So I get home from the Batman: Arkham Asylum midnight launch, put the game in the PS3, and I get the little loading symbol in the corner of the screen, but no game shows up. I take it out and try again. Nothing. I put in Wolfenstein. Nothing. I put in a DVD, Hot Fuzz. NOTHING.
Do you know of any solution to this problem, or will I have to get it sent in for repairs? This is so frustrating, the DAY I get Batman!

Heating, maybe?

It seems like problems with the reading optics in your drive.
You can try to clean the drive (if it is accessible, that is. I don't own a PS3, so I don't know).

I hope your still under warranty? If so praise your gods/god/godesses/dietys or failing those praise me. Anyways you can just send it back to Sony. Otherwise it's going to be 150 bucks or some sort of fixes recommended on forums.
from a quick google search I've found 2 possible fixes
http://www.blurayfreak.com/2008/01/maxell-unveils.html
and of course the more extreme this
http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=ps3&thread.id=2698117

Sounds good. I'll buy one when I get back from school tomorrow and see how that works out.
Also, in response to Klaymen, I've heard the ribbon connecting the disc to the system is very fragile, and can snap if you don't know what you're doing. That's not the issue, though, because if it was the ribbon the PS3 wouldn't even know the disc was in.

A lens cleaner would definitely be a good plan. Have you tried every disc you have or at least a combination of bluray, DVD, PS1/2/3 game discs and audio CDs?

He said he put Hot Fuzz in there, and I think he said it was a DVD. Either way, I think the PS3 uses the same laser for all discs. I really don't know.

I did it all. I did a DVD, PS3 game, PS3 movie, and both a game and audio compact disc. While it's working to read it, as it knows that there's a disc in it by the light on the PS3 and the little loading ripple in the screen corner, nothing follows through.

Can you play PSN games or doing anything else that doesn't involve CD/DVD/Bluray?

Hmm, sounds dodgy for sure. About the only other thing I can think of is doing whatever the PS3 version of clearing the cache is. Have you got the new 3.0 firmware? Dunno if its out or not but its announced

It's not out. I cleared the PS3 of everything. Still nothing.
UPDATE: I called GameStop, and they told me that when everything just stops working, send it in to Sony. Sony said $150 for repairs. Since my parents were willing to pay the repair bill, I decided to use some gift money I saved from a recent birthday and payed $150 as well to get the new PS3 Slim, with a 120 GB HD. I'll post my impressions of it later.
Yes. Since I was already up, I played an assload of Noby Noby Boy. That game is great when you're really tired. You just stretch Boy and add your length to Girl. Very little effort to contribute to get to Jupiter.
We decided to save the original PS3, and they can repair that when I go off to college so they can have their Blu-Ray player.

What do you mean you have the Slim? It's not out, is it?

Apparently Best Buy has started selling them already in Florida.

Now that's unfair for the rest of us.