PS3 Yellow Screen of Death

ITBarbie · Post by **ITBarbie** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 7:17 pm

Hi

We had a party on Friday with about 30 people and apart from the alcohol the PS3 got a bashing from some of the men folk who inisisted on playing Fifa until their eyes bled! Anway disaster struck in the IT Barbie household (were not sad honestly) when we woke up on Saturday morning to find the Yellow Screen of Death on the PS3

For those who have not got a clue what I am talking about when you turn it on and you get the yellow light that goes straight to red with a beep and no green light. Ie dead playstation.

I had never heard of it before but after reading a lot of info it was obvious that it had overheated and our child care sorry I mean gaming station had expired. I hate gaming so I was not bothered but I was mortified that I couldnt watch my Blue Ray movies or my downloaded films through my PS3 so set about trying to find a fix.

Anyway I did and was so chuffed I thought I would share. I carefully took apart the PS3 to release the mother board, trotted off to PC world to get some Thermal Compound and some rubbing alcohol and set about trying to bring it back to life. I used the rubbing alcohol to clean off the old compound from the CPU/GPU and then I heated the mother board with a heat gun for about 2 minutes front and back and then concentrated on the CPU/GPU for approximatley 40 seconds. Applied a thin coating of Thermal compound and set about putting it all back together. God your memory plays havoc with that bit when your old but I got there in the end.

Anyway I turned it on a blow me down its back to life. I know this is boring but I was so chuffed I just wanted to share. Thats a Â£130 saving as that is what Sony wanted to fleece me for!

Cant say I'm brave enough to start on anything else and I broke a nail but I'm so chuffed I wanted to recommend the fix

The tools for the job

The guts

Nearly there

I was too excited to take a picture of it all back together! Sad I know

dirtymonkey29 · Post by **dirtymonkey29** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 7:32 pm

Is that your hair dryer? Lol

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 7:35 pm

Well done you

Had a similar problem with the XBox a few years back, but at the time Microsoft admitted an issue and they had extended the warranty to cover the 'ring of death' for a period outside the usual guarantee period. Mine was just within. It took 3 weeks for them to sort, but cost me nowt for a new XBox. More cooling has been catered for in it's new home so hopefully it will last a bit longer this time.

Congrats on a great result and good write up too

Sent from my iPod device using Tapatalk

ITBarbie · Post by **ITBarbie** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 7:38 pm

[quote=""dirtymonkey29""]Is that your hair dryer? Lol[/quote]

Nah I borrowed it from Sanj!

ianmaney · Post by **ianmaney** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 7:40 pm

Is there no end to your talents Penny? lol

n1k85 · Post by **n1k85** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 8:48 pm

Well done Penny,

I have done tons of these and it's a great feeling to get it working, unfortunately no matter how good of a job you do on it, it will only last a matter of months (if you're lucky) before it goes again. I only offered a 30 day warranty when i do these and even a few times it's been less than a week before its dead again

You can slightly prolong the fix by using 'Arctic Silver' thermal paste, but even then you're looking at less than 3 months realistically, and even then it's got to be used for short periods every now and again, as opposed to a few hours a day like most 'gamers'. I would guess that an hour or two of something like Fifa will fry it again. The worst thing is that when it goes, your DVD/Game/BluRay is stuck inside the drive. I have 3 PS3s in the attic that people have given up on fixing and just said to me 'if you can get the disc out for me, you can keep the console for parts'.

Just don't let it get too hot, if you hear the fan kicking in and going loud, turn it off and let it cool down!

ITBarbie · Post by **ITBarbie** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 8:58 pm

Oh no

I was hoping it would go on and on but I suppose it's never the same after the fix. I've had a good run with it as its the fattie version and it must be 4 years old +

Can I ask if the fans off eBay are any good or am I better investing in the skinny one? I hear that the ps4 is coming this year so might try and hang it out. What do you think?

pvr · Post by **pvr** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 9:17 pm

Don't you remember my post?

The fix does indeed not last unfortunately, I had to do it twice and after that, I traded the unit in.

ITBarbie · Post by **ITBarbie** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 9:26 pm

Ah it was you I couldn't remember but I now I do as I said it looked like an intense job.

Think I may trade it in also then!

n1k85 · Post by **n1k85** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 9:31 pm

[quote=""ITBarbie""] I ask if the fans off eBay are any good or am I better investing in the skinny one? I hear that the ps4 is coming this year so might try and hang it out. What do you think?[/quote]

Not as far as I've seen. My mate who bought one (who is here with me right now and has also agreed) and found it useless.

It's just got a few extra blades than the normal one, and they are just a con imo. In reality there's nothing you can do to permanently fix it.

Every time you use it, you're on edge waiting for the YLOD (yellow light of death) and it kind of ruins the enjoyment. I have tried every fix known to man and not found a solution.

There is even a method called the 'Penny Fix' believe it or not!

it involves sandwiching coins between the CPU and heatsync to kind of keep the CPU pressed down on the motherboard, but even that is a waste of time.

As above, most people seem to fix them and trade them in for a slim while they are still running. You hardly get anything for them though since the waranty is gone and the guys in the shop are fully aware it's only got a few months left in it.

On the up side, I did notice they had come down in price now (the slim ones) and IIRC are sub Â£150. I'd just go for it tbh

pvr · Post by **pvr** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 9:32 pm

I just don't have a tiger skin rug to work on but used the dining table

Yes - Game did a good offer for trade in against a mini and I knew it would not last forever so did it. I paid Â£75 for the upgrade to the slimline including a 3 year warranty.

Not that I have ever played a game but my son was very much into it at the time. Not that he uses the slimline either anymore ...

ITBarbie · Post by **ITBarbie** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:08 pm

Cheers Nk185 and PVR

Trade in it is then!! Still at least I learnt how to reflow

n1k85 · Post by **n1k85** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:16 pm

[quote=""ITBarbie""]Cheers Nk185 and PVR

Trade in it is then!! Still at least I learnt how to reflow

[/quote]

Something worth noting is that the skills you just learned in Re-flowing can also be used on load of other stuff. You wouldn't believe it.

I've used the exact same 'Heat Gun' method on Motherboards/Graphics Cards/LCD TV Boards/Xbox's etc etc and it has worked like a dream.

Buy an otherwise 'Mint' laptop off eBay that's a year old with a graphics fault for Â£70 (green lines running over the screen or something), whip the motherboard out of it, cover it with foil (except for the graphics chip), blast it with the heat gun, thermal paste that bad boy back up, put it back together and you have a working Â£400 laptop for Â£70. I have had much more success with this kind of stuff too with it lasting longer. I fixed a laptop for my brother using this method in 2009, it's still going strong now. But the longest I've had a working PS3 for was about 4 months before it YLOD'd again.

So all is not lost

wilkoturbo · Post by **wilkoturbo** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 6:07 am

Any granturismo 5 player here ?

XSeries-forum

XSeries-forum