Yellow Light of Death

Well I'll be damned, the PS3 has just received the Yellow Light of Death.

Those of you may recall that my first PS3 had this happen, but that was understandable, as it was a 1st generation system, and those were very prone to it (was surprised it lasted as long as it had). My wife then decided that it would be better to buy one from a kid for $100, even though I was telling her no, that just for a little more than $100, you could get a new one with a crapload of memory... but wife thought her idea was best. Oh, and the one she was buying was also a 1st gen.

*grumble*

Know what? Fuck it. I know if I ask to get a new one, it'll be and argument, that it isn't needed. And it really isn't, especially with everything that's happened in the past 30 days or so. I will even stick to that argument, knowing full well she'll have to get one so the oldest boy won't go without. Betcha. I, of course, will lose that argument as well.

There I was, going through various "how to fix" guides for the PS3, working up the courage to take it apart and resolder the components or whatever I needed to do, when I stumbled upon a video on how to fix the PS3 without having to take it apart.

Yeah, riiiight.

But I tried it anyway, figuring at the worse, I would just have to take it apart tomorrow or something. Having nothing to lose, I went ahead and tried this method. Much to my surprise, it worked.

My PS3 lives again! I cannot believe it, especially with what I had to do... or actually, with what little I had to do! Now, I shall share this with you, so that in the event it happens to your system, you'll be able to fix it!

Ready?

You need two things for this fix... a hair dryer and a small fan.

1. Take your PS3 and have it on a flat surface upside down, with the back facing you so you can get at the vents.

2. Put your hair dryer on highest temp setting and run it back and forth over the back vents for about 15 minutes.

3. When done, aim the fan at the PS3s back and cool it off for around 20 - 30 minutes.

4. Plug back in!

I have no idea why this worked; a hair dryer isn't hot enough to make solder flow again, I would think. But it did work. No loss of memory, all settings were there. Tomorrow I shall try this on the first PS3 and see if it works or not.

Because of this, the wife and I decided to purchase one of those PS3 vent fans. Hopefully that will help prevent any further incidents.

...

On a second note, the wife was all set to get a new one. For the kids, mind you. Wanted to buy one off of Amazon for $220, 160GB. I told her that after shipping / handling, it would cost the same as getting a new one (with more memory) from Walmart. $50 more and we could get one with 320GB.

Alrighty, quick update...

Did this on my original PS3; it worked, but briefly. The unit turned on, I was able to log on, and while in the process of signing into the network, it blinked out.

Oh well... no harm, no foul.

Fired up the second PS3 this afternoon; 5 minutes into playing Skyrim, it blinked off. However, I do believe I am onto something!

When I came home this morning, the wife and our youngest were watching Netflix with no problem, and yet when I play a game, it goes to heck. So, what I am thinking is that the cooling fan is crap. I don't believe the fan really comes on when Netflix is running, because there isn't anything happening, unlike when the disk drive is in operation, generating more heat and stuff.

So, I tried this method again on the second unit, and am currently in the process of cooling it. Will test this when all is said and done (ie, do nothing but Netflix) and see what happens.

...

Nope, the second unit is dead as well, stayed on long enough to eject the disk. Oh well.

Mrs Soothsayer found yet another teen willing to sell his PS3: the unit is two years old, kid wanted $175. I told the wife that, if we were going to pay that much for an older used device, might as well spend the extra 50-75 bucks and get a new one.

She agreed.

Then, the other night (Thursday, I believe), she found ANOTHER teen wanting to sell a PS3. Seems most of his friends are X-Boxers. Anyway, he purchased his PS3 a month ago, and was smart enough to get the extended 2 year warranty. Asking price? $200.

Well hell, couldn't pass that up now, could I? So we are, once again, a proud owner of a PS3... it's the slim model, and only 160? 180? GB hard-drive space, but I figure I really don't download movies or games and such, so the amount of memory is probably just right for my needs.

Now, if I could only find a way to utilize the hard-drives from my other two (dead) PS3s...

I've got some yellow liquid for your popcorn... and it's non-dairy! I mean... I could utilize one of those spare hard drives for you! Hmmmm... I wonder if there's any hope for the drive in your poor netbook... It lived a good life. Short, but good. It saw things that no English speaking man should ever see, and it displayed these things proudly. You know, PS3 uses laptop (netbook) hard drives....so IF there's any life in that drive, it could be in your PS3....hmmmmm..... scalpel, doctor?