85 noBD of below and follow my thread on how to remarry blueray drive so you can install any CFW BD or noBD :

My Anonymous 4.85 CFW noBD
MD5 : C674C9514C64A138EE640710E9005072

[UnOfficial NoBD-NoBT] FERROX 4.85 Cobra 8.2
MD5 : D3EA6B01204A51FFB49255ABA51FCADC

[UnOfficial NoBD-NoBT] REBUG_4.85.1_LITE
MD5 : B2D5ECFF3C587A4ED1BC6160492F7731

 

[Blight_89]

You just need to have a working logic board ,just put a BD Drive from another PS3 and power on ps3 let it update you will not see that error but when you start a game or homebrew it will go blackscreen then you can do PS3Xploit Dumper,Writer if its CFW Compatible do the flash writer then reboot and install any 4.85 noBD of below and follow my thread on how to remarry blueray drive so you can install any CFW BD or noBD :

My Anonymous 4.85 CFW noBD
MD5 : C674C9514C64A138EE640710E9005072

[UnOfficial NoBD-NoBT] FERROX 4.85 Cobra 8.2
MD5 : D3EA6B01204A51FFB49255ABA51FCADC

[UnOfficial NoBD-NoBT] REBUG_4.85.1_LITE
MD5 : B2D5ECFF3C587A4ED1BC6160492F7731

See that's the thing... I've swapped in 2 BDs from two other PS3 FATs I have lying around (one is a working PS3 with CFW, the other one is YLOD). And I STILL get the error 8002f14e :/ I've tried using a different HDD, no luck either. And I'm guessing the Blutooth/Wifi antena is working fine, since when I went to update the PS3 the first time (and started this whole loop) it connected to my Wifi normally and downloaded 4.85... But that's the last time I saw the XMB :/ (this is me assuming that the BT/WiFi is the same thing)

 

[Xenon218]

See that's the thing... I've swapped in 2 BDs from two other PS3 FATs I have lying around (one is a working PS3 with CFW, the other one is YLOD). And I STILL get the error 8002f14e :/ I've tried using a different HDD, no luck either. And I'm guessing the Blutooth/Wifi antena is working fine, since when I went to update the PS3 the first time (and started this whole loop) it connected to my Wifi normally and downloaded 4.85... But that's the last time I saw the XMB :/ (this is me assuming that the BT/WiFi is the same thing)

You probably need a working logic board from the SAME model of your PS3, here is a link of all BD models https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Bluray_Drive take your faulty BD from your current console, look at the daughter board (if you need to unscrew the cover, do it) and then compare it with the images on the link. I had this issue with a phat CECHG04 console that had the original drive broken and it got looped same as yours did, and i talked to numerous people here about how do i fix the loop and they all said that you need any working logic board from the SAME model, and then after you make it to XMB then you can do the xploit and then remarry the new drive, however most of the same models that i bought for spare parts had different bluray drives re-married to them, since BD from model A to K are all compatible for the remarry process but they do not have the same logic boards, so even if you tried swapping them out it wouldnt work since depending on the logic board it has different ribbon cables and etc. so try to determine which ps3 model you have, and then try to get your self a spare one trough a donor console or something, you can find these parts for pretty cheap. If you can't find a spare logic board from the same model, your only hope is to get a hardware flasher (or someone else can do it for you) and then flash your NOR/NAND chip which would allow you to put CFW, and then install a NOBD CFW and then do the remarry process. It's quite a tricky situation, since a lot of console these days have different remarried drives in them, so finding the same model isn't that easy, good luck.

 

[ElGris]

@Xenon installing different BDs on another PS3 should let it update. That's not the problem here, the problem is in the mobo I believe.

The problem isn't on the wifi/BT board 'cause this error is totally different (8002F1F9). So you should see if something is burned on the socket area of the mobo. Test if the fuse is good, if some IC controller is burned, or has a little hole in the middle, etc. You can check continuity on the socket to see if one of the pin is unsoldered or broken too, but that would be rare.

 

[Xenon218]

@Xenon installing different BDs on another PS3 should let it update. That's not the problem here, the problem is in the mobo I believe.

The problem isn't on the wifi/BT board 'cause this error is totally different (8002F1F9). So you should see if something is burned on the socket area of the mobo. Test if the fuse is good, if some IC controller is burned, or has a little hole in the middle, etc. You can check continuity on the socket to see if one of the pin is unsoldered or broken too, but that would be rare.

I do not think so, i mean if it is, you should be able to smell it or see it, i haven't encoutered a blown fuse resulting in the blu ray drive failure, the error code the OP is recieving is 100% for a faulty blue ray drive, which is why i suggested that he should compare daughter boards of the original console to determine the model of the console, in order for you to pass the blu ray check during update you HAVE to have the exact same version of the original married daughter board, because even though blu ray drives of models from CECHA all the way to CECHK are all compatible since the ribbon cable is the same, the daugther boards are different, they have different ribbons, the models from CECHA to CECHG have 2 more ribbon connectors than those of CECHH or CECHK, so when the update goes to check those ribbon connectors if you dont have the same daugther board, you will still get the error, i think this is the problem the OP is having, i could be wrong and i am sorry if i am but this exact same problem happened to me as well

 

[Xenon218]

@Xenon installing different BDs on another PS3 should let it update. That's not the problem here, the problem is in the mobo I believe.

The problem isn't on the wifi/BT board 'cause this error is totally different (8002F1F9). So you should see if something is burned on the socket area of the mobo. Test if the fuse is good, if some IC controller is burned, or has a little hole in the middle, etc. You can check continuity on the socket to see if one of the pin is unsoldered or broken too, but that would be rare.

Daughter boards of the blu ray drive i mean, which are integreted within the drive, not the wifi/BT board

 

[ElGris]

"in order for you to pass the blu ray check during update you HAVE to have the exact same version of the original married daughter board"
That's not correct. I successfully married a BD from a CECHG with a CECHA, and those are different daughter boards. CECHK->Q aren't compatible with that socket.

I was responding at what the OP said about this. He said he already tested a known working BD, so the problem isn't the drive, it's the mobo. He could try a third BD to make sure, but if the BD is "alive", then he has a problem in the socket of the mobo, or in the IC that controls the data between the BD and the mobo itself, simple as that. He can test the components near that area, see if something is damaged, or measure the contacts on the socket.

 

[Xenon218]

See that's the thing... I've swapped in 2 BDs from two other PS3 FATs I have lying around (one is a working PS3 with CFW, the other one is YLOD). And I STILL get the error 8002f14e :/ I've tried using a different HDD, no luck either. And I'm guessing the Blutooth/Wifi antena is working fine, since when I went to update the PS3 the first time (and started this whole loop) it connected to my Wifi normally and downloaded 4.85... But that's the last time I saw the XMB :/ (this is me assuming that the BT/WiFi is the same thing)

When you plug in those other two working blu ray drives, do you see a blue light once you turn on the console or at any point during the whole update process? Do you hear sounds coming from the blu ray drive? If you do see a blue light, that means that the ribbon cable is making contact with the board, if you hear sounds as well, than its getting power from the mobo, if you dont hear anything nor see the blue light, than maybe you do have a damage connector or a blown fuse somewhere, or a short between the power rails

 

[Xenon218]

"in order for you to pass the blu ray check during update you HAVE to have the exact same version of the original married daughter board"
That's not correct. I successfully married a BD from a CECHG with a CECHA, and those are different daughter boards. CECHK->Q aren't compatible with that socket.

I was responding at what the OP said about this. He said he already tested a known working BD, so the problem isn't the drive, it's the mobo. He could try a third BD to make sure, but if the BD is "alive", then he has a problem in the socket of the mobo, or in the IC that controls the data between the BD and the mobo itself, simple as that. He can test the components near that area, see if something is damaged, or measure the contacts on the socket.

Models from CECHA to CECHG have same bluray drives, they are all BD400, which means they have the same daughter boards if i am not mistaken. CECHK models have compatible BD since they use PATA60p ribbon cables, the drives after CECHK use SATA24P cables which have smaller sockets on the board, all BD400 do not have the same daughter boards as the BD410 drives, so the OP could have a CECHA trough CECHG console and he might have tried 2 drives from CECHH or CECHK which have the same ribbon cabels but not the same daugther boards

 

[ElGris]

Models from CECHA to CECHG have same bluray drives, they are all BD400, which means they have the same daughter boards if i am not mistaken. CECHK models have compatible BD since they use PATA60p ribbon cables, the drives after CECHK use SATA24P cables which have smaller sockets on the board, all BD400 do not have the same daughter boards as the BD410 drives, so the OP could have a CECHA trough CECHG console and he might have tried 2 drives from CECHH or CECHK which have the same ribbon cabels but not the same daugther boards

You're wrong. CECHGs came with two different daughter boards, BMD-001 (first generation=BC) and BMD-002 respectively, and I married the latter with a CECHA. Again, those are different daughter boards. And if you want another example, I also married a CECHH BD (BMD-003) to a CECHA.

The problem here isn't the BD, as the BD is working, the problem is on the motherboard.

 

[Blight_89]

I do not think so, i mean if it is, you should be able to smell it or see it, i haven't encoutered a blown fuse resulting in the blu ray drive failure, the error code the OP is recieving is 100% for a faulty blue ray drive, which is why i suggested that he should compare daughter boards of the original console to determine the model of the console, in order for you to pass the blu ray check during update you HAVE to have the exact same version of the original married daughter board, because even though blu ray drives of models from CECHA all the way to CECHK are all compatible since the ribbon cable is the same, the daugther boards are different, they have different ribbons, the models from CECHA to CECHG have 2 more ribbon connectors than those of CECHH or CECHK, so when the update goes to check those ribbon connectors if you dont have the same daugther board, you will still get the error, i think this is the problem the OP is having, i could be wrong and i am sorry if i am but this exact same problem happened to me as well

First off, thank you everyone for your replies I had no idea this error code (and BD drives) are such a complex matter, I guess I just never had to think about this before.

To give some updates on the situation, I've tried a different HDD, tried installing OFW 4.84, 4.85 and HFW 4.85, no luck :/ I don't have a E3 flasher, and obtaining one would cost more than a working used PS3 so I wouldn't go down that route (sadly, I also don't know anyone who has such a device, PS3s aren't really popular nowadays so the few repair shops that did perform this in the past no longer do so in my town).

As for the BD, the problem is I have no idea what model of fat PS3 this one is, the sticker is completely torn off, and it has been opened before, so for all I know, before it landed on the flea market someone might have swiped the BD drive and put this faulty one (which would explain how it was on 4.84 and working, since it's not such an old firmware).

The only clues I have is that it has 2 USB ports, a black power supply, and the BD drive is the one that's entirely encased in the shield, it doesn't have a visible logic board.

The BDs I tried swapping in (I've also tried different ribbon cables btw) were a BD drive that I know works (but it has an exposed logic board, so I'm sure it's not the same model as this faulty one), the other BD drive I put in looked exactly like this one (fully encased), but I'm not 100% sure it works since it came from a YLOD PS3 I had laying around. Both of the replacement BDs were able to take in discs normally, and eject them, the blue light was on (even though this is all happening while I'm still inside the update loop).

Took a gander at the mobo, without disassembling it past the BD/power supply, I don't see any visible damage like charred spots, like I said the console was working just fine when I first plugged it in.

P.S. this isn't related to the current case, but thought I could share. In the past I've also bought a fat PS3 at a flea market, model CECHG03. The console was in working order, but the BD drive did not work (like at all, wouldn't take in discs, make any noise), and I managed to update and jailbreak this console without an issue (installing 4.85 OFW, then 4.85 HFW twice, then CFW after the procedure). So I had NO IDEA that the BD error loop thingy even existed, or I wouldn't have been so hasty as to update the console I'm now trying to fix :/ If I still had the XMB I'd have a lot more options...

 

[ElGris]

BD drives has 2 mainly problems, stuck mechanism, and dead daughter board. If the board is dead, then you can't update, if the problem is in the mechanism, you can update. On your topic, you can disassemble the motherboard and see its name, it should be called DIA I think, but different mobos have different names. Also check the socket area as I mentioned.

If you have a PS3 with YLOD you can revive it with the NEC/T tutorial too. That's another cheap way to obtain another PS3 lol.

 

[Xenon218]

You're wrong. CECHGs came with two different daughter boards, BMD-001 (first generation=BC) and BMD-002 respectively, and I married the latter with a CECHA. Again, those are different daughter boards. And if you want another example, I also married a CECHH BD (BMD-003) to a CECHA.

The problem here isn't the BD, as the BD is working, the problem is on the motherboard.

You are misunderstanding what I am trying to say, I am not talking about the remarry process, instead I am talking about the update process, since during the update, the PS3 checks for the exact same version of the logic board, and if you do get The exact same version of the logic board you wouldn't get the error and you can proceed to XMB, hence the problem I think the OP is having is due to mismatch in logic boards which is why I suggested that he should compare logic boards of his faulty BD and the other two working ones, just to be sure

 

[ElGris]

You are misunderstanding what I am trying to say, I am not talking about the remarry process, instead I am talking about the update process, since during the update, the PS3 checks for the exact same version of the logic board, and if you do get The exact same version of the logic board you wouldn't get the error and you can proceed to XMB, hence the problem I think the OP is having is due to mismatch in logic boards which is why I suggested that he should compare logic boards of his faulty BD and the other two working ones, just to be sure

Well, the remarry process involves an update to no-BD CFW, and I had a dead BD drive. Now that you mentioned it, I don't recall if I update with the replacement, or with another BD. Well, the only way to see if the OP is having THAT problem you mention, is to acknowledge what mobo he has (maybe a DIA for the type of PSU he has) and the daughter model he has on his BD drive. Which in that case should be BMD-003. If the mobo doesn't match with its daughter, then the problem is what you are saying.

 

[Blight_89]

Well, the remarry process involves an update to no-BD CFW, and I had a dead BD drive. Now that you mentioned it, I don't recall if I update with the replacement, or with another BD. Well, the only way to see if the OP is having THAT problem you mention, is to acknowledge what mobo he has (maybe a DIA for the type of PSU he has) and the daughter model he has on his BD drive. Which in that case should be BMD-003. If the mobo doesn't match with its daughter, then the problem is what you are saying.

How do I go about checking the mobo? Without dismantling it to the point of needing to replace thermal paste (a process which I've never done, and wouldn't dare attempt with my current skill xD )