PS3 Repair

Hi guys,

This may seem like an odd thing to discuss/ask on Acapellas4U but I have a few questions about the repair of a PS3. I know a PS3 specific website/forum would be a better place but I don’t know which are the "best" (there are hundreds!) and I don’t want to have to register for lots of sites/forums just to eventually vanish (once the questions have been answered or the problems fixed!). If any of you know of any technically-orientated PS3 sites/forums (as opposed to gaming-orientated sites) or even any other sites/forums that could be related/helpful, which would help me the most then please don’t hesitate to tell me. For now I’ll see what replies I get here:

My friend gave me his old PS3 (the 60gb version with backward compatability etc) but its been through the "wars" a little!

Apparently its very recently suffered from the YLOD (Yellow Light Of Death). After some research on the internet it seems that this can be down to two things; a) the powerpack dying or b) the main chips have moved (and need reflowing). I don’t think its the powerpack that has died as reports suggest that if it has it should smell a little burnt. I can’t smell anything from the PS3s powerpack, so hopefully the powerpack is fine. So that leaves the second option of the chips moving (under my friends ownership the PS3 apparently didn’t have adequate ventilation, thus more than likely the chips have moved due to the extreme heat). I’ve read the YLOD fix PDF and watched the tutorial on YouTube and it seems pretty straight foward to fix, or at least attempt to fix!

So the first thing I will attempt to sort out is the YLOD problem (reflow) as this is the cheapest (a few quid for some isopropynol and heatsink compound). Then, and only then, I’ll move onto the next, and slightly more expensive, problem…

As the PS3 had "died" with a disc still inside it (which apparently wouldn’t eject) my friend decided to literally hack (that being an understatement) the PS3 apart to get the disc out (why Sony not give the drive an emergency eject mechanism is a mystery!). After snapping the top cover off, to get at the screws to take the top half of the case off, he unscrewed the Blu-Ray drive and proceeded to cut away the drives case/shield… with a pair of scissors!! Next he snapped off the white arms that move the white, magnetic disc "holder" (sorry, don’t know its technical name!) and stretched the spring that helps to move the arms. He also ripped the two tiny red and black wires, that I imagine go to what is the disc insertion sensor, from the drives controller board connector (I have no idea why he didn’t just unplug it, I guess with the level of destruction already placed upon the drive it was the least of his concerns!). Further still he appears to have damaged one of the two white p-r-o-n-g-s* located at the entrance slot of the drive (presumably there to prevent spinning discs being flung out of the slot should the disc retaining mechanism fail?!).

Now, I understand that, from further research, the Blu-Ray drive is "married" to the motherboard so a straight swap it out of the question. Fortunately, after closer inspection, there doesn’t appear to be any damage to the controller board so I’m thinking of buying a drive off eBay (along with, just to be on the safe side, a new laser assembly, as these are p-r-o-n-e* to giving up the ghost too!) and then replacing the eBay drives controller board with that of the brutalised drive.

I know it would be easier to go out and buy a new PS3 but that wouldn’t give me the same warm, satisfaction as having successfully repaired the PS3 (and, obviously, at the fraction of the price of a new PS3!) and then being able to gloat about it!! If the fix doesn’t work then I haven’t really lost a lot and I’ll also be able to sell the remaining bits of it too (case, powerpack, heatsink/fan etc etc)

Any thoughts about the repair or recommendations of the "best" websites/forums to visit for extra advice are all gratefully received!

Thanks

Shades

*Acapellas4U’s swear filter interprets p-r-o-n-g-s and p-r-o-n-e as porn!