A month or 2 ago my PS3 got the ylod.

My basic reaction was as follows:

Having no computer hardware tech experience, I went to the most knowledgeable place I could think of.  The internet.

I found this thread on the playstation forums, and I stared at it for weeks, because I really didn't have the balls to rip apart a machine I had paid $600 dollars for.

Yesterday, I decided I needed to just sack up and do it, so I went out and bought a heat gun, Arctic Silver, and some alcohol and did the deed.

Here it is with the top taken off.  Power supply is the box on the left, the BD drive is the one on the right:

After a while, I had it all gutted, with the ass load of screws that keep it together in my hat:

Old Thermal paste I had to replace on the fan unit:

Close up of the RSX Chip.  I tried to get one of the CELL but the lighting was not cooperating:

After taking it all apart I "re-flowed" and applied new thermal paste...and then put it all back together.  This is the point where I noticed that there was a small rubber padstill sitting on my table.  I'm assuming that if it had a hand it would have been giving me the middle finger and laughing, because I had to re-break down the PS3, find where it went, and then put it all back together again. 

When it happpened I kind of felt like the guy in blue:

Anyway, after that slight hiccup, I plugged the PS3 in and pressed the power button and held my breath...

My reaction:

Also, here is a pic of my copy of Red Dead thats been stuck inside of it since it broke:

So overall a pretty fun experience (and experiment) that worked out pretty well!

Wow, nice work! =)

I wouldn't have the guts for that. Neither the tools. Let alone the patience.

Great job.

good job

my only problem i had with my PS3 was the laser disk melted. dont worry guys it only happened because i played it in my room, with no air conditioning on an day it was 50 degrees Celsius making it around 60 degrees in my room. 

I hope yours ends up better than mine. I had a good time with my 60gb (at LEAST 6 days a week for video games and movies) from launch up until February this year. At first it yellow lighted and i left it alone for a while. Then I tried the heat gun technique... and it worked! Well, for about a month. Left it alone for a month and tried it again. Lasted only about a week. Now whenever I turn it on, it just shuts off and dies between the first minute to an hour of being on. At least it was enough time to back up my saves.... but when I buy a new ps3, I don't know if I will be able to transfer my Demon's Souls save data :(

After going through all that and fixing it, your reaction should've been much more epic...

lol awesome. you're a inspiration to all of us who lack the balls to rip apart 600$ machines.

i'd do some backups though just for safe-keeping. i've heard several stores of fixed up ps3's not always lasting too long.

Way to go, your gamble paid off.

Awesome work, were there any negative side effects?

CONGRATS!!!!