Need PS3 overheating help!!!!!

[jessickascarling]

Does anyone on here know what the hell I can do to fix my PS3?! Seriously. :mad: I can't even get passed the main login screen now. It keeps freezing on me. I have a 1st gen (I think it's the 40gig but I'm not too sure). I thought maybe it needed an update so I did that but I'm still having the issue. I wanted to try and reformat it to see if that helped but obviously I can't get that far now :( We bought it used from Game Stop in January/February. Dan and I are both reallllly upset that it stopped working when we don't abuse it AT ALL. I'm afraid that it overheated and now I'm going to need to replace a part but honestly I have no idea how to do that or what part needs to be replaced. Usually I'm pretty good with electronics but I'm not quite sure with this one.

Thanks for any help you guys can give me :)

[ishredNH]

Does anyone on here know what the hell I can do to fix my PS3?! Seriously. :mad: I can't even get passed the main login screen now. It keeps freezing on me. I have a 1st gen (I think it's the 40gig but I'm not too sure). I thought maybe it needed an update so I did that but I'm still having the issue. I wanted to try and reformat it to see if that helped but obviously I can't get that far now :( We bought it used from Game Stop in January/February. Dan and I are both reallllly upset that it stopped working when we don't abuse it AT ALL. I'm afraid that it overheated and now I'm going to need to replace a part but honestly I have no idea how to do that or what part needs to be replaced. Usually I'm pretty good with electronics but I'm not quite sure with this one.

Thanks for any help you guys can give me :)

You are probably going to have to send it back :(

[Robk0000]

if it were an xbox i can help but, ive never opened a ps3.

[AExiOn]

Yeah I never opened a ps3 my self

Did plenty of ps2 repairs

it sounds like you can either send it back

Or with some electronic skills, open it up, watch for small ribbon cables they put in there, get a can of duster, blow all the crap out of there, reassemble and test

Also verify the fans are working in it.

Hell try just takeing can air and just blowing into the vents and see if you can get some of the dust out that way. dont use an air compressor or vacum, unless its one of those keyboard vacums, then suck the loose dust in the air as you blow it with some canned air

DIRTY!!!!

[jessickascarling]

Well its not under any kind of warranty so if I send it back I'm not sure what they're gonna charge. I will def call them. I will also try to some canned air and HOPEFULLY (fingers crossed) it'll work!

Thanks for the suggestions :). I appreciate you not flaming me for my lack of knowledge. I tried to search on gaming forums... But its worse than NASIOC :lol:

[AExiOn]

lol no problem

if its overheating and if its used.. Exspecialy for a first gen. It may just have soo much dust in there..

Who knows the origonal owner may of been blowing bong hits into the darn thing, thinking he can get a high score that way..

PS3s dosn't have the best cooling systems from what I hear. I got a slim model that isn't a year old yet, so am not that far in.

I am waiting for it not to play dvds so I can disassemble it, use a que tip with some rubing alcholol to clean the laser lense like I have done to soo many ps2s in the past when they stopped playing movies exspecialy.

Little tick I learned when working on jukebox machines where I repaired the laser device decks (CDpros, and other models I cant think of)

even if you do crack the shell open and leave the ribbon cables connected assuming its like some of the ps2 models, ps2 models changed over the years internaly I found.. Having it cracked open a little bit may help the dust to get out better. But if your nervious just blow some air into the fan, and or vents.

If you leave the system off for a while, maybe let it sit in a cool dry place. Does it seem to start up and run longer rather then it sitting in a hot room?

[jessickascarling]

I think I'll def try the canned air thing. The problem with trying to put it into another room is that the only HDTV is in the living room. When we leave it off for a few days and try again I STILL can't get anywhere with it.

:lol: @ the high score :lol:

I'll update you with my progress :D

[AExiOn]

I have a strange feeling its not overheating if you leave it off for a few days. Unless it did overheat at one point and fried everything inside :(

[Oscar_Meyer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKWp_muw2Gk
(embedding disabled)..
This may help, follow the instructions on it...

[axis]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKWp_muw2Gk
(embedding disabled)..
This may help, follow the instructions on it...

That's about what I want to do to it. At this point it's a $300 paper weight.

[adam]

I just took one completely apart to change the laser. There are a lot of spots that collect dust and the only way to clean is to pull apart.

There is one screw on the same side as the hard drive cover and then the first top slides off... Do not pull... Then a few screws holding down the second layer and once that is off you can get to everything to clean...

Jess you have my number, call me and I can probably help

[jessickascarling]

I just took one completely apart to change the laser. There are a lot of spots that collect dust and the only way to clean is to pull apart.

There is one screw on the same side as the hard drive cover and then the first top slides off... Do not pull... Then a few screws holding down the second layer and once that is off you can get to everything to clean...

Jess you have my number, call me and I can probably help

Ooh thanks for the advice!! I may try to do that today or tomorrow, and if I get stuck you'll be hearing from me :D

[Seraphinwolf]

+1 on the dust. Was talking with a few guys at work but they have said even after clearing it out it goes back down hill fast and one has simply pooped the bed and won't turn on.

[Seraphinwolf]

Clean and see if it works then before I heads down hill trade it in towards a newer slim one? It makes me wider if I really want an older 60G unit that is reverse comparable or just get a new one and a PS2. :-/

[Robk0000]

probably the same issue as xbox, lack of heatsink compound or it burnt off.

[AExiOn]

probably the same issue as xbox, lack of heatsink compound or it burnt off.

yeah... that will do it :rofl:

[jessickascarling]

^from what I read online, I think they did mention something about that. It was wicked hot the first time it happened.

[axis]

Clean and see if it works then before I heads down hill trade it in towards a newer slim one? It makes me wider if I really want an older 60G unit that is reverse comparable or just get a new one and a PS2. :-/

We don't want to get a slim, we got the 40G because it is backwards compatible. It just sucks because we paid more for this pile than we would've just buying a slim. Errrr.:spin:

[axis]

So we took it all apart and dusted the living **** out of it with canned air and a Swiffer duster. Put it all aback together and she fired right up. Oh happy day!:D

[RCKSTR]

So we took it all apart and dusted the living **** out of it with canned air and a Swiffer duster. Put it all aback together and she fired right up. Oh happy day!:D


good luck guys :up: hopefully you're all set :)

[kburnell]

So we took it all apart and dusted the living **** out of it with canned air and a Swiffer duster. Put it all aback together and she fired right up. Oh happy day!:D

Awesome! Glad to here its working again :up:

[jessickascarling]

Thanks guys!!!! I'm hoping it's all set now too!!! :fingers and toes crossed tight!:

[AExiOn]

Glad it works again!!!

[jessickascarling]

thanks!!

i'm glad i posted it here :) you guys are the ones who helped us out!

[Evil Jeff]

Looks like I'm a little late to this party, but there was already sound advice here. My friend experienced the same thing a few months ago. A good dusting and some free thermal compound, and it was as good as new. Glad to see you guys are back in business.

[jessickascarling]

^free thermal compound? what does it do and where does it go? :lol:

[Evil Jeff]

New. I meant new.

I'm tired.

[jessickascarling]

ooh okay. don't know where you got free from new but that's okay :rofl: honestly, i'm not sure where that goes or anything so i'll have to do some research!

[jessickascarling]

so it's back to freezing again. i'm not sure if it's the hdd or if i just need to clean the blu ray lens. i'm going to upgrade the HDD anyways with a 500gb 5400 rpm but if i need to either replace or clean the lens i'll do that too. i don't want to if i don't have to though. it's freezing even with no disc inserted so i'm not sure if it's really the lens or not.

moral of the story?: techonology sucks.

[AExiOn]

Hit it with a hammer!
Take it out to the docks and drown the ****er!!!

How hot was it to the touch? What was the ambient air temp?

Do you think leprechauns actually fart rainbows?

With nothing in the cd deck then its not the lense, dirty lenses would cause things to skip or freeze midway through a movie. I am partial to the HD idea but its worth a shot

If it says anything like desk star (death star) or maxtor (craptor)
i'd replace those HDs in a instant and throw a WD or seagate in there

I never split one apart before, so I dont really know the cooling system too well.

if you see capacitors like this (teh round thingies)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3347/3436348324_8ec82d3f97.jpg
top one
http://www.asti-usa.com/support/appnotes/65/2.jpg
leaky stuff, and even bloated tops

well.. you got problems

[jessickascarling]

i didn't see anything like that in the ps3... but i think i'm gonna replace it with this hdd:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Western+Digital+-+Scorpio+Blue+500GB+Internal+Serial+ATA+Hard+Drive +for+Laptops/9172799.p?id=1218044489855&skuId=9172799

[Evil Jeff]

Info on replacing thermal compound on CPU & GPU:

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=198546

Nice drive too, but you might not even need it. I would just start by reinstalling the OS on the existing drive.

[AExiOn]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Western+Digital+-+Scorpio+Blue+500GB+Internal+Serial+ATA+Hard+Drive +for+Laptops/9172799.p?id=1218044489855&skuId=9172799


ewww 5200 rpm drive :D

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150380%201035915133%201035507776&ShowDeactivatedMark=False

save your self some load time headaches and find a 7200 rpm drive


I wish solid state was cheeper :(

You said you already tried wipeing the drive already and reinstalling the OS correct?

[Evil Jeff]

save your self some load time headaches and find a 7200 rpm drive

Normally, I would agree. But given that hers is already having overheating issues, I wouldn't chance the extra heat from a 7200 drive.

I also read an article once (can't remember where for the life of me) that tested both, and the 7200's performance was negligable over the 5400.

[jessickascarling]

^jeff, exactly why i chose 5200... a faster drive is going to cause more heat.

[twza-leggt]

when does it freeze? if it freezes after loading a game or movie or it wont load a game at all, its usually due to a faulty blu ray drive. thats what happened to mine, cost me 150$ to have it fixed by playstation. but if it freezes when u go on the internet or just playing with settingS or messaging and so forth its probably the hard drive. If it was damaged by overheating it would most likely turn off after u turn it on. this is called the ylod or yellow light of death similar to the xbox's red light of death. you can go on you tube for solutions to this problem. this has happened to mine as well as the blu ray drive breaking. I've logged lots of hrs into my 80gb. after the ylod i bought a 250gb slim. You can try going onto www.us.playstation.com (http://www.us.playstation.com) for tech advice. i believe thats the site. good luck hope this helps. ps3 screen name TWZAGAME

[jessickascarling]

thanks! i think we will try just replacing the HDD since we were going to do that anyways.

[drdabbles]

You should have gone 7200RPM. The heat difference is minimal in real life. 7200 is a slow hard drive these days.

[-boz]

lol no problem

if its overheating and if its used.. Exspecialy for a first gen. It may just have soo much dust in there..

Who knows the origonal owner may of been blowing bong hits into the darn thing, thinking he can get a high score that way..

PS3s dosn't have the best cooling systems from what I hear. I got a slim model that isn't a year old yet, so am not that far in.

I am waiting for it not to play dvds so I can disassemble it, use a que tip with some rubing alcholol to clean the laser lense like I have done to soo many ps2s in the past when they stopped playing movies exspecialy.

Little tick I learned when working on jukebox machines where I repaired the laser device decks (CDpros, and other models I cant think of)

even if you do crack the shell open and leave the ribbon cables connected assuming its like some of the ps2 models, ps2 models changed over the years internaly I found.. Having it cracked open a little bit may help the dust to get out better. But if your nervious just blow some air into the fan, and or vents.

If you leave the system off for a while, maybe let it sit in a cool dry place. Does it seem to start up and run longer rather then it sitting in a hot room?

I used to repair jukeboxes too among a million other things.

The thing you have to watch out for with swabbing the lens is to use a lint free qtip and 90%+ isopropyl alcohol. Also you need to watch out how much pressure you are applying. If the lens is moving you are using to much pressure. If you use less than 90% isopropyl you run the risk of clouding the lens.

Then we switched to TouchTunes jukeboxes.. Those were awesome.

[jessickascarling]

we actually decided to sell it to the first person who wants to try to fix it :lol: we bought a new one... i just didn't feel like trying to figure out what was wrong anymore.

[98Wagoon]

Blast it with piss!



A friends ps3 at work was doing this. Ill have to find out what he did. I think he made a brick of fans and hooked it on or something :shrug:

[jessickascarling]

ask him if he wants to flip ours :lol:

[twza-leggt]

You still have it? And sorry but what was wrong with it?