• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

My PS3 died and I’m trying to live to tell the story

Kagari

Crystal Bearer
gregor7777 said:
I'll have to stream it. That's shitty though. They played fine a month ago, and now they don't play at all.

Fucking piece of shit PS3.

I'm a step away from 100% PC gaming and saying fuck you to all the consoles.

Try a lens cleaner.
 
Just turned on my 80GB (PAL Killzone 2 bundle) system and the fan went full blast for about 30 seconds, then I got the flashing red lights.

I flick the power switch on the back and try to start it and it starts normally - some self cleaning or is it on its way out?

If this PS3 breaks I'm officially done with this generation.
 

xinoart

Banned
OK so my reurb from sony has died yet again. The first time my OG 60gig died was due to faulty code in CoD3 which causes some 60gig power supplies to fry. I sent it back in and got a refurb. First time in Nov the refurb died was a bad Blu-ray laser. I fixed that myself since it was out of warranty and out of the 90 day extension. Simple enough to fix.

Yesterday I got the YLOD on the stupid thing. (Should be called blinking red lights of death). The night before we had a power surge so great...here we go again. Another dead PS3. I decided to take it apart and see if it was a bad PSU like last time. I didn't smell anything burnt. So I decided to do what Fersis did. All the screws were tight. Since I had it all apart anyway, I decided ok fine, I gotta reflow the damn thing. Not a big deal. Now when I took off the fan from the motherboard, this is what greeted me....

2445fs8.jpg


33k94wi.jpg


And here's a lump that fell off...

19bn83.jpg



Is it me or is that an excessive amount of compound?

Anyways, so now my PS3 is in pieces. I have to wait to get ahold of a heat gun unfortunately. Hopefully I'll be able to reflow it within the next 2 weeks.
 

Zozobra

Member
PsychoJecht said:
My buddy's 60gig just bit. Won't read a lot of blu ray discs, and on infamous he can load the game up but he has to stay in the same one block radius because it won't stream the data it seems. :lol

Anyway, $150 repair, not so funny.

Fuck, this exact same thing started happening to me today, but I've got an 80gig - sometimes I will be able to load my inFamous save, but then anything outside of my starting area won't load and then the game freezes.

I'm being told that all my Bluray movies are "invalid" as well :(

If I insert a PS3 game or Bluray movie the system will read and recognize the disc, but then when I actually try to select the game or movie to play them, it fails to load. Is there still hope for my system if the PS3 is still able to identify these discs or is this thing on its way out?
 
I onced suffered from the YLOD. It was a sad time, 60 gb original. had to cough up 150 dollars. Got it back just in time for killzone 2 on the 27th, the day it came out.
 
I never got any Lights of Death on mine -- the bluray drive just stopped reading... right after I installed MGS4 the night it released. :[ By the time I got my unit back, I didn't care about MGS4 anymore. :(
 

Schrade

Member
xinoart said:
Is it me or is that an excessive amount of compound?

Anyways, so now my PS3 is in pieces. I have to wait to get ahold of a heat gun unfortunately. Hopefully I'll be able to reflow it within the next 2 weeks.
It looks severely excessive. The strange patterns made when lifted makes it look like the compound wasn't put on evenly as well.

Hell, I'd clean that shit off with 70% Isopropyl Alcohol (rubbing alcohol) and then try to use a good thermal compound spread evenly on the chips before putting the heatsinks back. Look up some tutorials on the web on how to do this correctly.
 
So I got my PS3 back from repair a few days ago. I sent my broken one back without a harddrive and it didn't stop the repair process at all, they sent what looks to be a new unit without a harddrive. So I put my old one back in and of course I had to reformat because the new PS3 is different. Anyway, if you don't want to send in your unit with a harddrive, don't.
 

G_Berry

Banned
corrosivefrost said:
I never got any Lights of Death on mine -- the bluray drive just stopped reading... right after I installed MGS4 the night it released. :[ By the time I got my unit back, I didn't care about MGS4 anymore. :(

Ouch...
 

xinoart

Banned
Schrade said:
It looks severely excessive. The strange patterns made when lifted makes it look like the compound wasn't put on evenly as well.

Hell, I'd clean that shit off with 70% Isopropyl Alcohol (rubbing alcohol) and then try to use a good thermal compound spread evenly on the chips before putting the heatsinks back. Look up some tutorials on the web on how to do this correctly.



That's exactly what I was thinking. I should be doing the whole reflow + flux job on Wednesday. I've found a very good tutorial on how to do it. Sadly I can't link back to it because it seems to be banned. If anyone is looking for a way to do it though, I'll do what I can to help. I'll let random readers of this thread know how it goes. *crosses fingers*
 
Just sent my 60GB PS3 back for the third time in as many months, same issue each time. Fingers crossed the extended warranty firm will give me the £350 voucher so that I can pick up a brand spanking new one. Don't want a slim or anything just want the console so that I can play some Demon's Souls again....
 
Wax Free Vanilla said:
Just turned on my 80GB (PAL Killzone 2 bundle) system and the fan went full blast for about 30 seconds, then I got the flashing red lights.

I flick the power switch on the back and try to start it and it starts normally - some self cleaning or is it on its way out?

If this PS3 breaks I'm officially done with this generation.
Well, my 60GB Playstation 3 broke earlier this year. What it did was when I was making a level in LittleBigPlanet, the screen went black, then the red lights started flashing. I then shut it off, turned it back on, and then it lasted about 30 minutes before the screen went black again and the red lights flashed. Then, when I tried to turn it on again, nothing came on the screen and the red lights flashed immediately.

LittleBigPlanet always made the fan on my Playstation 3 get loud, and I guess it overheated unfortunately. So, having the fans go loud and the red lights appear is not a good thing. I'm going to be getting another Playstation 3 very soon, hopefully. Hearing that you are getting the red lights on an 80GB Playstation 3 makes me worry, though. I would wait for a Playstation 3 Slim, but I'm tired of waiting. I hope your Playstation 3 survives, though, Wax Free Vanilla.
 
xinoart said:
OK so my reurb from sony has died yet again. The first time my OG 60gig died was due to faulty code in CoD3 which causes some 60gig power supplies to fry. I sent it back in and got a refurb. First time in Nov the refurb died was a bad Blu-ray laser. I fixed that myself since it was out of warranty and out of the 90 day extension. Simple enough to fix.

Yesterday I got the YLOD on the stupid thing. (Should be called blinking red lights of death). The night before we had a power surge so great...here we go again. Another dead PS3. I decided to take it apart and see if it was a bad PSU like last time. I didn't smell anything burnt. So I decided to do what Fersis did. All the screws were tight. Since I had it all apart anyway, I decided ok fine, I gotta reflow the damn thing. Not a big deal. Now when I took off the fan from the motherboard, this is what greeted me....

http://i26.tinypic.com/2445fs8.jpg[IMG]

[IMG]http://i25.tinypic.com/33k94wi.jpg[IMG]

And here's a lump that fell off...

[IMG]http://i28.tinypic.com/19bn83.jpg[IMG]


Is it me or is that an excessive amount of compound?

Anyways, so now my PS3 is in pieces. I have to wait to get ahold of a heat gun unfortunately. Hopefully I'll be able to reflow it within the next 2 weeks.[/QUOTE]

Yes, that is extremely excessive, but hardware companies can be really weird about their application of thermal compound. A lot being globbed on in an assembly-line environment is one thing, but I even remember a Macbook service manual from a few years back stating to empty the entire contents of a tube of thermal grease when applying it to a CPU :lol
 

dk_

Member
About that thermal paste...

My 40GB PS3 has gotten louder over the last 1 1/2 years so I decided to send mine in to a shop which clears the existing residues and applies some high quality paste. I hope it works and my PS3 will be quiet again.

I should get mine back in a couple of days and I'll post the results.
 
60GB launch PS3 bit the dust just now with the YLOD. I'm pretty disappointed with Sony right now, especially since I dropped $599 US DOLLARS on this thing.

Still debating what to do, as I have a lot of PS2 games and rather need the BC.

I might just try to fix it myself and get a new PS3 whenever the slim/price drop happens, as I'm not real fond of possibly paying Sony $150 only to have this happen again later.
 

ouchx100

Member
So I made a thread about my ps3 about an hour or two ago about how my friends ps3 died and since he had taken his apart before, when I told him about my ps3 always being loud even just sitting in the menu, he offered to take it apart and clean out the dust.

So stupid idea, we had it apart and clean it all out, put it back together and it started up just fine. the fans were quiet. the after about a minute they turned up like they usually wold after being on for a bit. Then they went to an even higher speed, then a few seconds later an even higher speed. The last two speeds me and him, both having owned 60gig ps3s since right after xmas 2006, have never heard before.

At this point we turned it off. What we think happen is like people are saying a few posts above me is the heat sink compound needs to be re-applyed. This is the ps3 has been opened and when my friend opened his up, he found that he still had to send it away to be repaired because he didn't have the tools to fix it, so we think that we he sent it to be fixed at a private party, the guy did add more compound.

Anyone got any ideas or comments for me? Anyone opened theirs before and had this problem?
 

Zozobra

Member
Ok, so my PS3 will recognize and identify discs in the XMB, but shortly after I load them I will get a read failure.

I just got off the phone with a local repair place and the guy said it might have something to do with the bluray recognition circuitry or something, so the entire drive may not have to be replaced. They charge about $68 to look at the console and will repair it if it's only a minor problem; However, if I do need to replace the disc drive I'd imagine it would be the cost of parts and labour on top of the initial fee.

My question is to anyone who might know from experience: If my PS3 is still recognizing the discs in the XMB but is unable to play them, is it possible that it only requires a minor repair or does this sound like the entire drive is probably going to have to be replaced and I should just spend the $150 to send it in to Sony? Thanks :)
 

rmecgn

Neo Member
Zozobra said:
Ok, so my PS3 will recognize and identify discs in the XMB, but shortly after I load them I will get a read failure.

I just got off the phone with a local repair place and the guy said it might have something to do with the bluray recognition circuitry or something, so the entire drive may not have to be replaced. They charge about $68 to look at the console and will repair it if it's only a minor problem; However, if I do need to replace the disc drive I'd imagine it would be the cost of parts and labour on top of the initial fee.

My question is to anyone who might know from experience: If my PS3 is still recognizing the discs in the XMB but is unable to play them, is it possible that it only requires a minor repair or does this sound like the entire drive is probably going to have to be replaced and I should just spend the $150 to send it in to Sony? Thanks :)

It sounds like the blu ray laser needs to be replaced. Do you think you could do it yourself?

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=70948
 

navanman

Crown Prince of Custom Firmware
Well I sent my PAL 60GB unit off for repair in a local console repair store. Hope they can do the job, should know in a week or two.

I'm in withdrawl symptoms now, its been a week already since it stopped working.
 

xinoart

Banned
Well I can safely say that the YLOD is extremely easy to fix. Took about 60-90 minutes in total and that can definitely be shortened based on how proficient you are. ALl that's needed is a heat gun and some artic silver 5. Nothing else. I'm extremely happy to have saved so much money. This is the second repair I've done myself on the PS3. First I had to replace the Blu-Ray laser, which is simple to do as well. Now I fixed the YLOD. Although many would say it's silly to pop open the PS3 if you don't know what you're doing, for me it's been extremely cheaper in the long run.

Running Cost to fix my PS3 thus far:

60 for blu-ray laser
18 for heat gun (pawn shop but brand new)
10 for artic silver 5
=
88 bucks. (US)

that's 67 bucks cheaper than sending it to Sony for ONE repair. And in all total, that's about 2 hours worth of work. Much better than wait weeks to get just a refurb and losing everything on your HD.

If anyone else has the same problems, I'll definitely be willing to help anyone who has the same problems so just PM me if anyone needs any assistance. Or xinoart on PSN. Happy repairing guys! ;)
 

Shearie

Member
My 60GB PS3 just got the YLOD a few minutes ago. I don't have money to send it to Sony to fix it since I'm unemployed right now so I guess I'm gonna be PS3less for awhile. :(
 
looks like the initial 60gb batch are more prone to failing maybe due to sony wanting to rush those units out for launch. my 60gb was made in feb 07 so i think those and beyond are made to last.
 

Shearie

Member
looks like the initial 60gb batch are more prone to failing maybe due to sony wanting to rush those units out for launch. my 60gb was made in feb 07 so i think those and beyond are made to last.

I'm not sure when my 60GB was made but I bought it new in Oct. of 07
 

Dre

Member
dk_ said:
About that thermal paste...

My 40GB PS3 has gotten louder over the last 1 1/2 years so I decided to send mine in to a shop which clears the existing residues and applies some high quality paste. I hope it works and my PS3 will be quiet again.

I should get mine back in a couple of days and I'll post the results.
How much did it cost ?

I have a EU 60GB from November 07 and I noticed that my fan would switch to a higher level (level 3 I guess) much faster than a couple month before, so I'm tempted to visit my local game repair shop and let them clean it professionally and maybe change the heat paste to Arctic Silver 5.
 

eznark

Banned
Anyone have a controller die? My white DS3 is no longer charging. It will charge for a minute or so (the lights will flash) then it will just stop (no more flashing lights).

Is this common?
 

Piggus

Member
My PS3 died a couple of days ago. I hot got the YLOD the night before while trying to play the old GT5P demo. The next day I turned it on and tried the demo again. Worked fine. I turned the system off for a bit, and got the YLOD as soon as I tried turning it back on. This time it was dead for good it seemed.

It's a 60GB model bought in December 2006 so it was way outside its warranty and there's no way I could afford the $150 repair. So instead my friend and I just decided to buy a $30 heat gun from Ace and fix it ourselves. I was skeptical, but it actually worked! I love building and fixing computers so it was a fun little project. I used Arctic Silver 5 to replace the dried up crap Sony put on there and the system started right up and remained relatively cool after hours of use. It isn't getting anywhere near as hot as it was before it died.

So if you do get the YLOD, I highly suggest the reflow method as it worked perfectly for me. It's an easy process as long as you follow instructions very carefully and keep track of where all the screws go. You're doing a full disassembly so there's a lot of stuff to get through.
 

sloppyjoe_gamer

Gold Member
Piggus said:
My PS3 died a couple of days ago. I hot got the YLOD the night before while trying to play the old GT5P demo. The next day I turned it on and tried the demo again. Worked fine. I turned the system off for a bit, and got the YLOD as soon as I tried turning it back on. This time it was dead for good it seemed.

It's a 60GB model bought in December 2006 so it was way outside its warranty and there's no way I could afford the $150 repair. So instead my friend and I just decided to buy a $30 heat gun from Ace and fix it ourselves. I was skeptical, but it actually worked! I love building and fixing computers so it was a fun little project. I used Arctic Silver 5 to replace the dried up crap Sony put on there and the system started right up and remained relatively cool after hours of use. It isn't getting anywhere near as hot as it was before it died.

So if you do get the YLOD, I highly suggest the reflow method as it worked perfectly for me. It's an easy process as long as you follow instructions very carefully and keep track of where all the screws go. You're doing a full disassembly so there's a lot of stuff to get through.

Thats awesome that it worked for you!!! I'll be curious to see if it re- YLOD again within a few months. That's happened to some people who have re-flowed their systems.
 

jsnepo

Member
Piggus said:
My PS3 died a couple of days ago. I hot got the YLOD the night before while trying to play the old GT5P demo. The next day I turned it on and tried the demo again. Worked fine. I turned the system off for a bit, and got the YLOD as soon as I tried turning it back on. This time it was dead for good it seemed.

It's a 60GB model bought in December 2006 so it was way outside its warranty and there's no way I could afford the $150 repair. So instead my friend and I just decided to buy a $30 heat gun from Ace and fix it ourselves. I was skeptical, but it actually worked! I love building and fixing computers so it was a fun little project. I used Arctic Silver 5 to replace the dried up crap Sony put on there and the system started right up and remained relatively cool after hours of use. It isn't getting anywhere near as hot as it was before it died.

So if you do get the YLOD, I highly suggest the reflow method as it worked perfectly for me. It's an easy process as long as you follow instructions very carefully and keep track of where all the screws go. You're doing a full disassembly so there's a lot of stuff to get through.

Unfortunately, reflowing doesn't fix YLODs permanently. Expect for YLOD to come back after a month, probably shorter than that. I suggest you back up your data everyday from now on. I've reflowed multiple PS3s ever since February of this year and all PS3s got YLOD again. That includes mine.
 
eznark said:
Anyone have a controller die? My white DS3 is no longer charging. It will charge for a minute or so (the lights will flash) then it will just stop (no more flashing lights).

Is this common?

Have you depressed the reset button on the back of the controller? I've had one of mine flake-out before and that fixed it.
 

xinoart

Banned
YLODs only come back if there's not enough thermal compound, too much compound, no flux added, etc. It can fix it permanently. The only real problem is trying to figure out how much compound to put on it. If you get that amount right, you shouldn't have any problems for a very long time. Even then though, spending a few bucks on it is much easier than faster than sending it off or having to buy a new ps3.
 
Oh god my ps3 60gb died :(

I was watching something on an external hard drive hooked it through the usb, laughing my head off, and then boom, it turns off.

I think "oh that's weird" so i turn it on again, it starts up, 40 seconds later - boom, turns off again. So then i leave it for a while thinking it's overheated, go and play Fallout 3 on my pc for about 2 hours, come back to a stone cold ps3, turn it on and now it just fails. Light just goes green, flickers red, turns to yellow (nooooo!) and then back to red and just keeps on flickering.

An original European 60gb model, with bc and everything! What am i going to do? I'm not even sure if it is a heat problem as it wasn't even hot when it shut off. I was just watching something, wasn't playing any games. I was playing Prince of Persia for 2 hours last night and it was fine! What the hell man, what a way to go. Thing ran like a dream and now it's dead, my prince of persia disc is in there as well - shit.

When i go to switch it off from the back after it flickers red the psu buzzes loudly at the back. I think maybe that's gone kaput.

Help me Gaf!
 
Ok apparently it costs £150 to get it repaired here in the UK. £150 = $250

$250??? And you only get a 3 month warranty with the refurb, so if it breaks in 3months, you have to pay £150/$250 again!

What. The. Fuck.

What should i do?
 
Yeah, it's tough to decide what to do. There's three options available. The first option, is just sending it in to Sony even though it's quite a bit of money to just get a refurbished system. This thread is a great resource for the second option, which is to try to fix it yourself. I believe there's also YouTube videos that show you how to fix the YLOD, too. The final option is to just save up your money for a new Playstation 3. Do whatever is good for you, and is within your budget. I decided to just wait and get a new Playstation 3, and I'm waiting for GamesCom to see if there's going to be a Playstation 3 Slim. :)
 

bigcheese

Member
Reading this thread scares me :lol

I have a launch 60GB. Should I be worried about YLOD? Is it worth it to go ahead now and paste it with AS 5?
 
bigcheese said:
Reading this thread scares me :lol

I have a launch 60GB. Should I be worried about YLOD? Is it worth it to go ahead now and paste it with AS 5?

Not sure if it'd make any difference. It'd keep it cooler i guess, and stop the fans from hitting defcon 1.

Everything I've heard about the YLOD fixes just keeps it going for another few months. I think they all go eventually, and it's just due to the motherboard in a few select ps3's being shit.
 
Nooo my 60 gig! During a small and i mean small lightning storm a lot of my elctronics got zapped. My poor Wii and PS3. My Wii doesnt work at all and my PS3 wont display in HD with any HDMI cable but will display using s video.

I CANT and WONT go back to Standard Def. WTF displays only in SD. I've tried 3 differnet HDMI cables and they display on my HD tv but dont respond to my ps3. Im so depressed.

Insurance Company: PS3 doesnt work? Can you prove it?
Me: It works but not in Hi def
Insurance Company: HAHAHAHA too bad.

I know it.
 
XxSlasherMcGirkxX said:
Nooo my 60 gig! During a small and i mean small lightning storm a lot of my elctronics got zapped. My poor Wii and PS3. My Wii doesnt work at all and my PS3 wont display in HD with any HDMI cable but will display using s video.

I CANT and WONT go back to Standard Def. WTF displays only in SD. I've tried 3 differnet HDMI cables and they display on my HD tv but dont respond to my ps3. Im so depressed.

Insurance Company: PS3 doesnt work? Can you prove it?
Me: It works but not in Hi def
Insurance Company: HAHAHAHA too bad.

I know it.

Power the PS3 on by holding down the power button on the front for 5+ seconds or however long it takes it to beep. See if that fixes it.
 
I've tried it and still nothing. Im gonna try my cousins PS3 if he comes over in the next couple of days and see if his PS3 works. Ive got the same problem with my Wii and the S video cords. Tried that one on different TVs and still no picture.

I think i have fried connectors. But its weird that one outlet would work and one wouldnt on the same console.
 

satriales

Member
My 20GB JPN PS3 died a few days ago while playing Fallout 3. I admit it was mostly my fault as I had just moved flat and I had the PS3 standing vertically in a new unit under the TV but I didn't realise the main vents are at the top of the PS3 and so while it looked like there plenty of room for airflow it actually was being blocked and after a week it overheated.

Sony UK won't repair it as it's an imported PS3 so I'll have to try that reflow thing when I get hold of a heat gun.
 

ouchx100

Member
So earlier today me and my dad pulled my ps3 apart and replaced the thermal compound with AS 5 and got it all back together and it works! The lesson: always replace the thermal compound:D

It runs much cooler now too. Its a US 60gig from dec 06
 

Shapingo

Member
XxSlasherMcGirkxX said:
Nooo my 60 gig! During a small and i mean small lightning storm a lot of my elctronics got zapped. My poor Wii and PS3. My Wii doesnt work at all and my PS3 wont display in HD with any HDMI cable but will display using s video.

I CANT and WONT go back to Standard Def. WTF displays only in SD. I've tried 3 differnet HDMI cables and they display on my HD tv but dont respond to my ps3. Im so depressed.

Insurance Company: PS3 doesnt work? Can you prove it?
Me: It works but not in Hi def
Insurance Company: HAHAHAHA too bad.

I know it.

Holy coincidence!!
Wow this just happened to me but my 60gig PS3 survived, my Wii was not so lucky! Did you have them together on a power strip? I'm glad my Wii took the brunt of the charge, I think it was first on the strip. Acts of "GOD" suck!
 

xinoart

Banned
ouchx100 said:
So earlier today me and my dad pulled my ps3 apart and replaced the thermal compound with AS 5 and got it all back together and it works! The lesson: always replace the thermal compound:D

It runs much cooler now too. Its a US 60gig from dec 06


The crappy compound sony uses is completely terrible. It looks like 20-year caulk. I'm so glad I replaced the gunk with AS 5 on mine. I haven't had nary a problem since. It runs quieter than even when I first got the unit. It's amazing.
 
Shapingo said:
Holy coincidence!!
Wow this just happened to me but my 60gig PS3 survived, my Wii was not so lucky! Did you have them together on a power strip? I'm glad my Wii took the brunt of the charge, I think it was first on the strip. Acts of "GOD" suck!

No they were not on the same power strip. Acts of God do suck. I swear it was not even raining for two min before lighting struck and knocked everything out. I always turn everything off when bad weathers occurs but i didnt even get a chance.

Our house lost
My PS3 as it seems so far
My Wii powers on but no display
My Laptop powercords
Our wireless router
Our Home PC
Our huge CD player

This sucks. I havent played anything but my DS in two weeks and MvC2 comes out on thursday.
 
SIGH.... I checked and made sure. Something is not right with my 60 GB unit. I keep getting the blinking red light. Am I right to assume the hard drive has a problem? Is this thing far gone now? I'll be back later to see what you guys suggest I do. Thanks in advance
 

lunlunqq

Member
Gosh finally called Sony and gave them my credit card #. Should have done this earlier but was caught with other things. Just want to get this done with quickly and get back to KZ2 with the GAF gang.
 
Top Bottom