I haven't had any problems with my ps3. I still have my 60gb system. Had it since august 07.

Depending on the nature of the hardware failure, a local repair shop may be your best bet as well as your best chance of keeping your saves and game data.

Most shops will probably end up disassembling the unit down to the motherboard and reflow the GPU, CPU and RAM solder and apply new TIM to the CPU and GPU when they reassemble it.

A more definitive fix (assuming no fried components) would be to reball the CPU and GPU solder joints, but good luck finding a shop that would be willing to do that for less than the cost of a factory refurb from SCE.

With the older BC units, it's actually not a bad idea to pay the $150 for SCE to "repair" your console as in most cases, you'll receive a refurbished unit in a new casing. Unfortunately, everything on your HDD would be gone since it would be a different console than the one you sent in.

Like most have been saying here, the general hardware failure (YLOD) is almost always caused by overheating.

Extended use with a combination of inadequate ventilation, which includes dust and debris clogging up the cooling system over time, running in warmer or hot temperatures, etc. can accelerate the breakdown process leading to overheated solder joints and eventually broken solder joints = hardware failure.

Vacuum the dust out periodically. More often if you don't dust your place often. The warning sign of a clogged up or overheating system will usually be faster (louder) fan speeds as the console tries to compensate for the inadequate volume of cool airflow.