PS3 died - worth repairing?

[Daltone]

After months of loud fans and worryingly hot components my launch fatty PS3 finally gave up the ghost today. It is exactly the second console to do this to me, after the Dreamcast. It appears to be suffering with the "yellow light of death" (froze suddenly, let out three quick beeps, turned off, red flashing light. When you try to turn it on now it goes green, flashes yellow, three quick beeps then flashing red).

I've seen various videos on youtube about how to fix this. It seems you can take the thing to bits, blast it with a hair drier or maybe, just maybe, bake the motherboard in the oven (!!). Has anyone ever tried any of these things (ok, not that last one so much). How much longer did you get out of your PS3? I'm not in a hurry to move from PS3 to PS4, but the PS3 is my main blu ray player. I don't know whether to admit defeat, get a 12gb slim PS3, replace the HDD and just use that, or have a go at fixing the fatty. It seems a bit of a waste of time to repair the thing if it is only really going to last for a couple of weeks.

[otoko]

"yellow light of death"

Quick answer: A Backward compatible model? Yes... and no..

Long answer: I used to fix these professionally and you can repair it using a heat gun. Do I suggest it? Not really no, waste of time and money. DO NOT REFLOW! It causes more damage than good. A professional reflow basically cooks the entire board.

The problem isn't the board. It's the heatsink and fan. So no matter what you do, the cooling is so poor in those ps3's you'd be shit out of luck later down the line anyway.

I have heard whispers having the system reballed will do the trick. You must have them replace it with lead based solder though.

I went a different route and installed PC heatsinks on mine. It's not for everyone though.

But otherwise, once it's Ylod it's going to do it again... and again... and again.....

Also keep in mind, your ps3 save data is deadlocked to that hard drive. If you put it in another ps3, it'll erase. You can only access it if you fix the ps3.

[xelement5x]

I would bank on it being toast unless you want to pay someone to repair it. However, if you want to retrieve your saves I recommend the hair dryer method, but make sure you have all your ducks in order before you turn it back on so you can copy stuff off quickly.

[Rickstilwell1]

Quick answer: A Backward compatible model? Yes... and no..

Long answer: I used to fix these professionally and you can repair it using a heat gun. Do I suggest it? Not really no, waste of time and money. DO NOT REFLOW! It causes more damage than good. A professional reflow basically cooks the entire board.

The problem isn't the board. It's the heatsink and fan. So no matter what you do, the cooling is so poor in those ps3's you'd be shit out of luck later down the line anyway.

I have heard whispers having the system reballed will do the trick. You must have them replace it with lead based solder though.

I went a different route and installed PC heatsinks on mine. It's not for everyone though.

But otherwise, once it's Ylod it's going to do it again... and again... and again.....

Also keep in mind, your ps3 save data is deadlocked to that hard drive. If you put it in another ps3, it'll erase. You can only access it if you fix the ps3.

The save data for PS3 may be deadlocked to the hard drive, but the PS1 and PS2 memory card data is not.

Just curious... if you transfer PS3 saves over to a jailbroken/modded PS3 do they work there? Or has that function not been hacked in yet?

[otoko]

The save data for PS3 may be deadlocked to the hard drive, but the PS1 and PS2 memory card data is not.

Just curious... if you transfer PS3 saves over to a jailbroken/modded PS3 do they work there? Or has that function not been hacked in yet?

Know of a tutorial on how to do it? From what I understand the ps3 hard drive is encrypted. I haven't seen anything that can crack/read it.

hair dryer method

Don't use a hair dryer. It won't heat it up enough to reflow the solder properly. Use a heat gun on the processors.

Remember kids: Typically the problem is the video processor.

[Daltone]

Thanks all.

I think that the PS3 will be working its way in to the garage for a bit of tinkering, but I'll get a slim one for day to day use as well. Looking online the slim and super slim appear to be less susceptible to this kind of fault - anyone know if that is true? Is it just that they aren't old enough?

Putting PC heat sinks in to the old one looks like an amusing challenge for a rainy winter day (or week in my case). If I can coax it back to life I may give that a go. I'd probably kill it again, but it is all good experience!

[APE992]

Don't use a hair dryer. It won't heat it up enough to reflow the solder properly. Use a heat gun on the processors.

That has to be a joke, a heatgun isn't a controlled method to do anything and you can't seriously expect to melt the solder properly. Have you ever used a proper workstation? They have profiles for a preheating phase (underside is warmed up to help prevent warping, your heatgun doesn't do that) with a specific profile for temperature increases over time as well as phases to actually melt the solder and bring things back down. If you don't care about doing it the correct way then by all means head on over to Home Depot for an uncalibrated heatgun that may extend the life of your hardware a few months.

A proper reballing will fix the problem but it may crop up again in the future due to design flaws and lack of adequate cooling. If it was my launch model that was backwards compatible I'd at least send it to a reputable BGA reballer to see if it can even be salvaged because it's always worth a shot. More so if it can be hacked and/or is hacked.

[xelement5x]

Don't use a hair dryer. It won't heat it up enough to reflow the solder properly. Use a heat gun on the processors.

Remember kids: Typically the problem is the video processor.

The hair dryer method isn't a long term solution, but if this guy wants to get his saves off without investing in a reball or some such to totally fix the unit it's a good option.

Basically you get everything warm enough to keep those connections going for about 15 minutes of use, which should be enough time to copy all your data off if you're already prepared to do so. I did so, and I know plenty of folks who did this to salvage their saves on a fat PS3 so they could move them over to a new slim. Just don't consider it a long term solution.

[Daltone]

If it was my launch model that was backwards compatible I'd at least send it to a reputable BGA reballer to see if it can even be salvaged because it's always worth a shot. More so if it can be hacked and/or is hacked.

I'm not entirely sure where I would find such a place around here!

I've seen the short term hair drier fix to get the HDD out, but in all honesty I've barely played anything properly for about a year (new baby) so I am not too fussed.

I went and got a PS3 super slim. Instantly regretted it. The blu ray drive is almost as loud as the dreamcast's GD drive. I can hear it from half way across the room. Are the standard Slim's that loud? I may change it.

[Niku-Sama]

my slim isn't that loud, sony went way cheap with the super slim George foreman grill versions.

I have got a lot of returns on them, if at all possible try and find a new standard slim PS3. I know where theres a few in my home town but I cant say for any one else

[APE992]

I'm not entirely sure where I would find such a place around here!

I've seen the short term hair drier fix to get the HDD out, but in all honesty I've barely played anything properly for about a year (new baby) so I am not too fussed.

I went and got a PS3 super slim. Instantly regretted it. The blu ray drive is almost as loud as the dreamcast's GD drive. I can hear it from half way across the room. Are the standard Slim's that loud? I may change it.

Contact Bad_Ad84 on ASSSEMblergames, I don't know if he can do BGA reballs but he may be able to at least suggest someone in the UK who could.