Is my ps3 on it's last legs ?

[nevertell]

Hello forum!

I only got GT5 a few weeks ago, and it was playing fine just until the previous day, when it freezes the console (laek the video signal just freezes and audio loops until I hold the power switch). I have the corpulent 80 gigabyte version of the PS3, with the latest software updates available. The freeze is pretty consistent, it happens on every track I've tried, no matter what time of day, weather conditions or car I am in, and it usually happens from 1,5 to 2 minutes into the race, the more opponents I see in front of me, the faster it does this.

I was worried I was going to get into this kind of trouble, as I had my PS3 stand upright for a few weeks, since I didn't have any room to lay it down horizontally. So, I thought the blu-ray laser had caught some dust and it needs to be replaced, or maybe I just scratched the disc. But then I watched a BD movie ("No country for old men", an epic one), from start to finish without a glitch. YET, Uncharted 2 works flawlessly on the console, although I only tried it for 15 minutes in the start of the Nepal levels. What's even more frustrating is that I tried the same GT5 disc on another (my neighbor's) PS3, ye old 40 gig model. I have tried reinstalling all the game data except for my save. I have dusted it, vacuumed the DUST out of it, still the same. I had the HHD run a S.M.A.R.T. test on itself, when I connected it to my PC.

Now, my amateur and unprofessional guess is that the RAM chips have given up, and when loaded fully, they corrupt. Or maybe it's the PSU, since, which screws up the currents when at maximum load (god damn the 20% per year aging on those things).

Is there anything I can do to save my PS3 ? And if so, can I do it by myself and how much will it be ?

 

[nick09]

It means the the CPU and GPU are overheating. After so many years the thermal paste turns into a crusty material and thus it can't transfer that heat. Best solution would be to disassemble your PS3 and replace the thermal paste. Get a thermal paste like this, since it's the industry standard. Follow this guide and stop after you complete step 32. That's where you change the thermal paste(clean off the old thermal paste real good with paper towels) and you only need about the size of two uncooked pieces of rice. After you apply the new thermal paste, just follow the instructions backwards. And voila if you are careful about each part(I keep mine in order when I took them off) you should end up with a quieter PS3.

I have done this to my 60GB PS3 and it's been doing just like new with the quiet fan sound and a lot less heat.

 

[nevertell]

Thank's, I'll try that out. I feel kind of stupid, because it would've been obvious to me if it was a pc We need ps3-z.

 

[nick09]

You would need the guide anyway. I took my time and did the whole thing in 4 hours with the guide. Though I used this thermal paste for it. I have read that it's the best stuff for reducing heat and it seems to hold out very well(you just have to quicky spread the stuff with the plastic spreader that it comes with). I'm only suggesting it if you want to use the same thermal paste that I used and I will advise that it's harder to apply but worth it.

Yeah well it's one of the things you have to do since the CPU and GPU of a PS3 produce a lot more heat than a PS2 produced.

 

[nevertell]

I'd be glad to use that thermal paste, but it isn't available in my country. I already disassembled and assembled it, but I had very little thermal grease left, so I am guessing it's too little, since now I can drive for 4 minutes, instead of 2. Damn those liquid thermal compounds, you never know when it's empty.
Either it's lacking the damn paste, or I am going to take out the harddrive and the blu-ray drive, AND SMASH IT TO PIECES !!!

 

[Joel]

its

 

[nick09]

Then try spreading the thermal paste out with a credit card. That's the method I did with my thermal paste since mine recommended the thermal paste being spread out(I did research on the product I bought). The dot method is what I been taught from school.

EDIT: What's with noob616 post?