Anyone try that hair dryer trick on YLOD?

[bugrimmar]

slowmo said:

bugrimmar said:

Diablerie said:

No, but I've tried the oven trick and it worked.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RovgIm-33k0

I won't say that yours will/could work after trying this.  At the time it sounded crazy but I did not have the money to fix my PS3 so I took the risk.

I also replaced the thermal paste on the GPU and CPU.

I even went a step further and connected a third wire between the fan and the PSU, making the fan run at top speed as soon as you turn the PS3 on.  It is loud but it is not hot (Please note that there are multiple wires on each of these parts, choosing the correct wires for the third is a must.  A google search on the process would be a wise decision). 

My PS3 is still working, 1 year and 2 months after this fix.  A 60GB week 1 purchase PS3.

wtf? you mean we can really do this kind of stuff? but why does it work? i don't understand. it seems so impossible.

Most issues with YLOD (and indeed RROD on 360) are related to failures in the solder balls underneath the CPU/GPU.  They crack or bridge contacts in some cases.  By heating the board to such an excessive amount it can if you're lucky reflow the solder (You need to get the solder to around 230 degrees).  The downside is that you're putting enormous heat through the chip you're reflowing which if you put too much can damage the chip itself. 

The hairdryer trick isn't a long term fix, in fact it's unlikely to work as a short term fix in most cases.  At best the hairdryer may get warm enough warp the board shape thus causing solder balls to make contact again for a brief while until the board returns to it's natural shape.  The oven fix mentioned in this thread would definately reflow if done correctly but you run the risk of damaging more components.  Using a heat gun rather than a hair dryer with the motherboard isolated can work too although judging temperature would be tough.  Finally you can get a professional to repair it who would reflow using either a irda/hot air rework station.

oooo... science.... *drool*