Is my PS3 dying? Can anyone help me?

  • Thread starter tomhart9
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tomhart9

tomhart9

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Recently my PS3 has started to freeze, with the black parts of the screen with purple dots...
I'll post some pictures soon.
It also seems to be freezing in places of low intensity stress on the machine eg watching Family Guy off Play TV.
The last time it happened i tried to turn it back on but nothing appeard on the screen, i left it for 10 mins and tried again and it worked which leads to me thinking overheating is a problem?
Has anyone had anything like this before or can suggest any help?? Thanks

Images: (FYI my phone camera sucks :lol:)
P300611_2217_01.jpg

P300611_2217.jpg

P300611_2217_02.jpg
 
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I'd have to see the pics but it sounds like your GPU is overheating or separating from the motherboard... its a common lead up to YLOD.

I would seriously recommend you open it up and replace the thermal paste on the chips with newer & better stuff like Arctic Silver 5. The stock paste Sony use seems to go dry and crack after a few years use and its not really all that well applied in the first place.

Doing this should prevent any more damage being done.

Robin.
 
Yes. Don't turn the PS3 on again until you replace the thermal paste! I personally use this thermal paste on my 60GB PS3(NA version) and it still runs good. The old thermal paste was basically acting as an insulator by covering the edges of the chips and as robin said, the stock thermal paste that comes with the PS3 is crap to last through several years.

I just took my time and followed each step to make sure I kept all of the parts in order. You can see an entire teardown tutorial here. I used that one to take my PS3 apart and yours should not be that different.
 
Robin.
I'd have to see the pics but it sounds like your GPU is overheating or separating from the motherboard... its a common lead up to YLOD.

I would seriously recommend you open it up and replace the thermal paste on the chips with newer & better stuff like Arctic Silver 5. The stock paste Sony use seems to go dry and crack after a few years use and its not really all that well applied in the first place.

Doing this should prevent any more damage being done.

Robin.
Click to expand...

FML :yuck: :lol: ok no more PS3 for me for a while, literally uploading the pics now so should be up soon, thanks for the help! Might need some guidance on "Thermal Paste" though :dunce:
EDIT: Images in 1st post
 
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Well you only need to go down to the bottom of page 4 of the guide for what you are doing. Don't forget to use a can of air when you are getting rid of dust. If it makes you feel better I can upload pics of my work on the PS3.
 
nick09
Well you only need to go down to the bottom of page 4 of the guide for what you are doing. Don't forget to use a can of air when you are getting rid of dust. If it makes you feel better I can upload pics of my work on the PS3.
Click to expand...

That would be fantastic if you could, not really experienced in taking electronics apart and physical maintenance on them. Most complicated thing I've done is add two sticks of RAM to my PC :lol:
 
Here's the pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/116768...20GBNowTeardown?authkey=Gv1sRgCN-dy8fu_r3Z7AE

Not many since I was concentrated on getting enough thermal paste on the chips(they are some pretty large chips compared to PC's nowadays). If you plan on using the paste I recommended just take your time since the paste acts like jello after it turns into a more solid form(which means you have about 5 minutes to make a application). There is plenty of paste in the tube just encase you mess up a application and want to make it a thinner layer. I used a new tube of the stuff and still had quite a bit left over to cover some CPU's with. You might be better off with putting a dot in the middle and in all four corners of the chip and then using the included spreading tool to spread the paste in a nice thin layer.
 
You need to back up your data. It is overheating vaccum clean it, may be go to some store or call customer care for support. Probably some store can fix it for cheap rather than sending it to Sony
 
The PS3 is an original 60GB. You won't find warranties for it. I also would not vacuum clean it. Static electricity can travel through the vacuum hose from the vacuum motor. It can fry the PS3. Which is the reason why you use a can of air when you are cleaning a computer or a console.
 
nick09
Static electricity can travel through the vacuum hose from the vacuum motor. It can fry the PS3.
Click to expand...
Oh really? Never knew that, very interesting.

kimi123
You need to back up your data. It is overheating vaccum clean it, may be go to some store or call customer care for support. Probably some store can fix it for cheap rather than sending it to Sony
Click to expand...

All my stuff (well the stuff I want to keep) is always backed up on my memory stick, and a load is on PS Plus thingy as I'm on it for free atm :)
 
Sony will still repair the ps3 even after the warranty is up. It cost me 160 bucks a couple years ago been great every since. Send a box to you to ship the ps3 in. Took about a week to get it back though. Basicaly your getting a refurbished ps3 for 160 bucks.
 
fatkrakr
Sony will still repair the ps3 even after the warranty is up. It cost me 160 bucks a couple years ago been great every since. Send a box to you to ship the ps3 in. Took about a week to get it back though.
Click to expand...

Do ya reckon they'll fix my PS3 if I crack it open and try replacing the thermal paste myself and that fails? :indiff: Don't really have a lot of cash to put aside to this, learning to drive is draining me of any money I have at the moment!
 
My PS3 YLOD'd and I didn't even try to fix it, it was a 60gb launch model so it was pretty old anyway, I figured that if I fixed whatever the issue was I'd have the PSU, Blu Ray drive and whatever other ancillaries to worry about later on. I guess not everyone has a PS3 replacement fund (I started one three years into the PS3's life because of all the reports of 60gb launch models starting to die off), though, so personally I'd recommend looking up gilksy's YLOD repair videos on YouTube.

I mean, even if you paid to get it fixed, you'd probably find you need to keep fixing it or something more expensive would break anyway, so it's cheaper in the long run to just get a new Slim with a 3 year warranty. Maybe. That was my logic, well, that and laziness and the fact that my 60gb died the very night GT5 was out, and I was desperate to play it. I guess if you fix it yourself you can do it for almost nothing, all you need is a heat gun (an oven may also work), thermal paste and something to remove the old paste with, I think. Oh, and screwdrivers.
 
I can confirm, yes it did die after all :(
Now all I get is a black screen.
I turn it on, the HDD access indicator flashes a few times then nothing...
I don't think it's a problem with the display (tried it with different methods of connectivity) because you don't get any response from the controller etc.
Can anyone suggest what this is? Trying to work out a repair method, and then sell it on and get a newer Slim, or just sell it as broken if no one can figure out what is wrong.
Thanks again

PS Sorry for bumping an old thread, just thought it would be better than making a new one as it has all the info on my previous problem(s) already 👍
 

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