"Disc Read Failed" (PS3)... weird issues please help

Hey. Hope you guys can take time to read this and help out:(

Background, bought a brand new ps3 super slim a few weeks ago. Played 2 other games on it before Dark souls (Demon Souls and Ni No Kuni). Never experienced problems on those games or the system otherwise. Started playing Dark Souls on saturday on PS3.

So... at some point during me taking the elevator down from firelink shrine to new londo ruins i notice theres some graphical glitching, i can see through the elevator shaft walls. So i go up and down to see if it dissapears then suddenly disk read error. I reboot ps3 and well, everything seems to be fine, np with save.

Now later, pvping in TOmb of the giants im invading. While invading i get tired of waiting after using the orb so i warp using the bonfire and at the same time i get the invading message, well somehow this doesnt compute well and i end up getting a disk read error again. I figure this is simply a rare occasion. And now today once again going to valley of drakes through the firelink elevator i notice the same glitch. invisible elevator shaft, i press quit to try and reload but instead i get another disk read erro.r and from now on things get messy.

Upon reloading the shaft is weird again but i ignore it and pull the lever and when elevator comes everything is normal. BUT! Down in new londo graphics is weird and alot of stuff is missing, also it seems like the loading symbol is active and by waiting some time most things seem to load. I go to valley of drakes and same thing, but suddenly boom, disk read error. After reloading and walking around the problem persists and another disk read error... now im really worried that the save is corrupt . But to check that theres nothing wrong with the ps3 or game i decide to make a new character

Kill the asylum demon and go to new londo with the new char and valley of drakes, everything seems fine actually. So i decide to load back to my old save and now suddenly things are good again. CAn someone explain what the heck is going on?

1: Can i expect it to work from now on? Did i fix the problem?
2: is it likely that the save game was corrupt after the first disk read error? And how common is this? Is ther something wrong with my copy or ps3 that i should worry bout?

It most likely is what it says, a disc read error. It could be a banged up disc or the new super slim could have bad BluRay readers.

Well i guess ill keep playing unless someone suggests something and else and if the problem comes back ill try exchange the disc for a new one i spose. Just hope its not a **** blueray on the ps3 side, would suck.

I can think of several reasons as I have had a similar experience, albeit with a different game.

1. Your console might be overheating. How long have you been playing prior to the disc read error? This usually happens when you've been playing for extended durations.

2. The game disc might have caught some dirt. Have you checked the bottom of the disc for any dust or dirt? Is the disc damaged - does it have any cracks or scratches along the surface that the lens reads?

3. The game disc itself might be the problem. You might've been sold a defective copy. These instances are rare, but they do happen. Why not try using a different copy of the game (I suppose you have a friend who can lend you a copy?).

4. Another reason I can think of is that your lens is busted, but that's highly unlikely since your console's brand new and your other games seem to be working.

Hope this was useful

Thank you for the elaborate answers.
I doubt 1 is possible since it wasnt during an extended period of playtime and secondly because my room is slightly chilly on top of that.
As for 2, neither is this likely, checked the disc, its smooth as silk, no scratch no dirt. So it pretty much leaves 3? But its hard to test since as i said the problem is gone for the moment since i made the new save game and then went back to my old character.

A guy on gamefaqs posted a theory "My guess is that it's a temporary graphics glitch, that stayed in the cache of your ps3, which made it reoccur at first, but got overwritten when you created a new character." Could this be it perhaps?

EDIT: it just happened again while warping with bonfire, gonna try exchange the disc and hope for the besT:/ had played for 10 min.

EDIT 2: Okay an update, I went to the store to return the game for a new one and the clerk tried it and got the same disc read fail, so it seems it was only the cd and hopefully my save game is ok:)

EDIT 3: Goddamnit, same **** still, now in dark root garden, i stumble upon an invisible barrier/Wall then boom

Ok holy ... So i decided to delete all game data AND save data, and i start over with a new char and it doesnt take more thna 20 secs till all graphic is glitched and once again i get the disc read error. What the hell do i do:(((?

Reformatted, did restore file system and rebuild database and even after all these things its the same issue, now i dont even get into the gameworld. So either a bad batch of dark souls or a defunct ps3, cant think of any other reasons at this point.

I forgot to ask, but do you play the game online or offline? Do you have the latest patch for the game? If not, try getting it. One of the previous patches messed up my inventory - my armor sets' order got all jumbled and mixed up. But when the new update came out, it fixed itself. Oh, and when you reformatted the console, did your other games work without any problems?

Getting the newest patch might solve this glitch of yours. Hopefully.

Nope, everything was updated to latest patch at all attempts, always played online:/ At this point i cant assume anything else than faulty hardware or faulty dark souls batch and i got 2 bad ones. After everything i tried i cant think of anything else;P I have contacted my retailers customer support, so hopefully ill get an answer today. I ahvent tried any other games since reformat, will do now, brb:)

UPDATE: Played some Demon Souls and its smooth as silk, no problems.

I can't think of anything else either man, sorry. This is the first time I've heard of this glitch/ problem. And it still persists even after the re-format? Damn. I'll try to ask around and get back to you when I find anything.

Im thankful for trying to help, i realize this is not easy, ive only found a few similiar happenings when googling but even among those there was no clear answer. If you find anything thats cool:) Otherwise well see what the retailer answers. Either they give me yet another DS copy to try or they take back my ps3, pretty much that simple, its only 3 weeks old:P

In short they gave me another (third) dark souls copy to test and it didnt work either (was from another batch to make sure). So i turned in my ps3 and 2 hours later the store called me and said they sent it to sony and that i could pick up a new one, so hopefully all is good now and i can start invading later today:)

If it's any consolation, you're not the only person who has suffered this problem. Several Xbox owners also have had problems with their Dark Souls games. The remedy they all offered is the same as what you've done - formatting the HD. Except that in other cases it seems to have worked for them. I also went to our local retailer and some other shops yesterday explaining you problem, but they also said the same thing, factoring out the possibility of a defective game. Either way, they said that the only way to know for sure would be to inspect the unit.

Anyway, how's your new game copy working with your new console? I'm assuming everything's working now?