Official Hardware Maintenance Thread - BLOD, YLOD, DRE, and other known issues

[xboyhot]

Official Hardware Maintenance Thread - YLOD, RSOD, DRE, and other known issues

Intro

This thread is dedicated to PS3 owners who have fallen victim to the Yellow Light of Death (YLOD). Post all related issues and queries here.

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Background

The YLOD is a major hardware failure for the PlayStation 3. It is indicated by a yellow light on the front panel LED, rendering the console incapable of booting up. A hard reset does not solve the issue, as it inevitably results in a series of blinking red lights on the front panel LED, before returning to the to the YLOD state of inactivity.

The hardware failure is caused by either/or of two things:

1. Hardware malfunction on the motherboard due to heating/cooling (solder physically cracking/breaking) which can be fixed by "reflowing", which is a fancy way of using a machine that has a super controlled (+ or - .5 degrees) hot air nozzle to re-melt the solder on the base of the defective chip to re-attach it.
2. The power supply has the failure in one of its capacitors or diodes. This can also be fixed by "reflowing" but it is harder to diagnose due to the need to chase down which one it is.

You know you have received the YLOD when the following occurs:

• You power on the console.
• The console starts up normally for about 2-3 seconds,
• The console beeps 3 times while flashing a faint yellow light,
• The console continues to flash a red light.

This can also be seen here:

According to the PlayStation 3 owner's manual, the flashing red light indicates an overheat. But the manual also states that the PS3 can be restarted (once cooled down) without any further problems (this is, of course, a false statement). Here is an image of the manual stating this interesting fact (Page 13 of 60GB model CECHA01):

1-How to Fix it

This method is oddly familiar to the Xbox 360 RRoD repair and requires you to open your PS3 and need a heat gun. You can view the PDF tutorial via the download link below:

http://forums.maxconsole.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=23515&d=1236711444

The individual who wrote that tutorial is known as Gilksy. He also made a couple of videos to go with it:

2-How to Fix it


Since we see quite often people here in forums asking for help regarding YLOD, I wanted share my alternative method for repairing YLOD since I consider it to be easier and it doesn't require complete dissassembly. This method has also worked for GLOD(green light of death - all lights seem normal but no video/audio output and controllers won't sync). I have sent email to gilksy some time ago to get my method to his guide, but since he hasn't replied I decided to post my method here. I actually discovered this first time some time before gilksy published his guide but since hadn't much experience using this I didn't post this.
Since problem is very similar to xbox's RROD the fix fundamental is similar: add pressure to GPU and CPU. I tried various things(shim etc.) before I figured out what would be the best solution for adding pressure.
I come across following solution:
You need just 4 big washers(diameter 40mm, hole 8mm and 1mm thick. You can find these every hardware store for less than 1euro.) to do this.

So you have to remove upper cover, blu-ray drive and PSU. It's fairly easy and you can find tutorials for it from this site or youtube and I don't cover it here.

What you have to do is to put washers on the screws which holds the cooler blocks in place.(arrows in the photo)

Just screw screws as tight you can get them with reasonable force. I recommend using turn by turn technic so that both screws gets about same amount pressure whole time. You can't screw them too tight because of type of the screws.
You have to cut out small piece of one washer(which goes to screw on lower right in photo) due metal clip used for attaching PSU and memory card reader. Dremel or something similar is good for cutting.

Because of washers thickness it adds some pressure and because washers size it produces pressure from larger area.
Adding these washers have been enough for all PS3s I have come across. I'm sorry because I don't have any photos of washers assembled since I don't have any unit under repair right now and I have lost my old photos regarding my repair method...



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[vyrus]

Has this been proved before ? Coz i heard 60Gb ones are prone to it ...

 

[Faisal]

Can any one in pk fix it................................

 

[Shyber]

Extremely rare problem, but the newer PS3's are void of even this. AFAIK, it is caused when the fan stops working. It doesn't burn the PS3 as it automatically switches itself off - auto diagnostic manner. Replacing the fan makes it run perfectly again.

 

[AI Protech]

Bullshit...... there are no techinical problems in ps3 you can check on wikipedia and it is a rare problem.....

 

[noobmaster]

this is not fake it's just too rare my friend has a 60GB Ps3 i believe he got the same problem but it was because the fan stopped working and it overheated slightly that kind of stuff happens once in a while.

 

[NaNoW]

it exists...but is very rare...and it is due to over heating when fan stops and ps3 faces extreme condition

 

[noman3000]

40 GB is safe from YLOD?

 

[noobmaster]

40 GB is safe from YLOD?

No it's not 40GB generates just as much heat as the others but the chances of it happening are low just keep an eye on the fan and the heat it produces,put your hand on top of it every half hour if it feels too hot check your fan and just turn it off for 15 minutes.

 

[Shyber]

False alarms guys. PS3 has built-in failsafe for overheating. First of all, it never heats up to alarming levels no matter how intense the use. The only reason it'll heat up is because the fan might get defective, or cease to work. In that case, the PS3 switches off itself and shows the yellow light for caution.

Still, I can't stress enough. THIS IS A VERY RARE phenomenon, practically non-existent in the newer 45nm 40GB afterwards models.

 

[Shyber]

Ok, I'm opening this thread up again but any off topic posts won't be tolerated.

 

[xboyhot]

Thank you shyber,
Great tutorial, and to yes Arctic Silver is the best thermal compound available. It does wonders for OCing, from 103 degrees to 60 degrees just by using Arctic Silver.

 

[Faisal]

Is yellow ring of death can be cured once it is apeared!

 

[Shyber]

Is yellow ring of death can be cured once it is apeared!

Yeah. This thread is just about that.

 

[ModMonsta]

False alarms guys. PS3 has built-in failsafe for overheating. First of all, it never heats up to alarming levels no matter how intense the use. The only reason it'll heat up is because the fan might get defective, or cease to work. In that case, the PS3 switches off itself and shows the yellow light for caution.

Still, I can't stress enough. THIS IS A VERY RARE phenomenon, practically non-existent in the newer 45nm 40GB afterwards models.

That is kinda wrong my friend cuz the 40gb onward models are all 65 nm yet and the gpu in the 40gb was still 90nm. 45 nm ps3s are expected at the end of this year. The best bet with a <1% chance for ylod is the current 65 nm (2 usb port) 80 gb nd the 160 gb as they have a 65 nm gpu also. Cheers

 

[Shyber]

That is kinda wrong my friend cuz the 40gb onward models are all 65 nm yet and the gpu in the 40gb was still 90nm. 45 nm ps3s are expected at the end of this year. The best bet with a <1% chance for ylod is the current 65 nm (2 usb port) 80 gb nd the 160 gb as they have a 65 nm gpu also. Cheers

Right, I mixed 45nm with 65nm and 65nm with 90nm.
In any case, my point was that the 40GB and onwards had improved chips.

 

[noman3000]

Plz somebody tell me how would I know that is my 40 GB PS3 is 45nm or 65nm or etc?
BTW 45nm is safer or 65nm?

 

[Shyber]

Plz somebody tell me how would I know that is my 40 GB PS3 is 45nm or 65nm or etc?
BTW 45nm is safer or 65nm?

40GB is 65nm. There's no 45nm model yet. And if it's a PS3, it is safe.

 

[noman3000]

40GB is 65nm. There's no 45nm model yet. And if it's a PS3, it is safe.

Thanks
But I couldn't find 45nm is written on PS3 and it's box. BTW, what does nm stand for? And what do u mean by "if it's a PS3, it is safe", any doubt? lol

 

[ModMonsta]

Actually the 65 nm is safer than the 90 nm as the 65 nm generates less heat.........At the same tim yopu must look at the fact that the old 80 gb (90nm) is not prone to such an error easily.The reason is not the fact that 65 nm generates less heat.....It is the fact that the 60 gb and 20 gb have issues with the fan............ The ps3 is a steady machine built like a tank and not a cheap plastic toy like 360... the heat levels can also be reduced by applying new thermal paste (gud quality please) on the cpu and gpu.......... It is not a over heating problem like on the 360 when the cpu and gpu (which are literally stuck with glue) come off or become loose........It is merely a problem of the fan which stops working......
For your help here is a link to model differences between the ps3.You can easily check yours then..
As for the ps3's cooling options, here is a detailed paragraph taken from edepot.com:
The PS3 uses Furukawa Electric heat sinks to cool the Cell and RSX chips. As the PS3 went through various hardware revisions, the cooling technology was also updated. In summary, CECHA to CECHD used five heatpipes to cool the chips. CECHE to CECHG used 2 heat-pipes. From CECHH and later models, no heat-pipes were used, although Cell and RSX aluminum heat-sink cooling was introduced. Variations (merged block and separate blocks) of this aluminum heat-sink started with CECHL. The primary objective of these changes were to lower the weight, parts count, and cost of the PS3.
I hope I helped mate..........
btw : replacing termal paste on the ps3 opens up ur ps3, destroying resale value. (PLEASE be sure before you do this)
also: 45 nm versions are expected this year: ( so wait if you want the most reliable ps3 ever) these will have a 45 nm cpu and (possibly later) 55 nm gpu.
thank you