Tips, Tricks and Fixes

[Bageara]

Exactly the same happened to me a few month ago. i did get it fixed at a place called console doctor here in the UK it was half the price sony was going to charge and i didnt lose game saves or a single thing of my HHD which i would have if i sent it to sony.

Send a PM to dereksworl i believe he fixed his YLOD himself

[Marine Mike]

Originally Posted by Hedchekr

Fix it? How did you do that?

Go to the first post and look at the YLOD fixes on YouTube.

Basically heated up the processors to redo the solder and reapply the thermal paste.

[Bageara]

Originally Posted by Marine Mike

Go to the first post and look at the YLOD fixes on YouTube.

Basically heated up the processors to redo the solder and reapply the thermal paste.

You make it sound so easy mike. Does it not involve a full strip down of the console?

[Marine Mike]

Originally Posted by Bageara

You make it sound so easy mike. Does it not involve a full strip down of the console?

It does, but its just a bunch of screws.

[netguy503]

Originally Posted by Marine Mike

It does, but its just a bunch of screws.

screw me...screw you.

BTW Mike,

was this your first yellow light and is this a pretty permanent fix do you think if I attach a fan RIGHT AWAY before playing (to keep the air flow normally/consistent from the point of the fix onward)?

BTW, I think one of the things that really got me in the end was I was ALWAYS turning the power off in the back at the end of play. I did NOT know that you should/could ALWAYS turn off your system from the front and let it go to standby as it saves energy power and you hurt your system more by turning it off in the back. Still, for $400 (what I paid for it), this should of never happened at all I think.

[Marine Mike]

Originally Posted by netguy503

screw me...screw you.

BTW Mike,

was this your first yellow light and is this a pretty permanent fix do you think if I attach a fan RIGHT AWAY before playing (to keep the air flow normally/consistent from the point of the fix onward)?

BTW, I think one of the things that really got me in the end was I was ALWAYS turning the power off in the back at the end of play. I did NOT know that you should/could ALWAYS turn off your system from the front and let it go to standby as it saves energy power and you hurt your system more by turning it off in the back. Still, for $400 (what I paid for it), this should of never happened at all I think.

Its hopefully my first and only time having the YLOD so I do not know if trying to prevent the overheating will solve the issue.

[netguy503]

Originally Posted by Marine Mike

Its hopefully my first and only time having the YLOD so I do not know if trying to prevent the overheating will solve the issue.

You don't think you'll have to buy a new system!? The guy with the "how to" youtube video you that seems to be the most popular one, and posters here, said they only got 4 months until he had to do it again (when he did the youtube video it was his second reflowing on the same system). That's confidence. You must have felt you did a VERY good job. I'd still recommend you buy a fan. But for your, and mine, sake's I hope you are right.

[Hedchekr]

Originally Posted by Hedchekr

Oh well I will have to try and swoop up on a slim. It just sucks that all my game saves and stuff is gone. Is there a way to remove the hard drive and hook it up to a computer and get the info off of it?

Also if I have a bigger hard drive sitting here should I just pop that in my new PS3 when it gets here?

So I have a PS3 slim on the way should I put the 320GB HDD I have, into the new ps3 first since it won't have any info on it.

**EDIT**

I found what I need to do. I have this drive can someone confirm if it will work?

http://www.amazon.com/Hitachi-Travel...9340026&sr=1-2

[saprano]

Is the PS3 suppose to make sort of a ringing sound when turned off? this is the first time im hearing this( maby because my house is so quite with everybody gone) but its very low, i have to put my ear close to hear it. im guessing its the HDD?

This is when the red light it on.

[Rike255]

Originally Posted by saprano

Is the PS3 suppose to make sort of a ringing sound when turned off? this is the first time im hearing this( maby because my house is so quite with everybody gone) but its very low, i have to put my ear close to hear it. im guessing its the HDD?

This is when the red light it on.

Could be the fan or HDD spinning down, I've never heard anything like that but I've never been that close to my system shutting down before either.

Originally Posted by Hedchekr

So I have a PS3 slim on the way should I put the 320GB HDD I have, into the new ps3 first since it won't have any info on it.

**EDIT**

I found what I need to do. I have this drive can someone confirm if it will work?

http://www.amazon.com/Hitachi-Travel...9340026&sr=1-2

Yes that HDD will work fine. Any 2.5" SATA drive will work.

[saprano]

Originally Posted by Rike255

Could be the fan or HDD spinning down, I've never heard anything like that but I've never been that close to my system shutting down before either.

I dont think its anything spinning down cause its been off for awile now.

Never heard this before ether, but i hardly get this close to my PS3. only when im dusting it.

The noise is only coming from the left side, thats why i thought it might be the HDD. i guess its normal when the system is on standby.

[saprano]

Can anybody check theirs out to see if its doing the samething? thanks.

[Shaazzaam]

I fixed my ylod ps3 40gb about a month ago. It lasted 3 weeks before re-lapsing into it's flashing-light coma. I went out and bought a 120gb ps3 slim and now am the proud owner of a $400 paperweight. I might try to get it running again, just to throw it in another room as a dvd player (for however long it lasts). A local computer repair place guy to me to get it running and sell it but I couldn't do that to someone else.

[netguy503]

Can someone give me a step by step how to guide on the "hair dryer trick"? How long it should be on each vent exactly? What temperature is best etc? Also just general tips on how you guys got this to work for yourself would be very helpful. Big Thanks.

[Marine Mike]

Originally Posted by netguy503

Can someone give me a step by step how to guide on the "hair dryer trick"? How long it should be on each vent exactly? What temperature is best etc? Also just general tips on how you guys got this to work for yourself would be very helpful. Big Thanks.

Please explain this hairdryer trick? A hairdryer is not hot enough to melt solder.

[netguy503]

Originally Posted by Marine Mike

Please explain this hairdryer trick? A hairdryer is not hot enough to melt solder.

Here's a quote post from SolidusDave of NeoGaf...

Last Thursday I was playing Trine on my PAL launch PS3 (played for several hours though that is not unusual if only idling in LwP etc.) and it suddenly shut down while I was not even playing but chatting on the PC.

classic ylod, couldn't do anything about it (e.g. waiting till it's cooled). yellow light, blinking red light, no access to service menu etc.

I don't have a heatgun or a proper screwdriver (I actually used pliers for my HDD upgrade ) so I would have to wait for my buddy (with said tools) to return home next week.

But I could not just wait so I used a hair blower to successfully resurrect my not opened PS3

I put the hair blower about 5-7cm away from the back of the disconnected PS3, pointed at one of the ventilation slots. After about 9 minutes (don't know how much time is necessary, depends on the power of the hair blower anyway) I pointed it at the second ventilation slot on the back.
I waited till the PS3 cooled down (you can feel the heat on every ventilation slot) and connected it again (didn't move the console during the whole heating+cooling process).

It worked! BUT the PS3 shuts down again when heated up AND playing a demanding (=PS3) game at that moment. I can watch videos in the XMB and updating games etc. for hours w/o a problem but during actual gameplay and if the PS3 is too hot, it shuts down.
But not with a ylod so I could just turn it on again. Though today I had the ylod again but also fixed it again with the hair blower (actually I don't know if it still has the same problem because for testing I had a fan pointed at the PS3 to keep it at a cooler level and could play PS3 games just fine).

Getting it on once again was all I wanted for now, because I needed to deactivate my and my buddies' accounts and back up my data like screenshots and most importantly the savegames of the last months.
I don't think the hair blower trick can really harm the console so I would suggest trying it because it's quick and doesn't require you to open your PS3 (so especially good if you want to backup stuff but still have warranty or are afraid of damaging the PS3 during the later repair process).

I guess I will still open my PS3 for the proper reflow and to clean out the 2.5+ years of dust in it.
btw: does anyone know if the hair blower method/heating burns away the flux as well and I should do the fluxing guide, too?
..................................

He later writes....

Didn't had time yet/was too lazy to reflow my YLOD PS3 properly, but I think I will bite on the German PS3 Slim deal at the moment (239€ including shipping). I doubt I will get one cheaper in the near future (a year?) with a German warranty, so it's only 80€ more than the replacement PS3 with no waiting ^^

btw:
currently, I'm playing through Uncharted 2 on my YLOD PS3 after the hair blower fix
Though I need to use a fan pointed at the front of the PS3 to cool it down if I play several hours in one session. w/o I can play fine for ca. 2 hours but than the PS3 YLODs again (and I would have to use the hair blower again ^^)
Also keeping the PS3 in the XMB for hours (downloading, videos etc.) and then trying to play PS3 games on the now heat up (but never enough for the YLOD during XMB) PS3 will also result in a YLOD after I played only for 5 minutes or so.

I guess that means after cleaning+reflow+flux+bending it would work fine again w/o the use of the fan (will do that in the future as I want to keep it even if I buy a Slim for PS2 BC and copyprotected savegames), but I think there's a chance something different will break so I'm better of using a (quieter and less power consuming) Slim as my "main" PS3.
.................................

and he later said he was able to play the full story mode of U2 on a "dead" PS3 by just putting a hairdryer to it.

Also, since he announced his trick others have said it !00% worked for them as well. I though this would of been reported by now as this is quite a bigger thread than on other forums. If not, I've just given the thread another way to "revive" their PS3 without breaking their warranty if only to get their save data and get their account removed off the system ( a problem I'm currently facing). I just wished he provided a youtube video detailing the fix in more death/ wrote a document on it so I could see where I'm having the problem.

So, hope this is another slight fix for the people out there looking for one.

[garageinc2001]

Originally Posted by sssick

I did the re-flow for a second time, except I kept the heat on the board longer. It seems to be working fine now, and I left a dvd playing for 24 hours straight on repeat to test it. Still running strong now.

Don't worry, as soon as you're comfortable and forget about it crashing, it will crash again. On my latest YLOD fix I spent 10 minutes on the processors with 1000 degrees of heat. Whis time lasts. I still haven't tried the reflux (sp?) stuff. I don't know if it's available in any b&m stores around me. I want a slim pretty bad, but the money is just not here right now... especially after purchasing my new Panny plasma.

[Marine Mike]

I do not see a reason why the 'hairdryer' fix would work even temporarily. But if it works, then it works I suppose.

[Hedchekr]

If I get by 60gb working can I back up the 60 gb and then install the info on my 120gb Slim?

[Cplhicks]

Originally Posted by Hedchekr

If I get by 60gb working can I back up the 60 gb and then install the info on my 120gb Slim?

Barring any locked saves you should be able to do that from what I know, yes. It better be true, because if my system dies again I'll probably have to go the same route.