As far as I know, all refurbs are shipped with brand new case/housings. Mine had the protective contact film still attached to all panels.

SCE rarely "fixes" your specific console due to the extra turnaround time involved. So in most cases with a YLOD turn in, you will be receiving a different console with a different serial number.

ABSOLUTELY NO MY PS3 HAD SOMETHING BEHIND(SMALL SCRATCH) THAT I CAN RECONGNISE IT IT WAS STILL THERE

Dead motherboard. Most likely from thermal breakdown of the solder joints or TIM. It had a lot of hours of runtime on it (well over 5,000 including about 6 months of 24/7 runtime). I kept the console casing dust free, and the area around the console dust free, but over that much time, it still managed to suck in a lot of dust/fiber which made the console run hotter over time. Fan noise became a bit more pronounced, which should have been the tip off.

you know what? that sounds a lot like my console. I have had it since launch day and i have noticed the fan was getting to be pretty loud. But it was doing that for a while so i didn't think it was anything to serious. Obviously it was though. But i see you said you weren't about to wait 3-4 weeks to get a new console. So are you saying you bought another console while waiting and now have two consoles? Also how long did the whole procedure of getting the refurb take? Thanks very much 

i got my ps3 from repair in 6 days

I bought a second non-BC PS3 during the week I was debating whether or not to have my original repaired.

I finally got tired of looking at my old 60GB just sitting there lifeless and sent it in for a repair/refurb.

For me, the turnaround time was pretty quick once the coffin arrived. Only problem was distro screwed up the initial repair order and sent it to somewhere in the wrong city, which was then routed back to the distro warehouse adding about two or so weeks until I saw the second coffin. But once I received the second coffin, and dropped it off at the UPS center, I think they got it back to me in less than two weeks. Pretty quick.

^That is pretty much where i am now. Debating... i am just worried the refurb will break after 4 months.

Here is what I did when it happened to me .

Bought a SLIM the day the PS3 died.

Found a local repair guy on Craig list.

Got old 80Gb PS3 repaired for 50$ in 1 day ( I drove 100 miles to drop my PS3 and went to pick it up the next day).

Transfered all data from old PS3 to new SLIM.

Finished Dragon Age:origins on old PS3 ( save was protected and coudn't be transfered).

And now I'm using the old PS3 as a Blu Ray player solely.

So far it is still working...

Okay well i have decided to go with the refurbished one from sony. I figured if the refurb is going to break, it will probably break before 90 days warranty is up.

not true, its encrypted to his user profile. As long as he has the ps3 setup on the new one to his old name it will still work. I had to do this when my 60 gig died.