sorry to hear that TorquedSoul actually i feel kinda strange lucky but strange that i could backed everything up on my ps3, since it died slowly, a lot of people just realize their console is dead by the next day when they've been playing cool the day before...

opening the ps3 is really really easy just be carefull with all the screws it has, you can use this guide to open and fix your ps3 the guy really knows whats he is doing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U70SgRDVcBo , i know it can be fixed you just need to do the disassemble of everything then a heat gun,i havent found a heat gun on my country, it really really sucks i will have to buy a ps3 slim instead. good luck on yours mate!