LOG: PS3 YLOD Fix

trentlad · 1 Jul 2010 at 04:22

msmalls74 said:
Best result i ever had is when i did an oven profile for a PS3 and stuck in in the reflow oven, thats been going strong for about a year now.

trentlad said:

MSMALLS74: I'd love to have an nice little reflow oven to pop this into. Actually...could you possibly give a little more information about the PS3 oven profile that you setup.

For instance:

Specifically how long,
What temperature,
Does the oven direct heat in a particular area,
Is there a portion of time that the reflow oven applies cool air,
Did your plastic components on the motherboard become distorted,
etc...

Basically any other relevant info from your profile

Click to expand...

One year.... ONE YEAR!!!

I cannot stop thinking about this one msmalls74. It's got me seriously considering using my oven to reflow instead. The more I think about it the more it makes sense, you've got a completely equal amount of heat being applied over the entire board for a consistent duration. Instead of small bursts of heat which could cause the solder to dry, melt, dry, melt and not form correctly.

Please give me some info about your profile, ideally what I asked in the quote and anything more if you have it. It may potentially end up helping a lot of other YLOD PS3 owners.

trentlad · 1 Jul 2010 at 14:34

That's fantastic information msmalls74. Thank you in advance for taking a look at the PS3 profile on Monday. Yes, any information you have is very very much appreciated.

I like that tip to cover the parts you don't want cooked, is the "capstain tape" similar to an aluminum tape?

If I upload a picture of the motherboard would you be able to open it in MS Paint (in windows hit Win+R and type mspaint) and draw a circle around the parts you left uncovered/covered?

I've just highlighted all the plastic parts that I can spot on the board (external ports, ribbon cable clips, HDD socket, etc). I'm guessing these are all the parts that you removed! I'm blown away that you removed all of those parts msmalls74, I have no idea how you re-soldered these tiny pins. You must have crazy soldering skills.

PS3 Motherboard top side - only plastic parts highlighted

PS3 Motherboard reverse side - only plastic parts highlighted

trentlad · 1 Jul 2010 at 14:35

Just in case you'd rather use images without my highlighting, here are the original pictures unedited:

PS3 Motherboard top side

PS3 Motherboard reverse side

trentlad · 1 Jul 2010 at 15:33

Durzel said:
Sorry to labour the bad news but Windows 7 is just the same as other versions when it comes to encrypted/signed hard drives. Merely accessing it in a foreign operating system that doesn't understand it will have tainted the drive, and whilst the data, etc is likely to all still be on there the PS3 (even if you can get it working) will not accept it.

You might end up having to go to Sony after all.

It's pretty amazing isn't it, that they would use such a delicate signature to prevent the HDD from ever leaving the playstation. I wonder if the signature would also be affected if you take the HDD and put it into a different PS3, affected so it wouldn't be accepted by the original.

I'll let you know what happens when I get this up and running again. From what you've said I have a feeling I'll be gutted when I get the display:

"Please press yes to format the hard drive.

Ha ha ha all your efforts have gone to waste.

<This smug message was brought to you by the Sony Corporation.
PS: Thanks for spending $600 on this device... you goon>"

*plays Portal Still Alive music*

trentlad · 1 Jul 2010 at 18:32

Unfortunately there's no way I can take this to an Infra Red station. That would be perfect for applying specific temperature in a specific area.

I think I'll go and buy some Kapton tape... what's the ally tape you mentioned? I wonder if I could get the same results by covering the board with tin foil and applying Kapton tape over it.

When you covered your board with tape, were the BGAs the only items left exposed?

trentlad · 2 Jul 2010 at 14:41

I read that Sony will not admit to the number of customers that have received the YLOD on their PS3. Who knows if that's true. It was really nice for Microsoft to realise how many were getting the RROD and placed the 360 into recall, allowing users to send their 360 back at any time even out of the warranty period.

Let's hope that Sony will do the same one day. On Gilksy's site he put up this international YLOD victims list to help that happen:

http://ylod.llysn.net/

trentlad · 3 Jul 2010 at 04:50

builder22 said:
what exactly does reflowing do?

Electronics use something called solder, this connects the components (i.e. graphics processors, integrated circuits, capacitors, resistors, etc) to the circuit board. This solder melts at around 120oC and forms an electrical conductor between the component and circuit board.

So like I said in an earlier post, they've made health and safety changes to the solder (removed lead from it) which causes it to crack after prolonged periods of heat. So if you leave your console on for hours at a time you'll end up generating so much heat that the solder expands. When it cools down it contracts. Too many repetitions of this causes fine hairline cracks to be produced, which end up becoming large enough to stop conducting electronic signals.

The reflow simply heats up the solder so that it can melt to provide electrical conduction again.

trentlad · 3 Jul 2010 at 04:58

ITS WORKING!!

I followed Gilksy's guide to the T. His videos really are perfectly detailed to allow anyone to fix a YLOD PS3. I did however alter a few of his instructions. I applied the heat gun to his locations for about three times longer. The four ICs on both sides barely had solder on them, so I got my flux and soldering iron and applied more solder.

Strange how the exact same process is fixing all YLOD PS3s. Hmmm manufacturer defect maybe... or maybe a a very poor design at the buyers expense! I do have a little (very very litte) sympathy towards them, since they were selling the consoles at a loss of $800 per unit.

I put the case back together and plugged it in, switched it on and... nothing. So I ripped off the top half of the case and realised the power and eject board wasn't seated correctly. Once that was put right, it fired up like a beaut!

Very much to my delight the HDD functions correctly in the PS3 with all the data remaining in tact. I was able to access all the photos, music, etc. I'm guessing that option Windows 7 provides (the message box that pops up) when you connect the PS3 HDD to your PC is the part that determines whether the HDD signature is affected.

I'm sorry that the two who mentioned this concern lost their data. I think I just got lucky... nothing else. Incidentally, did you guys personally experience that HDD signature alteration or did you hear/read somewhere that the PS3 will not accept the HDD once connected to a PC?

trentlad · 3 Jul 2010 at 05:02

However, the battle is not over.

So I went to the Backup Utility and took a full back up of the entire 24GB of data onto a USB drive (it took almost an hour). Here's a quick video of where to find that option:

I then connected that USB drive to the new PS3 and attempted to restore, only to be presented with the message "We have detected that this backup is from another Playstation, you can only restore this data to the original Playstion. Would you like partial restoration on this Playstation?".

WHAT THE HELL!?!?!

So I attempted the partial transfer, which reformats the new PS3 HDD but then barley copied over a thing (it took 60 seconds... compared to the hour it took to backup so it copied over nothing). I guess my only choice now is to try hooking up two PS3's to my router and attempting a transfer.

Has anyone overcome this HDD transfer issue?

trentlad · 3 Jul 2010 at 05:49

msmalls74; even though I have this PS3 up and running, I and many other potential readers would greatly appreciate it if you still gave us the oven profile info when you get chance.

Overkill or not, the fact that your PS3 is still running strong after one year goes to show you know what you're doing. It's actually the longest I've ever read anyones last after a fix.

Please do let us know.

trentlad · 3 Jul 2010 at 18:30

If anyone else has successfully transferred ALL data from one PS3 to another PS3 then please share your process.

Looks like there might be a viable solution.

Yes. It is now quite easy. In System 3.15 (the latest update) there is a new menu item under System Settings labeled Data Transfer Utility. All you do is to connect both PS3s with an Ethernet cable, and then start the Data Transfer Utility on both of them. The utility will copy all of the data from one PS3 to another. Unlike backing up to a USB hard drive, the Data Transfer Utility will even copy non-exportable game saves, and DRM-protected content, that can't be backed up; although it will delete them from the source PS3 after the copy is complete and verified. Here is a link to the page that explains how it works.

http://www.us.playstation.com/Support/SystemUpdates/PS3/PS3_315_u
pdate.html#data_transfer

Be warned, all data on the destination PS3 will be deleted, so you need to do this right away when you get the new PS3. Don't start using the new PS3 and plan to transfer the data from your 40GB later, or you may lose some data on the new PS3.

GKP

source

trentlad · 5 Jul 2010 at 05:32

Ok, so this is the end of my PS3 log for fixing the YLOD.

All the articles that helped me get a fully functional system have been linked and all videos have been embedded. I've tried to cut and paste as many quotes as possible in case the source sites go down.

I found many different types of articles but only linked the one's that gave the most detailed information or information that rang true across the board.

Hopefully this helps other people fix their YLOD, allows them to save cash, get all their data back and recover the games swallowed by their consoles. It certainly got this PS3 system working. One thing that was hard to research was how long each fix lasted, so I'll be sure to post on this thread if it ever stops but one major issue is that it will not be used as much as before.

Feel free to post in here if you find any good tips or have sound advice from personal experience related to YLOD.

If you have any non-YLOD questions then open up a new thread and I'll try to help and I'm sure others will too. It's easier to do that then de-rail this thread from its title and OP.

PS: Fingers crossed that msmalls74 comes back with the oven profile information since his system has been running strong for over a year.

trentlad · 8 Jul 2010 at 17:30

In UK it looks like many have been able to use the Sales Of Goods Act (SOGA) to get the game stores to provide a replacement for free.

Read the article from the top but the linked post is also good in explaining how to go about the engineers report that may be required.

http://whatconsumer.co.uk/faulty-playstation-3/#comment-2660

trentlad · 8 Jul 2010 at 17:34

IMO the most sure fire bet to keep your PS3 working after a YLOD has to be reballing your BGA. There's many people that have attempted this successfully, here are a few links.

I'll be fluxing just the GPU and CPU for now, if there's next time I'll chose one, but obviously it would be better to do this 1st time if attempting to narrow down.

Here is a spanish tutorial for re-balling your grid array
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?...en&hl=&ie=UTF-8

Reball vids

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysV66a1-2pE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJng-3NpH7w

source

Hmm... looks like you need to buy a few parts to get it going though. Maybe not for me but someone who thoroughly uses their PS3 may see it as an investment... especially if you want to repair other peoples PS3s too.

trentlad · 8 Jul 2010 at 18:00

Thanks for looking, shame you don't have any details as that would really have been handy.

I gave the same recommendation for the owner of the PS3 that I just repaired.

Pretty much all YLOD fixes that don't require you to remove the BGA are temporary. So I told him that this was a temporary fix and if he continues to use this PS3 then he'll be in the same boat again but the PS3 may not come back to life and you'll have lost everything.

So they bought a PS3 Slim and just transferred the data once the old zombie PS3 was revived.

trentlad · 9 Jul 2010 at 17:03

jrwagh333 said:
I have heatgunned 2 of my friends PS3's, One about 6 months ago and the other about 3 months ago. Both are still working till this date

trentlad said:
REALLY!!! That's impressive!

jrwagh333: Did you follow a particular guide? Would you say you applied heat for 15 seconds per location or longer?

jrwagh333 said:
Took it all apart, took all the heatsinks off & then clean off the thermal paste.

Heatguned one side of the board for about 3 minutes, let it sit for 5. Heat gun the other side for 3 mins, sit for 5. Resemble and fixed

wannabedamned said:
Heatgun as said is really the best method. Its essentially the same as baking it in the oven, Only you aim at the specific points on the board(Both top and bottom) And dont risk causing new problems by heating the entire board. I've done it twice, Also used the heatgun method on the 360 too. All consoles i've done it to have carried on working to date. Although the last PS3 I did, I've fallen out with the guy. So i wouldnt know if it was dead or not now lol

trentlad · 9 Jul 2010 at 20:01

Fantastic!

Thanks a lot msmalls74.

trentlad · 18 Jul 2010 at 12:56

So I've finally got around to using the PS3... these things are fantastic. The free PSN is just amazing, I've been downloading all these demos that just aren't released on PC. I think Wipeout HD will be receiving my money very soon.

Is it normal for the PS3 to run hot? I'll literally turn it on and mess about on the XMB and about 5 minutes in the fan will kick on. It thankfully hasn't been piping hot but still pretty warm.

Just wondered if that was normal or if I didn't get a good contact between the processor and heatsink.

trentlad · 24 Jul 2010 at 00:39

PS3 just died! It's official.

Overheated and restarted itself a couple of times. Then I was on the phone to Sony and it literally shut itself down and wouldn't boot. YLOD.

I had the entire thing clean as a whistle inside and out. I put ever such a thin layer of heat compound (Arctic 5) on the processors, so that was good too. I even bent the heat sink clamps so it's tight. The console was also sitting on it's side.

I'm utterly blown away that this just died. I literally did everything as it should have been done and was maticulous about following instructions.

I think I'll try to apply the heat gun for a much longer time now. From what jrwagh333 mentioned, he had it under heat for a hell of a long time. I'll try 3 minutes per side just as he stated.

trentlad · 17 Aug 2010 at 02:27

You're welcome mate.

This is exactly why I put this log together; I realized it was taking a megaton of effort to research so why not let others benefit from it.

I managed to get a heatgun from a local store in the US so I can't be much help there.

As far as transferring your data; if you select the backup utility and backup your PS3 HDD to an external HDD, you can fully restore that specific PS3 but not any other. If you try to restore to another PS3 you will only be allowed to transfer specific items (like user account names and pictures but not demos or any game saves).

From my research there were only two options for a full data transfer to a different PS3 (both options will delete the destination HDD of all data);
(I) connect both PS3s to a router using ethernet cable
(II) connect two PS3s together using crossover cable