PlayStation 3 Yellow Light of Death (YLOD) Fix Kit

My Problem

I had the dreaded yellow light of death.

My Fix

It went very well!Took some time, and my PS3 model was slightly different from one in the YLOD repair video, but once I found the right tutorial everything went very smoothly.

My Advice

Take your time! Clean out any dust while you are at it. I used a small soft paintbrush and air duster to gently clean any dust off the internal parts. My PS3 feels almost new again!

My Problem

I got my PS3 through the pre-order back when it came out. It worked flawlessly up until about a year and a half ago. 11 years is pretty good, I'd say. It started acting up with the fan running really long and louder and louder, so I knew it was going to crash at some point. Found a wicked deal on a brand new unopened PS4 on a Facebook sale site. My spoiled teenage kid got it for Christmas, then wanted the XBox One, which was selling it for $100. So I got it, and a month later my PS3 goes down with the YLOD. So I hooked up the PS4 and forgot about the PS3 until a few weeks ago, when iFixit sent me an email (used them to fix my phones in the past) about fighting to be able to fix our electronics. So I supported the fight and then checked out the site and found they had a YLOD fix kit. Ordered it, and it says it's a difficult job, but honestly, there wasn't anything difficult about it at all. If anything was difficult, it was the number of screws to remove and keep track of, and pulling out the backup battery and plug was a little tricky in that you need to be extra cautious.

Got the job done, hooked it up, and BAM! It works almost good as new...

Only issue now is that the fan is super loud, and I wish I would have replaced that too.

DONT DISCARD YOUR OLD ELECTRONICS—fix them!!

My Fix

Repair went smoothly... Like I said, if anything was difficult, it was keeping track of the screws. The way I manage that is, I lay them out in the same pattern from where I take them out. Most times screws are in groups of levels, so with each level I'll lay out one level pattern, then start another. This can be avoided if you place the screw back in the holes of a part you remove, but sometimes when picking the part back up, the screws fall out. So be careful either way.

And don't be scared of the heating process... Just hold the heat gun about an inch away, keep it moving in a circular motion over the 4 chip areas individually, and then same thing when you pre-heat the entire board—I used a grid pattern. Took maybe a minute on the board, and then 25-30 seconds per chip.

My Advice

The kit it comes with is almost all you need... My only suggestion would be a set of the tweezers that have a curled end, which came in my Pro Tech Toolkit. I used it to pry up the plug for the back-up battery while holding down the socket it was plugged into, as to not rip the socket from the motherboard. Probably could have accomplished that with the spudger and supplied flathead screwdriver as well, but I have the Pro Tech Toolkit, so I like to use it as much as possible to justify paying $80 for it at Radio Shack like 6 years ago lol

If I could go back, I would have replaced the fan as well... There is an upgraded fan I read about that's quieter, has more fins for better cooling, and uses less energy or something. So if you are about to do this job, go ahead and replace the fan while you have everything apart.

My Problem

It had the dreaded yellow light of death.

My Fix

The repair went fine. I followed the guide but was also following the video for more visual confirmation.

My Advice

Be careful lifting things because it could be attached with a ribbon. The provided thermal pads were hard to install due to the paper part being hard to remove. I actually almost ruined some so be careful on that too.

My Problem

Continued to get the RLOD (never had YLOD but tried this fix anyway)

My Fix

Replacing the parts went well, launching the PS3 also worked for about 2 or so hours...before overheating again :(

I believe I need to consider fully replacing the PS3 internals.

My Advice

It's a fair attempt to perform this fix and save the almighty PS3. In my case, the fix did not work for the long term.

My Problem

On startup, Ps3 would blink the yellow light with two beeps and immediately shut itself down.

My Fix

Very well, everything is up and running again.

My Advice

Keep track of where each screw goes with a mat/diagram.

The motherboard for my model (CHECHH01) was different than the manual, so I had to make some guesses about chips beyond the two obvious ones to heat and apply thermal tape to. Maybe alternative sets of pictures for different models from iFixIt would help.

My Problem

It stopped working. The yellow light of death was upon me!

My Fix

Fine. My PS3 works great. There are a lot of steps. It's not really hard, just a lot to do.

My Advice

Read all the notes people post! There are details you may miss - A warning.. be careful how you peel the backing off the thermal pads! There is a thin sticky clear layer that can be peeled off unintentionally making the pads unable to stick to properly.

My Problem

My PlayStation decided to stop working about a year ago. I finally decided to try and repair it. I tried the hair dryer and box method to no avail. I fixit was selling a repair kit that included tools that I could keep such as the heat gun and driver kit so I figured why not.

My Fix

The repair went smoothly. I had never taken a PS3 apart, but the instructions were simple; just had to take a little time to stay organized. I was worried that applying the heat might damage the card but I had faith in the instructions. Everything turned out perfect. I was a little worried that I would still see that yellow light when I turned it on but it started up without a hitch.

My Advice

Just follow the instructions! Be patient, don't rush.

My Problem

I fixed my PS3 because it got the yellow light of death. My PS3 is the rare version that could play earlier Playstation system games and I was concerned that if i sent it somewhere to be repaired I would not receive the same unit back.

My Fix

The repair was easy to do with the kit that I bought from ifixit. It had everything that I needed.

My Advice

The worst part of the process was removing he thermal pads from the non stick adhesive.