PS3 hardware failure

[Shifty Geezer]

I'd say the same of PS3 if what Phil says is true! If they designed a system that can suck in and deposit dust on sensitive areas with no outward sign of problems, then Sony were building a system effectively designed to break. If so, the manual should read something like, "it's important to vaccuum the vents every 4 months to remove internal dust, even if the outside looks clean." If they're not providing the correct maintenance advice how can the consumer to be at fault?

 

[Phil]

I actually think it's more of a case of "wear and tear". Every piece of electronics is doomed to fail at some point. Some products live longer because they are designed better, while some are simply more sensitive because they are more on the limit of what they're doing (lots of heat, small confined casing).

The problem is that not everyone puts these products in well suited locations. Some have more dust at home, while others live in a clinically clean environment. I think common-sense applies everywhere: if you take good care of your equipment, chances are they will most likely last longer too.

 

[Prophecy2k]

I must be a fringe case, but i'm still on my EU 60GB launch PS3 that i bought in 2007, and i've had no problems with it.

To be quite honest it's actually the first time i've even heard of cleaing the thing with a vacuum cleaner, as i've never really thought of that. My PS3 runs sat next to my PC Tower, with both usually on at the same time for extended periods, and both producing lots of heat. My entire house is very well insulated, so my room gets like an oven. I sometimes have to put a fan at the back of my PC & PS3 just because i'm paranoid of something going wrong. My room is also a dust pit, and it gets dusty so often that i only really get the chance to dust everything once a fortnight.

The funny thing is that i've always known to use the vaccuum to clean out my PC, but it never occured to me to do the same with my PS3. At the same time however, my PC is at the end of it's tether, the network card has gone, the GPU kaput, i have to click through about twelve error messages before i can get it to boot into windows, and yet my 60GB PS3 has just been running like a champion.

I'm glad i came into this thread now though. I'm def gonna start hoovering my PS3 just to be sure. I've just gotten married so don't have the money to start buying a new PS3 if my Phat conks it.

 

[rabidrabbit]

If your PC and PS3 have been sitting next to each other, it's possible the PC with it's more powerful fans has sucked most of the dust floating around them before it's had a chance to enter the PS3.
So your PC has in effect acted as some kind of air purifier for the PS3

I was surprised how little dust there was inside my EU launch PS3 when I opened it year ago. What little dust there was, had accumulated to the fan blades and heatsink, but it was nowhere close as dusty as my PC ususally is, and I clean my PC every month or two and it has a filter in front of the intake fans.
I had vacuumed the PS3 vents once or twice a month, usually at the same time as I vacuumed the rest of my apartment.
I also had an air purifier in my livingroom, near the PS3, though I usually kept it on only during spring nights when there was allergizing pollen in the air.

 

[Prophecy2k]

If your PC and PS3 have been sitting next to each other, it's possible the PC with it's more powerful fans has sucked most of the dust floating around them before it's had a chance to enter the PS3.
So your PC has in effect acted as some kind of air purifier for the PS3

I was surprised how little dust there was inside my EU launch PS3 when I opened it year ago. What little dust there was, had accumulated to the fan blades and heatsink, but it was nowhere close as dusty as my PC ususally is, and I clean my PC every month or two and it has a filter in front of the intake fans.
I had vacuumed the PS3 vents once or twice a month, usually at the same time as I vacuumed the rest of my apartment.
I also had an air purifier in my livingroom, near the PS3, though I usually kept it on only during spring nights when there was allergizing pollen in the air.

You may be right about the PC thing actually Hadn't considered that. ;-)

Do air purifiers work though? Are they meant to remove dust from a room? As i would consider getting something like that because my room always gets caked in dust.

 

[rabidrabbit]

You may be right about the PC thing actually Hadn't considered that. ;-)

Do air purifiers work though? Are they meant to remove dust from a room? As i would consider getting something like that because my room always gets caked in dust.

I don't think those air purifiers really work in reducing the visible dust. At least now that I haven't kept it on for some months, I can't really tell there's been an increase in dust.
I think they mainly clean the air of finer particles than the dust that comes from clothes etc.

 

[upnorthsox]

I don't think those air purifiers really work in reducing the visible dust. At least now that I haven't kept it on for some months, I can't really tell there's been an increase in dust.
I think they mainly clean the air of finer particles than the dust that comes from clothes etc.

This would mostly be because the fans on those units are not big enough to collect dust at a distance. Setting it next to the device though should be sufficient.

Another thing you can do is attach a furnace filter to a box fan, this captures an amazing amount of dust.

 

[Persistantthug]

Yeah because you sold it, it will just break on the next unlucky guy. Ultimately I'm just passing along my experience, that of which is seeing stacks and stacks of broken launch ps3's. Personally i'd stay away from the fat models like the plague. In the end though it's your money, do what you like with it.

Not all PS3 fats are created equal.

65nm versions aren't as failure prone as the launch 90nm versions that run hotter.

 

[joker454]

Not all PS3 fats are created equal.

65nm versions aren't as failure prone as the launch 90nm versions that run hotter.

Yup I'm only thinking of the launch models, the 20/60gb models. When my 20gb broke I bought a 40gb model which did run quieter but at that point I just didn't trust them anymore, so when I got early wind of the slim models coming out I sold my 40gb then a month later got a slim at the same price

 

[RenegadeRocks]

my ps3 YLODed !

 

[orangpelupa]

slim or fat?
any symtomps?

i borrow my friends PS3 Slim and its very loud, louder than my Xbox 360....

hoping it not YLOD when on my hand

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Phat one. the one which came with a 40gb hdd, had upgraded to 500gb and bought so many DD titles too. It just died ! My niece was playing some demo on it and it died and now it won't boot. The god forsaken YLOD ! Can it be repaired?

 

[Arwin]

Phat one. the one which came with a 40gb hdd, had upgraded to 500gb and bought so many DD titles too. It just died ! My niece was playing some demo on it and it died and now it won't boot. The god forsaken YLOD ! Can it be repaired?

It can be repaired. Needs to be done really well to last more than a few months though (I had someone try it on mine, but that just lasted a few months - though still enough to get all my latest saves and stuff, which was nice). I think you can find quite a few instructional videos on youtube for both the reflowing (which is likely what you need to get it working again) and repasting (which is essential for keeping it working aftwards). Same for if it was the laser that died (which is the most common issue with 40GB models, but yours sounds like a proper ylod).

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Phat one. the one which came with a 40gb hdd, had upgraded to 500gb and bought so many DD titles too. It just died ! My niece was playing some demo on it and it died and now it won't boot. The god forsaken YLOD ! Can it be repaired?

Of the two YLOD we experienced, we maanged to repair them with the reflow (hot air gun) enough to work a few times, which is enough to deactivate the console and copy off vital saves. Would probably be enough to allow a backup. However, restores to new consoles aren't straight forward. I don't think you can backup your games and restore them. In fact I'm certain you can't. As you have to download everything again anyway, the only real reason to get it working again is to deactivate it, and if Sony pull their fingers out and get the online management working, you won't have to worry about that. The repair never lasts long though. You'll need a replacement sooner or later.

 

[Brad Grenz]

Of the two YLOD we experienced, we maanged to repair them with the reflow (hot air gun) enough to work a few times, which is enough to deactivate the console and copy off vital saves. Would probably be enough to allow a backup. However, restores to new consoles aren't straight forward. I don't think you can backup your games and restore them. In fact I'm certain you can't. As you have to download everything again anyway, the only real reason to get it working again is to deactivate it, and if Sony pull their fingers out and get the online management working, you won't have to worry about that. The repair never lasts long though. You'll need a replacement sooner or later.

The transfer utility is the best option. If you have a new ps3 and can get the old one temporarily fixed you just connect them via a network cable and everything will be moved.

 

[Arwin]

A half decent alternative is using Playstation Plus to move your gamesaves to the cloud and copy them to your new PS3 from there. the rest can mostly be redownloaded. If you have stuff like Singstar or Rockband dlc, you may need to do some additional work like call Sony to have the drm released from your current PS3 so you can redownload it to your new.

But just to name an alternative, as the transfer cable us probably easiest. But who knows your PS3 dies during the transfer and then having your saves in the cloud covers at least the most important part. And who knows you may want to start fresh with your new PS3 anyway (I did)

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Asked a local console repair guy and he says he can do the repairs but it will come back again sooner or later ! Smeone told me that Sony has a ploicy that you can get a new ps3 on 40% or 50% off if you return a faulty one, but I am not sure. Need to ask Sony. But if I do that, I won't be able to transfer the data, that is if I can get it running at all, as I will have to return it to get a new one.

Also, my friend's Modern Warfare 2 disc is stuck in it , so I will have to do the hot air technique to get it to boot atleast once to get it out and deactivate all accounts.

Sometimes, I start thinking that maybe I should just let it go now. After all, I have played all the games that I had bought it for. All Uncharteds, MGS4, GOW3, Killzone2,all Resistances.......except for YThe Last Guardian(whose future is doubtful) everything special on the ps3 gen has already been played. Should I really be spending on a new ps3 now ? Or should I just let go and wait for the next gen ?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Also, my friend's Modern Warfare 2 disc is stuck in it , so I will have to do the hot air technique to get it to boot atleast once to get it out and deactivate all accounts.

That's what I thought, but I found an emergency eject on YouTube (after opening my PS3 for the second time!). Switch off your PS3 at the power button on the back. Then hold down the eject button while you switch the back switch on. It boots with full fans and spits out the disk. it's worth noting that there's no apparent eject on the BRD drive even when you do open up the case. Deactivation won't be a problem unless you have other accounts and contents hitting the limits so you can't redownload content. As my friends and I share accounts so we can play games round each others houses, 8 PS3's between us so far meant hitting the 5 activated PS3 limit so I had to deactivate my dead PS3 to recover an activation.

 

[Arwin]

That's what I thought, but I found an emergency eject on YouTube (after opening my PS3 for the second time!). Switch off your PS3 at the power button on the back. Then hold down the eject button while you switch the back switch on. It boots with full fans and spits out the disk. it's worth noting that there's no apparent eject on the BRD drive even when you do open up the case. Deactivation won't be a problem unless you have other accounts and contents hitting the limits so you can't redownload content. As my friends and I share accounts so we can play games round each others houses, 8 PS3's between us so far meant hitting the 5 activated PS3 limit so I had to deactivate my dead PS3 to recover an activation.

I think you can also call Sony to have your PS3 deactivated. It doesn't actually have to work.

Also note that my 60GB launch model didn't have the emergency eject option. But you can open it up, then open up the drive and then get it out. It's a hassle, but it's doable.

Personally I think there will be plenty of good titles coming still, but you can also just wait with getting a new one until you are sure yourself that you do need a new one. It's a simple matter of not doing anything and waiting to see what happens. Perhaps in the coming year you're better off with a Vita, even? I'm pretty set on getting one.

Though that said, I have two PS3s, and although I have PC and 360 as well, I couldn't live without them for sure - they are my main consoles for exclusives as well as multiplatforms. And I'm a big Move fan (Move Fitness is awesome, but I wouldn't want to miss stuff like Start the Party for the kids either), and even if I decided to invest in Kinect, it simply doesn't work in my house. Even some Move titles are already pushing it (have to play standing on the couch to get good scores for a handful of the Move Fitness mini-games even).

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Sony centre says that they can give me anew ps3 for 50% off. Nothing else they can do, no repairs, no other solution.

Did the hair dryer technique on my ps3 today so that I can start it and deactivate accounts. Haven't got the chance to switch it on yet, hope it works.

Btw, the emergency eject technique worked. Got my friend's MW2 out safely !