PS3 Tweaks, Fixes, and Repairs

I'm Dan. And I LOVE getting the most bang for my buck--especially from my PS3.

Not much else to it. I'm a gamer like yourself. I enjoy my Playstation 3. I enjoy my brother's Xbox 360. I enjoy my other brother's Wii. I love messing with them--PS3 tweaks, 360 mods, and the versatile wonders of a hacked Wii. I could also go on for a while on what my favorite genres are, what million other consoles I've played on, it doesn't really matter. All that matters is that I'm just like you--here for love of the game.

So when my Playstation 3 died--you can bet I was in despair. I'm broke, I'll be honest. I don't have the money or time to ship it out and fuss with Sony and their policies and what not. So... I did what I do best. I figured it out, learned from the best, and here I am to share it with you.

It's simple really. That's it. Whether its information about Sony's latest firmware update, special PS3 tweaks to get the most bang for you buck, all the way to Playstation 3 repair (yellow light of death aka "YLOD PS3" and red screen of death aka "RSOD PS3," looking right at you guys!).

PS3 break down? Yellow light of death? No video output? OH NOEZ, YOUR $60 GAME IS STUCK IN YOUR BLU-RAY DRIVE?! There are ways to fix it without giving Sony your hard earned $150 and losing your hard drive's contents. Keep on reading, and I'll show you how to tweak, modify, fix, and prevent this gamer's crisis from ever happening to you, or keeping you out of action for long. Pinky promise!

I run with a backwards compatible 60GB launch model, on Kmeaw's custom firmware 3.55. Which I have brought back from the yellow light of death land and has remained successful and healthy for approximately half a year. That's a win in my book.

So, if you like it, great! Let's get in touch, and let me know what you think. If not? Well, GTFO!

I know it's happened to most of you. The dreaded yellow light of death. You're just prancing along in your favorite Black Ops map, about to blow open some n00b's head with your Galil when your screen freezes up. You get frustrated for having to restart, but as you get up to turn your console off... the three beeps of death. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. Shutdown.

Silence. Confusion. Concern.

Utter fear sets in, as you press your button to turn your console back on. She's starting up, your blu-ray drive spools up, hard drive spools up... then suddenly...

BEEP BEEP BEEP. *click* YELLOW LIGHT OF DEATH.

It's the sound of your $300-600 console evolving into a very expensive paperweight... a paperweight that ate and will not let go of your $60 PS3 game. There goes your Black Ops...

So what can do you in this situation? If you're under warranty, call up good ol' Sony and get your unit replaced under warranty. Oh wait... there goes your hard drive's contents. And to be perfectly honest, I wouldn't trust Sony to actually get my game back to me. Then there's the cost of shipping, and the time between actually getting your new *coughrefurbishedcough* unit back.

And if you're out of warranty? Tack a good $150+ onto the above to get that bad boy replaced. Thank you Sony, for manufacturing and marketing the PS3--a product that is known to have a design defect causing hardware failure.

So you're probably thinking "But Dan... this is a 'tips' entry... so where's the tip?! I already know all of this you two-timin' lying son of a..."

Well, I won't leave you disappointed. If you haven't heard yet...

YLOD can be fixed at home for a fraction of the time, anxiety, and money that Sony will rob from you.

I repeat...

YLOD can be fixed at home for a fraction of the time, anxiety, and money that Sony will ROB from you!

Let's get down into the belly of the beast, shall we?

Believe it or not, you will only need THREE tools (and some materials) to get this PS3 down to the core. As I mentioned above, I typically work on fat PS3s, and this walkthrough will cover launch models first. The newer models--especially the slims--are a different procedure. When I get my hands on a slim to work on, I'll be sure to let you know. ;)

Anyway, you'll need...

- Medium screwdriver
- Small, fine tip screwdriver
- Torx Screwdriver
- Arctic Silver Thermal Compound
- Multiple cups for different screws (Optional)

Just to reiterate it--this procedure WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY! Sony typically refuses to work on any tampered devices, so if you are not comfortable taking your unit apart, stop now and contact Sony or a local shop. If you have enough gall stones to continue with me, then let's begin the operation!

So one of the things I've personally found that keeps my PS3 (and those I've fixed) from having the yellow light rear it's ugly head at me is actually quite a simple one of console hygiene...

KEEP IT CLEAN!

As ridiculous as it sounds, it's true. YLOD is caused primarily by the console's heat being trapped within, heating the primary circuit board to temperatures hot enough to have the solder run and processors come slightly out of alignment. The yellow light of death is the PS3 going into protective mode to keep it from further damage.

So what do you have in place to keep it from happening? You have a variable speed fan, two heat sinks on the processors themselves, and two major ventilation paths to vent as much heat out as possible.

At the same time, you also have the fan blowing in a direction that pushes the heat into the curvature of the top. Where it becomes trapped. Which raises temperatures within the unit.

To make matters worse, if your ventilation system and fan are clogged with dust and dirt... what do you really have? You may as well have used that ill-conceived towel method of fixing the Xbox 360's red ring of death, because your console is operating at temperatures much too high for it.

So, unfortunately, if you're under warranty, just stick it out. But if you're not, or you don't mind voiding your warranty... then let's open her up and keep her clean!

- Can of compressed air
- Soft cloth
- Isopropyl alcohol
- All tools required to open PS3 (see YLOD repair guide below for details)
- This guide (for dis- and reassembly)

1) Take the console itself apart as seen above.

2) Use the can of compressed air to eliminate any loose pieces of dust from all circuit boards and all ventilation paths (the mesh grid of holes on the back and side of your console are VERY important choke points for the flow of heat)

3) Apply alcohol to the cloth and wipe down all of the shell of the console, as well as any dust or dirt that the compressed air did not remove. Isopropyl alcohol is safe to use on the circuit boards themselves, but you have to be extremely careful not to catch the rag on anything and potentially destroy your console for good.

3a) I personally prefer to use paper towels due to the fact that they will rip before they break something on the board. Use compressed air and careful attention to detail to remove any bits left behind, but if you're a little too lazy to put in that much work, then use a cloth intstead.

4) Reassemble everything in reverse order (be careful with the ribbons, as they can break very, VERY easily), then use the cloth to clean the outer shell.

You now have a clean PS3 that functions as efficiently as when you first opened it and fired her up! Congrats!

Another tip I can give you on avoiding YLOD is to stand your console vertically, with the ventilation on the top and the back of the console!

As I mentioned above, the dome shape of the top of the PS3 tends to trap heat. So by using heat's principle to rise, as well as the fan having ventilation there, you can easily reduce heat by allowing it to escape naturally from the unit! This is my little trick to keeping them lasting so long, and I tell all of my customers to do the same with their phat ps3s. Just be careful not to knock it over!

Posting the bad boy near a window (but out of direct sunlight!) is also a huge factor in keeping your baby alive.