Playstation 3 PS3 Yellow light predicament

[gaz_360]

Hi
A while since i've posted on here. I've been given a broken Playstation 3 from a friend after doing a service on his car, it wasn't payment, but he wanted rid. The problem it has is the apparent dreaded 'yellow light of death' issue. I did't really know much about this as i've only ever owned an Xbox 360.

The console is way out of warranty, so unless I want to pay £131 to get a refurbished one from Sony (which I would rather like to avoid), i'm unsure on which avenue to go down next. After a few hours of reading articles and watching some videos, there seem to be an endless amount of fixes that people have on offer.

This is where i'm a little confused on what to go ahead a do next.

This whole 'heat gun' method supposedly has good results for a few months or more, although I would prefer a permanent fix. I'm willing to give the heat gun thing a try (although could somebody please tell me exactly what to do before I go melting the piano black finish ). Or can anyone suggest an independent repairer that have a good reputation for this sort of thing?

Any suggestions will be very appreciated

Thanks

Gaz

[MaverickWill]

You'll normally find console repair places in the Yellow Pages etc, that'll do the work and guarantee it for x months. Worth ringing round, seeing if there's anywhere that does it near you.

[gaz_360]

Originally Posted by MaverickWill

You'll normally find console repair places in the Yellow Pages etc, that'll do the work and guarantee it for x months. Worth ringing round, seeing if there's anywhere that does it near you.

Thanks, never thought of looking there It would be more ideal if they were local as I'd drop it off an pick it up myself. Do you know of anything I could try myself while the console is still sealed?

[MaverickWill]

Compressed air might be worth a shot? VERY small blasts at one end while you've got a vacuum cleaner pressed against the other.

[knuck]

You could try that

[gaz_360]

Originally Posted by knuck

You could try that

Thats pretty much what the heat gun thing is, obviously apart from the whole putting the motherboard into the oven or on the hob bit lol.

I've got some compressed air spray that I clean my computer with, would that be ok to use?

[MaverickWill]

That'd do the jobbie. Like I say, just short bursts - you don't want any condensation to form on the mobo. The vacuum cleaner at the other end will pull the dust out that gets dislodged.

[gaz_360]

Originally Posted by MaverickWill

That'd do the jobbie. Like I say, just short bursts - you don't want any condensation to form on the mobo. The vacuum cleaner at the other end will pull the dust out that gets dislodged.

Thanking you, I will give it a go now and see how much it retrieves out of it.

I've had a proper look at the blinking light now, and it doesn't actually flash yellow. When I press the power button it goes green, bleeps, then yellow, then flashing red.

Is this maybe slightly different to the yellow flashing light?

[knuck]

Originally Posted by gaz_360

Thats pretty much what the heat gun thing is, obviously apart from the whole putting the motherboard into the oven or on the hob bit lol.

I've got some compressed air spray that I clean my computer with, would that be ok to use?

I know and that is why I would try instead of the heatgun

[mikeuk2004]

When mine went i used the heat gun method, worked well for a few days then I had to repeat the process and eventually it only lasted a couple of hours. I gave up and traded it in at HMV for a slim. Stayed working long enough to pass their test

[gaz_360]

Originally Posted by mikeuk2004

When mine went i used the heat gun method, worked well for a few days then I had to repeat the process and eventually it only lasted a couple of hours. I gave up and traded it in at HMV for a slim. Stayed working long enough to pass their test

Not a bad idea, but I would feel really bad trading in something for someone to buy that when they get it home wouldn't work lol.

So far its still not crept into life. Im going to replace the hard drive tomorrow, and see if that makes any difference, but I doubt it is a problem caused by the hard drive.

[gaz_360]

After replacing the hard drive still nothing. So I went ahead and cracked it open and heated up the motherboard. The only thing is, I didn't think to remove the motherboard battery, and when it got hot, it sort of fired across my kitchen. I managed to find a battery out of an old PC, so replaced it thankfully.

After putting it all back together, I was surprised to see that heating it up to some silly temp has actually worked, but for how long it will work I have no idea. A guy I spoke to yesterday said his lasted 18 months before he had to heat it up again. Ill defiantly be making sure the airflow around it is about as good as it can be.

Thank you to everyone for their suggestions and help, very appreciated

[MaverickWill]

Trade it in.

[st1x]

Originally Posted by gaz_360

.... I didn't think to remove the motherboard battery, and when it got hot, it sort of fired across my kitchen. I managed to find a battery out of an old PC, so replaced it thankfully....

Battery bullet mental image made me LoL, +1 rep for the imagined facial expressions of those present.

Nic

[Carper]

wheres the cheapest place for canned air? cheapest i found is like £5 for air!

[gaz_360]

I haven't actually had the chance to try it out yet, as it didn't come with a controller, hope to borrow or buy one tomorrow.

The battery did go with a fair bang it has to be said

I got my canned air from my local computer shop for a couple of quid for 500ml. Its got some sort of film included with it to cover the transistors and capacitors. I'd go on the bay, can't link to it on here, but you can one for £3.50

[ulfar]

i fixed a mates ps3 just by cracking it open, removing the cooler of the main chip, removing thermal paste (cleansing with a kit), heating, applying new thermal paste and then putting it all back together.

basically, these fixes won't last to long before you have to repeat the procedure. best bet would be to repair, trade it in for a slim :P

[Da_Rude_Baboon]

The heat up procedure is to reflow dry solder joints so spraying compressed air into it is going to do **** all. We did the heat gun trick on my friends PS3 and it lasted a week before it died with the flashing red light.

[gaz_360]

I just got home with a controller and a copy of burnout paradise, but i've already run into problems. I started it all up, connected the controller, put the date, time and all that jazz in, then when it came to the PS3 'dashboard' (not sure what its called lol) the screen goes all fuzzy, with lines going up and down it in red. I've searched for it but haven't had any success in finding out what this is.

I'm sure it is probably something to do with what was up with it in the first place, but has any one else experienced this, or know of a fix/reason?

[Krikkit]

Sounds similar to what happens when graphics RAM goes bad. I'd just pay £131 for a reburbed one from Sony tbh.