PS3 randomly turns off

**core2kid** · 10-21-2011,12:49 AM

So have a 60GB Backwards compatible model. System was working fine until while updating, the PS3 just shut off with the red LED blinking. O tried hitting the power button but it didn't do anything. I had to flip the switch from the back.

Turned it back on and attempted the update again. Half way through, it did the same thing. This time I saw it briefly flash yellow.

Took it apart and popped it on my reflow station. Reflowed the board (I've reflowed many other 360s and PS3s successfully) and put it back together. During the update it shut off, this time it didn't flash yellow, just red constantly.

Turned it right back on and let it idle at the XMB. After about 10 min, the fan ramped up to level 2. As soon as ramping to level 2, the fans hit level 5 for about a second, system flashed yellow and shut off.

I'm stuck here guys, I have no idea what's going on. Funny thing is that I can turn it right back on after the YLOD without problems. Any ideas?

**8-bit** · 10-21-2011,03:03 AM

Sadly I had this problem with my 60gb ps3, one thing no one ever told me was that the 60gb model had a heating issue, reflowing it never fixed it, just for a few minutes, then it did it again, I did a lot of research and everyone said the same thing, a. reflow it and that will fix it, or b. thats a very common problem with that model no way to fix it, so I gave up, sorry to tell you this, but you got the Yellow Light of Death, the 10 minutes goes quicker if you try and play a disc, and disc being read will heat it up faster..

**blank_dvd** · 10-21-2011,09:23 AM

Yep.. your PS3 is done for. Happened to my 60GB Summer 2010. You could get it reflowed but that's just a temporary fix..

Sorry about that.

**jac72** · 10-21-2011,10:08 AM

I had a launchtime 60gb model. About a couple of months ago it started doing the cutting off randomly thing too. I never noticed any yellow lights though. Luckily about a couple of months before that I invested in a "just in case" brand new slim that had 3.55 on it. That slim was some good forward thinking for me, because the old one is now just spare parts. After opening it up, I saw an area on the motherboard that had taken some serious heat damage. Some kind of coating had even melting and leaked around onto the board in a certain corner. And in that area there were about 3 little electrical parts that looked burned to hell. My guess is that the second it needs to access that area of the board, it dies.

**core2kid** · 10-21-2011,11:30 AM

Originally Posted by blank_dvd

Yep.. your PS3 is done for. Happened to my 60GB Summer 2010. You could get it reflowed but that's just a temporary fix..

Sorry about that.

Originally Posted by 8-bit

Sadly I had this problem with my 60gb ps3, one thing no one ever told me was that the 60gb model had a heating issue, reflowing it never fixed it, just for a few minutes, then it did it again, I did a lot of research and everyone said the same thing, a. reflow it and that will fix it, or b. thats a very common problem with that model no way to fix it, so I gave up, sorry to tell you this, but you got the Yellow Light of Death, the 10 minutes goes quicker if you try and play a disc, and disc being read will heat it up faster..

Thing is guys I did reflow it, on the same machine where I've reflowed several other PS3s and 360s. Fan doesn't ramp up until the last second till it turns off so is it still overheating? There's warm air coming out the back so I know the fan is doing it's job.

This isn't my PS3, it's my friends and I really wanna help him out here. My launch 60GB is still running strong, all it needed was a new laser. Fan ramps up to 2 or 3 while playing a game, I've never heard it any higher. Then again, I used these instead of thermal paste:
Coollaboratory*Liquid MetalPad - the innovation of cooling for High-End sytems

**bryceone** · 10-21-2011,12:15 PM

Originally Posted by core2kid

Thing is guys I did reflow it, on the same machine where I've reflowed several other PS3s and 360s. Fan doesn't ramp up until the last second till it turns off so is it still overheating? There's warm air coming out the back so I know the fan is doing it's job.

This isn't my PS3, it's my friends and I really wanna help him out here. My launch 60GB is still running strong, all it needed was a new laser. Fan ramps up to 2 or 3 while playing a game, I've never heard it any higher. Then again, I used these instead of thermal paste:
Coollaboratory*Liquid MetalPad - the innovation of cooling for High-End sytems

Ok when you guys say "reflowed", what is that exactly?? I had a similar problem with my 120GB PS3. My brother-in-law did something to fix it where he opened the PS3, had to turn these things a little bit, and my PS3 has been working ever since. Something he found on youtube. Is it the same thing?

**2615863** · 10-21-2011,12:50 PM

Originally Posted by core2kid

So have a 60GB Backwards compatible model. System was working fine until while updating, the PS3 just shut off with the red LED blinking. O tried hitting the power button but it didn't do anything. I had to flip the switch from the back.

Turned it back on and attempted the update again. Half way through, it did the same thing. This time I saw it briefly flash yellow.

Took it apart and popped it on my reflow station. Reflowed the board (I've reflowed many other 360s and PS3s successfully) and put it back together. During the update it shut off, this time it didn't flash yellow, just red constantly.

Turned it right back on and let it idle at the XMB. After about 10 min, the fan ramped up to level 2. As soon as ramping to level 2, the fans hit level 5 for about a second, system flashed yellow and shut off.

I'm stuck here guys, I have no idea what's going on. Funny thing is that I can turn it right back on after the YLOD without problems. Any ideas?

You might wanna get it reballed, the lead free solder used for the ps3's gpu and cpu is shit

**core2kid** · 10-21-2011,08:55 PM

Originally Posted by 2615863

You might wanna get it reballed, the lead free solder used for the ps3's gpu and cpu is shit

Thought about that but it's not worth it in my opinion. I'll spend about $150. I can buy a refurbished system on Ebay for the same price. I do reflows, not reballs and I've never actually had a problem with a reflow. I agree, reball is the way to go but a reflow with replacing the thermal paste under the RSX heatspreadder works well too.

@bryceone
Reflow is then the solder under the GPU is heated to a temperature where it will flow again. YLOD is caused my microscopic cracks in the solder under the GPU (and rarely CPU)

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