There’s a hidden restore menu in your Playstation 3, which may be used to fix certain issues with the console.
To access it, make sure your console is in standby mode. Now press and hold the Power button – your PS3 will turn on and turn off. Now press and hold power button again until you hear two beeps.
Then follow the on-screen instructions to connect a gamepad via USB to navigate the menu.
The menu is as follows:
1. Restart System
2. Restore Default Settings
3. Restore File System
4. Rebuild Database
5. Restore PS3 System
6. System Update
The item you would probably use the most is number 3 – Restore File System. Use it to correct any corrupted data that you PS3 may get.
Please note, that though powerful, this is still a user safe mode menu, which has little to do with factory service mode menu.