PS3 Hardware Problem

[demonfox13]

slowmo said:

Netyaroze said:
It would be ideal to have a back up before the system wont turn on anymore.

Also your problem seems to be dry cooling paste. You have a 20gb model which is 5 years old. The cooling paste on GPU and CPU will be dry by now. That is bad for the transport of heat. And makes your system turn off.

To prevent damages on CPU or GPU just open up the PS3 remove fan and heatsink and apply fresh cooling paste on CPU/GPU. You will find video tutorials on youtube how to do it. That should solve your problem and buy the best paste available so it wont dry up as fast.

The cooling paste on a PS3 is "dry" pretty much from new as it is designed to set.  It is true that there are pastes that maintain a "wet" state but such pastes tend to de-nature over time losing their viscosity and hence their thermal trasfer properties.  The paste Sony use as standard is not the most efficient but it is built to be durable and last over time, if you replace the paste with a superior conductive compund then you would expect to have to replace that paste every 12 months at least in most cases under heavy use to maintain the benefits.

There are many different types of thermal compund and they all react differently and have different viscosities, that's not mentioning how the most thermally conductive ones are also generally electrical conductors due to metal content so you should be extra careful to not apply excessively.

I'd personally look at Artic Cooler's MX-4 paste as it is genuinely a great product that lasts a long time and doesn't require any curing time while also providing temps close to the big hitters such as Artic Silver's AS5.  It's also quite cheap which is another feather in it's cap.

 

P.S.  Even if this does get your PS3 up and running again I would backup your data and sell it on or trade in for a new one as soon as possible as once these issues start they're likely to always be present and you'll never have that same faith you used to have in it's reliability.

I have my MGS4 bundle model still fine (80gb) 'knock on wood', but I like to be cautious. I did remember reading something about using lead or something, have you heard about this? Is it a good idea if the need arises? Supposedly it's a more permanent solution.