1) ...of the Gamestop should have raised a red flag...

I must say, that being able to inspect the unopened package first hand to ensure all the components were there, makes it multiple times better then Ebay. Remember, the thing worked for months. Don't be so quick to believe people are so bad.

2) ...not supportive of the modding...

This is more then fine, but I wanted to give a detailed history of what had happened. As far as the system should see, it still contains the latest firmware from sony.

3) ...NEVER leave something ...

Since this was a party with only about ten people, all of them were friends, this was felt to be safe.

I think you've honestly missed the point. In your quest to charge around and try to proclaim how to keep the system safe, you've disregarded entirely the last question. What would be wrong with the system that starts fine, but only degrades after some random X time.

Thank you anyways for your time.