This is a problem that a disproportionate number of PS3 owners have encountered with their systems–about 90% of the time it’s an issue with the solder connecting either the CPU or the GPU to the board melting from overheating, thereby disconnecting the CPU/GPU from the motherboard. Sony calls it a “general hardware failure” when the light comes on, and claims that it only happens to around one half of one percent of all PS3s purchased–which is still a lot, if you think about it. I encountered a fix for this on the PS3 Hacks forums that I thought I’d repost here. I’ve also the video series of the same guy (gilksy aka ColinJester) who wrote
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the instructions below showing you, step by step, exactly how to do this. In addition to that, gilksy is SO awesome that he actually put together a PDF of the instructions WITH pictures for all the relevant steps–I highly recommend that you skim over the written instructions below to see what you’ll be getting into first, and then when you’re ready to do |
it download the PDF and go by that while using the videos to help you along. Here’s the PDF: Gilksy’s YLOD Repair Guide. I’ll put the videos first. To give credit where credit is due, this fix is thanks to ColinJester aka “Gilksy” of PS3-Hacks.com and Gilsky1 on YouTube:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Written Instructions (same as PDF but without pics–this is just to skim over to see what equipment you’ll need and whether or not you’ll actually want to do this as opposed to sending it in to Sony)
You will need:
1.) Heat gun (temperature controlled preferably).
2.) Isopropyl alcohol (acquire from chemist).
3.) Vacuum cleaner or compressed air blower.
4.) Phillips screw driver.
5.) Flat blade screw driver or slotted torx bit.
Instructions
1. Remove warranty sticker and rubber foot that’s positioned above hard drive bay.
This will invalidate any warranty.
2. Using a small flat blade screw driver or slotted torx bit, unscrew cover plate screw.
3. Slide cover plate towards the left until it stops and lift off.
4. Remove all Phillips screws marked noting size and position.
5. Hinge case towards you until disengaged and then tilt towards the left. See below.
6. Remove ribbon cable by carefully lifting black part of connector (locking tab).
7. Lift/tilt blue ray drive towards the right whilst disconnecting power cable and the large ribbon (lift tab) underneath.
8. Remove 5 screws and the earth wire screw on psu, and unplug connector plug.
Before removal of psu unplug small bnc connector (black wire) and remove tape on side of psu, now lift off psu.
9. Now remove the wide ribbon from connector (lift tab) unscrew the four screws on the Bluetooth board and remove.
10. Remove hard drive cover.
11. Unscrew blue hard drive screw and disengage hard drive by sliding towards gap in the bay.
12. Remove hard drive, see below.
13. Unscrew 4 screws holding the bracket, on/off and eject control panel. Remove small ribbon (lift tab) and remove control panel.
14. Unscrew 8 screws.
15. Lift enclosure out of plastic base, see below.
16. Now unclip black rear panel and remove.
17. Unscrew 4 screws and remove sprung brackets, see below.
18. Lift of metal cover plate whilst allowing ribbons to pass through gaps in plate without damage, see below. (Taking note where heat sink rubbers are positioned).
19. Supporting fan assembly turn board over, remove fan power connector and fan.
20. Remove 2 screws holding plate to hard drive connector and unplug battery connector.
Now remove plate.
21. Clean off old heat sink compound from the 2 mainprocessors using Isopropyl alcohol making sure all traces of the old heat sink compound has gone.
22. Clean both touch plates on bottom of fan/heat sink assembly with Isopropyl alcohol until all traces of the old heat sink compound has gone.
23. Now using a vacuum cleaner or compressed air blower get rid of all dust build up in the case and on all component parts of the ps3 (pay special attention to the fan assembly and heat sink fins(MUST BE CLEAR OF DUST).
24. Typical example of dust build up.
Ps3 case (dusty).
Heat sink plates before
heat sink compound removed (dusty).
25. Once cleaned you should now have a nice pile of bits that looks something like this, see below.
Now for the tricky bit!
26. Check the top metal cover plate (underside) for burn-in marks, as you can see below this ps3 got very hot before it yloded!
27. Place the ps3 mother board on a flat heat resistive surface (kitchen work top or melamine shelf will be fine).
28. Turn heat gun on and set temperature to 350 deg and the fan speed to low (to high and it will move the surface mount bits).Allow gun to get up to temperature before continuing!
29. Using a circular motion hold heat gun over areas outlined below (keep heat gun an inch above
board/components at all times).
30. CPU side first.
31. After 15 to 20 seconds move onto the next area.
32. Once all marked areas have been heated/reflowed on the mother board LEAVE for at least 10 to 15 minutes to cool. (DO NOT MOVE MOTHER BOARD WHILE COOLING).
33. A popping noise may be heard during cooling, don’t worry this is normal.
34. NON CPU side.
35. After 10 to 15 seconds move onto the next area.
36. Once all marked areas have been heated/reflowed on the mother board LEAVE for at least 10 to 15 minutes to cool. (DO NOT MOVE MOTHER BOARD WHILE COOLING).
37. A popping noise may be heard during cooling don’t worry this is normal. Heat sink compound still on in this picture, remove before reflowing. Heat sink rubber pads still on in this picture remove
before reflowing also hold ribbons out of way while reflowing
Congratulations!!
You have just repaired you’re yloded ps3 mother board.
38. Now its time to apply new heat sink compound to the 2 processors, when doing this its always best to follow the manufacturers instructions but I believe the process is the same with all types (please check instructions that come with paste), before continuing
39. The paste I am using is called AKASA 450 it’s a silver based compound with a thermal conductivity of 9.24w/m deg c and an operating range of 0 to 200 deg c. You can buy it from most pc shops but I get mine from my local Maplin ( I have been told that there is a better compound on the market called arctic silver but I haven’t tried it as yet so the choice is yours).
40. Use syringe supplied and dispense a small worm of compound from top to bottom on the left hand side of processor chip, now using credit card supplied spread compound evenly and thinly over processor face (to much is bad and not enough is also bad) the ideal amount is when you can almost see through the paste.
41. Now repeat on the other processor.
42. See below.
NOW IT IS TIME TO REASEMBLE THE PS3.
RETRACE YOUR STEP IN REVERSE TO REBUILD
MAKING SURE ALL RIBBON CABLES HAVE BEEN
FULLY INSTERTED INTO CONNECTORS AND LOCKED
DOWN IE. (TABS).
Instead of silver based thermal paste (which may cause shorting if applied improperly), I suggest you use pastes like Arctic Cooling MX-2 or tuniq TX-3. etc.
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=150&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=13
Thanks this has been a god send. i had a slightly different board lay out and a primative hot air gun but it worked a treat.
sony need to admit its there fault there has been speculation of heat problems ever since the origanal at the show broke.
and a big thanks to sony for your support as your offer was as help full as choc teapot in light of the price of the new slim version. it has felt so nice to have supported you all these years and you treat us like this….
glad theres some one out there who knows what they are talking about.
cheers gilksy
removed wide blue cable ribbon from blue ray now unsure which end is which…help please….oh this is the second time curing the ylod…but this time won’t read disc n fan is going bonkers…again…help
Excellent instructions. Followed the and got my PS3 back into the fight. Thanks. Have added extra ventilation and fans to really cool the sucker down. Has been fine ever since, the internal fan rarely comes on, really only when you play high graphics hardcore games.
Thanks again.
Just fixed my son’s PS3 with these instructions, got the Thermal paste and cleaner from Maplin approx £14 and a 2 temp setting heat gun from BnQ £18 first setting 400 degrees C worked brilliantly, whole fix less than £30 layout – FAB Thankyou very much.!!!
This PS3 was very expensive new, my XBOX had red ring of death, well out of warranty but Microsoft acknowledged the issue and still repaired if FOC including shipping!!! They were brilliant, – this is very very poor from a big company like Sony, with such an expensive box !!
Cheers again Gilksy!!!
Thank you so much I was about to have a fit and following your instructions all is perfect.
Hi Again thanks i have just followed the instructions and fixed my sons PS3
He is made up
How long does this fix last for? or is it something that won’t happen again now fixed
Followed the instructions which were extremely clear and low and behold….IT WORKED!!
Three times I had to send it back to be repaired. Now after £3.99 for CPU paste it’s fixed.
Excellent.
Yes, this really worked. Gilksy, you are a real man of genius. Sony, you suck, $!50 to fix a system that can be replaced for $300. They told me this was not a “problem I was likely to encounter.” Makes it sound like a denial, but it really isn’t. They’re just saying it is a low percentage. Doesn’t look like it though based on the number of people starting web pages to fix it. Someone should start a class action lawsuit.
Mine worked fine for about 6 months. It just shut down again mid game for the first time the other day, which is what happend before it died.
Anyone else have this problem again? I now have it standing up right on top of the tv stand, but I’m worried it will happen again. It was in a cabinet before, so I thought this would help and the fix would be permanent. Maybe not?!?
It shouldn’t happen again, if it does the same fix should work.
Thanks very much Gilksy!
I actually had RLOD but I followed your procedures for YLOD and it worked a treat – I assume they’re similar errors relating to over-heating. This is my first time dealing with hardware and it was really good fun seeing how everything is put together.
WOW I spent about 3 and a half hours studying your guide and following it STEP BY STEP and WOW was it worth it when I got done, my PS3 back to life…instead of waiting 3 weeks and almost paying a third of the orignal retail price I saved a lot by only spending about 40 bucks on EVERYTHING you mentioned because I didnt have them. This was my second YLOD PS3 and I was pissed when it happened. I cant thank you enough but this was the most frustrating experience but I did learn a lot about how the PS3 functions and it was fun doing it. So I take it as a good thing lol. ONCE again I thank you so much and I will spread the word on your guide because its amazing!
I got my disc out and it turns on after your guide which was great thank you I had it repaired twice before by one of the local guys I paid $90 but i did your guide afterward and it was great but there seems to be a problem now my fan in my ps3 is going crazy and then an error comes up about over heating and prompts you to turn the system off maybe I got something backwards please help????
Its WORKING…! Yiiii HAaaaa… And now for some CoD MW2
Thanks a million!
Gilksy you are the man! Thanks a lot. I have a 60g launch Ps3 that just got the YLOD a few days ago and I freaked. Found your tut and spent 23 bucks on a heat gun and now I am back up and running! Be interesting to see how long the fix lasts for but at least it’s working now! Again thanks a lot. Now I can play some RB2 again! Gilksy thanks again!
This will not last more than 3 weeks, if so long. One MUST get the system reballed with higher melting point solder balls and flux.
This method is a quick temp fix which do work, but for me, I re-ball systems for my customers with infrared machines; very expensive).
But nice tut for persons who want a quick temp fix.
Hey There Gilksy
I have now tried the refluxing twice, to no avail the green light stays on for about 2 secs. Is it worth me fluxing it with the pen as per your video or do I have another problem? Even though I am a girl I now have the courage to follow your instructions without fear of not being able to reassemble. My son is desperate for me to fix it so any suggestions I would be really grateful.
Cheers
Paula