PS3 Need help inserting PS3 Slim's BD ribbon cable (24 pin) to escape update loop nightmare

[scuttlingbeetle]

Hello! I'm new here and desperately looking for help.

So a while ago I got an old PS3 Slim and patched it up. I jailbroke it and then installed CFW successfully. Then I took it apart, applied thermal paste, cleaned out all the dust. Only thing was, in my foolishness, I took off the 24 pin ribbon cable that connects the Blu-ray drive to the PS3's motherboard, the hardy silver one that partially affixed to the Blu-ray drive by a strong strip of foam and glue.

Big mistake I guess. Tried putting it back together and damaged the connector pins on the cable on both ends. Decided to take out the Blu-ray drive and install noBD fw, which worked well.

Today, I finally got a replacement cable after months, carefully put it in, and foolishly decided to update to the latest CFW without checking if the drive worked in the first place. Now I'm stuck in an update loop, and I keep getting error 8002F1E. I tried booting into safe mode, and I tried holding the cable in place tight with electrical tape, neither work. The cable is too damn tough and keeps twisting out of place on both ends, the motherboard and the Blu-ray drive. I know that the update loop must be because of the Blu-ray drive's cable issues. The update always gets stuck on 53% then fails.

How can I hold the cable in place? Have any of you ever successfully replaced that cable entirely on a PS3 Slim? Or should I instead focus my efforts on getting out of the update loop without fixing the Blu-ray drive? What sort of fixes can I try? I've read so many posts on this forum, and I don't know where to begin.

 

[kadorna2]

you need a hardware flasher and a previous dump of your nor, doesn't matter how old the dump is, but it must be a valid one to revive the console. then stick to nobd

the alternative is soldering a new connector to the motherboard since you destroyed it already, then pray the drive works and you can install any current cfw, and then remarry the drive if necessary (you didn't specify your console's model, motherboard or BD drive specs)

 

[scuttlingbeetle]

you need a hardware flasher and a previous dump of your nor, doesn't matter how old the dump is, but it must be a valid one to revive the console. then stick to nobd

the alternative is soldering a new connector to the motherboard since you destroyed it already, then pray the drive works and you can install any current cfw, and then remarry the drive if necessary (you didn't specify your console's model, motherboard or BD drive specs)

I didn't destroy the connector on the motherboard, I damaged the pins on the ribbon cable itself. The connector on the board is still alright, which is why I have hope for repairing the connection.

My PS3 Slim is a CECH-2001A

I also don't have a dump of my NOR

 

[kadorna2]

then your only chance is to find a new ribbon cable (or repair it yourself, ribbon cables can be repaired if the damage is at one of the ends, simply cut the damaged part and use a sharp tool to expose the contacts by removing the plastic) and hope it finishes updating, then remarrying the bd drive in FSM (only if you also change the logic board of the drive, if not you won't need to) otherwise you'll have to spend a lot of money to get your shit back, at this point is better to just get another console

remember: ALWAYS have a CLEAN backup of your nor, then backup it 30 times over in diferent places. if you did and do not want to spend money on a flasher i'm sure someone locally can do it for you.

also note is still possible to recover the console but you'll have to dump the nor, fix it and flash it back followed by nobd firmware in case you can't repair the BD drive

EDIT: also a couple of pics of the F%$# up could be useful

 

[esc0rtd3w]

Put the cable in place, hold it down with your finger, try to install cfw, pray. If it works, get some foam strips or something and apply pressure to cable and tape down with kapton tape or another strong tape.

If the connector isn't broken, the new cable should fit and hold though.

 

[scuttlingbeetle]

Put the cable in place, hold it down with your finger, try to install cfw, pray. If it works, get some foam strips or something and apply pressure to cable and tape down with kapton tape or another strong tape.

If the connector isn't broken, the new cable should fit and hold though.

I have a new cable on the way! That's exactly what I was thinking of trying. Going to just hold my finger down and hope for the best.

then your only chance is to find a new ribbon cable (or repair it yourself, ribbon cables can be repaired if the damage is at one of the ends, simply cut the damaged part and use a sharp tool to expose the contacts by removing the plastic) and hope it finishes updating, then remarrying the bd drive in FSM (only if you also change the logic board of the drive, if not you won't need to) otherwise you'll have to spend a lot of money to get your shit back, at this point is better to just get another console

remember: ALWAYS have a CLEAN backup of your nor, then backup it 30 times over in diferent places. if you did and do not want to spend money on a flasher i'm sure someone locally can do it for you.

also note is still possible to recover the console but you'll have to dump the nor, fix it and flash it back followed by nobd firmware in case you can't repair the BD drive

EDIT: also a couple of pics of the F%$# up could be useful

I've learned my lesson, going to keep a backup of everything I need from now on.

Also, suppose I get everything working, will I still need to remarry the BD even if it's the one that was originally on my console?

For now I think I'm going to stick to noBD firmware when I get it fixed.

I'll post some pics soon, but really the issue is that no matter how much electrical tape I use to hold the cable down, it always shifts up and to the side by a millimetre or two. Hoping that positioning is the only problem with it and not any other damage. In that case, I'll try the hold-it-down method mentioned above. If that fails then welp, guess I'll start exploring the world of hardware flashers (question: can I use a hardware flasher without having a dump of my NOR?)

 

[kadorna2]

Also, suppose I get everything working, will I still need to remarry the BD even if it's the one that was originally on my console?

you only need to remarry if your original BD daughterboard (the board on the drive itself) is broken or dead, otherwise you can just swap everything else on the drive except the board and you won't need to remarry. Remarry on FSM ONLY if he BD daughterboard is NOT the one that came from factory with the console

 

[esc0rtd3w]

Electrical tape will never stick properly, even if you clean the area with alcohol, but kapton tape will hold better.

As mentioned above, you won't need to remarry bd if board is the original one. The nobd firmware does have some drawbacks iirc for backups and other stuff.

Without a backup of the nor, you can't flash anything to your console. You would have to backup nor first and repair it if needed. If you dump on nobd firmware, you would at least have a backup. If you get cable working and update to another cfw, or ofw, you can make a "cleaner" backup.