PS4 CE-35888-2 Error Code

by Steve Porter September 02, 2016

PS4 CE-35888-2 Error Code fix

Error code CE-35888-2 is a fairly common fault code on PS4 game consoles. Many times it occurs after the optical drive is replaced or repaired. A lot of people think that they can just replace their blu ray drive with another used one from Ebay or somewhere else. Unfortunately this is not the case.

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How to Fix error code ce 35888 2

Unfortunately there is no easy fix for this code UNLESS you have the original daughter board that came with your original optical drive (the one that came with your PS4 when it was first purchased from a retailer). This is because the daughter board on the optical drive is "married" to the motherboard. The means that there is a chip on the motherboard that talks to a chip on the daughter board. If they are mismatched they will not be able to talk to each other and that will render the blu ray drive unusable. The PS4 will still play downloaded games but it will not play anything that is loaded into the optical drive.

CE 35888 2 Myths

There is at least one popular Youtube video that "explains" this error code and says that the daughter board needs to have matching numbers to the original board. This is not the case. The numbers on the bottom of the boards only give you a clue as to whether they will interchange with the ribbon cable to the laser in the optical drive. Boards that have an 010 will have a different sized ribbon cable than boards that have a 020 on them. If your original blu ray drive has number 010 and you replace the board with another one that has the same number it will not work because the replacement board is not married to the motherboard.

How to fix this error code

This is the part where I get to tell you the good news. You CAN replace your optical drive! The trick is that you need to find an optical drive that originally had a daughter board with the same number (010 or 020) as the one you have. After you get it all you have to do is remove the board that came with the replacement drive and install the one that came off of the bad optical drive that you are replacing onto the replacement blu ray drive. This way the original board that is married to the motherboard will stay with the motherboard.

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Steve Porter

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14 Responses

Paul

January 04, 2019

I reinserted my disc and it worked fine

RKM

November 15, 2018

Station is new never opened displays code still, so any ideas and enough for the system already not trying to have to put out any more money please help

Georgi

December 15, 2017

Can you play digital games with that error

Adrian

December 15, 2017

I just paid £129.99 on my ps4 they replaced the harddrive and the optical drive. Got it back today and it downloads ww11 game but when i try play it wont read the disc.. i need help

Edwin sanchez

December 13, 2017

Yo cambi3 la unidad pero no conservo la original hay solucion?

Brian Edlund

November 04, 2017

I still think there is a possible fix out there or no-one has figured it out yet. I got a PS4 from a friend that had the wrong Daughter board and he sent me the original and I tried it to get the same error CE-35888-2 but he told me that it was a software issue and then he explained that it is fixable but I am still waiting to hear back from him since he ended up in the Hospital with a bad illness and he mentioned that he would get back to me after he is out of the hospital. Lets hope and pray he gets well soon so I can find out how he fixed this issue since he mentioned that his brother knows how to repair this software issue.

Carsten Mariboe

March 30, 2017

I bought a new drive and mounted the original board. It plays dvd and blue rays fine, but trying to play games after installation, I still get the error ce-35888-2

Hope you can help??
Best regard
Carsten

Sean Yannetta

February 17, 2017

Hi I have replaced the drive and put my original pcb on it and it still won’t take in my disc. So I put a new pcb on the drive and my disc went in fine but won’t play as they are not matched up. What part needs to be taken off my old pcb and put onto the new pcb? Thanks

Steve

December 27, 2016

@Alexx Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do. When this happens when it hasn’t been tampered with it’s usually because there is some sort of problem in the software.

Steve

December 27, 2016

@Castro I don’t know. I don’t think they care…as long as the warranty stickers are still there.

alexx

December 27, 2016

Hey so i get this message even though the ps4 has never been tampered with…what do i do?

Castro

December 26, 2016

What does PlayStation do if you send in your device and they see that your Hard drive has been replaced? Do they just send it back or offer to replace it with a new motherboard and disk drive?

Steve

November 18, 2016

@Nav Unfortunately, in your case there doesn’t seem to be any good way to fix it. It seems to be some type of firmware issue with no way to fix. Sorry to bring you the bad news.

Nav

November 18, 2016

Hi there
I have swaped the daughter boards but still no luck
my origenal drive doesnt even taking discs its completely dead.bought another full drive identical when i use new drive with old daughter board it does take discs but gives CE-35888-2 Error
Any advice
Regards

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TronicsFix specializes in PS4, PS4 Slim, PS4 Pro, Xbox One and Xbox One S repair. We also repair motherboards and can perform most microsoldering repairs as well.