Complete Guide to Reflowing the PS3

[cawthorne]

I fix consoles. I've fixed a few Ylods and I reflow as well. I have this little trick, which involves adding washers. It is similar to the RROD X-Clamp fix. Never had problems after doing that!

[dionatangg]

Nice job, that's the kindest gesture in the scene!

[barelynotlegal]

ThanX

[brandogg]

Once I read "heat gun" I knew that this was going to be a bad guide. First, the Cell isn't involved in the YLOD to begin with (you get the "green light of death" when the Cell has a cold solder joint), so there's no need to even go near it. Second, to properly reflow any console (or laptop motherboard, etc) you need to warm up the entire board, not just the chip that needs reflowing. Third, Arctic Silver 5 is actually a bad choice for the thermal paste that goes on top of the heat spreaders (though it's perfectly fine for going between the die of the GPU and the heat spreader), a grease-like paste is a better option. I personally use the cheap Dynex stuff from Best Buy. I repair game consoles for a living, and out of about 55 successful repairs in the past 4 moths, only 2 have ever come back - also keep in mind that YLOD does not always mean there's something wrong with the GPU (though usually it is). It's nice if this worked for him on a console or two (just like you may get your Xbox up and running just by throwing some pennies under the board...another horrible idea), but this is by no means a proper way to reflow a PS3.

[kprz24]

Once I read "heat gun" I knew that this was going to be a bad guide. First, the Cell isn't involved in the YLOD to begin with (you get the "green light of death" when the Cell has a cold solder joint), so there's no need to even go near it. Second, to properly reflow any console (or laptop motherboard, etc) you need to warm up the entire board, not just the chip that needs reflowing. Third, Arctic Silver 5 is actually a bad choice for the thermal paste that goes on top of the heat spreaders (though it's perfectly fine for going between the die of the GPU and the heat spreader), a grease-like paste is a better option. I personally use the cheap Dynex stuff from Best Buy. I repair game consoles for a living, and out of about 55 successful repairs in the past 4 moths, only 2 have ever come back - also keep in mind that YLOD does not always mean there's something wrong with the GPU (though usually it is). It's nice if this worked for him on a console or two (just like you may get your Xbox up and running just by throwing some pennies under the board...another horrible idea), but this is by no means a proper way to reflow a PS3.

So then would you mind making a proper guide? is there a true permanent fix? What would you say is wrong when i dont get ylod but pretty much rlod it turns green then red? I used the stupid blow dryer through the back vent method a few times but it never lasted too long but it did work i just did it to avoid voiding my warranty just in case but would you say its worth opening it up for the other possible damage i did with the blow dryer?

[brandogg]

So then would you mind making a proper guide? is there a true permanent fix? What would you say is wrong when i dont get ylod but pretty much rlod it turns green then red? I used the stupid blow dryer through the back vent method a few times but it never lasted too long but it did work i just did it to avoid voiding my warranty just in case but would you say its worth opening it up for the other possible damage i did with the blow dryer?

I'm not going to write up a guide - it all depends on the hardware that you're using to to the actual work anyway, but here's a hint - there should be no heat gun involved (or a hair dryer) unless you're trying to remove the warranty sticker without leaving any residue. YLOD is when the system starts to boot (green light), then it flashes yellow (it may flicker blue if there's a disc in the tray), then beeps three times and turns red, blinks, and turns off, so you probably do have the YLOD. Running a hair dryer through the vents will do absolutely nothing. The first step in a "real guide" would involve purchasing around (at least) $300 in equipment as a bare minimum. I use an AOYUE 968 and the T-8280 (and a modified stand) for Xbox 360 consoles and PS3 consoles. I've done about 300 consoles in total, with probably a 90% success rate. I'd love to say I had a 95+% success rate, but Xbox 360 consoles that have been worked on by other people (like X-Clamp replacement, penny trick, etc) have a much lower chance of being successfully repaired because of the damage and warping done to the motherboard by all of the "tricks".

[mycopa]

Reflow sux. Reball rulez

[wmb88]

a proper reflow along with cooling fan mod fixes most of the YLOD problem and would last long. for some units, it will need re-balling , just depends on how bad the cracks of balls are.a proper re-flow means, you'll need to bring up the temperature to the point where the solder balls under the RSX evenly liquifying then hold the temp.for at least 20 seconds. no heatguns can achieve this but a BGA rework station can.re-balling surely fixes the problem that reflow can't do, but it would still fail sooner or late if you do not do cooling fan mod.

[miihackwii]

Reflow sux. Reball rulez

Yea deffo the way to go. I do this to fix ps3's.

[thommy86]

I'm not going to write up a guide - it all depends on the hardware that you're using to to the actual work anyway, but here's a hint - there should be no heat gun involved (or a hair dryer) unless you're trying to remove the warranty sticker without leaving any residue. YLOD is when the system starts to boot (green light), then it flashes yellow (it may flicker blue if there's a disc in the tray), then beeps three times and turns red, blinks, and turns off, so you probably do have the YLOD. Running a hair dryer through the vents will do absolutely nothing. The first step in a "real guide" would involve purchasing around (at least) $300 in equipment as a bare minimum. I use an AOYUE 968 and the T-8280 (and a modified stand) for Xbox 360 consoles and PS3 consoles. I've done about 300 consoles in total, with probably a 90% success rate. I'd love to say I had a 95+% success rate, but Xbox 360 consoles that have been worked on by other people (like X-Clamp replacement, penny trick, etc) have a much lower chance of being successfully repaired because of the damage and warping done to the motherboard by all of the "tricks".

what you are doing is still reflowing? isnt it.. just googled your devices and it looks nice.. but what is the main difference?

[Mark Webber]

what you are doing is still reflowing? isnt it.. just googled your devices and it looks nice.. but what is the main difference?

For real? You cant see the difference between an infrared system and a paint stripper gun from the hardware?

Infrared for one does not blow hot air all over the place with the possiblity of damaging other parts nearby, or even blowing small capacitors etc off the board.
The heat is focused and 100% controlled. All systems I have ever used also come with a pre-heat plate to prevent warping of the board and minimise the temps & time needed on the part in question.

Yes you can do this with a paint stripper gun, but it is not accurate in the slightest & normally causes more harm then good.
As for 360's with the "x-clamp fix", as soon as I see those washers I close it up and hand it back. It is not worth my time.

I am not knocking this guide in the slightest, but people really need to know this is not how it is done unless you have no other option.

[GeToChKn]

Once I read "heat gun" I knew that this was going to be a bad guide.

People do more damage following this and youtube videos than anything. Spend $40 or so and get a proper reflow. First, a heatgun for 20-30s is not going to heat the solder under the chips to a proper temp. I have a ACHI IR-PRO and my profile runs for almost 10mins to get the temps to the proper temps and warm the entire board. People bring me heatgunned boards with crappy flux under the chips and I refuse to fix them anymore, cause 90% of the time, they killed the board with a paintstripper. This isn't a guide, its more like religious book, because it involves lots of prayer that it actually works.

[brandogg]

It makes me laugh when people bring in consoles that have flux either pooled under the GPU (and CPU, for no reason), or even better all over the bottom of the board. Still though, even on pre-"fixed" consoles I'd say I can still get 2 out of 3 back up and running, but the problem is that we get so damn many of them at our shop. I do use flux on all 360s but haven't used any on PS3s yet.

[blazie151]

Once I read "heat gun" I knew that this was going to be a bad guide. First, the Cell isn't involved in the YLOD to begin with (you get the "green light of death" when the Cell has a cold solder joint), so there's no need to even go near it. Second, to properly reflow any console (or laptop motherboard, etc) you need to warm up the entire board, not just the chip that needs reflowing. Third, Arctic Silver 5 is actually a bad choice for the thermal paste that goes on top of the heat spreaders (though it's perfectly fine for going between the die of the GPU and the heat spreader), a grease-like paste is a better option. I personally use the cheap Dynex stuff from Best Buy. I repair game consoles for a living, and out of about 55 successful repairs in the past 4 moths, only 2 have ever come back - also keep in mind that YLOD does not always mean there's something wrong with the GPU (though usually it is). It's nice if this worked for him on a console or two (just like you may get your Xbox up and running just by throwing some pennies under the board...another horrible idea), but this is by no means a proper way to reflow a PS3.

I agree. Whenever you see someone doing a reflow with a heat gun there's problems. Board warping, uneven heating, damaging capacitors, thermal shock, and popcorning the GPU/CPU/Northbridge/Southbridge are all major problems with doing a reflow like this. Most people don't realize that these boards and BGA chips absorb moisture from the air, so when you heat them up like this the water vapor actually de-laminates the BGA chips.

The way that this should be done is with an IR reflow oven or preheater, both using a specific profile for the console. You want to control the entire heating process so that it doesn't damage the more sensitive components on the board, and you never want to heat the board up too fast.

As far as reflowing, it should only be done a maximum of 3 times. I have found it works fine most of the time with Xbox 360s, but with PS3s the failure rate is much higher. I prefer re-balling the PS3 GPU instead of reflowing the entire board multiple times. The problem with the PS3 is that the lead-free solder that's used from Sony's manufacturing process is susceptible to stress cracks. Re-balling the PS3 GPU with a good quality, lead based solder is much more effective than reflowing it.

I own an electronic repair shop in Aventura, FL that handles smartphones, consoles, PCs, laptops, and macs. Personally, when I repair PS3's, I re-ball the GPU, then replace the thermal compound both under and over the IHS with Arctic Ceramique 2. The success rate is extremely high, and I never see them back in my store. As far as the equipment; I use an Aoyue 2702A+ with a 4545 nozzle and an Aoyue 883 IR preheater with 3 thermal probes, 63/37 leaded solder balls, and chip quik SMD 291 no-clean flux.

[xboxmods2977]

The best re-flow tutorial I've seen anywhere online (for people that don't want to buy expensive equipment, and/or are afraid to use a heat gun) is the one on youtube where the guy uses a regular oven to repair his consoles. He repairs them out of his house, as a side business, by baking them in the oven. This is as close to "even heating" as you can get without resorting to commercial equipment.

Have a look for it. He gives you the proper temps and times, along with the proper board prep prior to baking. He repairs a 360 in the tut, but it will work for the PS3 as well, assuming that your particular issue can be rectified with a re-flow, that is.

[blazie151]

The best re-flow tutorial I've seen anywhere online (for people that don't want to buy expensive equipment, and/or are afraid to use a heat gun) is the one on youtube where the guy uses a regular oven to repair his consoles. He repairs them out of his house, as a side business, by baking them in the oven. This is as close to "even heating" as you can get without resorting to commercial equipment.

Have a look for it. He gives you the proper temps and times, along with the proper board prep prior to baking. He repairs a 360 in the tut, but it will work for the PS3 as well, assuming that your particular issue can be rectified with a re-flow, that is.

I could see that working if it was controlled right. Basically, foil balls under the board to slightly raise it off the rack, with a foil sheet both under and over the board to prevent the direct heat from melting the plastics. Ramping up the temps slowly over 15 minutes till it gets to right below reflow temp, jacking it up to 260C (500F) for 1 minute, then turning the oven off and opening the door for about 10 seconds to allow a rapid drop to around 200C, then closing the door and allowing it to slowly cool for about 30-45 minutes. It would mimic a reflow oven pretty closely if you had a good enough oven. I saw a modified toaster oven that did that. The only problem is that reflows on PS3s suck, they're nowhere near as successful as they are for Xbox 360s. Normally a PS3 needs to be reballed to completely fix it permanently.