Hardware Fixing my PS3: Is this a good idea?

Catastrophic · Sep 16, 2014

I have a PS3 slim 120GB that was softmodded using a flasher. Months ago, the console had a drop and front first hit the ground rather harshly. The console worked fine for a few weeks but one day it suddenly started crashing randomly, usually with flickering lines on screen. At first I figured it was a software problem and that I may have installed something corrupt, but I reinstalled the firmware multiple times, used different USB drives, used different firmware versions, tried formating the HDD and even tried different HDDs. The console just kept crashing. What's weird is that the crashes are in no way consistent. Sometimes I can play a game for hours without crashing and sometimes the console crashes so much I can barely navigate. I have had the console crash during a game, on the XMB and even on the recovery menu...

After stashing the PS3 for a long time I finally feel like going an extra mile to fix it. Since the PS3 does function and the crashes are random I find it very likely that the problem is some kind of contact issue within the console. Maybe a connector got loose or a solder joint got cracked. Anyway, I was reading some articles about the oven fix method used to treat YLODs on older models and I was wondering, if a solder joint did indeed crack, whether or not it would be a good idea to place the PS3s motherboard into an oven and hope that whatever disconnections iron themselves out.

If I connect my PS3 to my TV via HDMI, the clicky sounds while navigating menus make annoying crackling sounds as well. I don't know if that has something to do with my TV but I thought I should mention it. If I press any buttons once the console has crashed I can sometimes hear the XMB despite nothing moving on screen.

Is there anything I should do first? Or next? I don't really want to tear the console apart with no knowledge whatsoever.

superspudz2000 · Oct 9, 2014

this is from just a randon page google:

Common causes of freezes include system overheat, improperly installed or bugged updates and corrupt data

im inclined to think its overheating. take apart and blow the dust away with a can of air. maybe check the heat sink is securly connected to processor.

the oven bake reflow is for YLOD. if your ps3 is turning on at all then its a different problem. besides, in the videos they use FLUX around the chips.

Foxi4 · Oct 9, 2014

My money's on cracked solder. You're not suffering from YLOD's, so the BGA's are probably fine and you're not overheating the system, but some components might've gotten loose on the board. Contrary to what superspudz2000 is saying, an oven bake reflow might actually help you as it'll pretty much reflow the whole board. You've already checked the HDD and it's not at fault, you'll have to look elsewhere for the source of your problems.

Catastrophic · Oct 9, 2014

Foxi4 said:
My money's on cracked solder. You're not suffering from YLOD's, so the BGA's are probably fine and you're not overheating the system, but some components might've gotten loose on the board. Contrary to what superspudz2000 is saying, an oven bake reflow might actually help you as it'll pretty much reflow the whole board. You've already checked the HDD and it's not at fault, you'll have to look elsewhere for the source of your problems.

My money's on cracked solder as well... Because I spent a lot of money on this unit. :nayps3:

Do you suggest using flux on all of the board or just the processors?

Foxi4 · Oct 10, 2014

Catastrophic said:
My money's on cracked solder as well... Because I spent a lot of money on this unit. Do you suggest using flux on all of the board or just the processors?

That depends on whether you're experiencing artifacting or not. The lines you're experiencing may be caused by the HDMI port becoming loose, I've heard of systems shutting down due to some shorting on the port. Just to be sure, could you try booting the machine using RCA cables instead? To switch modes without entering the settings, hold the power button down. You will hear a beep followed shortly by a second beep - release the button after the second one, you should get RCA signal then. Before "going the extra mile" with the oven method you should probably consider testing it with RCA cables. It won't stop freezing, but it will eliminate one of the potential causes for the lines.

Catastrophic · Oct 10, 2014

Foxi4 said:
That depends on whether you're experiencing artifacting or not. The lines you're experiencing may be caused by the HDMI port becoming loose, I've heard of systems shutting down due to some shorting on the port. Just to be sure, could you try booting the machine using RCA cables instead? To switch modes without entering the settings, hold the power button down. You will hear a beep followed shortly by a second beep - release the button after the second one, you should get RCA signal then.

The crashing started to occur when I was still using RCA with my old CRT, so that's unlikely the problem.

Foxi4 · Oct 10, 2014

Catastrophic said:
The crashing started to occur when I was still using RCA with my old CRT, so that's unlikely the problem.

I don't mean the crashing - I mean the weird lines on the screen you've described. They can either be an artifact or a result of a loose port - I can't tell because I can't see them.

Catastrophic · Oct 10, 2014

Foxi4 said:
I don't mean the crashing - I mean the weird lines on the screen you've described. They can either be an artifact or a result of a loose port - I can't tell because I can't see them.

The lines appear regardless of whether I'm using RCA or HDMI.

Foxi4 · Oct 10, 2014

Catastrophic said:
The lines appear regardless of whether I'm using RCA or HDMI.

Interesting. Well, in that case, it doesn't hurt to give it a good old reflow. Open the case, clean the board thoroughly (compressed air is your friend!), buy proper liquid flux, make sure to get rid of the excess and follow a guide. Either you'll improve your current situation or you'll kill the system - the only alternative is sending it in for repairs, either to Sony or to a third-party repair shop.

Catastrophic · Oct 10, 2014

Foxi4 said:
Interesting. Well, in that case, it doesn't hurt to give it a good old reflow. Open the case, clean the board thoroughly (compressed air is your friend!), buy proper liquid flux, make sure to get rid of the excess and follow a guide. Either you'll improve your current situation or you'll kill the system - the only alternative is sending it in for repairs, either to Sony or to a third-party repair shop.

I'll get into buying some flux and some thermal compound in the next few days then. Sending it for repairs would be rather pointless as they would probably remove all the hacks. I already have another PS3 running OFW.

Foxi4 · Oct 10, 2014

Catastrophic said:
I'll get into buying some flux and some thermal compound in the next few days then. Sending it for repairs would be rather pointless as they would probably remove all the hacks. I already have another PS3 running OFW.

Keep in mind that the oven method is a bit... extreme, to say the least. It's entirely possible that all your system needs is a date with a heat gun, but use whatever equipment you have access to and don't overdo it.

Best of luck!

trumpet-205 · Oct 10, 2014

Foxi4 said:
Keep in mind that the oven method is a bit... extreme, to say the least. It's entirely possible that all your system needs is a date with a heat gun, but use whatever equipment you have access to and don't overdo it. Best of luck!

Oven method is a stupid way of fixing electronic, period. When you bake a PCB you're not only just melting the soldering, you are also putting heat sensitive stuff like capacitor, VRM, etc into great deal of stress.

Not only does reflowing/oven baking not permanently fix the problem, it drastically kills whatever lifespan there is for surrounding components.

Foxi4 · Oct 10, 2014

trumpet-205 said:
Oven method is a stupid way of fixing electronic, period. When you bake a PCB you're not only just melting the soldering, you are also putting heat sensitive stuff like capacitor, VRM, etc into great deal of stress.

Not only does reflowing/oven baking not permanently fix the problem, it drastically kills whatever lifespan there is for surrounding components.

That's very true, but it can be somewhat beneficial if you don't actually know where the problem is and don't have the means or the know-how to find out.

Hardware Fixing my PS3: Is this a good idea?

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