Introduction
Use this guide to repair PlayStation 3s with the "Yellow Light of Death" error.
Note: Your PlayStation may look slightly different inside. Be cautious when performing this process on your machine.
What you need
Video Overview
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Use the tip of a spudger to remove the black rubber screw cover from the side of the PS3.
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Remove the following seven screws:
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Six 52 mm Phillips screws
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One 30 mm Phillips screw
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Lift the top cover from its rear edge and rotate it toward the front of the PS3.
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Remove the top cover.
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There is a plastic hook located in a hole on the top back right hand side corner. Carefully push the plastic hook a bit from the rear of the machine with a spudger to release the rear right of the casing.
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Lift the Blu-ray drive from the edge nearest the power supply and rotate it away from the chassis enough to access its ribbon cable.
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Use your fingernail to flip up the retaining flap on the Blu-ray ribbon cable socket.
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Pull the ribbon cable out of its socket.
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Remove the Blu-ray drive from the PS3.
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Pull the control board ribbon cable straight up and out of its socket on the motherboard.
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Remove the two 12 mm Phillips screws securing the control board to the lower case.
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Remove the control board and its attached cable from the PS3.
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Remove the following eight screws securing the motherboard assembly to the lower case:
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Seven 12 mm Phillips screws (ph2)
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One 30 mm Phillips screw
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Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the hard drive bay cover away from the lower case.
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Remove the hard drive bay cover.
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Pull the AC-In cables slightly away from the rear cover for clearance to access the AC-In connector.
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While depressing its locking mechanism, pull the AC-In connector out of its socket on the power supply.
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Pull the AC inlet out from the bottom of the rear cover, minding any of its cables that may get caught.
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While lightly pulling the rear cover away from the logic board assembly, use the flat end of a spudger to release the clips along the top and bottom edges of the rear cover.
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De-route the fan cables from the plastic finger molded into the heat sink.
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Disconnect the fan from the motherboard.
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Lift the memory card reader out of the PS3 enough to access its ribbon cable.
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Flip up the retaining flap on the memory card reader ribbon cable socket.
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Pull the ribbon cable out of its socket and remove the memory card reader.
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Lift the power supply by its front edge to clear the two posts attached to the motherboard.
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Remove the power supply.
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Remove the four 16.5 mm shouldered Phillips screws securing the heat sink to the motherboard.
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Remove the two brackets held under the screws you just removed.
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Lift the motherboard assembly off the heat sink.
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Be sure to apply a new layer of thermal paste when reattaching the heat sink.
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Flip up the retaining flap on the Blu-ray ribbon cable socket.
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Remove the Blu-ray ribbon cable.
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Flip up the retaining flap on the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth ribbon cable socket.
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Pull the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth ribbon cable out of its socket.
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Rotate the PRAM battery slightly counter-clockwise and remove it from the motherboard assembly.
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Push the hard drive cage toward the front of the motherboard assembly.
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Remove the hard drive from the motherboard assembly.
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Remove the two 8.3 mm #0 Phillips screws securing the two halves of the motherboard together.
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Carefully feed the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth ribbon cable through the hole in the top motherboard cover.
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Remove the top motherboard cover.
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Flip up the retaining flap on the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth ribbon cable socket.
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Remove the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth ribbon cable from the motherboard.
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Motherboard remains.
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Tool used on this step:Arctic Silver ArctiClean$9.99
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Using the flat end of the spudger, remove the old thermal paste off the CPU and GPU on the motherboard.
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Using a cleaner such as Arctic Silver's ArctiClean or high alcohol content rubbing alcohol, clean the CPU and GPU.
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Using your fingers or the flat end of a spudger, remove the old thermal pads on the logic board as indicated:
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Large square thermal pads
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Small square thermal pads
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Small rectangular thermal pads (located on the underside of the board, as highlighted in the second picture)
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Set the heat gun to "Low", and let it run for a few seconds to reach operating temperature.
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Holding the motherboard upright, warm up the entire board with the heat gun. The board should be warm, but not too hot.
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Set the motherboard on a support so that the CPU and GPU are completely supported and level.
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Using a circular motion, evenly heat (using low heat) each of the four areas for roughly 25 seconds each.
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Begin heating the GPU, marked "RSX", and heat the chips in a zig-zag order.
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Continue heating the chips using the same circular motion as described above, for about 25 seconds each.
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If you have not applied thermal paste before you can check our thermal paste guide whilst it is cooling.
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Apply a thin bead of thermal paste on the CPU.
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Using the thermal paste spreader card, spread the paste out thinly and evenly on the chip.
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In the same way, apply a thin layer of thermal paste on the GPU.
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Clean up any excess thermal paste off the motherboard.
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Apply the fresh thermal pads to the motherboard in the locations indicated:
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Large square pads
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Small square pads
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Small Rectangular Pads
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Two 3cm x 3cm Squares
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Ten 1cm x 1cm Squares
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Five 1.5cm x 0.5cm rectangles
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