[Closed] Fixing a PS3

Base operating system is in ROM. Swap HD, turn on, play.

just be really careful of the fixings screws on he cage ans they are made of cheese.

Nevermind I just googled it.... New hard drive ordered (500gb WD blue) and latest firmware being downloaded. Seems straightforward.

oooh he says theres 20 odd games, steering wheel and a gun i can have too. i feel like im 12 again

Let me know if you want to play GTAV online 🙂

Hmm..... Ive had the controller plugged into my laptop overnight, doesn't appear to have charged (not been used for a couple of years.. dead??)

Got a few games here I wont play so will probs exchange them for GTAV, I'll give you a shout eh?

Can sometimes be a faff formatting and installing the OS. Loads of guides on YouTube though.

The controllers charge best when connected vto the ps3 - it might be OK.

Yeah the controllers on PS3 don't charge well from a PC for some reason.

Aggghghhh - You shouldn't have gotten the WD HD means you can't play Uncharted 3.

How come?

I did a hard reset and fully formatted the original 120gb, opened up and cleaned the dust out and it wasn't all that bad.

While downloading a 2gb update the console turned off. No yellow lights or owt. Read that if you unplug the power cable, hold the eject button and plug it in the fan spins up at full speed for 20 seconds and clears out any fluff (not that I saw any). Tried again to download and again it turned off. I'm guessing a dodgy hard drive wont be causing this, something more sinister? I read that it might be a good idea to clean the old thermal paste off the cpu/sink and reapply some more. Am I looking at a potentially expensive fix if this doesn't do the trick?

Oh, and why can't you play Uncharted with a WD 500gb drive? Seems odd.

Am I looking at a potentially expensive fix if this doesn't do the trick?

Odd if you're not getting any lights, I forget what colour lights mine had when it did that, but any fix I did (with new solder etc) was short lived. RIP.

Might strip it and clean the old thermal paste off the gpu/cpu and reapply some fresh stuff. I reckon it's overheating and cutting off to prevent meltdown. As it's 4 years old and we're in Oz it's probably not lasted as long as it perhaps would have done in cooler ambient temps.

[url= http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Fix-a-PS3-by-Reflowing-the-Motherboard/ ]This[/url] was the recommended fix for mine (yellow light of death), caused by the soldered joints on the motherboard/CPU/GPU failing.

Each time it worked for a couple of hours, then would bleed three times (IIRC) and shut down, then do it within seconds of turning back on from there on. Gave up in the end!

talking of PS3's I can't log on for some reason and my dob doesn't work either.

How can I reset it or find my password?

Yeah I saw that fix...I may have got given the machine but I'm not putting it in the oven. I read that as the solder doesn't have lead in it doesn't last as long? Worst case scenario I've got some leave to cash in at work so may just part ex the games towards a 4

I used a heatgun, like I say, it worked on each occasion (luckily, because every time it happened you couldn't get it to power up long enough to eject the disc, so you had to do something!), but only for a short while.

I bought a kit on eBay for a few quid which contained new flux, thermal paste etc.

Very nicely put together piece of kit though, the new super-slim or whatever they call it which I replaced it with is plasticy tat in comparison!

I replaced mine with a super slim, because the PS3 is basically the whole of our family entertainment. It's cheap, but there's zero fan noise which is a big improvement.

PS3's second hand are still stupid prices, like $300+ on Gumtree.

My bro in the UK got offered ten quid for his at Game!

I'm leaning towards getting a local dude to reflow it as it's $50 and a 6 month warranty. The cheaper the better for me! I've seen the super slim and yeah it does look and feel cheap by comparison.

Hmm after looking at it and testing it he said its likely the wifi/network chip was buggered as everything else tested fine. Said a reflow and thermal paste was $120 and said it'd be a waste of cash

Soooooo..... found a dude selling a super slim 12gb with bf4, gta v and gt6 for an extremely reasonable price and can put the 120gb drive from the knackered machine into the new one.

Looks like a weekend of downloading updates.... huzzah!

hopefully my old username will be resurrected - aphex_2k if anyone wants to add me I should be up and running soon.