if im correct/remember correctly, the ps3 will format a drive to the corect format after it boots with a new drive, and i think its fat32, but im not sure
have you ever rooted it or modded it? if you have then have you installed a custom rom? to me it sounds like a broken bootloader that was flashed or a bad rom that wont boot i know alot about bootloaders and roms as ive lost 5 phones to bootloaders and roms, all of which became bricked
So i didn't see this listed, but is it safe to assume the battery is still soldered to the mainboard?
in the usb ports, it has enough pins to be used as usb 3.0 also