Tips, Tricks and Fixes

[Rike255]

Ya I suck at explaining things haha, when you disconnect ribbon cables, how do you do it?

I pull the little plastic tab up, then the cable just comes out, but there's no connector on the cable end, it's just bare cable. Is that normal?

I can't look at the video from work but I'll check it out later.

[krp1997]

Originally Posted by krp1997

OK, so my 40 gig PS3's blu ray laser died a few weeks ago and I sent it into Sony and paid the $150 for them to repair it. Got it back yesterday. They sent me my unit back, not a replacement. I was a little irritated at the amount of scratches it came back with. Plugged it in, tested out some blu's, and they played ok, but there's still some freezing. It'll freeze for second or two, and then be ok. Seems like it mostly happens when I start playing again after fast forwarding. Also, it sounds terrible when inserting and ejecting discs, like the mechanism is about to die. Now today I try playing MLB 09, and it freezes at the title screen. Have to turn the system off and on to eject the disc. Other games are fine, though.

Now, the letter they sent back with my system says it will detail what type of service they performed. However, there's nothing in the letter about anything they did. Does this mean they did nothing? Or that they're just incompetent? Anybody else encounter this?

It comes with a 90 day warranty after this repair, so I will be sending it back again. I was glad I got my unit back, but maybe I might've been better off with a refurb.

Well, I called Sony today and will be sending the PS3 back again, but now I just noticed that all of the games and blu's I've been using to test my system with are all either scratched or smudged. I think that probably explains the intermittent freezing I've seen. The one's I've played more are beat up worse. The discs I haven't tried are all fine, so its definitely an issue that the system came back with. I ain't pleased.

[WriteSimply]

Six hours, lots of sweat and trepidation later, I fixed my YLOD.



It's not a big deal to reflow but you do NEED to test the theory behind the reflow. To understand how it worked, I heat treated a soldering wire to see how easy and quickly the gun heated it up. At 400F, it was very quick.

Taking apart and cleaning the PS3 as you go is where the bulk of the work is. I used a broad painting brush instead of air canisters. You would need one TORX screwdriver to open the top of the PS3 case. You need a large Philips to unscrew most of the screws, and a medium and small ones for the other screws inside. A plastic tool to open electronic kids is very useful when you don't know how to open stuff.

Originally Posted by Toxa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_Ic1_TY-GU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr1zy... 7&feature=iv

From this guy, who also has it in file form to download.

http://boardsus.playstation.com/play...cending&page=1

Download link: http://www.filefactory.com/file/af246bg/n/YLOD_fix_pdf

(Thanks to caliblue15 )

I'll merge this thread with the fix thread later

I used these two documents before I attempted my fix. Reflowing is the shortest process.

1) 20-40 seconds to warm the board at 400F at 4/5 inches.
2) 2 minutes to reflow at 2 inches distance. 15 seconds each to warm up the RSX and Cell chips. Then 30 seconds each of full concentration. Then another 15 each to wrap up.
3) 20 seconds to cool the board at 4/5 inches at 400F. Another 20 seconds at 100F.

Since I can't get a hold of what thermal paste Sony uses (it's white and they used a lot), I used the best that I could get my hands on. It IS a game console after all. My thermal paste is very sticky and hard to smooth over but I gave it my best shot. Before putting the heat sink back on top of the chips, I put a dollop of thermal paste just like how Sony did. I figure it would help.

REMEMBER, YLOD could be MANY things. Mine was chips not connecting to the board because of overheating.

Originally Posted by BrahmaBull

Yeah I didn't want to try it. If you do it wrong you can end up with an unrepairable unit.

I guess I could have still sent in to Sony if I ruined it, but I would rather keep my actual unit.

Before I attempted my repair, I already resigned to the fact that if it didn't work, I'm going to have to send it to Sony anyway.


fuad

[Marine Mike]

^^^^^^^^^^

[Rike255]

Just so you know, thermal paste is supposed to be a VERY thin layer on the chip.

The reason for thermal paste is to make an air tight seal that better dissipates heat to the heat sink. Air is a terrible heat conductor so thermal paste is a great alternative, however thermal paste is a WORSE thermal conductor than metal to metal contact, so you want to limit the amount of thermal paste to just the irregularities on the chip so there's no air between the metal plates.
When I saw how much paste Sony used I was very surprised haha.

Congratulations on getting your system working! I just finished reflowing mine, waiting the 15 minutes for the board to cool before reassembling *fingers crossed*

[misterkiem]

Yes I have been checking the things pointed out in that vid every time I reassemble my drive. Thanks though

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by Rike255

I pull the little plastic tab up, then the cable just comes out, but there's no connector on the cable end, it's just bare cable. Is that normal?

It seems to be normal for consumer electronic products, not PCs. When I took apart my iPot nano, the ribbons there are just like that but FAR smaller.

Originally Posted by Rike255

Just so you know, thermal paste is supposed to be a VERY thin layer on the chip.

Ah good to know the theory.

When I saw how much paste Sony used I was very surprised haha.

Surprised me too. Not just that, it took a while to clean it!

I think another good tip is that after you cleaned the RSX and Cell chips and the heatsink with isopropil alcohol, DON'T touch it with your bare hands. Your hands got natural oils and moisture.

Congratulations on getting your system working! I just finished reflowing mine, waiting the 15 minutes for the board to cool before reassembling *fingers crossed*

Thanks. Crossing my fingers for you.


fuad

[Rike255]

Well another success story here! I just got my system back together, tested her out and YLOD is fixed!!! I'll let you know how long it lasts for *crosses fingers*

Thanks for the help everyone!

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by Rike255

Well another success story here! I just got my system back together, tested her out and YLOD is fixed!!! I'll let you know how long it lasts for *crosses fingers*

Thanks for the help everyone!

^^^^^^^^^^


And thanks Mike and Toxa!


fuad

[Marine Mike]

I updated the OP with:

Helpful suggestions and tips on fixing the YLOD


Basically its a link pointing to WriteSimply's post quoting Rike's giving some first hand experience on fixing the YLOD.

[Steelmaker]

I have a question regarding the cooling fan. I have a 60gb PS3 and I'm starting to notice that the fan is getting REALLY noisy. I'll power it up and it will sound fine for about 15-20 minutes. Then suddenly the fan will really start to crank it up and sound like it's going into overdrive. It becomes very loud and quite distracting when playing a game or watching a movie.

Does it sound like I just need to replace the fan or is the system running too hot so the fan "thinks" it has to work that hard to keep the system cool?

[Lucy Diamond]

Still in the waiting period for my laser to ship from China.

[RiseDarthVader]

Try vacuum cleaning the sides and spraying a can of compressed air through the back vent. That should clear some dust off the massive fan inside.

[Marine Mike]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

I have a question regarding the cooling fan. I have a 60gb PS3 and I'm starting to notice that the fan is getting REALLY noisy. I'll power it up and it will sound fine for about 15-20 minutes. Then suddenly the fan will really start to crank it up and sound like it's going into overdrive. It becomes very loud and quite distracting when playing a game or watching a movie.

Does it sound like I just need to replace the fan or is the system running too hot so the fan "thinks" it has to work that hard to keep the system cool?

Originally Posted by RiseDarthVader

Try vacuum cleaning the sides and spraying a can of compressed air through the back vent. That should clear some dust off the massive fan inside.

Very good suggestion.

Also another possibility could be the location of your PS3. Make sure its location is well vented or else it could be heating issues.

[Xerios]

goodmorning mike... good to see you are still solving problems

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by Marine Mike

Very good suggestion.

Also another possibility could be the location of your PS3. Make sure its location is well vented or else it could be heating issues.

It's inside a tv stand. However the back of it is pretty ventilated. I wouldn't think that would be the problem but you never know. I'll try vacuming out the sides and see if that helps. Thanks!

[Marine Mike]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

It's inside a tv stand. However the back of it is pretty ventilated. I wouldn't think that would be the problem but you never know. I'll try vacuming out the sides and see if that helps. Thanks!

I hate saying this, but the PS3 wasn't made to be put into a TV stand. It needs a lot of breathing room due to how they situated the vents on the machine as there are multiple locations.

[Lucy Diamond]

Originally Posted by Marine Mike

I hate saying this, but the PS3 wasn't made to be put into a TV stand. It needs a lot of breathing room due to how they situated the vents on the machine as there are multiple locations.

It belongs on a pedestal...with angelic light shining upon it and its own slave girls fanning it.

But yeah...good ventilation. I keep mine low to the ground as well and on top of an old VCR. The VCR is now a heatsink and the low positioning leaves the hot air (which rises naturally) with no place to go but up.

This also helps a little with noise, since the fan rarely needs to kick on.

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by Lucy Diamond

It belongs on a pedestal...with angelic light shining upon it and its own slave girls fanning it.

[RiseDarthVader]

What he could also do is install 120mm PC case fans at the back of the TV stand to get some airflow going through there.