Tips, Tricks and Fixes

[pacificvibes]

Originally Posted by Newmason

But as far as freezing goes, no one else has had problems just in the main menus with accessing things? like connection tests or going from game to the system screen? I mean it should never freeze

thats happened to me as well. I think it does have something to do with the internet because I have mine hard wired and when I unplug it, no freezing.

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

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

And one month and two weeks later, it's back!

Frustrated, yeah - only because I wanted to watch some new trailers and now I can't get that exclusive PS Home property for free. Again, must resign to the fact that if I can't fix it, it'll be sent to Sony for repairs.

What was interesting is that djwhetzel had a similar problem. In his YouTube video, his was working fine for two months before it happened again. So maybe it's going to be like that from now on. Two months of solid working and then *beep*beep*beep*. Will keep you guys posted when I get it fixed.


fuad

[WriteSimply]

I e-mailed djwhetzel about his YLOD experience. Here's what he has to say:

Originally Posted by djwhetzel

Yeah, I actually got one other YLOD after I did that video. It happened really quick though. About a week after shooting the video.

I did another reflow and bought one of those external fans (Nyko Intercooler TS) and it's been running strong for a while now (I think a few months).

The last time I did my reflow I used a little more heat and held the heat to it for a little longer. I'm not sure if it's still working because of that or because of the Intercooler, but either way it's still working.

Personally I would rather reflow my PS3 once a month than to give Sony any more of my money though.

I'm glad I could help out over at the forums.

P.S. feel free to copy and paste this message over at the forums if you think it will help anyone.

Oh, and one more thing.

It might be worth noting that I also bought different thermal compound the last time too. I'm now using Arctic Silver 5.

I've heard from several people that it's the best thermal compound you can buy.

Also, the Intercooler is really loud. This might be an issue for those who use their PS3 as a Blu-ray player. It's kind of annoying to me, but I'll take the trade off if it keeps my PS3 alive.

Once again though, I did three things differently the last time I did my reflow so it's really hard to say if any one (or all three) made a difference to how long it's been working this time.

There you go.


fuad

[WriteSimply]

Fixed the YLOD again. Haven't gotten full-throttle just yet - playing movies and games - until I've gotten an external fan that can suck the heat out.

Used a combination of method this time - gilksy's front and back RAM/RSX/Cell reflow + djwhetzel's EE Engine reflow + my own blob of thermal paste on the EE Engine and the AV Output Sony chips. Hopefully that will keep the major chips cool.


fuad

[BluHavik]

Not sure how I did it but I seriously mucked up my BD drive trying to replace the laser. Did it once no problems, this time not so much. Long story short I gave the gimp 60 to my brother told him if he can fix it good for him. And bought a new 80 from BB with the 2 year IN STORE warranty. So at least for 2 years if any of this BS comes up again I can just go exchange it same day. It's not the RRoD but close, Sony should have owned up to selling bunk stuff and extended the warranty. I can't believe it but like MS did.

Final total for the 60:
Paid $499 to start from amazon

2 weeks without it to get it fixed

70 for a laser

70 for another laser

lesson here, NEVER buy a console online. That is one thing that is best bought in a store with the warranty.

[caliblue15]

Originally Posted by BluHavik

Not sure how I did it but I seriously mucked up my BD drive trying to replace the laser. Did it once no problems, this time not so much. Long story short I gave the gimp 60 to my brother told him if he can fix it good for him. And bought a new 80 from BB with the 2 year IN STORE warranty. So at least for 2 years if any of this BS comes up again I can just go exchange it same day. It's not the RRoD but close, Sony should have owned up to selling bunk stuff and extended the warranty. I can't believe it but like MS did.

Final total for the 60:
Paid $499 to start from amazon

2 weeks without it to get it fixed

70 for a laser

70 for another laser

lesson here, NEVER buy a console online. That is one thing that is best bought in a store with the warranty.

People are blowing YLOD out of proportion. Sony doesn't need to extend the warranty. It happens in 1 in every 100,000 consoles if even that. And yes never buy a console from online, its much easier to just buy from Best Buy and use their plan, makes it 100x easier.

[BluHavik]

Originally Posted by caliblue15

People are blowing YLOD out of proportion. Sony doesn't need to extend the warranty. It happens in 1 in every 100,000 consoles if even that. And yes never buy a console from online, its much easier to just buy from Best Buy and use their plan, makes it 100x easier.

I'm not talking about YLOD, I'm talking lasers. Go to any site PS3 related and you will find a nice long thread about lasers going out and what to do. FAR more then 1% are having problems.

[Robert Palmer]

Just got a PS 3 (love the improvement on PS2). One question about playing Blue Ray Movies. I played my first last week (Vantage Point) and it defaulted to full "piller box" wide-screen format. On most DVD players you can adjust the aspect to, for example "fit screen" to fill all the screen on a wide screen TV.

I couldn't find any option to do this - can anyone help or advise?

Thanks,

Bob

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by Robert Palmer

I couldn't find any option to do this - can anyone help or advise?

List the cable connections you have from the PS3 to the HDTV. What is the setting on the TV and on the PS3?


fuad

[WeApOn]

Got YLOD yesterday. I'm aware of the repair service from the guy from eBay, which I believe is the same as manually following the Youtube fix?

Regardless, if I choose to go this route, how have the systems performed after the fix? Does the YLOD come back, or have they performed perfectly after the fix?

Thanks.

[jq71586]

Didn't know where else to post. lol.

I recently encountered a problem with my PS3. When I turn it on all I get is a black screen. No sound, no video.

The holding the button for 3 beeps does not work, which means it's not a video problem. It's been on the same TV for about 6 months now.

I do have it running with an HDMI cable and the connection seems stable.

Is it possible that it could be something with the hard drive? If so, how would I go about resetting it?

It is past the one year warranty so, anything is in play.

[Marine Mike]

Have you tried using the composite cables that came with the PS3?

Also you need to hold down the button until the 2nd beep, not third for video.

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by WeApOn

Regardless, if I choose to go this route, how have the systems performed after the fix?

In my experience, the PS3 performs just like it did before. It WON'T perform like it's a brand new PS3 (relatively quiet) but one that has grown in time. Simply put, it WORKS exactly as before.

Does the YLOD come back, or have they performed perfectly after the fix?

Since nobody knows what component causes the YLOD, I think you should expect a recurrence at least after 1 month. That said, you may want to get some fans for the back and sides to vent more heat out of the PS3 than before. Just might help. See my post about djwhetzel's treatment of his PS3 after the third try on his YLOD.


fuad

[gradymay]

Originally Posted by jq71586

Didn't know where else to post. lol.

I recently encountered a problem with my PS3. When I turn it on all I get is a black screen. No sound, no video.

The holding the button for 3 beeps does not work, which means it's not a video problem. It's been on the same TV for about 6 months now.

I do have it running with an HDMI cable and the connection seems stable.

Is it possible that it could be something with the hard drive? If so, how would I go about resetting it?

It is past the one year warranty so, anything is in play.

I had the same exact problem and nearly had heart failure when it happened. I tried powering it down, turning off the switch and then pulling the plug. Nothing seemed to work, so I turned it back on and inserted a Blu-ray movie. For some reason when it went to load the movie the screen came back. I don't know what happened and I don't know if it will work for you, but I was so relieved. I have not had a single problem since then. Good luck and let us know what happens.

[jq71586]

It was a no go on the component cables as well. I've unplugged the power source and tried the 3 beeps restart multiple times and nothing.

It doesn't sound the same when it starts up either. It beeps on, there is a short hum, then pure silence.

I tried to take out the hard drive, but I can't get that damn blue screw loose for the life of me.

Any other tips other than reformatting the hard drive?

Thanks for all the help so far.

[Slec]

Mine has done that once or twice. Flipping the power switch in the rear has taken care of it.. just had to redo all my settings once it powered back up.

let us know if you come up with something that saves a reformatting

[jq71586]

I've tried everything I can think of. 2 beeps, 3 beeps, power source, component cable, composite cables. Looks like I"m down to reformatting. I did get the blue screw out so that's a positive. I'll check this again in the morning to see if anyone else chimes in before I do the deed.

Thanks everyone for the help.

[Minimejer05]

So I bought a new hard drive to upgrade my PS3. Its in the mail right now towards my house. I borrowed an external hard drive from a friend to copy all of my files onto. I plug it in..go to backup...but it doesnt show up. Even if I try and copy stuff seperatly... do i need to hit format for this external hard drive? Its a 500GB Maxtor external hard drive.

Anyone have any ideas why it wont work?

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by Minimejer05

Anyone have any ideas why it wont work?

The external drive must be in FAT32. Otherwise the PS3 won't recognize it.


fuad

[eternal darkness]

Hi guys.

About three days ago I was using my PS3 but for some struck of bad luck I had a black out in my house for a few minutes and unfortunately I was using the PS3 during that time. When the light came back I was going to use my PS3 again but noticed that the Blu ray disc that was inside of it was out and the red light was flashing.

I tried to press the On/Off touch sensitive button with no results. It didn't do absolutely nothing. I then went and turned the back switch off then on again and the the PS3 started doing the fan test procedure immediately when I pressed the back switch on again. It was weird because I didn't even touch the PS controller button nor the touch sensitive button to turn it on. It basically just turned on by itself when I flipped the back switch on.

Anyways when the fan test finished (takes like 10 seconds or so) the PS3 dies and you can see the red lights flash again.

I checked videos on youtube, other forums and all I see are people with the yellow light problem but not what I have. I don't see a yellow light when the fan test is over. I can't even press the touch sensitive buttons so I don't get the green light and the immediate yellow light followed with the red flashes like the people who have the so called YLOD.

The thing is that after a few hours when that happened, I tried to turn the PS3 on again and it worked with absolutely no problems at all. I turned it off then on a few minutes later and the thing died again.

The thing is kept in an open environment and it never gets hot so i really don't know what is happening with it.

You know, the irony of it all is that I was playing the infamous demo went the light went kaput.