Not again.. PS3 freezing.

[Awesomesauce1]

Whew! Been a while since my PS3 has frozen in a while. I've had a thread similar to this before, but it was solved.
So then! By the help of one of the tech-wizards here, I was able to fix my PS3 from freezing ever so often.
After doing the said solution, which is going to the recovery menu, and Restoring File System and Rebuilding Database. It has apparently fixed itself from freezing.
Until this week. My PS3 is freezing again, with the same problem. The HDD light and the green light are frozen, and not flashing, and the game I was in is frozen.
I tried Rebuilding Database and Restore File System again, but it just happened to freeze again. I don't want to resort to Restoring the PS3, which wipes out my hard-drive. That would really suck.

My warranty is over, it's a little over a year old now. The PS3 makes this *click* sound, and it signals the freezing. Other signals from the games are from Black Ops, which signals freezing by the commentators going silent, and not announcing anything.

It has frozen in MW2/3, BOPS, Infamous, GTA IV, and NBA2k11. So it's definitely the ps3.
I need solutions :3 please? The freezing is really annoying

Additional Info
-Year old, bought in December 2010
-Frozen several times.
-I have to hold the power button to force shutdown (luckily not unplugging it)
-HDD light is constantly on, and a solid colour. (as in not flashing on and off, just staying put) That also includes the green light.
-Already tried recovery menu, several times. (not restoring PS3 system)
-In a well ventilated area, I've only played once 8 hours straight, ONCE.
-I just play at least 1 - 2 hours, then rest for an hour.
*will update if anything is needed

[Redeye3323]

Hey mate, Got your PM :)

I reckon it might just be overheating due to dust.

Try spraying the ventilation "holes" with a Compressed Air Canister.

If you don't have one and feel up to it, try removing the case of the PS3 and cleaning out the dust manually.

Hope this solves it,
-Redeye

[Awesomesauce1]

I've cleaned it, but what I didn't really mention that it's not actually "freezing"
For one, in MW3, the two lights at the bottom are solid, but I can still move the selector from the menu to choose an option. (it freezes once I do choose an option), or when I press the pS button to access the XMB, it just continues loading, but never finishes.
In Infamous, it doesn't load the map, and when I come across a blurred section and step on it (the part of the map that didn't load yet), my character continues running and I can't control him.

It's freezing LESS LESS often now. When it does *freeze* I always have to hold the power button down, because the simple pressing and 3 beeps doesn't work, the ps3 doesn't turn off, but the screen goes black after the 3 beeps.
Maybe I have to restore and rebuild one more time, I'll do that and check. Otherwise I'll just live with it.
Thanks for your help.

[Awesomesauce1]

Oh and another instance is I can still move around in Infamous, but no music plays, it's slightly quiet, and yes, the HDD light and green light is on. Basically, it's not *freezing* anymore, but it's just making gameplay un-playable. I would still consider to call it freezing.

[Redeye3323]

Judging from what you have told me, I am starting to suspect that it may actually be a Hard-Drive issue

I'd back up all your saves and whatnot them try a reformat. If you are really unlucky, you might need to replace the Hard-drive.

If I were to hazard a guess, it might also be an issue with the Disk-Drive not reading information off the disk rightly, but I think it would just freeze in that case.

I wonder if someone else has any ideas, I'll ask if the Hard Drive idea doesn't work.

-Redeye

[Awesomesauce1]

Aww, I'm scared now.
Is it because I got a somewhat bad PS3 or did I not take care of it right?
What does a reformat do? Specifically, I know it wipes the harddrive clean, I've heard, but does it get rid of psn account info, and the PS3 account (once you turn the ps3 on to choose the account), and options? Will it fix the freezing (either of the options)

Plus, if left alone, will this cause any long-term problems?

[Redeye3323]

Hey mate,

Whilst how you treat your Console does have a bearing, it is mostly down to rotten luck when something goes wrong like this.

A format wipes everything I believe so you'd want to get a backup of all the files you can.

I have never done this procedure myself so I can't really walk you through it.

Maybe someone else can help or you could find a helpful YouTube video.

-Redeye

[Awesomesauce1]

I need solutions, I want to avoid, if possible, any loss of data.
But remember: I didn't even bother to rebuild database + restore file system at least one more time after dusting the PS3. Holding and pressing button is really hard work at times XD.

And if I left this alone, will it cause my ps3 long-term problems?

[Redeye3323]

Honestly, I am not sure if it will cause long-term problems but I can imagine that it will only get worse if you leave it.

[Awesomesauce1]

Would you consider a Hard-Drive change will fix this problem for a good amount of time, maybe around +2 years?

[Redeye3323]

It is worth trying it, you can always go back to the old one if it doesn't work..