I used to think consoles had an advantage over PCs in that they "just work" and don't break often, but clearly a broken Wii (WiiConnect24 overheat bug) and broken PS3 later, we found out that's not really the case.

-Background story-

Basically my brother's 6 month old PS3 died a month back for no reason, kept saying "You need to format", etc. So when you let it go ahead and do that, it would just sit there on 0% forever. We sent it to Sony, after a month we were thinking "wtf why is it taking so long?". Turns out it had been sitting gathering dust at the repair centre at Sony for TWO WEEKS.. completely lost until my phone call magically made them 'find' it again. The replacement unit finally arrived today.

-Problem-

We turn the refurbished unit on, the wave animation starts then freezes for 12-13 seconds, then continues and we're into the main menu. Now I normally wouldn't be concerned but my brother says that never used to happen during boot-up, he's worried it might be a sign of further problems. And no we don't have a disc in the drive.

For PS3 owners: is the wave animation meant to freeze this long or are you meant to get into the main menu pretty much instantly?

Google doesn't seem to help too much. Cheers

I've never had mine freeze there before

the problem is you bought a ps3?

Nah, came with the Bravia.

Oh well, easy come easy go.

get a three sexty whaddup!

The only problem here is you bought a ps3 and are trying to use it.

if you can play games and run things fine then whats the problem?

Yeah doesn't happen on mine (no freezing).

PS3s are awesome and blu ray looks like sex. Did I miss the memo that stated it was the trend to hate them?

In western countries, yes.

I use my ps3 for games so much aye. At least like 10mins in the last couple of months. PC FTW

the problem is you bought a ps3?

Yeah man, get a 360, I hear they're much more reliable hardware-wise.

if you can play games and run things fine then whats the problem?

A refurbished unit, fresh out of the delivery box has a problem doing the most basic of tasks (booting) properly. I'd call that a problem and could be a sign of further problems. I'd rather sort this s*** out during the warranty period.

It's not supposed to freeze at all, mine never has.

I love it. All the 360 people (even domino) walking right into a console hardware failure thread and trying to recommend a 360.

The f***ing SOLE reason I don't have a 360 now is that I don't want to RMA it f***ing five times. You f***s shouldn't be able to keep a straight face while recommending a 360 to someone having hardware problems with a f***ing SPOON let alone an xbox 360.

fyi, my wii works perfectly
and has since i got it
and i still use it lots

My Wii hasn't missed a beat.....its nearly 12mnths old now so at around the 14mnth mark I expect it to die. I have had a 360 for around a year.....on my third unit. First one dies in 3 days so went back to store with it, second one dies in June so RMA that one.....touch wood this one will last.

My kids are playing on a PC I built 5+years ago, never replaced one piece of hardware in it and it still doesn't miss a beat. Stick that in your pipe consoles!

I've had a 360 for 2 years, no problems. I've had a PS3 for 6 months or so, no problems. I've had a Wii for almost 2 years with no problems, but then it hardly ever gets used so it hasn't really had a chance to develop problems.

fyi, my wii works perfectly
and has since i got it

I see a lot of people getting the nogames.exe error though.

Mate recently gave up his 360 due to frequent random freezing. Traded in for cheaper price on PS3.

I think consoles back in the day were made with less sensitive circuitry and now they are basically computers with complex and more sensitive circuitry allowing them to f*** out more easily!

I have a launch model xbox 360 that's still going strong *touches everyone's wood.

its nearly 12mnths old now so at around the 14mnth mark I expect it to die.

Pfft, it's Nintendo, they build s*** right.

My first Wii died due to the same Wiiconnect24 bs. Was replaced under warranty though so meh.

360 has been flawless, but then it's a Falcon console.