With your ps3 on standby mode and with a solid red light, press and hold the power button until you hear a second beep. This means that after the usual first beep, there should be another one while you are holding that button. Releasing the button will reset some settings, and hopefully will put your ps3 back on track. You can try bypassing the soft start and try recovery console. Many playstation 3 serious error were fixed with this methods.