Ps3 YLoD Attempted fix's. Any more ideas?

Ahh no problem I know how that goes. Just had a couple quick questions for you when you get a free minute. Kind of stuck at a standstill with this right now and I'm trying to disprove a few theories. I know you have worked with a lot of these and I'd like to pick your brain for a minute.

Mainly trying to figure if a different hardware problem other than cracked solder can cause YLOD. Seems to be the case with mine although I need a good bluray drive to test with and see if that's truly what the problem is.

I've heard some vauge ramblings about YLOD being possible due to other failures such as HDD or power supply. Pretty sure both of mine are good and even had a 480 watt computer power supply rigged up for testing as well. I have heard next to nothing about bluray causing YLOD though and that's what I'm suspecting is my problem this go around. Frustrating not having a whole pile of these things to test with lol

 

I have heard of this as well and it might be my last option after bluray testing / replacement. I read that someone had also done this for 7-8 minutes at 400. Couple quick questions for you about that. What did you use to prop it up in the oven? Can't think of anything offhand that would be good to support it but wouldn't burn the board or melt? Did it warp at all in the oven initially? I was thinking that if it warps much that it could shift or move the board off of the supports to keep it level in the oven. How long did you let it cool afterwards? 30/60 minutes or so? Nothing else on the board is a danger in the oven? Also, I have flux on my board from the last solder repair job I did on the board. Any idea how that would react to being baked? I don't want anything to explode. Oven is not someting fun I want to buy! lol Maybe I could find my old toaster oven. I would think that would work too if it can get hot enough.

 

More testing... YAY! Seriously it's getting a little old but I feel I'm making some progress at least. So here's some of the bluray info I've gathered about my system so far.

About the bluray one thing I found very interesting and not sure if this is normal or not. I have the lid off the bluray player and when I hit the power button and get the YLOD the bluray lens moves down slightly and kind of clicks, then goes back up and clicks down again quickly and does nothing else. That's when I get left with the blinking red light.

A lot of folks have said they get lights inside the bluray but not sure if this applies to a YLOD as well. Should I be getting any lights? Red light? Blue light? As far as i can tell there isn't any lights it just clicks a little bit. The quick yellow light flash happens right as the lens clicks down for the second time as if it was trying to do something, couldn't, and then triggered the YLOD as a result of the failure. The light stays green through the first down click of the lens, the click back up and switches to the yellow light right as it goes back down again.

I'm fairly new on the internals of the bluray so far. I've also heard people talk about the bluray board and the motherboard being paired / married to where they can't be seperated. I've also read about those who have successfully bought an entire replacement bluray drive without a motherboard and without switching out the controller board on the bluray player and got it to work. Not sure which to believe there.

I would think something on the board would have to be messed up if it's not the bluray. I even tried doing the YLOD fix to an extent on the bluray controller board hoping that maybe something on that had some solder issues since it sits directly on top of the motherboard chips.

Which also got me thinking..Could this be a potential cause of other YLOD or just other hardware issues in general? Could a hot board be putting off so much heat that it's heating up the bottom side of the power supply and causing a failure inside which in turn makes the power supply run way too hot and fail? Could it be doing the same thing on the other chip that sits almost directly below the controller board on the bluray player?

When I did my last motherboard reflow and thermal paste, I added 6mm washers to the heatsink clamps. I noticed putting things back together that this added a little bit of space underneath the power supply and the bluray player. Not much space, just a hair but still... I would think any space you could create even if just a tiny bit would be helpful to dissapate a lot of heat.

Any thoughts or suggestions welcome. The PS3 will not win..I refuse!

 

Hi all,

I believe you guys have not applied enough heat to actually reflow the BGAs. You need to heat the solder balls to at least 235C for ~15S for a successful reflow.

To achieve this you need:

1) use liquid flux,
2) warm the BGA to ~200C for 60-120s,
3) step up the heat to get the BGA to 250C for 15-30s (it may need heat of ~300-350C), use too much heat and you will damage the BGA and other components. DO NOT MOVE OR TOUCH the PCB.
4) back off the heat as quickly as you can and cool down the BGA. Let it rest for a while and re-assemble the PS3.

Hopefully you have a longer lasting PS3

If not repeat the reflow process and use longer heating time in step 3) to get the balls reflowed properly.

Good luck to all.

Wildy.

 

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From my experience the lens on the blu ray drive should be blue when reading a disc and the disc would only ever turn when the blue light had contact with the disc. Drives I've seen with a blinking red light or a tiny red beam never manage to spin the disc. Never known the lack of a disc being read causing the unit to switch off though.

I have replaced a few bluray drives in my time but never had any success unless I've used the controller board.


Hope this helps a little

 

Honestly I would want to hear that thing start up. If you can somehow at least get power to the drive, you might even be able to hear the failure. To be sure though, I would suggest this site:
http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

Download the one for your drive. I suggest downloading and burning as an ISO file and burn yourself a disc from the ISO. Connect that drive to your PC internally if you don't have another option. Shutdown and boot off that disc.

It should detect your drive and the options on most of them are pretty self explantory. Basic Tests, Long Tests, Full Erase options such as writing zero's to the drive. I recommend that if you REALLY want to start with a fresh blank drive.(This removes all data including the primary partition and the boot sector) It can also fail where other tests won't if it detects a drive problem when trying to fully erase it.

If you get the drive connected and it's grinding or scraping or making any clicks or funny noises the drive is probably trash. I've seen em work with stuff like that but not for long and very unreliable. If you can't connect it internally in your computer, I suggest geting a converter at a local computer store. Something like this. Drive Converter
Awesome to have around. Generally if it can't detect the drive at all when connected to USB, there is something wrong with the hard drive. Best bet is the ISO CD and scanning for problems.

 

Thanks for the reply. It's good to hear about what they are supposed to be doing since I've not really had a working one completely apart. I've heard far more people say that about the bluray controller board than people that said it worked ok.

I would assume those selling boards and drives seperately on ebay and such probably don't know that they are paired. I've seen some paired but quite a few that are not as well. Still seems really strange that I get t he YLOD almost in sync with whatever the bluray is trying to do. Anyone currently have the YLOD? Do you get any sound out of the bluray drive? Any clicks? Blue or Red lights? No lights? Not sure if this an isolated issue with just my system..

 

sgebbie, sounds like you are definitely onto something, and the YLOD doesn't always mean reflow!

I would imagine it means "failure in some component so your PS3 will not function, send it back!".

Would be GREAT if you can get your hands on a BluRay drive (that works) and test this theory!

 

I didn't see the XMB from last thursday, the only way is with the memory stick.

With the 40gb hdd I cannot update because the error come just after the checking of the update data on the stick (I've redownloaded the firmware on another stick but nothing changed) and I've checked the hdd on pc and it's fully functioning.

With my 250gb hdd it just start the update and freeze at 99%, no way to reach the recovery menu again, and at the moment I haven't made any checking on this hdd because I've a little hope to recover my saved data again.

I think the problem is other than the hdd's.

Thanks for the help

 

Not to change gears here, but I have recently been having another issue with my 80GB PS3. My BD is selective with the return of my disks. Initially the first indication I was having a problem with my drive was with the play of my launch title of Motorstorm, it would not recognize the disk at all. At that point I figured it was the disk and thought nothing of it. Since then I have been playing extended hours of MW2. Earlier this week I decided to try the Motorstorm game again. My MW2 disk would not eject. It would try, and get stuck just on the inside of the drive, (if I were to pull the felt down I could see the edge of the disk). After pushing it back in and pushing the eject button multiple times it coughed up my disk. This time when I inserted Motorstorm, it worked no problem. However when I went to eject the disk I had to fight with the system to get it out.

Last night I had the same issue. I wanted to go back to WAW to put some zombies to rest and had to fight with my BD to get my MW2 disk out and more of the same to get my WAW disk out to end my night/morning of gaming on a MW2 note...again fighting with my drive to have it relinquish my game disk. Is this a common occurrence? Does this mean something specific? Is there a way to FIX this issue? At this point the plan is to just leave MW2 in my system until doomsday, I'm a MW2 Junky...I must have my FIX!

 

sgebbie, not sure if you've answered this or not. Have you powered up without the bluray connected at all? Does it last longer before the YLOD?

I see what you mean with controller boards and motherboards being sold separately. Apparently the Sony jig files allow you to pair a mother board and controller board. Not even sure if these files really exist though

 

Actually I should have one tomorrow Getting a 20 GB system with a working blu ray drive that I'm pretty sure is failing due to a heat issue. The one I'm getting back was for my girlfriend's little boy and I bought it off ebay and reflowed it once already. Went ahead and got him a new slim with 2 year warranty on it so now I have another tester for my crazy tinkering lol. I reflowed the 20 gig with a lot lower heat for a lot less time and no flux. Also had kinda moderately old cheaper version thermal paste on it so.. I'm 95% sure it's probably another reflow or a power supply replace. I should have more troubleshooting results tonight and saturday night. I'll let you all know how it goes!

 

I haven't had a chance to test that yet. Probably will tonight. I just picked up on the YLOD happening in sync with the clicking of the bluray the other night so I guess the next steps would be to see what the YLOD does without the bluray connected at all. May also take the bluray compltely apart and see if I can determine where the fault might be. I should have the working one tomorrow so that should answer quite a few questions I have.

 

Doubt it's the same .. but I remember on my PS3, I wore through the "rods" that the laser ran along! Man that thing had a LOT of play time .. hahaha

I wonder if it's got some gunk on it or something so the laser can't get where it needs to be, so cracks the p00's and chucks a YLOD. Keen as to hear your results!

 

If you are comfortable doing so, I would suggest taking apart the bluray player. It's not too diffucult just a lot of tiny screws and tiny parts. Lots of videos on youtube if you want to have a look at one first. Sounds like something is off track inside your player. I was a little more brave tearing my system down as it's clearly out of warranty and something seriously wrong it if to start with. Less to worry about i suppose. I have taken mine nearly all the way apart. I'm going to be working on the laser assembly area soon and maybe tonight. Let me know if you decide to hack into it and i'll answer any questions that I can.

 

1st off i dont think 400 would be hot enough. i think lead solder melts at around 200c and leadfree hotter(dont quote me on those temps). so i think 450 or so would do.(btw i was wrong about my oven temp it was 480 not 580). The board did not warp one bit. I took some copper wire and bent it into a tripod formation. just sorta crude as long as they are all the same height. put in a cookie sheet then the little tripods then the board on top. i made sure the board was only resting on the outer "orangeish" part of the board. also make sure that it is fairly stable cause if it falls off>>>>> might wreck the board/ components. i put the board in components upwards. once the 7 min was up i shut the oven off and just slightly opened the door so the board will cool really slowly. i didn't touch it till it was cool. it took like 45 min to completely cool down. the only thing that even has the potential to blow up on the board are the small capacitors(sorta an enclosed capsule). i don't know lots about them so talk to a electronics expert for more info. mine was fine though. i fluxed my board right before i stuck it in. it wont ruin your board in any way. i used Kesters #952-D6 cause it is specifacly for lead free solder. refluxing wont hurt the board though. might as well reflux it for better chance or success. i would recommend using a full sized oven though cause heat will be even. a toaster oven will have the element right next to the board>>> prob not good for it.reply if you have any other questions bout what i did. hope i can help.

 

London based YLOD reflow email theylodgod@yahoo.co.uk 100% success rate 90 day warranty.

 

YLOD Progress!!! Sorry for the novel here, but I think this is quite a worthwhile read for anyone trying to diagnose a YLOD they believe to NOT be heat or solder related.

More testing today with some awesome and strange results! VERIFIED YLOD NOT ALWAYS CAUSED BY CRACKED SOLDER, OVERHEATING POWER SUPPLY, OR HARD DRIVE. Sorry for the caps lol haven't really ever seen anyone state that YLOD could come from anything aside from those issues and be able to prove it. I have done a crapton of reading on this stuff. So anway to the testing results...

For starters I now have a functional PS3 again minus the blu ray player. I've also got this thing running and functional WITHOUT a blu ray player or blu ray controller board even connected. The cable to the blu ray controller board is connected to the motherboard and the blu ray board end is floating. Same goes for the power connector that goes from the board to the blu ray player.

So how I fixed it? Well this is the strange part. I was probing around the system while it was in standby mode with a multimeter. Double checked all the pins on the power supply cable going from board to power supply. Tested while in standby which resulted in from right to left with USB ports facing me (5v, 5v, 0, 0, 0) Note that the last pin should be around 3-3.3v. Ran the same tests while firing up the PS3 from standby to YLOD. The short time the system had a green light, the pins read from right to left (5v, 5v, 0, 0, 3v) This was normal and no concern there.

Next I started probing the 4 pin blu ray power cable from right to left (Note: Board side of the power cable and easier to say top to bottom if USB ports are facing you) it read kind of strange while in standby mode. Far right/top side barely had a reading at all. Was just enough to move the multimeter needle just a hair for a second or two. Then seemed like that energy disapated. Next two cables read at 0 and didn't move the meter at all which I figured was normal and they were probably both ground. Last on the far left/ bottom read at around 9v. All seemed good but the far right/top seemed a bit odd with the signal "sort of" being there for a second, as well as being extremely weak.

Next I tested this out while trying to power up and getting the YLOD. Far right/top side shot up very quickly and I obviously had my meter set a little too low scale to read that accurately so I just moved on and checked the two middle and the far left/bottom which still read at 9v. Tried again with the meter set higher and seems the far right/top is getting around 12v. This all seemed fairly normal and I double checked these readings on the blu ray side of the power cable to verify that the cable was getting current all the way through it and reaching the connector at the other end. Everything looked good with the cable.

As a final test I decided to remove the cable completely and test the pins on the motherboard where that cable plugs in (Yeah it was dumb since I had already verified that the cable was getting power to both ends lol but hey what the hell) While testing the far right /top pin on the board end I was about to reset the system again since there's only a brief time to test between on and YLOD. Once the system beeps from the YLOD the power goes back to standby readings even if the red light is flashing. I reached for the power button and realized I didn't have a flashing red light anymore. It was solid green!!!! I checked the meter on the top right again and it had 12v still! So I switch my TV over to component mode and here's the PS3 interface crying that it didn't have the correct hard drive. I had it sitting off to the side after formating it in prior testing to see if the hard drive was the issue.

So now I'm like WTF did I do that caused this to just "lose" the YLOD error????? I read a post awhile back somewhere about someone just "harassing" the PS3 with on off until it finally gave in and booted up LOL. I think it's possibly more likely that something got a little charge back from the meter while testing during power up? Honestly I'm very very basic with voltage and current and all that fun garbage so maybe someone else can lend some insight as to what may have happened here. Maybe this same type of potential chargeback resets the YLOD for an issue that has been resolved or temporarily resolved? Allows it to clear? I'm a computer tech by trade so I'm thinking similar to something like a jumper or resetting CMOS? Maybe this could work with other YLOD issues that are related to some type of glitch or problem with a different piece of hardware?

After this amazing turn of events I decided well time to power back off, throw in the hard drive, and pray like hell that wasn't a fluke ha. I didn't want to turn it off haha but hey it's part of figuring out what the hell is going on here not to mention the system being extremely useless w/o a hard drive let alone no blu ray either lol

I shut this beast down, slapped in the 80GB drive that I thought I had successfully formatted myself with my computer a couple days prior, powered it back up and the PS3 proceeded to boot again normally and tell me it needed to format the drive. I said yes format the drive and when it finished I had a working PS3 minus the blu ray player that was in pieces for diagnosis of the YLOD issue that it seemed to have caused in the first place. Something else that was very odd to me. I noted that I had attempted to and thought I had been successful at formatting my drive through my computer. True yet not true? My format on my computer had no problems. Went like normal. Was very odd that before formatting the drive appeared to be empty and appeared to have NO partitions what so ever. It had a lot of data when it was originally loaded in my PS3 before the YLOD. Music, Movies, Game Demos, and all kinds of other crap from the previous owner.

Didn't care too much about this data and thought it was possible that the data / system updates / whatever else the person who had it before did with it could be causing an issue resulting in YLOD. I found this was not the case with my system before this last "fix" since the system still had YLOD with the hard drive removed as well as no change with the drive in the system pre or post format. Keeping in mind though this could all be BS if the PS3 is holding the YLOD error even after said failed component is fixed / removed / replaced and the system needs some other action to clear the YLOD.

Also, I'm not sure if it's news or not, or a known fact that the PS3 must be storing some of the settings / user account information internally and not on the hard drive. I was shocked that when this thing formatted itself earlier today and booted up that all the user accounts that this other person had created were still there as well as the one that I modified when I first had the system up and running originally shortly after purchase and before YLOD.

So now I'm going to end the novel and go back to more testing again with blu ray stuff. I did a full system restore back to factory defaults and wiped out the user data to start completely fresh on this thing. So that's where I am now. Just put the blu ray drive back together and connected it to the system with the lid off for more experiments.

Feel free to chime in on this with any thoughts or suggestions. It feels really good to start kicking Sony's ass! Promise my next post will be shorter without a quote of all this lol

 

Sounds like you're doing a great job there.

Even though you formatted the hard drive, the PS3 re-formats it so that it is unique to its current motherboard - if you format it in one machine and then put it in another it will reformat again. Which is a pain if your unit dies completely. Even if you have backed up the whole of your hard drive and try to restore the backup to a new machine, hardly anything will be restored.

User settings are stored in the internal memory. One of the options in the system settings allows you to wipe the hard drive and keep your setting, while another option basically wipes the lot resulting on no accounts and fully restored factory settings.