I don't think it has directly to do with YLOD. Well, at least I never heard of it being a prelude to YLOD, and when my PS3 had one it came out of nowhere.But it could be an overheating issue, I never had that problem, but I read in a German forum one year ago that some people had the same problem and it's very likely that it has to do with overheating. The problems disappeared after changing the position of their PS3s and/or turning down the heat.

But I can't say for sure.

Edit: I saw, you found the problem

Might be a graphic card problem from the symptoms. Doesn't feel like ylod though.

Edit: ........Problem solved before solutions arrived.

I had this very same problem last night with FIFA 11

don't worry that happens to me quite often its not a big deal

Yea, the cable alone can cause huge troubles, I bought a super cheap cable on Amazon for like $3 after shipping and after about 2 days, the screen would start going insane on me and then not display anything.  I was getting super worried that my brand spanking new ps3 had a couple errors.  After I swapped over and used the heavy duty HDMI cable we have plugged into our dish, it worked flawlessly.  It's good to hear that yours is good now too :)

HDMI cables are a b*tch. My brothers mid-range HDMI cable always use to mess up sometimes, but my £2 one has never ever had a hiccup (touchwood!)

I just want to say that some people think that all HDMI cables are the same which is not true because it's all digital.  Glad you got your problem resolved.

It's probably a synch issue with hdmi. I get it too sometimes in the form of fine white vertical lines. I run hdmi through an amp, switching to a different channel and back instantly solves the problem. I use expensive cables, don't think it's the cable.

It happens too with hdtv, sometimes the amp and the hdpvr can't agree on the sound format and it just keeps switching back and forth without sound until I switch to a different input and back.

Ylod unfortunately comes without any warning :(

I heard that happens and then, the problem appears to solve itself by imitating a dodgy HDMI connection.  Two days later, the PS3 melts down.

I would say no.