Hardware PS3 YLOD, what causes it?

[britain4]

OK I am fully aware that title is covering the absolute basics of what we have all known for years but I have a more specific question I can't seem to find the answer to.

Is the YLOD just an inevitability in normal operation with the phat PS3 due to the poor solder used or is it only a result of overheating due to poor cooling/thermal paste?

I have a beautiful condition 60GB CECHC03 (UK launch model) with the lovely chrome and obviously PS2 compatibility, that's never suffered a YLOD. I've already delidded both the CPU and GPU and added high quality thermal paste as well as a fan speed mod (50% faster than what the system sets it to).

It's pretty loud but I think that's just inevitable with the early ones? All the air flowing out of it is really hot which tells me the thermal paste is working effectively.

I'd like to start using it as my main PS3 but if it's still a ticking time bomb I'll mothball it and stick with my Slim.

Guess there's always reballing but I'd rather it just didn't go wrong in the first place.

 

[retrofan_k]

All phats will YLOD at some point, even it has worked fine for a long time. It's poor cooling management/power consumption and solder used, etc. Slims are prone to fail too, yet not as high as phats. Reballing will help, yet it's not 100% proof, as once it's YLOD its best to get rid.

Best one to have imo is the super slim out of the lot. It's the same with the 360's. Jasper model out of the phats are the best, yet the rest will fail at some point or use a Trinity/Corona Slim.

 

[britain4]

All phats will YLOD at some point, even it has worked fine for a long time. It's poor cooling management/power consumption and solder used, etc. Slims are prone to fail too, yet not as high as phats. Reballing will help, yet it's not 100% proof, as once it's YLOD its best to get rid.

Best one to have imo is the super slim out of the lot. It's the same with the 360's. Jasper model out of the phats are the best, yet the rest will fail at some point or use a Trinity/Corona Slim.

That's what I feared. The cooling is running at least as good as new now so hopefully should extend its lifespan even if it doesn't prevent it entirely. If the guy who had it before is to be believed it had been sat dormant much of its life due to stopping reading discs, which I fixed at the same time as the other work.

My Slim is the earlier one (200x) again never had a YLOD. If/when that ever fails I'll start looking out for a super slim. Shame because I really don't like the look/feel of the Slims but what can you do, guess I'd rather that break than my 60GB.

 

[retrofan_k]

I had 2 60GB phats from new over the years, which both failed over time even after being reballed. I eventually gave up and went with the slim versions since, as it's too much money and time putting effort into things, which were flawed by Sony since day 1.

It's a shame because the 60gb model was the best version, 4 port USB and SD cards with proper PS2 emotion engine support.

The super slims do look and feel cheap but they work well.

 

[blaisedinsd]

For YLOD you actually get a yellow light right?

My phat PS3 just stopped working, it was shutting down by itself down to no light on at all. Initially I could reset the power switch and it would come back red and turn on but now it only turns red and flashes a bit before dying.

Do I just need to replace my power supply to fix this issue or do I have YLOD basically permanent failure? I was thinking of taking it for 3rd party repair service.

 

[britain4]

I had 2 60GB phats from new over the years, which both failed over time even after being reballed. I eventually gave up and went with the slim versions since, as it's too much money and time putting effort into things, which were flawed by Sony since day 1.

It's a shame because the 60gb model was the best version, 4 port USB and SD cards with proper PS2 emotion engine support.

The super slims do look and feel cheap but they work well.

What a shame. I know I heard something about the reballing process isn't permanent so I wonder how a stock console with cooling mods would fare - can't seem to find any info specifically on consoles that have never had a YLOD in the past (and the stock paste was still working fine so it never overheated either) and then have had a full delid and fan mod.

For YLOD you actually get a yellow light right?

My phat PS3 just stopped working, it was shutting down by itself down to no light on at all. Initially I could reset the power switch and it would come back red and turn on but now it only turns red and flashes a bit before dying.

Do I just need to replace my power supply to fix this issue or do I have YLOD basically permanent failure? I was thinking of taking it for 3rd party repair service.

I was reading the other day something about if the fans don't come on when you try to turn it on, then it's more likely to be a power supply failure. Doesn't sound like the usual YLOD symptoms to me but I'm no expert.

 

[retrofan_k]

For YLOD you actually get a yellow light right?

My phat PS3 just stopped working, it was shutting down by itself down to no light on at all. Initially I could reset the power switch and it would come back red and turn on but now it only turns red and flashes a bit before dying.

Do I just need to replace my power supply to fix this issue or do I have YLOD basically permanent failure? I was thinking of taking it for 3rd party repair service.

Does not sound like YLOD at the moment, yet if the GPU is at fault that can give symptoms similar to this. One of mine in the past would play fine, yet started to shut itself off at random intervals and eventually started YLOD.

Plus this could be a PSU problem too, so try another PSU and see how it behaves before going down other routes.

 

[Byokugen]

Just put yourown fan speeds,.mine are 35% on start, 70°C max.
Alot of things can cause ylod, heat, poor solder(lead free) ribbon cable.on the Bd drive, sun, moon, feminazy party....

 

[britain4]

It sucks, I hugely prefer it to my Slim and I do still play PS2 games but I'm nervous to use it. There must be hardly any of them left now as they've been dropping like flies since they came out and been replaced with the crappy slim ones

 

[blaisedinsd]

Well I took mine in for repair and after he fixed the power supply turns out there was a motherboard issue too. He tried to fix that somehow and said it didnt work but that there was a re- ball service through ebay I could ship it to if I wanted.

I guess I should just replace this PS3 since I hear even re - ball is only a temporary fix right?

I have lots of PS3 games I haven't got around to playing that I can't play on my PS4. My PS2 is still going strong so I guess backwards compatibility isn't that big of deal.

Can not I just swap my hard drive in to a new PS3 and log in and having everything transferred? Do I lose all my save game and stuff since I can't boot my old PS3?

 

[britain4]

Well I took mine in for repair and after he fixed the power supply turns out there was a motherboard issue too. He tried to fix that somehow and said it didnt work but that there was a re- ball service through ebay I could ship it to if I wanted.

I guess I should just replace this PS3 since I hear even re - ball is only a temporary fix right?

I have lots of PS3 games I haven't got around to playing that I can't play on my PS4. My PS2 is still going strong so I guess backwards compatibility isn't that big of deal.

Can not I just swap my hard drive in to a new PS3 and log in and having everything transferred? Do I lose all my save game and stuff since I can't boot my old PS3?

There was an issue with both? That's some bad luck right there. Did he try reflowing it or something else?

Reball is the best fix out there and in theory it is permanent but some people seem to report it failing again. Maybe the theory about the lead free solder isn't quite true, who knows. Maybe the reports of failure are a minority of the total number of them done...

If you mean your downloaded games then you will be able to log into PSN and download them again but as far as your saves go you're out of luck unless you had them backed up either on PS+ or some other way.

 

[blaisedinsd]

He said he tried reflowing it twice after he changed the power supply. I haven't tried but I am guessing at least some kind of light came on after he swapped the power supply but it still wouldn't boot up.

This is basically a launch model unit I think so it lasted a good 10+ years which I guess is pretty good. Any reball services endorsed or recommended by GBAtemp community? The original guy wasn't there when I picked it up so they said call back if I wanted info on the reball service he mentioned to me.

 

[Byokugen]

If you were near me, Serbia, I could reball it. It's a double edged sword. It may work.for.years to come, it may die after a short time
I reballed mime, works fine, changed fan, thermal paste. But I know die sooner or later. Had a customer, reballed his 1st gen ps3, still works awesome.
TL;DR send it and reball it

 

[spotanjo3]

OK I am fully aware that title is covering the absolute basics of what we have all known for years but I have a more specific question I can't seem to find the answer to.

Is the YLOD just an inevitability in normal operation with the phat PS3 due to the poor solder used or is it only a result of overheating due to poor cooling/thermal paste?

I have a beautiful condition 60GB CECHC03 (UK launch model) with the lovely chrome and obviously PS2 compatibility, that's never suffered a YLOD. I've already delidded both the CPU and GPU and added high quality thermal paste as well as a fan speed mod (50% faster than what the system sets it to).

It's pretty loud but I think that's just inevitable with the early ones? All the air flowing out of it is really hot which tells me the thermal paste is working effectively.

I'd like to start using it as my main PS3 but if it's still a ticking time bomb I'll mothball it and stick with my Slim.

Guess there's always reballing but I'd rather it just didn't go wrong in the first place.

All Phat are very common for this. Even for XBOX 360. Anyway, slim is the rarest one. I have Slim and never, yes, never have YLOD at all.

 

[britain4]

All Phat are very common for this. Even for XBOX 360. Anyway, slim is the rarest one. I have Slim and never, yes, never have YLOD at all.

Yeah, it's a shame because they're the best models, especially the BC ones. My favourite style of PS3. Phat 360 is my favourite too but got a Jasper one so should be good for a while.

He said he tried reflowing it twice after he changed the power supply. I haven't tried but I am guessing at least some kind of light came on after he swapped the power supply but it still wouldn't boot up.

This is basically a launch model unit I think so it lasted a good 10+ years which I guess is pretty good. Any reball services endorsed or recommended by GBAtemp community? The original guy wasn't there when I picked it up so they said call back if I wanted info on the reball service he mentioned to me.

I guess that's not bad when you think about how powerful they were at the time. I do definitely think it's worth getting it reballed, it's one hell of a console when it works!

 

[spotanjo3]

Yeah, it's a shame because they're the best models, especially the BC ones. My favourite style of PS3. Phat 360 is my favourite too but got a Jasper one so should be good for a while.

Yeah, they are the best models before SLIM PS3 but I knew about YLOD so thanks to STUPID YLOD forced me to get a SLIM instead.

 

[vb_encryption_vb]

As long as the CPU / GPU is reballed by a reputable person and it's a legit reball, than reball will fix the console and give it a pretty damn close to permanent life span. Those saying it's temporary are thinking "reflow" possibly. Also, if it's a phat, might as well get the southbridge reballed as well. Now all bases are covered.

Slims might get GLOD which is equivalent to YLOD. Again, a reball will fix this. Possible GPU replacement is needed, depends on how hot the system actually got and if anything was damaged.

I've disassembled, downgraded, repaired well over 2000 PS3 consoles, so my info is pretty accurate. YLOD on Phats could be as simple as thermal paste replacement under the IHS. I've fixed my launch model YLOD via this route. Also, would like to note that the power supply being the culprit is nearly impossible.

 

[blaisedinsd]

Well the guy said he left new Power Supply in there for free or basically for the $10 diagnostic charge. I never saw a Yellow light on the thing, I wonder if that is what I will see now when I try and power it on.

 

[britain4]

Just picked up a 60GB with warranty seal off eBay for cheap with a faulty disc drive (took a few tries to eject the disk), and the fans were ramping up pretty quickly once a game was started. Realigned the disc drive, removed both IHSs and did the thermal paste and there's a huuuge improvement now so there's my spare BC one sorted

Got a CECHM I'm going to try reflowing over the next few days once my flux arrives so that'll be another spare PS3 I guess lol

New power supply should be worth the $10 in parts in case you need to transfer it to another PS3, make sure you keep the 19 blade fan too

 

[blaisedinsd]

More bad luck. I sent it to reballing service from eBay. Paid extra for a fan mod to help with overheating and make it quieter. Guy sends me a message and says my powersupply is also bad. WTF! The first guy I took it to said he swapped a new powersupply in to it. Whatever I pay for the powersupply too, this repair officially got more expensive than a new PS3. It looks like the guy sent it back to me overnight which I did not realize, I should have had it back on Thursday. It looks like it got stolen from my doorstep and I don't think there is going to be anyway to get my money back since Fed Ex confirmed delivery. Fucking shitty luck....don't know if I want to sink anymore money in to PS3 even though I have games I never finshed playing.