Thank you MJ - I bought a heat gun for $10 and followed your vid. Cleaned up the surfaces and applied heat on high for 30 seconds to each area (three chips) from about 1-1.5 inches away. I guessed here. Maybe I got lucky but my PS3 works now and I am thrilled. It's always great to do it yourself!
This was super helpful. Turns out the yellow light was just because I hadn't cracked it open since 2008. Had so much dust and dirt it was blocking the connections. Couldn't lose it because of family photos and it's also a first gen 60gb. Thanks again!
You're not performing these steps wrong. Rather, these steps are totally flawed. The solder balls are f#&ked. You need to remove them and put new solder balls on. The chip must be removed. The board must be cleaned of solder, the chip cleaned of solder. Non-leaded solder balls should be attached to the chip, good amtech flux spread on the board. Then the chip should be resoldered.
Nah I can fuck with electronics all day long but soldering I’ll give a wide birth I try and practice on lil circuit boards I have lying around but cant do tiny jobs - The whole point of this video should have been putting the paste on. because anybody can dismantle a console
This worked perfectly! I did 2 things slightly differently: 1. I warmed up the board by placing the PS3 motherboard in the oven and heating to 170 degrees F. 2. I used a hair dryer instead of a heat gun and heated the 4 focus areas for about 10 minutes total. My IR thermometer read the board's surface temp at about 200 degrees F when I turned off the hair dryer. I purchased a syringe of Arctic Silver thermal paste and a 1mm thick Arctic thermal pad from Amazon for the replacement. (About $20 total in parts). I put two layers of the thermal pad on the two main processor units for good measure. After reassembly, I powered on the PS3 and it came to life, no problem. Thanks for the great instructional video!
I did not go to this extent, i just manually blew into the back through the vents for 5 minutes, restarted it and it worked. disclaimer: Im not responsible for any damage caused by your bad breath
It's a great service to provide these videos. The one thing that could be improved is to not cut out the meat of the fix. The teardown coverage is great but the actual repair coverage almost none existent. The part where the heat gun is applied could have better detail.
WARNING The yellow light of death, not mentioned here, actually has TWO different causes. Although the most common is the thermal paste and pads, IT CAN ALSO BE THE POWER SUPPLY. People, the headache I went through trying to fix this damn thing only to find that it was the power supply in the end is enough to make me cry. TL;DR MAKE SURE THE PROBLEM ISN'T THE POWER SUPPLY FIRST!
This information extended the life of my PS3! Thanks so much for putting this important information online for people like me who want to extend the life of something, instead of just settling for buying something new!
I just completed this project after purchasing "ifixit" repair kit. The best 39 bucks I have spent in a long time. With this video along with the step by step guide it was truly nothing more then time consuming. Do not start this if you are in a hurry, this one requires a little love and since there are so many small parts you need to patient and in a comfortable work space. I would recommend this to anyone having this issue. It was clear to me(and I'm far from an electronics wiz) that the original heat paste was all but gone. Now she has a nice fresh coating and runs like new. I want to thank the crew for putting this together and "ifixit" just earned a new customer. Now enough of this I have some binge Netflix'ing to do!
Excellent step-by-step instructions. She is easy to understand and the visuals explained what was needed. The only recommendation I have is after doing this, I had some trouble with figuring out all the variously sized screws. Remember to document where these things came from and this video is the best I could find to help solve this issue. Subscribed.
Btw, the problem isn't the solder. The problem is that the layers of the die of the chip are coming apart from eachother and heating it will just temporarily reconnect the layers. The only real way to fix it is to replace the entire chip
Following this thorough explanation of how to disassemble my PS3 I successfully totally disassembled my unit. However, I word of advice is in order, many steps or omitted in the form of latent cable attachments and such that she did not mention. Be careful for instance when removing the power supply. Wires are tapped to the sides of the unit, and the main connection were not shown. I ended up removing parts that I really did not need to. All in all, it's a great demonstration. I'll post again when I have the things back together.
Given the amount of steps here, it's kind of inconvenient that you don't show users how to put the thing back together. Yeah, they could technically watch the video "backwards," but not only is that a pain, it's _difficult to keep track_ of every step, and folks obviously don't want to miss any steps in this process. Thank you anyway for the informative video!
Most facinating thing for me watching this right now is just how far the tech has advanced between a PS3 and a PS4, just the component size differences is amazing.
The reality is: sometimes the chip is bad, so they need to replace the whole thing and reball to get the whole thing working again, and sometimes is the NEC Tokin capacitors, or the thermal paste underneath the plate that goes on the CPU, and that's a hell lot of work to remove that. Not always so simple, but still a good tutorial, since I don't think anybody will found new RSX or CPUs for those things nowadays.
this is why i am a PC gamer. i just watched this so i can fix a friends console. c'mon people. watch the video in reverse if you want to put it back together. She mentions a way to keep the screws organized at the beginning. if this video was any better the end of it would include her showing up at your houses and doing it for you.
Very thorough and I like the explanations. Other vids don't talk about it much it just shows you. This is the best explanatory videos I've watched. Thank you.
Thanks!! So much it worked bought a backwards compatible ps3 at the thrift store for $20 had the yellow death. Follow the instructions and now it’s working
You should tin foil top surface to draw heat away from parts you don't want heated. Cover with tin foil, cut holes over areas to be heated. DMM with thermal couple. 3 min at 180 C. 30 sec at 215-225 C. Google "reflow solder" image.
I just ordered this kit. $50 including shipping. Hopefully I can repair my Japanese PS3. Give it new life. Thank God for UA-cam! This site had previously helped me fix both my PS1 and PS2 that had disc read problems and now I'm fixing my PS3.
yvanddivans Not certain about the points made but ,if anyone else wants to discover how to repair playstation try Alkarno Playstation Fixer Alchemist (do a google search ) ? Ive heard some extraordinary things about it and my mate got cool success with it.
Search around youtube. On my slim PS3 i cut a hole directly over where the fan was, took the old fan out, and wired in a 120mm CPU fan. I also cut holes above the powersupply at the back right corner so air flows very nicely now i can play gta5 for hours, shut it down and pop the cover off and everything is still room temp; no heat build up at all. On my parents fatty ps3 I did the same thing where the cooling fan is on the bottom of it but i also cut a hole above the power supply and mounted a 120mm case fan there. I also took the metal case off the power supply to keep it nice and cool. It also runs very cool. The fatty has to stand on its side now because of the fans attached to both sides but thats the way it sat before anyway and not a huge deal either way.
Always sceptical... Followed the clear process and it worked perfectly first time. Thanks very much, I have PS back from the dead! Great resource, will definitely use again and would highly recommend.
I had ylod and i just putted an hairdryer on the fans for like 15 min then i let it cool down for like 2 hours and BAM i works again. Few weeks later and it's still fine 😄
Michiel Peetroons Okay, well it's great that worked for you... But I suspect it was a quick fix. Also, if you're anywhere in the same boat as me, it's just better to open that sucker up and dust it off. Your hair-dryer method probably solves the same issue that the heat-gun method does... but you risk heating parts that you probably shouldn't. Also, swapping out the thermal paste can't hurt - Sony installed crap that melted and you should fix that. Also, I just fixed my YLOD with this method and my PS3 now runs better than new, and silent too. As a gamer, you can appreciate my sense of accomplishment in doing this and how fun it was. Short story; just do it.
Thanks for the overview, it makes it look easy and enjoyable. I'll probably use this video as an intro, to get used to the process, then go to another video I find clear and well-done and do the step-by-step guide.
This is nine years old, maybe somebody already said they didnt get goof off or a screw tray with their kit? But I admire her commitment. I should be happy my PS3 lasted this long?
This is a temporary fix. I used to do this on an old 40gb ps3 i had that got ylod after just 2 years back in 2009. I did this exact process and the ps3 would only work for another 2 hours
Ohhhh god! It is just marvelous, my PS3 is having this problems, I will buy the heat gun and the thermal paste this weekend, and do everything you said, thanks, you are my PS3 savior.
... which requires specialist tools and equipment such as a BGA rework station, Solder balls, stencils for the Emotion engine and Graphics Synthesizer and a metric fucktonne of high quality flux. The heat gun reflow method may not last as long as a proper BGA rework (and especially with lead based solder) But it doesn't cost nearly as much to undertake. Rework stations, especially the ones used by professional rework centres are well north of $1000 US to buy. A heat gun, at worst is $50 US.
its inspiring to see a woman doing the repair..im a young female studying CNS (computer, network, security) and i think its awesome to show us women can fix things too!
Emily Ace you made yourself sound like if you are some sort of minority just because you are a woman.. this is no inspiration, its normal that woman can everything that man do
Reballing is a method where the RSX GPU (grapics processing unit) is heated with a special table machine that melts the solder and loosens the chip from the motherboard for easy removal. then the old damaged solder on the motherboard and gpu is burned off with flux and a soldering wick. then cleaned with more flux. A stencil machine is used to add new lead based solder spheres to the ball grid array and then reheated in a IR machine and then placed back on the motherboard and reheated.
Hi: That's great, Man. I REALLY Suggest you some kind of Maintenance Process (Cleaning fan from dust and change Thermal Paste). I read that Arctic Paste are the better ones.
Yes! It was the first thing I did. I was nervous the whole time. It has been running ever since. Quieter and cooler to. The fan has not kicked up to the high speed since. It's very quiet. Cleaning this unit should have been designed in as a user maintenance item.
this has to be one of the most difficult things to do as a gamer. I guess it's a video guide for technicians only. Sadly I'm here too because my PS2 backwards compatible PS3 YLODed. If it was a common PS3 I wouldn't even bother at all.
Just tried this last night, works perfect now! Thank you for the guide. My PS3 didn't have a ylod but it would turn on boot up to the menu then it would freeze or the image would get distorted. Figured it was probably the gpu. Also I would recommend people to use flux it helps with the reflow. Thanks once again!
+_ Martin _ Reball reflow i do it all the time and it doesnt last. Mainly xbox and laptops - let us know if and when it fails it will be interesting to see as ive never reflowed a ps3. I blame the lead free solder for a lot of problems! ua-cam.com/video/1AcEt073Uds/v-deo.html
Once I get a hold of some thermal paste I'm going to try this. Thankfully I have the blinking red light which means it's just overheating, which I can't understand because I rarely use it anymore.
I can't believe I fixed mine. After watching probably 10 videos on here ylod rlod I said the hell hell with and fixed it. I heated it with a heating iron for about 7 minutes backside first then let it cool for 30 minutes. I'm not going to lie I was nervous right before pressing the power. Whew. Thanks everybody. Used Artic Silver 5 and some cleaning alcohol pads and bought a little screwdriver set with torque screws and what not at Radio Shack.
This actually worked for me, at least temporarily (I've only used the ps3 for about 2 hours since the fix just watching a movie). Thanks for the guide, it was extremely helpful!
That's because: A. You're supposed to also de-lid, and reapply thermal paste on the inner cpu and gpu B. Nobody ever checks, nor adds flux to the rest of the chipsets on the board C. You'd be a moron for not cutting a hole on top of the fan, or not case modding it after the repair
@@philipottey7723 Also to add putting custom firware if your not going online is a good idea, you can set the PS3 to Ramp Up the fan to keep it below 68C, the big problem is Sony, in order to eep the PS3 Quieter, Lowered the Fan speed which has the PS3 constantly sitting at around 76-78 once it gets closer to 82 it YLODs. Also found out recently the PSU and even the NEC Capacitors near the CPU and GPU can also cause YLODs.
sacr0102 The oven trick does work, But it takes a lot more prep time getting everything foiled up & you really need to keep an eye on your temps to do a really good job!!! Thanks!!!
so your ps3 died from being manufactured with a flaw, and you are just gonna go ahead and buy a new one? uhmmm what? its like having a samsung phone that explode, and then after that happend then you go out and buy the same flawed model. logic?
It's funny that everyone recommends to reflow the chip a while back but in reality, the real fix was way easier and less risky by just replacing those NEC/TOKIN caps with Tantalum caps. I find it amusing that even I fell victim on this one. The real fix is WAAAAAY easier.
Sony charges you hundreds of dollars for their console and they can't even use high quality thermal paste?? What a fucking joke. I'm sure Microsoft is no better.
I tried this today and (so far) it worked. I used a hairdryer instead of a heat gun. held it to the two chips for about 10 minutes each. Hardest part was putting everything back together correctly and getting the top cover back on. Lots of screws left over, but it works (for now)
+iFixit Video thanks for replying but I can't get a heat gun where I live, would a Hair dryier be ok if I use like double time that I'd use with a heatgun?
+userdefault no you will need a heat gun. They said that the hair dryer will not get as hot as a heat gun (btw a heat gun gets hot enough to melt plastic), doubling the use time will not increase the max temp.
but there are videos in youtube from people that had the same problem and used hair dryer from behind the console without opening it for about 20 minutos and worked, I already took out the old thermal paste with alcohol and now I am gonna use hair dryer, put some artic silver and hope for the best
reflow is when you heat the cheap lead free solder under the RSX GPU to form a connection to the motherboard. Though this is not a permanent fix as the lead free solder will crack again and may cause tin whiskering which can kill the PS3 motherboard. Reballing process takes off the tin free solder and replaces it with lead based solder spheres which has better strength than tin. You can thank ROHS (Reduction of Hazardous Substances) for the 360 RROD and PS3 RLOD/YLOD as No lead solder is used.
Just ordered your PS3 repair kit and waiting to repair my Fat PS3. Nobody had this awesome kit and even Home Depot did not have a 5 star safety screwdriver.
Franz Pogi Yeah that is what happen to mine too it overheated bad. No more consoles for me I'm going on the computers. This console wars to play games for different companies is stupid anyways.
hehe im gonna take care of my ps3 slim now i live in the philippines hot as shit in here so i need to.. im gonna fix my gaming laptop soon too so if this one breaks its all good once i have my laptop
'heats the chips vertically' was to heat (warm-up) the board slightly over a wider area to avoid thermal cracking. The actual intensive 're-flow' heating is done horizontally, if I understood the process.
For the new Slim its fine. I leave it on for several hours and it stays fine. I would also recommend upgrading your hard drive in your PlayStation. I upgraded mine to 400GB from 160GB. Its quite easy as well :D
You just fixed my ps3( prettymuch ) and i am extremely grateful, i am finally going to get to watch netflix and play midnight club without calling sony, thank you
This is the most pointless video I've seen in ages! This is a temporary fix at best. You are just reheating the same solder and not addressing the true problem at hand.
It would have been much better if Sony and Microsoft had just made there expensive consoles perfect from the beginning, so repairs like this, would not be necessary with a great amount of the PS3's and Xbox 360's
Yeah, they could invest a little bit more time in engineering a product that would end up being used by a lot people, but companies don't do that, they want to save every penny they can in order to make a better profit
Please, don't even compare the 360 to the PS3. Electronic hardware has about a 1-3% fail rate, depending who you ask, and the PS3 was on the lower end of that... unlike the 360 at over 30%.
Thats why i use my ps3 jailbreak and not going to official anytime i can chelcmy temp with an jailbreak ps3 mine dont even reach 65c now with gaming and u can control fan settings on a jailbreak ps3
hey I just want I to ask is there any alternative way to fix my ps3 without buying your kit? because I live in the other side of the world and don't have money to buy it online and I really want to fix my ps3, So anyone can help me about that? please :(
You just need to borrow a heat gun from someone or rent one, and buy the thermal paste from almost any PC shop. I will assume you have a screwdriver (otherwise you can borrow one), and the rest of the items are ok to have, but not really necessary.
If you're going to try and repair your console this way A: Always use a thermometer to check the chips temperatures B: Don't just go ahead and re-flow every chip that COULD be the issue (as this guide tell you to do), this puts perfectly healthy chips under unnecessary stress and could result in further damage to the condition of your console. Only re-flow the chip that is at fault, if you cannot diagnose which it is, even with the help of the internet you probably shouldn't even touch it.
This resolution does not work. I bought the kit and all, but I'm not bitter because the tools will come in handy down the road, maybe not that heat gun which is bunk as far as its use for fixing PS3 YLOD. The real solution is oven, bake mainboard solution. I advise all seeking to fix their YLOD to visit this the video put up by IMP4EVR. He gives a nice oven bake guide to fixing PS3 YLOD. iFixit, you guys need to seriously update your guide. The steps were almost useless to me since your guide only shows the first gen PS3 phat and not the 80/40GB PS3 Phat that lacked PS2 backward compatibility. That PS3 too gets YLOD. I had to search hard on UA-cam to find a video from gilsky1 that covered the breakdown of the PS3 I have. Again the heatgun resolution in this video should not be attempted as it will be a complete waste. iFixit need to suggest users the Oven bake resolution as that worked like a charm and was well manageable. Unlike that heatgun which I read could damage the PS3 mainboard if not properly heated. Again IMP4EVR's oven bake is the best solution and its cheaper, it only cost me some Reynold's Wrap aluminum foil and patience while it baked and cooled.
I'm reading a lot of post on the Internet about ps3's suddenly ylod'ing after the announcement of the ps4 the past few months. I know 5 people who's ps3 went out the past few months and I've had 2 in two months that ylod'ed!! Is it possible that Sony is releasing some sort of virus through the Internet ( if it's connected to Internet) in order for people who might keep their ps3 longer and put off buying the ps4 to just go ahead and buy the ps4 since their 3 is broke!! Because something clearly is going on!!
Yes your comment was 4 years ago but it's to do with the temperatures of the ps3 and how hot it gets most ylod problems could have been fixed had sony given us fan control options or if they had used better thermal paste also dust can cause problems too which is what is great about jailbreaking older ps3s is that you can set the ps3 so that the cpu and rsx can't get any hotter than 50°C so it might not have been a virus it could have been something released in an update that made the ps3s fa just turn to shit and not run any higher than 31%
The root cause of all this is when the environmentalist wack jobs decided to ban lead in solder. The lead free crap that replaced it just cannot handle the thermal cycling without cracking prematurely. That is what causes all the death rings in these game platforms. I am no engineer, but I did soldering bench work for 16 years.
Lee Clemons Agreed, But in most cases it wasn't so much about banning lead solder. It was more about being able to speed up production & lower cost all together.. I hate Lead Free Solder Also & will replace as many as my connections with leaded solder still!!! Kinda hard to melt Leaded solder between the chip and the mother board though... Thanks!!!
Please reread. Stupid environmentalist wack jobs, not stupid environment. These people will kill off jobs to save obscure species from extinction, a natural event.
+Lee Clemons With proper thermal paste, the system works fine. This problem can be avoided completely by providing sufficient cooling. The Xbox 360 and PS3 reversions fixed this by adding extra fans, plastic covers to increase air flow, or by redesigning where the components go. Slim and Super Slim variants took down power consumption, and as a result, heat. It's not leaded solder that's the problem, it's console design.
dead right. and just think of the impact to the environment of all these electronic systems with shortened lifetimes. the lead in solder does not leach out into landfill like soft lead in car batteries, but they have an exception for car batteries
The thing is that when an electronic component is starts to overheat, sometimes the solder (?) starts to liquify and goes off. The heat that is applied to the board is to make sure that the solder (?) takes back its original place.
My beautiful and amazing Princess Are you stupid...? Why the fuck would the refund you for something you've probably caused to die by using for thousands of hours and never cleaning out ever?
You can also bake the motherboard in the oven at 200 degrees for 10 mins than turn oven off and let sit in there for an hour or so until the solder cures.
You cant use a hair dryer because those have temperatures of only about 60 degrees celsius which is below the melting point of solder. A heat gun is usually about 250-300 degrees on low setting.
Another thing I can tell you from doing amateur auto mechanics and other types of disassembly/assembly work, is using the screw tray and a piece of masking tape to number each part, will make putting it back together a breeze. You can't screw it up that way.... at least, I never have.
Thank you MJ - I bought a heat gun for $10 and followed your vid. Cleaned up the surfaces and applied heat on high for 30 seconds to each area (three chips) from about 1-1.5 inches away. I guessed here. Maybe I got lucky but my PS3 works now and I am thrilled. It's always great to do it yourself!
This was super helpful. Turns out the yellow light was just because I hadn't cracked it open since 2008. Had so much dust and dirt it was blocking the connections. Couldn't lose it because of family photos and it's also a first gen 60gb. Thanks again!
You're not performing these steps wrong. Rather, these steps are totally flawed. The solder balls are f#&ked. You need to remove them and put new solder balls on. The chip must be removed. The board must be cleaned of solder, the chip cleaned of solder. Non-leaded solder balls should be attached to the chip, good amtech flux spread on the board. Then the chip should be resoldered.
Nah I can fuck with electronics all day long but soldering I’ll give a wide birth I try and practice on lil circuit boards I have lying around but cant do tiny jobs - The whole point of this video should have been putting the paste on. because anybody can dismantle a console
i knew louis would call on this one. Watch your videos quite regular louis learning alot thanks .. mother flower :P
So like how do you put it back together
Watch the video in reverse.
crmnsrl LMAO that part
TheNameOfMyTribe y'all hilarious, but you're right she should've showed that part too like she really stripped the system down, like DOWN DOWN 😭😭😭
She don't know either men
Same way you take it apart. Seriously, if you can't figure it out you shouldn't attempt this kind of work
This worked perfectly! I did 2 things slightly differently:
1. I warmed up the board by placing the PS3 motherboard in the oven and heating to 170 degrees F.
2. I used a hair dryer instead of a heat gun and heated the 4 focus areas for about 10 minutes total. My IR thermometer read the board's surface temp at about 200 degrees F when I turned off the hair dryer.
I purchased a syringe of Arctic Silver thermal paste and a 1mm thick Arctic thermal pad from Amazon for the replacement. (About $20 total in parts). I put two layers of the thermal pad on the two main processor units for good measure.
After reassembly, I powered on the PS3 and it came to life, no problem.
Thanks for the great instructional video!
I did not go to this extent, i just manually blew into the back through the vents for 5 minutes, restarted it and it worked.
disclaimer: Im not responsible for any damage caused by your bad breath
Kbonefan Pussy.
@@Theslenderblox1 dang calm down lmao
Theslenderblox1 they say you are what you eat right ? Guess that makes you a dick
It's a great service to provide these videos. The one thing that could be improved is to not cut out the meat of the fix. The teardown coverage is great but the actual repair coverage almost none existent. The part where the heat gun is applied could have better detail.
WARNING
The yellow light of death, not mentioned here, actually has TWO different causes. Although the most common is the thermal paste and pads, IT CAN ALSO BE THE POWER SUPPLY.
People, the headache I went through trying to fix this damn thing only to find that it was the power supply in the end is enough to make me cry.
TL;DR MAKE SURE THE PROBLEM ISN'T THE POWER SUPPLY FIRST!
This information extended the life of my PS3! Thanks so much for putting this important information online for people like me who want to extend the life of something, instead of just settling for buying something new!
I just completed this project after purchasing "ifixit" repair kit. The best 39 bucks I have spent in a long time. With this video along with the step by step guide it was truly nothing more then time consuming. Do not start this if you are in a hurry, this one requires a little love and since there are so many small parts you need to patient and in a comfortable work space. I would recommend this to anyone having this issue. It was clear to me(and I'm far from an electronics wiz) that the original heat paste was all but gone. Now she has a nice fresh coating and runs like new. I want to thank the crew for putting this together and "ifixit" just earned a new customer. Now enough of this I have some binge Netflix'ing to do!
Excellent step-by-step instructions. She is easy to understand and the visuals explained what was needed. The only recommendation I have is after doing this, I had some trouble with figuring out all the variously sized screws. Remember to document where these things came from and this video is the best I could find to help solve this issue. Subscribed.
Btw, the problem isn't the solder. The problem is that the layers of the die of the chip are coming apart from eachother and heating it will just temporarily reconnect the layers. The only real way to fix it is to replace the entire chip
After 3 failed attempts, I finally got my working by putting a weight on the chip as soon as I took the heat off it. Letting it cool that way. :)
Following this thorough explanation of how to disassemble my PS3 I successfully totally disassembled my unit. However, I word of advice is in order, many steps or omitted in the form of latent cable attachments and such that she did not mention. Be careful for instance when removing the power supply. Wires are tapped to the sides of the unit, and the main connection were not shown. I ended up removing parts that I really did not need to. All in all, it's a great demonstration. I'll post again when I have the things back together.
Given the amount of steps here, it's kind of inconvenient that you don't show users how to put the thing back together. Yeah, they could technically watch the video "backwards," but not only is that a pain, it's _difficult to keep track_ of every step, and folks obviously don't want to miss any steps in this process.
Thank you anyway for the informative video!
To be honest if you can't put it back together after taking it apart with this many steps shouldn't be able to have a ps3.
what... the... hell.. haha
Most facinating thing for me watching this right now is just how far the tech has advanced between a PS3 and a PS4, just the component size differences is amazing.
...and now I know why it costs an arm and a leg to repair it.
That's because a properly equipped place that repairs BGAs has equipment that costs tens of thousands of dollars.
She is lying I followed the steps and it did jack
The reality is: sometimes the chip is bad, so they need to replace the whole thing and reball to get the whole thing working again, and sometimes is the NEC Tokin capacitors, or the thermal paste underneath the plate that goes on the CPU, and that's a hell lot of work to remove that. Not always so simple, but still a good tutorial, since I don't think anybody will found new RSX or CPUs for those things nowadays.
this is why i am a PC gamer. i just watched this so i can fix a friends console. c'mon people. watch the video in reverse if you want to put it back together. She mentions a way to keep the screws organized at the beginning. if this video was any better the end of it would include her showing up at your houses and doing it for you.
Thank you, MJ! :) This is going to be my first smd project! Wish me luck.
Very thorough and I like the explanations. Other vids don't talk about it much it just shows you. This is the best explanatory videos I've watched. Thank you.
2:34 that eye raise made me your fan ❤️
Thanks!! So much it worked bought a backwards compatible ps3 at the thrift store for $20 had the yellow death. Follow the instructions and now it’s working
You should tin foil top surface to draw heat away from parts you don't want heated. Cover with tin foil, cut holes over areas to be heated. DMM with thermal couple. 3 min at 180 C. 30 sec at 215-225 C. Google "reflow solder" image.
I just completed your recommendations for repair. My PS3 works again! Thanks ifixit!
Sick video! Keep up the awesome work!
Wtf are you doing here
I just ordered this kit. $50 including shipping. Hopefully I can repair my Japanese PS3. Give it new life.
Thank God for UA-cam! This site had previously helped me fix both my PS1 and PS2 that had disc read problems and now I'm fixing my PS3.
This is more complicated than building a pc.
really?
+zTyko This is even more complicated than me trying to fix an Alienware M15x laptop but failed cuz the mobo kept failing.
well how did you think it was going to be? like asembling a kinder surprize toy?! lol
Dead pc gpus are fixed in a similar manner...
Bahahahaha!
Mine died this morning YLOD, after following the instructions it now works again. Thank You :}
Fixed it. Thanks a bunch!!!
Now upgrade your cooling or it will just happen again.
yvanddivans Not certain about the points made but ,if anyone else wants to discover how to repair playstation try Alkarno Playstation Fixer Alchemist (do a google search ) ? Ive heard some extraordinary things about it and my mate got cool success with it.
+Joe Blow How to upgrade it ?
Search around youtube. On my slim PS3 i cut a hole directly over where the fan was, took the old fan out, and wired in a 120mm CPU fan. I also cut holes above the powersupply at the back right corner so air flows very nicely now i can play gta5 for hours, shut it down and pop the cover off and everything is still room temp; no heat build up at all. On my parents fatty ps3 I did the same thing where the cooling fan is on the bottom of it but i also cut a hole above the power supply and mounted a 120mm case fan there. I also took the metal case off the power supply to keep it nice and cool. It also runs very cool. The fatty has to stand on its side now because of the fans attached to both sides but thats the way it sat before anyway and not a huge deal either way.
Joe Blow
Thanks!
Always sceptical... Followed the clear process and it worked perfectly first time. Thanks very much, I have PS back from the dead! Great resource, will definitely use again and would highly recommend.
I had ylod and i just putted an hairdryer on the fans for like 15 min then i let it cool down for like 2 hours and BAM i works again. Few weeks later and it's still fine 😄
On the back yes without opening it
Michiel Peetroons I do it many thinks and now i will do it this.I hope so to work.
ΚΩΣΤΑΣ ΜΗΤΡΟΦΑΝΗΣ
Dont do that you will just melt your ps3. This quick fix never lasts long. Few weeks is the longest I've ever even heard of.
With the hair dryer did u put it in wrm cold or hot
Michiel Peetroons Okay, well it's great that worked for you... But I suspect it was a quick fix. Also, if you're anywhere in the same boat as me, it's just better to open that sucker up and dust it off. Your hair-dryer method probably solves the same issue that the heat-gun method does... but you risk heating parts that you probably shouldn't. Also, swapping out the thermal paste can't hurt - Sony installed crap that melted and you should fix that.
Also, I just fixed my YLOD with this method and my PS3 now runs better than new, and silent too. As a gamer, you can appreciate my sense of accomplishment in doing this and how fun it was.
Short story; just do it.
Thanks for the overview, it makes it look easy and enjoyable. I'll probably use this video as an intro, to get used to the process, then go to another video I find clear and well-done and do the step-by-step guide.
I agree. It should not even be called a fix.
This is nine years old, maybe somebody already said they didnt get goof off or a screw tray with their kit? But I admire her commitment.
I should be happy my PS3 lasted this long?
This is a temporary fix. I used to do this on an old 40gb ps3 i had that got ylod after just 2 years back in 2009. I did this exact process and the ps3 would only work for another 2 hours
God bless you for doing this video. Mine just did YLOD after I bumped it with a chair so Im going to try this fix soon.
CAn you guys make a ps3 reassembly video?? I love how detailed you are. Thank you
Random Whiterun Guard thank you ;)
Ohhhh god! It is just marvelous, my PS3 is having this problems, I will buy the heat gun and the thermal paste this weekend, and do everything you said, thanks, you are my PS3 savior.
Reflowing works for a short time, you must reball it
Show me how.
Yea but its so expensive
... which requires specialist tools and equipment such as a BGA rework station, Solder balls, stencils for the Emotion engine and Graphics Synthesizer and a metric fucktonne of high quality flux. The heat gun reflow method may not last as long as a proper BGA rework (and especially with lead based solder) But it doesn't cost nearly as much to undertake. Rework stations, especially the ones used by professional rework centres are well north of $1000 US to buy. A heat gun, at worst is $50 US.
Not using it for YLOD but probably the best video I've seen to take it apart, thanks.
its inspiring to see a woman doing the repair..im a young female studying CNS (computer, network, security) and i think its awesome to show us women can fix things too!
Emily Ace you made yourself sound like if you are some sort of minority just because you are a woman.. this is no inspiration, its normal that woman can everything that man do
How hard is it to unscrew a couple screws? Thats like saying good job for doing subtraction..
You Are The One Who Followed Her, You Fix It MAN.
damn i remember watching this like back in 2010 ohh memories
Reballing is a method where the RSX GPU (grapics processing unit) is heated with a special table machine that melts the solder and loosens the chip from the motherboard for easy removal. then the old damaged solder on the motherboard and gpu is burned off with flux and a soldering wick. then cleaned with more flux.
A stencil machine is used to add new lead based solder spheres to the ball grid array and then reheated in a IR machine and then placed back on the motherboard and reheated.
I've had my ps3 for 6 years now it still didn't get this
Why the are you watching the video then?
i got ylod when it was 8 years old
Jim Garrett-C
hahahahaha you are so right... why is he? xD
Hi:
That's great, Man. I REALLY Suggest you some kind of Maintenance Process (Cleaning fan from dust and change Thermal Paste). I read that Arctic Paste are the better ones.
Red05x my hardrive got corrupted somehow but when i cleaned the dust off everything was fine
Yes! It was the first thing I did. I was nervous the whole time. It has been running ever since. Quieter and cooler to. The fan has not kicked up to the high speed since. It's very quiet. Cleaning this unit should have been designed in as a user maintenance item.
this has to be one of the most difficult things to do as a gamer. I guess it's a video guide for technicians only. Sadly I'm here too because my PS2 backwards compatible PS3 YLODed. If it was a common PS3 I wouldn't even bother at all.
Just tried this last night, works perfect now! Thank you for the guide. My PS3 didn't have a ylod but it would turn on boot up to the menu then it would freeze or the image would get distorted. Figured it was probably the gpu. Also I would recommend people to use flux it helps with the reflow. Thanks once again!
+_ Martin _ How long did it last for lol
+Garry Gemmell still working 😁 only have PS3 on about 4 hrs a day so let's see when it craps out
+_ Martin _ Reball reflow i do it all the time and it doesnt last.
Mainly xbox and laptops - let us know if and when it fails it will be interesting to see as ive never reflowed a ps3. I blame the lead free solder for a lot of problems!
ua-cam.com/video/1AcEt073Uds/v-deo.html
"How To: Playstation 3 Yellow Light of-" HELLO NURSE!
Once I get a hold of some thermal paste I'm going to try this. Thankfully I have the blinking red light which means it's just overheating, which I can't understand because I rarely use it anymore.
Wow. What a gorgeous repair lady. :)
I can't believe I fixed mine. After watching probably 10 videos on here ylod rlod I said the hell hell with and fixed it. I heated it with a heating iron for about 7 minutes backside first then let it cool for 30 minutes. I'm not going to lie I was nervous right before pressing the power. Whew. Thanks everybody. Used Artic Silver 5 and some cleaning alcohol pads and bought a little screwdriver set with torque screws and what not at Radio Shack.
10 years later but I dont get why it's called the "Yellow Light of Death" if it's a solder corrosion
This actually worked for me, at least temporarily (I've only used the ps3 for about 2 hours since the fix just watching a movie). Thanks for the guide, it was extremely helpful!
After you do this in 3 weeks tops, your ps3 will be dead again.
Well then wtf
That's because:
A. You're supposed to also de-lid, and reapply thermal paste on the inner cpu and gpu
B. Nobody ever checks, nor adds flux to the rest of the chipsets on the board
C. You'd be a moron for not cutting a hole on top of the fan, or not case modding it after the repair
@@philipottey7723 Do you know of a good guide for how to do all you just described?
@@philipottey7723 Also to add putting custom firware if your not going online is a good idea, you can set the PS3 to Ramp Up the fan to keep it below 68C, the big problem is Sony, in order to eep the PS3 Quieter, Lowered the Fan speed which has the PS3 constantly sitting at around 76-78 once it gets closer to 82 it YLODs. Also found out recently the PSU and even the NEC Capacitors near the CPU and GPU can also cause YLODs.
@@markthometz4403 NSC Modz has a good De-lid Guide and how to make a tool for it.
just finished working on the ps3 .and the ps3 started to work thnak so much. the kit really helped
hahahaha i'm never going to fix my ps3
I like how you put those parts of the case back.
ugh ...all these tools needed to fuck around with it, too many steps aswell hahaha il just give up and go outside more
Instead of the heat gun put it in an oven
BrentIsGhost this is probably the worst advise ever, I have put it in an oven and it's not working anymore!!!!!!!!
sacr0102 The oven trick does work,
But it takes a lot more prep time getting everything foiled up & you really need to keep an eye on your temps to do a really good job!!!
Thanks!!!
Wow that's awesome you help fix ps3's sell the kit great price step by step. I'm impressed people. Keep up the great work.
Yea, um I'm gonna have to go ahead and um, say fuck it. I'll buy a new one.
how bout u build a pc 😀
+zTyko no
+jlb197736 lol
so your ps3 died from being manufactured with a flaw, and you are just gonna go ahead and buy a new one? uhmmm what? its like having a samsung phone that explode, and then after that happend then you go out and buy the same flawed model. logic?
Very helpful! We love watching your videos :)
It's funny that everyone recommends to reflow the chip a while back but in reality, the real fix was way easier and less risky by just replacing those NEC/TOKIN caps with Tantalum caps.
I find it amusing that even I fell victim on this one. The real fix is WAAAAAY easier.
Thank you very much for the information. It really works. Very easy to understand and do. Keep up your good amazing job. 👍🏽
Sony charges you hundreds of dollars for their console and they can't even use high quality thermal paste?? What a fucking joke. I'm sure Microsoft is no better.
I tried this today and (so far) it worked. I used a hairdryer instead of a heat gun. held it to the two chips for about 10 minutes each. Hardest part was putting everything back together correctly and getting the top cover back on. Lots of screws left over, but it works (for now)
Do I really need a heat gun? Can I use the Hair dryer? Can I skip the heat gun part and put the thermal paste?
+iFixit Video thanks for replying but I can't get a heat gun where I live, would a Hair dryier be ok if I use like double time that I'd use with a heatgun?
+userdefault no you will need a heat gun. They said that the hair dryer will not get as hot as a heat gun (btw a heat gun gets hot enough to melt plastic), doubling the use time will not increase the max temp.
but there are videos in youtube from people that had the same problem and used hair dryer from behind the console without opening it for about 20 minutos and worked, I already took out the old thermal paste with alcohol and now I am gonna use hair dryer, put some artic silver and hope for the best
userdefault then why even ask
I have already repaired and it works perfectly, thank you!
reflow is when you heat the cheap lead free solder under the RSX GPU to form a connection to the motherboard. Though this is not a permanent fix as the lead free solder will crack again and may cause tin whiskering which can kill the PS3 motherboard.
Reballing process takes off the tin free solder and replaces it with lead based solder spheres which has better strength than tin.
You can thank ROHS (Reduction of Hazardous Substances) for the 360 RROD and PS3 RLOD/YLOD as No lead solder is used.
Some NASA shit right there...
Just ordered your PS3 repair kit and waiting to repair my Fat PS3. Nobody had this awesome kit and even Home Depot did not have a 5 star safety screwdriver.
Goodluck i had mine reballed and still shit happened to it i have a ps3 slim now, the fatty run hot as shit i remember
Franz Pogi Yeah that is what happen to mine too it overheated bad. No more consoles for me I'm going on the computers. This console wars to play games for different companies is stupid anyways.
hehe im gonna take care of my ps3 slim now i live in the philippines hot as shit in here so i need to.. im gonna fix my gaming laptop soon too so if this one breaks its all good once i have my laptop
"YOU NEED TO KEEP THE MOTHERBOARD LEVEL AS THE TIN LIQUIFIES" heats the chips vertically
'heats the chips vertically' was to heat (warm-up) the board slightly over a wider area to avoid thermal cracking. The actual intensive 're-flow' heating is done horizontally, if I understood the process.
well, you didn’t get that part, I recommend rewatching it
For the new Slim its fine. I leave it on for several hours and it stays fine. I would also recommend upgrading your hard drive in your PlayStation. I upgraded mine to 400GB from 160GB. Its quite easy as well :D
Sony just dont put lights!!!!
fix it yourself watching this video step by step. i made it and i had my ps3 stored for 1 year . this video helped me to fixed.
Who in 2020 trying to fix there old ps3
A lot of people are since the PS5 won't play PS1, 2, and 3 games. Sony sucks
Latenzy don’t need to I fixed it once eight years ago with this video and it still works.
My PS3 died back in 2013. Haven't even tried to fix it cause I'd be mad if this still didn't fix the problem.
You just fixed my ps3( prettymuch ) and i am extremely grateful, i am finally going to get to watch netflix and play midnight club without calling sony, thank you
This is the most pointless video I've seen in ages!
This is a temporary fix at best. You are just reheating the same solder and not addressing the true problem at hand.
how do you expect ppl with no experience with electronics to replace the solder boards under there BGA's ??
Sorry if i sounded aggressive but I guess I shouldn't speak since you managed it and it worked.
It would have been much better if Sony and Microsoft had just made there expensive consoles perfect from the beginning, so repairs like this, would not be necessary with a great amount of the PS3's and Xbox 360's
Yeah, they could invest a little bit more time in engineering a product that would end up being used by a lot people, but companies don't do that, they want to save every penny they can in order to make a better profit
Please, don't even compare the 360 to the PS3.
Electronic hardware has about a 1-3% fail rate, depending who you ask, and the PS3 was on the lower end of that... unlike the 360 at over 30%.
Aashish Rajani My PlayStation 4 won't read discs :( Well, at least I can play. Anyway, I can't wait to try this out and repair my PS3 Systems.
Thats why i use my ps3 jailbreak and not going to official anytime i can chelcmy temp with an jailbreak ps3 mine dont even reach 65c now with gaming and u can control fan settings on a jailbreak ps3
It's ALIVE!!! Thanks my PS3 is working again!
hey I just want I to ask is there any alternative way to fix my ps3 without buying your kit? because I live in the other side of the world and don't have money to buy it online and I really want to fix my ps3, So anyone can help me about that? please :(
You just need to borrow a heat gun from someone or rent one, and buy the thermal paste from almost any PC shop. I will assume you have a screwdriver (otherwise you can borrow one), and the rest of the items are ok to have, but not really necessary.
If you're going to try and repair your console this way A: Always use a thermometer to check the chips temperatures B: Don't just go ahead and re-flow every chip that COULD be the issue (as this guide tell you to do), this puts perfectly healthy chips under unnecessary stress and could result in further damage to the condition of your console. Only re-flow the chip that is at fault, if you cannot diagnose which it is, even with the help of the internet you probably shouldn't even touch it.
This resolution does not work. I bought the kit and all, but I'm not bitter because the tools will come in handy down the road, maybe not that heat gun which is bunk as far as its use for fixing PS3 YLOD.
The real solution is oven, bake mainboard solution. I advise all seeking to fix their YLOD to visit this the video put up by IMP4EVR.
He gives a nice oven bake guide to fixing PS3 YLOD.
iFixit, you guys need to seriously update your guide. The steps were almost useless to me since your guide only shows the first gen PS3 phat and not the 80/40GB PS3 Phat that lacked PS2 backward compatibility. That PS3 too gets YLOD. I had to search hard on UA-cam to find a video from gilsky1 that covered the breakdown of the PS3 I have.
Again the heatgun resolution in this video should not be attempted as it will be a complete waste. iFixit need to suggest users the Oven bake resolution as that worked like a charm and was well manageable.
Unlike that heatgun which I read could damage the PS3 mainboard if not properly heated.
Again IMP4EVR's oven bake is the best solution and its cheaper, it only cost me some Reynold's Wrap aluminum foil and patience while it baked and cooled.
Just bought the backwards compatible model. Cant wait to do this.
didn't even know the yellow light of death was a thing. It never happened to me.
DemiZe X lucky
***** It has Spotify. That's way better than a flash drive imo.
I just got it right now.
Sony fanboys were insulting Xbox players for ring of death, funny huh
I think it runs better than new now. Thanks.
I'm reading a lot of post on the Internet about ps3's suddenly ylod'ing after the announcement of the ps4 the past few months. I know 5 people who's ps3 went out the past few months and I've had 2 in two months that ylod'ed!! Is it possible that Sony is releasing some sort of virus through the Internet ( if it's connected to Internet) in order for people who might keep their ps3 longer and put off buying the ps4 to just go ahead and buy the ps4 since their 3 is broke!! Because something clearly is going on!!
Yes your comment was 4 years ago but it's to do with the temperatures of the ps3 and how hot it gets most ylod problems could have been fixed had sony given us fan control options or if they had used better thermal paste also dust can cause problems too which is what is great about jailbreaking older ps3s is that you can set the ps3 so that the cpu and rsx can't get any hotter than 50°C so it might not have been a virus it could have been something released in an update that made the ps3s fa just turn to shit and not run any higher than 31%
Sony's evil plan
Step 1: put a virus on ps3 servers
Step 2: ban 10000s of accounts every day so they make a new account and buy more games from us
wow, I don't believe it, i followed your instructions to the tee, and when i put the ps3 back together again, YES it worked. Thank you very much
I love this trend beautiful women repairing a game console.
She cute but nothing to lose your mind over
Hey nice job! This saved my PS3 today. Thank you.
(I'm asking as many people as I can so bear with me) did this actually last for you?
The root cause of all this is when the environmentalist wack jobs decided to ban lead in solder. The lead free crap that replaced it just cannot handle the thermal cycling without cracking prematurely. That is what causes all the death rings in these game platforms. I am no engineer, but I did soldering bench work for 16 years.
Lee Clemons Because technology > the stupid environment, eh?
Lee Clemons Agreed,
But in most cases it wasn't so much about banning lead solder.
It was more about being able to speed up production & lower cost all together..
I hate Lead Free Solder Also & will replace as many as my connections with leaded solder still!!!
Kinda hard to melt Leaded solder between the chip and the mother board though...
Thanks!!!
Please reread. Stupid environmentalist wack jobs, not stupid environment. These people will kill off jobs to save obscure species from extinction, a natural event.
+Lee Clemons With proper thermal paste, the system works fine. This problem can be avoided completely by providing sufficient cooling. The Xbox 360 and PS3 reversions fixed this by adding extra fans, plastic covers to increase air flow, or by redesigning where the components go. Slim and Super Slim variants took down power consumption, and as a result, heat. It's not leaded solder that's the problem, it's console design.
dead right. and just think of the impact to the environment of all these electronic systems with shortened lifetimes. the lead in solder does not leach out into landfill like soft lead in car batteries, but they have an exception for car batteries
The thing is that when an electronic component is starts to overheat, sometimes the solder (?) starts to liquify and goes off. The heat that is applied to the board is to make sure that the solder (?) takes back its original place.
Omg I think il just buy a new 1 :-o
Emma eXo You don't have to buy a new one you should demand a refund or a new unit, when u buy a product it's supposed to work..!
My beautiful and amazing Princess Are you stupid...?
Why the fuck would the refund you for something you've probably caused to die by using for thousands of hours and never cleaning out ever?
You can also bake the motherboard in the oven at 200 degrees for 10 mins than turn oven off and let sit in there for an hour or so until the solder cures.
"Aint nobody got tyme fuh dat!"
This is a well made video a lot better then most this lady knows how to make a video. my My hat is off too you. thank you..
I mean she probably wasn't the one who made it...
Shes cute
Bad Timing
would bang
I was too busy looking at her instead of the steps to repair it
What she say?
You cant use a hair dryer because those have temperatures of only about 60 degrees celsius which is below the melting point of solder. A heat gun is usually about 250-300 degrees on low setting.
youre so beautifull D:
Another thing I can tell you from doing amateur auto mechanics and other types of disassembly/assembly work, is using the screw tray and a piece of masking tape to number each part, will make putting it back together a breeze. You can't screw it up that way.... at least, I never have.