I am on my second disk now and each time I try to boot up the game I get an error saying "An error occurred during the start operation 80010514". This error is related to the firmware and is usually caused by corrupted data. I would think it was my PS3 that was broken but all my other games and blu rays are working fine. I have been trying to play the game since 12pm yesterday and nothing, although a few times the screen has gone black then crashed but I am still to see the start up screen or even install the game on my hard drive. Any suggestions?

There could be something wrong with your HDD. The other games you tried probably didn't have to be installed. The same would go for blurays.

Well Fallout 3 is working fine so I don't see how it can be the HDD. I am starting to think that this game isn't just buggy, but for some consoles is just plain broken.

I am afraid to say that it would probably your PS3's GPU which has a problem. Sure some of the games are working fine because they dont require as much processing power as fallout. I also believe that more than 50% of the complains about bugs/glitches/slowdowns may have been caused by either old ps3 or some of the hardware inside it is starting to break down. I suggest you keep your ps3 dusted and well ventilated while playing games which require a lot of processing power like fallout. Because I've had the game since Oct 19 and played almost more than 8 hours a day and never have I experienced any freezes or any gamebreaking bugs. sure there's this 1-2 sec slowdown everytime i enter a new world but that is understandable since the game will try to load the whole map every time you go in and out. Also, it would probably be wise to turn of PSN while playing since it also interrupts with HDD communication that Fallout is doing while processing the game. I'm using 120gb PS3 Slim btw, well dusted and well ventilated and cooled.

PS: But I'm not saying that FO:NV is not buggy and glitchy. Sure it does considering almost everyone complained about it. It's just that it is possible that some of them may have been caused by hardware problems and not with the game.

http://www.ps3blog.co.za/2008/04/10/ps3-error-80010514-explained/

tl dr; either the firmware on your PS3 is [censored], or the firmware is [censored].

same thing happened to me i even took game back to shop got a new 1 but still didnt work phoned up sony had to wipe everything on playstation still didnt work its something to do with laser lucky mine still in warrenty as only six months old and waiting for new playstation they send a new1 out and when couirer comes you give them yours

I think a lot of games are more demanding for the hardware than the Fallouts, for example Killzone 2. These games typically works without problem. Also, take into account that a lot of people had similar problem with freezing with FO3 two years ago, and their old PS3s still work well. Makes no sense to say that these people's hardware was on the verge of breaking down two years ago but still works perfectly with games that are more demanding that New Vegas.

Your comment might be relevant if the game was actually crashing. These guys cant even launch the game.

Most of the "it's the hardware" comments are directed to the people with the ordinary freezing and stuttering. Sdboka said he thought that 50% of the reported problems was because of the hardware, and most of those are obviously people with the usual (but horrible) bugs, and I don't think that's the hardware in most cases.

And besides, even the first guy in this thread said it's just New Vegas that can't start, other games work fine. Doesn't sound like the hardware either.

It's not the hardware but big ass bugs.

I agree with those here who say it's the game and not the hardware. Sony makes a great product. Unless your leaving your machine on all night long it's the game not the ps3. You may want to wait till they patch the game. They said this will effect the memory storage of the game as well as other issues such as freezing. Even if you could get it to start the game your going to have issues. If you have abused your machine and you play games none stop your probably ready for a new ps3. Does your machine make clicking noises or does it hum loader than normal? Is the fan running high the whole time? If you still think it's the disc than buy from another location. Could be those disc were defective but I doubt it.

If the games not starting at all, its a disc read error. At best thats going to be a faulty disc, at worst his blue-ray drive is taking a dump.

Most likely this is not a hardware issue if other games boot fine. He is getting the error before it even has a chance to try to install anything so most likely it isn't an issue with the HDD and either a laser issue or disc issue (probably the latter since other games work). An easy way to test the HDD would be to uninstall game data from a game such as FO3, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Oblivion, Etc. and then try to run those games because they too will always install to the HDD before allowing play, if for some reason you get the same error then it is a hardware issue. You could try bringing your copy to a friends house and try to boot it on their PS3 and see what happens. Also, I had basically the same issue with Oblivion when I first got it. I got 3 copies of the game before it finally worked. Also for just a little bit o' info I have the original 60Gb PS3 upgraded to 300Gb and I leave my PS3 on for hours at a time nearly every day and have never had any issues (New Vegas boots and runs "fine" except for the known issues that still haven't been fixed.

Just want to chime in here for having the same problem.
I do have the UK Collector's Edition and the system gives me an 80010514 error while trying to start it up.
Usually it takes 4-5 tries until it proceeds to the "updating trophy information" screen and will then run fine (as in, just "normal" buggy with a lockdown every 4 or so hours).

It is not a hardware issue as all other games work perfectly fine and the PS3 is rather new. I can only imagine this to be an issue with certain discs, but if more people run into this, it might be related to a faulty manufacturing process. The drive literally seems to have problems loading the boot section of the disc while showing the title screen in XMB works just fine.

Obviously, I tried to clean the disc several times to no avail and there is no visible scratch to be found. The error even occurred to me right after unpacking the box.
If it is related to disc manufacturing, I am afraid that Bethesda can't do a lot about this except for recalling the discs. However, the error doesn't seem to be widespread enough, so it really might just refer to a specific charge.

I am not sure if the discs have some kind of id on them that would allow identification of a faulty badge, but maybe someone here knows more about this and we could compare those id's to find a pattern.

I have a fat old ps1/ps2 compatible 60 gig. I will never change it. Never had any problems with it. Maybe some minor issues (4-5) in the last 4-5 years (since the launch anyway).
My PS3 ran for hours, non stop. I use it for dvd's blu ray's games etc. I played during the summer heat, no air conditioning with crazy hot temperatures. Played over 40-50 games on it.
My friend went trough 3 Xbox360 during the same amount of time. Red ring of death, dvd player just destroyed one of is game etc. So the problem is not with machine, its the game, or the blu ray.
Just try returning it again, and again, and again. Your probably just really unlucky. The worst I had was COD world at war not starting. I then just pop it out, pop it in and voila, works like a charm.