Ps3 YLoD Attempted fix's. Any more ideas?

As like some people, i was 1 of the unlucky 1's to get a yellow light of death on the ps3
these are the things iv tryed to get it working egen:

1. push n hold the power button for 5 second to do that reset trick
2. hold the ps3 upside down then turn it on to do that fan trick
3. tryed cleaning the dust out of it
4. tryed removing the hard drive
5. took it apart a little bit(took out the blu-ray & power box) & put it back

there might av bin a thew others i tryed but they all failed.
at the weekend im taking it to my mums boyfriend for a complete strip down of all the parts & see if we can find out the problem to this. he fix's computers on a regular basis & hes pretty good so he should be of some use. even tho the ps3 isnt a pc but its close to 1.

iv seen a video on youtube where some 1 did get it running but without video or sound. chack it out:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=s76nJJqY6w4 part 1
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=I33xhBgY-rw part 2

Anyway if you think of any other ideas feel free to share them here =)

 

dude
i so hope people figure this out
mine got the YLoD
right before 2.40 came out
but good luck i hope u recieve help

 

It's really sad that I find tons of websites with fixes for the Xbox 360 ROD and little to no mention of a fix for the YLOD. Which of course means there really must not be any. I guess if a chip is fried, it's fried.

Speaking of the aforementioned chips, are they soldered to the motherboard? So in other words you can't remove the chip from a working board to put in another (meaning a board that may have a fried gpu but not cpu and vice versa).

I guess most people are just shelling out $150 plus tax to Sony when it happens? Those that break the warranty sticker are just using it for a doorstop?

On another note, why does the PS3 only get one forum on this board, while the PSP, Xbox360, etc. get more than one?

 

well i wish there were some kind of fix for it
im pretty sure there has to be a way

 

I know someone who takes apart PS3 quite often and the thing is the YLoD is not one common problem like Xbox 360. Some could be "bricked" in a way that formatting the hard drive could fix the problem. The more serious problem on others was the GPU was totally melted or burnt up. There's not an easy fix for that.

 

I have dealt with several broken ps3's and the only time formatting the hard drive fixed a problem is when the menu indicated it was corrupted (and doing it in the machine did not fix the problem so it had to be done in another machine or a computer).

Two machines have the YLOD and I completely dismantled them and examined the chips. They seem fine (no melting, smell or any obvious damage). Still, the machines do not turn on. I reformatted the hard drives and that did nothing for the YLOD.

My impression based solely on trying to fix these machines is that the YLOD indicates some kind of a hardware error. It could be a fried gpu or cpu, bad blu-ray drive, bad hard drive, or maybe even a bad fan. The ps3 boots and does a quick check of its internal hardware, if any of the devices reports an error it shuts down immediately. Which sucks because we have no way of knowing what the problem is and which device is causing it.

I had a third machine that was DOA. It didn't even turn on. I switched the power supply on it and that did not resolve the issue either. I know for sure formatting the hard drive would have done nothing.

The information that I have just posted is more than I have read on any site or seen on youtube. There is so little information out there about this that it is staggering (especially compared with the 360 which only has one year more in distribution than the PS3).

I guess people are willing to shell out $150 plus tax to just not deal with it. I think its more fun and challenging (and cheaper) to fix them on your own -- if you can of course. And yes, once you break that sticker, Sony will not acknowledge that you exist. So there's fear involved too I suppose. $150 plus tax vs. the chance that you cannot fix it.

That being said, me still thinks there might people out there who are being tight lipped about it.

I know someone online is selling a manual on "how to fix" your ps3, but from what I understand it's complete BS and just shows you how to take it apart and, most likely, format your hard drive.

But like I said, most of what I see online are people asking for help and being told to send it back to Sony.

Come on, where's the gumption!?!?!

 

I'd say the issue here isn't gumption my friend, more like how far are you willing to go here? I posted on another forum that if this actually a hard hard issue, you may have more problems than you know. If this console is say like a laptop on has the necessary data on it for a restore... I don't think I need to say more. Judging though from what I've been reading lately; I'm wondering if this is false positive. Bear in mind I work in computer retail and I've seen it where the unit wouldn't power on not because of a bad power supply, but a bad mother board / main board.

computers 101: all bios instructions are on board. Meaning its an eeprom chip. If that sucker goes bad... there ain't thing one you can do about it. However I something else caught my eye on another post that does make question sanity... why would there be ANY need of a magnet inside a console system when there isn't any in a computer? If you are willing to open it up somebody stated on a post about some magnet being apart of the blu-ray drive. If this this on any of the chips... odds are that's your problem. Thankfully eeprom chips can be rather durable, and a magnet may not hurt it as long as there isn't any power. Usually it'll take a large electrical shock to frag it, because the way they make these chips, thankfully, is to be erasable by either UV light (you'd see a small piece of glass in the center.), by electrical means, or by design like a flash / jump drive.

If its the main board... take to a electronics shop see if they can run either a continuity test, or a ohms test I believe. I would tell to do it yourself, but I fear you could end up destroying it IF it were good. Most main boards I've seen usually have testing points on them to check voltage. A qualified electronics technician would know what I'm talking about. If its got a separate board for power... going to have find a way to get a replacement part.

By the way I wouldn't recommend trying you remove ANY chips... if you try them on another board, you'll fry it. Usually whatever it is designed for is where it should stay.

One final thing: the XBOX 360 doesn't have any known hard drive issues, its got an issue with the solder melting off its main baord, giving you the red blinking lights of death. I believe the offical record of returns for this is EVEN HIGHER now. Around I think 6 or 9 million units... only reason why there hasn't been anything reported on Sony's side; because they bought an XBOX first, and it caused them some fear is one just one side. The other: I believe this issue is at a 1 in 1500 units... maybe less maybe more unlike the 360's 1 in 50 I think. (please bear in mind all estimates are guesses and are not facts and are not meant in any manner to dismay, or otherwise defame a product.)

In seriousness I think Sony is quite aware of it! Because of the XBOX system being an unusual fierce competitor it has stepped up their service in a few ways console wise that was definitely unheard of when they first release play station. I suggest you check sony's website; there might be some 1-800 number that may be listed to give help as to this, maybe so far as give you trouble shooting over the phone, if your careful. Just don't play like your calling from a repair place... Sony has it listed in their products, I believe the PS3 is included, to call them for replacement or repairs and do not return it to the place of purchase. If your wondering why, there was a class action suit against Sony due the PS2 not being able read a major portion of 'blue hue' discs... sometimes lessons are learned the hard way. Check with a local gamestop, or babbages. or funcoland, I THINK; they have the right number to call.

 

Well, once you break the warranty seal on the PS3, Sony will not even talk to you, so "all the way" would be my answer to this, as I've broken the warranty seal on the three machines I am dealing with. If you call the 800 number and you tell them the seal is broken, they will not honor the $150 plus tax repair. In fact they won't touch it.

The blu-ray drive inside is enclosed in its own shell, and the magnet had fallen inside of that shell. There's no way the magnet could have touched any of the main board chips unless the shell had a hole in it (which they don't).

This is a good idea and something I didn't consider. Thanks!

I looked the chips over more carefully and there doesn't seem to be any easy way to get them off, so I'm not going to mess with them.

Overall I think you are correct though in that a lot of the problems with YLOD is indeed a bad motherboard. And those cannot be fixed. I've looked over two different motherboards and there is no obvious burning or scarring of anykind...nothing melted...so there's no easy 75 cent fix with materials purchased at a hobby shop with these (unlike the XBox 360's as you mentioned).

The part that is frustrating is the YLOD occurs when any number of problems happens inside the machine. Bad fan, bad power supply, bad GPU or CPU -- it's an all encompassing error. If there were different blinks, colors, or beeps for different problems, that would make it easier to diagnose before breaking the seal. For instance I don't even know if a fan that has died is enough to cause the YLOD, or if the fan has to die, THEN the chips overheat to cause the YLOD. Moreover, a bad blu-ray drive won't even trigger a YLOD -- it either reads the disc or it won't.

For instance, a PS3 will boot and not give a YLOD if you remove the hard drive or the blu-ray drive. I've also removed the wireless card and the memory card reader on applicable models and it will still boot without the YLOD.

In other words, YLOD in most cases does equal a bad motherboard. I guess the chips are so easily damaged that there is no visual evidence of that damage.

At any rate, if I ever see another machine that has YLOD I will NOT break the warranty sticker. There's apparently nothing that can be done by an end user unless you can get a working motherboard for the exact same unit to repair it with (and if you can get it for LESS than the $150 plus tax that Sony will charge to replace the unit).

 

so absically there is no fix for a ylod
aside from sending it back to sony?
that sux
there has to be a way

 

Okay look the 2 videos on the top are from me and i am still looking for a way to fix the ps3 it is a computer like everyone thinks it isnt its just compressed to hell the only thing that i couldnt get was the video or sound

 

That doesn't matter. If the mobo is hosed, just like any computer the only way to fix it is to get a new mobo. That's the bad news... however odds are whatever data is on the hdd is completely recoverable, and can quite possibly be moved over to a new ps3 without an issue... hell I'd dare say just take the drive out of the next one pop in your old, and you ought to be laughing because most of that update stuff ought to be on there. You game data sure as hell will be, and if you wanna have more fun... take that hdd out of the cradle buy yourself an enclosure, and you got yourself an external hard drive on the cheap!

 

Has anyone tried to check to see if the PS3 is just overheating? Sounds like it to me and hell i could be wrong but mine gets pretty hot from time to time, i have been wondering if the gel on my gpu or cpu is all burned up yet. Has anyone tried just adding some of that liquid silver to their heat sinks? Or does the ps3 not work like that?

 

it does just like the xbox 360, but if it was overheating then the damage has already been done. ps3 YLOD = RROD for the xbox 360.

 

As the post earlier in the thread states, it's a general hardware failure. It can, unfortunately, be anything. I've done some testing with a (formerly) working 60GB and one I picked up off of fleabay which has the YLOD. I took all of the working hardware around the motherboard and put it with the YLOD one, and it still behaves the same way. In my case, that obviously rules out the fan, power supply, drives and peripherals.

Now, not knowing the history of this dead motherboard, I cannot say if it experienced an overheat. I have gone over every square inch of the board and I cannot see anything resembling damage or burning or cold solder joints on any of the visible components.

That being said, I have heard of various things which have worked for a few (very very few) people:

Re-flowing the GPU. This involves getting a heat gun that has temperature settings. Setting it to around 350 degrees and heating up the GPU while it's laid FLAT to get any possible bad solder joints to reconnect again. Easily the most dangerous procedure and not to be tried lightly. I don't think the Xbox 360 towel trick would work here

Faulty power supplies. I've read two success stories with new power supplies bringing YLOD boards back to life. That's 2, two, only dos of those. Odds are long against this fixing it.

Cold solder joints. In the comments on a youtube video a gentleman from Spain I think said he took a soldering iron and re-attached his chips. I assume he meant that he just re-flowed solder to a bunch of the surface mounted IC's on this board (babelfish FTW). He's the only person I know who's fixed their board this way.

One thing I have noticed going over my YLOD board is that two of the pins for the sata drive connector have a solder bridge on them. I don't know why, if it matters or what, but someone else in a different thread noticed it on their board as well. I'll be trying to remove that soon and will let people know if it works, but I'm not hopeful.

Another thing, there is a seller on fleabay who is offering a YLOD fix for $75 plus shipping. This fix, from their pictures on the listing, shows they have a nice setup to reflow the cel and rsx chips. It may be worth a shot, but since I've seen less people successful with a re-flow than people who are still YLOD'd, I wouldn't put too much faith in it.

I'll post up after I fix up the SATA connector and rip my (formerly) working system apart and swap the parts.

 

I am sorry to say the yellow light of death is the same as the 360's red rings of death the only way is to reflow the rsx and the cell on the motherboard I use something like this in my shop to fix this problem

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...rksid=p3907.m29

But you can try a heat gun I have heard people fixing it with one!!!

just follow the steps for heating the chips like the 360 guide

all the updating and formatting in the world is not going to fix it the ps3 got to hot at one time and the motherboard warped the BGA chips pulled away and some of the solder balls broke

 

I couldn't get your link to work but I did find a seller that offers this service (may be the same one). They seem to charge $75 for the "service" PLUS $14.95 shipping. They state if they can't fix it, they still charge you $50.

Wow, that's a nice business for them.

 

Yeah, it's the same seller. That original auction ended and he's relisted another at the $75.

 

for anyone who is still reading this thread. I do NOT have a fix, however this happened to me and when i talked to sony, the guy said that it was regarding an overheating issue. As stated before, once the ps3 attempts to turn on and realizes 1 thing is wrong, it shuts off.

so... for any of you tech guys, i dont know how many fans are assoiated wtih this machine, but maybe some fans went bad.

of course my repiept was for 1 year and 2 weeks, so im SOL, 150 bucks i guess. what sucks balls is there was a problem internally, its not like i took my ps3 to a bar and tried to get it hammered and poured beer all over it. looks like thats what im gonna do tho. good luck everyone

 

Actually you may not be up the creek. The fans they use for internal cooling whether it be 360, or PS3 are the same for PC's... I think they are 50mm, which is what you can find for either graphic card replacement fans, or north bridge. If it is a fan that's going you may likely be able to buy replacements. If not in single form then multiple. Both systems have available external hook on fans units that, if I'm not mistaken, are the same size as those in the console. Its an idea and if it is bad fan/s it may only cost you around 20 to 30 bucks plus tax, at least in the US. As I said an idea nothing more.

 

well i just fixed my ylod, here's how i did it. I took a hairdryer and heated the cell and the rsx for about a minute and while i was doing that i pushed the four corners with a screw driver then wile they were too hot to touch i put artic silver mx-2 and the newly lapped heatsink back on, Then i waited about 5 minutes then i put the fan in and power supply, Then I booted it up and it said hardrive was missing so i was like sweet. Then i put in the hardrive and the bluray drive, pluged the battery back in, assembled it, and it booted up just like before it had the ylod. So then i have been running it for a week straight with f@h and gaming to see if the ylod would come back,but its awesome its running cooler(the air out the back is actually cool instead of blasing heat) and faster now, probably from lapping the heatsink and getting rid of that nasty silicone thermocompound. So my thery is that the ylod has something to do with the cell or the rsx coming off the motherboard or that something is wrong with the motherboard, because it would boot up fine with out all the drives. by the way mine was a 60gb(now a 320gb) made in December 2006.