So it all started 3 days ago, when I was playing Yakuza 3. I had fun trying to catch fishes in the sea when the game freezed for a second and then my PS3 shut down by itself. At first I said **** as I had not saved for a while and then I simply stopped playing not really caring as to why it shut down by itself.
A while later that day, I started my PS3 again. Everything was normal until, after only a couple of minutes, it froze and shut again. That's when I said **** and that's when I knew something was wrong. So I started it again but this time, it didn't open normally. I had the infamous YLOD. Green then yellow then the blinking red. ****. It had to happen the day school ended.
But I am not one to despair! I had heard in the past of a way to fix the YLOD problem. So after a couple of google search, I stumbled on a video walkthrough describing a way to fix a YLOD PS3. The sheer number of views and the positive comments to the video gave me hope!
I was expecting the solution to be rather simple but after skimming the video (which is seperated in 6 parts) for a couple of minutes I realized it was a complex procedure that required tools such as a heat gun or thermal compound. So I looked on a couple of websites to see how much all of these tools would cost me and it ended up costing around 50$ for everything that was required to fix my PS3. That's 100$ less than a repair from Sony and 250$ less than a new PS3. But you see, mine is backward compatible making it more valuable.
That same day, I started to follow the instructions dictated by the video. There's this one step, the one requiring the heat gun, that is vital to the success of the fix. You have to heat the Cell (zomg I've seen it with my own eyes!) to 350°C for 15 seconds. That basically makes the tin melt. So that's what I did. But reaching the Cell is no easy task. You have to tear apart your PS3 into hundreds of peices. All in all, it took me about 2 hours to fully complete the procedure. I then plugged my PS3 and clicked on the open button...Green then yellow then the blinking red. Aww.
I'm then trying to think at what I might have done wrong. I heated the Cell for 15 seconds. Check. I heated it at 350°. Check. But wait, my heat gun works in °F. *facepalm* So that means I actually heated the Cell at 175°C. Fail.
It sure gave me hope though. But the day was over and I went to sleep.
So I tried it again the next day. This time it took me a lot less time. I'd say 1 hour. Now I'm sure I heated the Cell at 350°C for 15 seconds. Once everything was completed, I plugged my PS3 and clicked on the open button...Green then yellow then the blinking red.
But I am not one to despair, as I said earlier. I tried it again for a third time the day after. I said: "I'm going to melt you damn Cell." So I disassembled my PS3 in order to reach the Cell and then I cooked it at 400°C for 20 seconds. At that point I was having fun. The whole thing took me an hour to do. So I then plugged my PS3 and clicked on the open button...Green then...green! Omg! I just fixed my YLOD PS3!
Yes, third time's the charm!
So don't give up people and stay positive and have patience for it will bring you good!
I'd like to thank gilksy a lot for helping me fix my PS3. Here is the first video of a series of 6 describing how to fix your YLOD PS3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U70SgRDVcBo. It worked for me and I hope this will help you fix your's as well.
