PlayStation 3 Suffering YLOD Death, Revived Using YLOD Kit & Guide

Mijn probleem

When the PS3 was powered-on the green status light would indicate normal startup for 15 seconds, then the PS3 would beep three times and the status light would oscillate from red to yellow for 5 seconds, finally the PS3 would display a solid red status light and appear to be shutdown.

Mijn oplossing

The repair effort was excellent and proceeded smoothly! My son & I actually had fun performing the repair.

Quite frankly, I'm amazed my Son & I successfully repaired his PS3 since the IFIXIT repair approach includes COMPLETE PS3 disassembly and use of a heat gun to re-flow solder on the motherboard -- At first my son was reluctant to attempt such a repair but agreed once I offered the PS3 was already dead and worst case outcome would be "its still dead".

I received the kit with expedited delivery. All parts were included and packaged properly.

I watched the video twice but performed the Disassembly-Repair-Reassembly using the Step-by-Step Guide. The video was short but comprehensive providing good visuals with clear concise commentary. The guide was well written with excellent photographs. I followed the guide as written and did not encounter any unclear steps or ambiguities. The step-by-step procedure required removing the hard drive, top case, blue-ray drive, power supply, user panel interface card, memory card, heat sink, and enclosure. I carefully followed the guide but exercised extreme caution performing the motherboard heat gun treatment technique. As expected we found dried thermal paste on the CPU and GPU. Application of new thermal paste and pads was straightforward. Reassembly was easy using the recommended starting point step -- in hindsight I regret not taking photos during the process. The repair time was four hours.

With the repair complete followed by a PS3 power-up, the smile on my son's face confirmed a job well-done and provided me with a sense of accomplishment far exceeding the cost of the YLOD kit and the time invested to perform the repair.

We could not have performed this repair without the IFIXIT Guide and toolset. While one can obtain tools from many sources, IFIXIT provides an inexpensive $39.95 kit which includes the proper tools sized for this specific application.

Thank you IFIXIT!!!

Mijn advies

The video/guide provide everything you need to know. I offer three suggestions:

1) Before performing the repair procedure read the step-by-step guide to provide yourself an overview of the process.

2) During disassembly you will handle a large number of screws. Identify and use some method to keep track of these screws. I organized my work by using five 8.5" by 11" sheets of paper. All sheets were marked showing the PS3 front, side with hard drive, and rear. Starting with the PS3 rear/hard drive side corner I removed screws in a clockwise manner and used small pieces of tape to arrange screws on the paper in-accordance with the order removed.

3) Eliminate dust from all components and sub-assemblies before re-assembling the PS3.

In retrospect the repair procedure was easier than you might think.

IFIXIT is a wonderful resource!!!