boot modes

Besides the normal "retail" bootmode there are several other modes the console can boot or halt in:

Fan test

With the PS3 power switch in the off position, turn power switch back on while holding down Eject button. This "fan test" mode allows you to clean out the dust inside the PS3. It works for Models CECHG and higher. (Note that a plugged in PS3 Slim does not have a power switch at all and is always in standby).

Other special modes

The following requires the power switch in the back to be on:

Hold Power button down for 6 seconds (while PS3 is on): turns off PS3.

Hold Eject button down for 6 seconds (while PS3 is on): force disc to eject.

Hold Eject button down for 12 seconds (while PS3 is on): reset Blu-ray.

Hold Power button down for two beeps (while PS3 is off): Reset video to lowest settings.

Hold Power button down for three beeps (while PS3 is off): Enter PS3 diagnostic mode (repeat procedure twice)

Hold PS button down on controller for 10 seconds: Turns off Sixaxis or Dualshock 3.

JIG / Factory Service Mode / manufacturer

The PS3 can enter a special "Service Mode". When it does (and can boot harddrive/dev_flash) the bottom right hand corner of the screen has a red translucent rectangle with the words "Playstation 3. Factory/Service Mode" inside of the rectangle. When the PS3 is off, plugging a special "JIG" in the USB port (and then pressing Eject immediately after pressing the Power button), the PS3 is triggered into Service Mode when it boots up. This special mode then accepts firmware code loaded in from the USB port (PS3UPDAT.PUP), and allows reflashing the firmware chip, or running programs from a USB drive.
When on Factory Service Mode you cannot access the browser or leave the mode without an exit self and the console needs to be compatible with the exit self

See also: Downgrading with PSgrade Dongle and Remarry Bluray Drive which uses this mode.

LED Diag Mode

I have found what I think is a diag mode that displays error codes using the power button light, kind of like what an OBD-1 ECU on a car would do. To activate it you have to do a fan test and wait until after the ps3 powers off(this much I am sure of) then you have to press eject and then power rapidly many times in succession also try holding eject and pressing power. Once you enter this mode the power light will flash yellow for about 1 second then the status of 4 component's(which ones I don't know) within the ps3 will be displayed by the power light blinking 4 times for each 4 component's. Then the yellow light blinks again letting you know the cycle has started again.

On my bricked slim (CECH-2501B) the first sequence of 4 is: green red green red.

On my working slim (CECH-2101B) the first sequence is: red red red red.

On my other working slim (CECH-3001A) the first sequence is: red red red red.

On all three consoles the next 3 sequence's, are all red.

So it seems that red=good and green=bad. Also I removed the Blu-ray drive on my bricked slim and the codes did not change. sorry I don't know more about this.

Update: 7-27-2012

I have now bricked the CECH-2101B and it also displays green red green red as the first sequence of 4

Anyone with a ylod console please post their symptoms and result of this test

Probably Green = 1, while red = 0. So you get 16 bits.

Blu-ray drive is not a core part of the system, it will boot without it just fine.

Cannot seem to get led diag to work on CECHA fats, don't know what FW version (because requiring fan test , available only for Models CECHG and higher?).

On Board Diagnostics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On-board_diagnostics

Errors on boot

crossreference: Boot Order::References + Components

Error output in order of appearance and likely suspects:

NLOD

NLOD - No Led of Death

Failure in the hardware_init stage. Suspects: Power disconnected, switch off, Power Supply, 12V fuses
Misc: Faulty Ribbon Cable

Solid Red

Solid Red - Powered Standby mode

Solid Green

Solid Green - Powered On.

Solid Blue

Solid Blue - Disc present in Bluray Drive

Flashing Blue

Flashing Blue - Disc inserted in / being ejected from Bluray Drive

YLOD

YLOD - Yellow Led of Death (Flashes Green, Yellow then Red)

Failure in the hardware_init stage. Suspects: RSX, CELL BE, XDR Ram, GDDR Vram, Syscon, South Bridge , Starship2 (if NAND SKU), NAND/NOR Flash, Power Supply, Fuses, Regulators, Cooling/Fan

If you ground out tristate on a (?NOR only?) console with YLOD, it would GLOD instead if it is caused by bad flash (or content of flash). This makes it an easy way to check if the YLOD is flash caused (most common) or RSX caused (second most common).

RLOD

RLOD - Flashing Red Led of Death

Failure in the loaders stage. Suspects: Flash content: CoreOS files, inproper lv0ldr - pre VSH.

Seen in combination with poweroff when downgrading below metldr/bootldr capability

GLOD

GLOD - Flashing Green Led of Death (or when nothing is bad: PS3 is powering off)

RSOD

Red Screen Of Death

Red Screen Of Death error msg "serious error has occurred"

Failure at the firmware stage. Suspects: Harddrive content: Firmware files on UFS2 partition.

Seen with cvtrm errors : RSOD Fix

BSOD

Blue Screen Of Death (8 lines)

Blue Screen Of Death (10 lines)

Blue Screen of Death] error msg "Settings information is corrupted. Press the X button to repair and restore default settings."

Failure at the configuration stage. Suspects: Harddrive/NAND VFlash areas content: Registry files on FAT16 partition (/dev_flash2 on NAND), VSH files on UFS2 partition (/dev_flash on NAND).

Examples:

Registry bad : Easy fixable by following instructions or using Recovery
Dev_flash files integrity fail : Seen when using Spoofed index.dat/version.txt without patching VSH.self too (e.g. RogeroV3 -> solved in RogeroV3.1)
- also seen with VSH panic related to CEX2DEX/TargetID mismatches
Bad mounting of dev_flash : Seen when mounting improper R/W on USB ala mount alejandro
Broken/dying NAND Flash : Caused by aging, power interuption.
Broken/dying harddrive : Caused by aging, bad head/platter reads. Check with other drive.
Broken/dying Gigabit LAN IC : Caused by shorting MDI pins. Network not working wired.

If there is no hardware failure, reinstalling a proper firmware in Recovery Menu would likely fix it, some times requiring resetting/revalidating using the Recovery Menu suboptions.

XMB error msg

RSOE (red screen of error) - looks alot like RSOD, but with only 1 language and an errorcode)
Failure after initial firmware stage. Suspects: Harddrive content: User specific files/settings in UFS2 partition.