PS3 YLOD Easy Washer Fix

Haxnetwork member NOkk3r1 has came up with a very simple solution to fix your YLOD PS3, with minimum disassembly and risks. You can view the full tutorial on how to do this at the link.

[jengo]

I just wish the guide was as little better written because i still dont know exactly what to do... lol

[Persistantthug]

Question though...how often do the 65nm PS3 fats break in comparison to the 90nm? Anyone know?

[evilmonkey501]

I cant even read the article.I keep getting redirected to some stupid grocery store survey! stoopid f@#$%$g website spam!

[randomwiz]

its actually pretty simple, if you know how a ps3 looks on the inside. just screw the washers in, and you might have to make an adjustment for the bottom right washer.

im going to try this when I have time next weekend... my ps2 titles have been collecting dust for 6 long months now. I even (with false hope) put a ps2 title into my slim, and all it said was unsupported software.

Finally, a simple method to get my 60gb working again! I need to play Shadow of the Colossus again, and get back the GTA IV disc stuck inside.

[INehalemEXI]

saving this though , you never know.

[Corepred4]

cool but i think i'll stick with the heatgun method. i already have that down and memorized. I've fixed my ps3 multiple times already. Its a launch 40G i believe. Fully equiped, love it. Last time I called Sony to get it permanently they tried to get me to swap mine in for a new PS3 slim. Yeah right!

[HolyOrangeCows]

"Because of washers thickness it adds some pressure and because washers size it produces pressure from larger area"

....what? I really don't understand how this fixes issues.

[Elimin8]

The only problem I'm having is "Error 8002F281" can't read my HDD. It worked fine but I try to do a FW update and it keeps giving the error.

[beardpapa]

launch day ps3. freezes sometimes. but still kickin strong.

[Baba1906]

my 60gb broke a few months ago. but i am pretty happy with my slim. its much much much much more quite.

[gaffyh]

Aw man, why didn't they have this when my PS3 YLODed last year!!!!?!?!

[gtamike123]

Fail rate is low anyway for PS3 :)

[pixelsword]

but when you sell a console into the millions, you're looking at a few thousand people at the least that will appreciate this.

[claterz]

Still it's good to know how to fix it just incase. I've had my fat PS3 for 2 years and i'm praying it won't break just as gt5 and move are coming out lol.

[gtamike123]

Got mine on release date and still runs fine.
Also everyone I know that has a 360 console got RROD no joke.

[Ocelot525]

yeah so low that mine broke and my friend's broke, YLOD is a major issue, just look at the forum posts on the net

ALMOST EVERY FREAKING LAUNCH PS3 WILL DIE, ACCEPT IT!

but sony repaired my console free of charge!(it was 2.5 years old)

[gtamike123]

My ps1 and ps2 still works :)

[Ocelot525]

my two PS2's both work(after 9 years of service)

my PS1 had a problem with its laser, but I fixed that by placing it vertically

[Persistantthug]

Sorry about you and your friend though.

But I honestly don't think any new "first run" electronics should be purchased.

In my case, I bought my PS3 2 years after launch...that's about the time it becomes "safe".

[Ocelot525]

keep disagreeing, and keep taking bubbles, I was once a non-believer too, till my PS3 died while playing super stardust HD.

I knew three guys in real life with a launch PS3, they all got YLOD

the people who are saved from this are casual gamers, or people who live in countries with a cold climate

I'm not a 360 fanboy, just look at my previous posts(and my PSN ID is OCELOT525), I just want to warn you guys

[Megaton]

My 1st PS3 broke while playing Fallout 3. Had to pay $162 for a refurb from Sony. My 2nd PS3 (the refurb) broke less than 2 weeks before Uncharted 2 came out. Had been waiting all year for that game, #1 most anticipated title of 2009. Felt like I got robbed. Still bitter about it, haven't bought a new PS3 yet.

[Hellsvacancy]

Ive had YLOD twice man, fixed both times myself, the 1st time i fixed it it lasted 3 weeks, the second time i fixed it i tried that method where u bend the 2 metal plates (very slightly) its been 5 weeks since it happened last, so so far so good, if it happens again (which it will) ill try that washer idea

[ALFAxD_CENTAURO]

Everyone knows that, as everyone know what is the other console with the worst technical failure in the history of gaming.

[Sprudling]

Your statement is ridiculous Ocelot525. That yours and your friend's PS3 has died is obviously statistically insignificant. It's just funny (and a little sad) that you believe otherwise.

[Strikepackage Bravo]

The failure rate is FAR higher than Sony is admitting. Much like Toyota, Sony will hold off on admitting this problem is as big as it is, as long as they can, that way it costs them less, its practically business 101.

On the bright side, if you call them with a broken unit and threaten to make a huge fuss over it, they will fix it for free. Ideally what they want is for you kids to keep doing what your doing, down playing it and keeping it hush hush when your units break, and fortunately for Sony they have some of the most brainwashed blind loyal,and dumb customers around. You guys would cover for Sony if PS3s were killing your moms in the middle of the night. LOL!

[Chris_Hansen_Rocks]

still high enough if yours breaks

[Ocelot525]

@Sprud
like I said I knew three people with a launch PS3 in real life, their PS3's all died

let's say the failure rate is 10% of launch PS3's

so 0.1*0.1*0.1=0.0001=0.1% chance

I am just veeeerrrrrryyyy unlucky or the failure rate is much higher than 10% of the launch PS3's

also there are many persons with similar stories as me

and I repeat: i just want to warn you: TAKE BACK-UPS

[Redempteur]

YLOD happens for a number of reasons .. once i had YLOD but that was because i incorrectly turned off my console during a HOME test/save?? dunno.

Anyway all i did was to bring the boot menu and i reinstalled my firmware ...

Worked fine since then ...( happenned 8 months ago )

[DaTruth]

All three of my friends and me with near launch PS3's have never had a difficulty whatsoever!

PS3 has 100% reliability by your standards!

[Cenobia]

I dropped my PS3 upside down from about 2.5 feet (it fell out of my unfortunately un-zippered suitcase) and it still works fine. That was like 2 years ago, and I am not a casual gamer.

They seem to be pretty solid machines, but I'm sure some of them do die. If you think about it there are environmental and user factors that can effect each PS3 too (enough space for cooling, people smoking, dust, etc.). Plus the store you buy it from may have used it has a hockey puck.

[KilZoneGeneralStrife]

working great.have a ps3 for 2 years and going strong! :)

[kaveti6616]

My 1999 PS1 works but doesn't recognize the controller in the port. I bet I could fix it with some tinkering but I have no good games on it.

[Theonik]

My 1997 PS1 died on me :(
It just went off and never powered on again.

[Sir_Ken_Kutaragi__]

THROW IT IN THE BIN!!! ;-D

[Wrathman]

id take RROD over YLOD or blu-ray drive failure anyday.

if your ps3 dies 366 days after purchase,your coughing up the price of an arcade xbox just to get a repaired replacement.

o sure the ps3 never breaks..its just lies lies lies.

EDIT* look at the stealth disagrees.hilarious.i think the droid angels are watching over this topic to deny any serious comments credibility.sad.

maybe i should have 9 accounts to bubble myself like the sony army on here.

perfect example above me in sir_ken...that man posts the dummest comments ever and still gets agrees and bubbles.he is the special forces of dumb droid comments.launching smash and grabs on any article,turning the situation into anti-xbox.

article* apple makes 5g iphone wants to put a man on jupiter*

sir_ken....xbox sucks...22 agrees and another bubble.

[mcnablejr]

is a retard.!!!!! ;p
;p

[gtamike123]

Replace it with the more powerful console "PS3"

[karan8624]

You lose. Its over. Just shutup now

[respn]

We lose? You idiots took how many years to copy our fixes? And don't say because they just started. We all know that is a bunch of bs!

@Wrathman Have a bubble! I'm sure mine will be gone soon also. Droids just hate the facts.

[Obama]

Easy fix for the 360? Burn it with fire!

[Mo0eY]

@Obama

No need - it catches itself on fire.

[ssipmraw]

why bother waiting though

[jjesso1993]

Persistantthug i have disagree i still have launch dreamcast,ps2,xbox original,gamcube, and original fat ps3 that works fine my first ever pc i ever used still works the only console to ever fail on me is xbox 360 and that was on first week it was out.

[NeutralGamer]

Aaaawww look at everyone protecting their consoles and doing damage controle...

Critizing other console to make theirs look pretty (even look open zone)...

Chill guys noone is dissing your precoius consoles...

[Cenobia]

Is your name supposed to be a joke or something?

RROD

[Coolrah]

Me on the other hand I still have my Day 1 bought launch 60gb (Now upgraded to 500 gb had an extra hard drive layin around so thought "what the hell")fat ps3 with all the features and it still runs fine. It was a good 600$ investment. The fact of the matter is that people need to stop comparing the Ylod to the RROD. The rrod is extremely more frequent than the YLOD. Not to say that the YLOD isn't real but 360 fans need to stop trying to compare cause their mad the 360 has shameful hardware issues.

Sony makes good systems I still have my ps2 and ps1 and they sit in a glass case safe from harm along with my xbox,nintendo 64,Dreamcast,sega genesis and many others of my older consoles.

[Aphe]

Few of my friends have had YLOD now. Hoping it doesn't happen to me.

EDIT:If your fan starts getting louder, is that a sign?

[Abriael]

No. A fan getting louder is something that happens with every piece of electronics that has fans (PCs for instance), and simply means that the ball bearings in the fan are getting older and have a bit more friction. As long as the fan spins (and this means as long as there's noise) there's no problem.
If you're worried about heating, you can always get one of those cheap additional fan units, that work wonders (and should always be used with HD consoles anyway).

[Aphe]

I might have to invest in one, it's a bit more noticable nowadays, not as much as my 360 but still loud.

[Wolf873]

but its working fine. I did get YLOD once in my launch console and had to get a new unit, here's hoping it doesn't happen again, been normal for 2 years now.

[Killjoy3000]

Sweet. My old broken fat PS3 has been sitting here for a couple months and now I can finally fix it.

[Ray186]

If your fan starts getting louder, is that a sign? Yes it is.

[Abriael]

Yay for misinformation. Louder fans are a matter of ball bearings, and have absolutely nothing to do with YLOD, which is basically just a mechanical problem originated in a completely different position of the console.

[Darkfocus]

well actually the fans increase in speed when the console gets hotter too so it could be an overheating issue as well. it's likely there's just a lot of dust in the console. try vacuuming it out like it says in the manuel

[Szarky]

I got YLOD. Fixed it but it only worked for a little while. Wasn't worth my time trying to fix it again so I bought a SLIM. I feel for any PS3 owner or 360 owner who got RROD. Having your console breaks sucks. Having to buy a second one sucks even more. I was excited to bring the slim home but I was also a little pissed about it.

I love how quiet the SLIM is though. My original 60GB got really loud.

[SmokedOut]

Well sh!t, it didnt fix mine. :(

[blair_enigma]

gilksy's guide on youtube.

[GoodSpeed]

I looked into Gilksy's method but I decided against it. I'll try the washer technique. If no dice I'll go ahead and buy a slim. Don't think I'll look into the refurbs though. I just don't wanna lose my original 60 gb. I love the thing much more so than any of the other PS 3 systems.

[blair_enigma]

no coz my ps3 is good for now, yeah do the washers first and decide later if its all good.

[GoodSpeed]

Actually my question was directed to Smokedout. But I'm glad to hear yours is still running strong. It's a sad day when it stops working. Hope you don't have to feel the pain I feel each and every day. :)

[blair_enigma]

my ps3 is fairly quiet for me. but for my uncle he says he's gets loud most of the time. it should mean that the louder it is, the harder the fan is working meaning its overheating. its best to keep your ps3's back open air. my warranty ends this november, ill do that gilksy guide in youtube when the time comes if necessary. slim is nice but doesnt look solid.

question:if the ps3's problem is overheating, why add more heat to it by using a heatgun? and explain how it fixes the ps3's motherboard. also, why does it overheat in the first place? because its being used regularly?

[JustV]

Hey.. We use the heatgun because what happens is that the GPU/CPU gets overheated and the solder gets detached from the motherboard. When you use the heatgun, it melts the solders and attach it to it again. Obviously this will work only temporarily because the PS3 will overheat again. By using the washer , it puts more pressure on it. Why the GPU overheats, is because the old PS3 models uses a 95nm chip which takes loads of power and heat. The new slims now are using a 45nm.And uses only about 80watts compared to 200W or so with the old one. So most likely not it wont overheat. The fan for the old PS3 doesn't do it, because it gets way too hot. And voila YLOD....i fixed mine twice already im so sick of it so I bought the slim:) haha:)

[branchedout]

I've had a friend who's PS3 YLOD'd. But that's because he put the PS3 standing on it's FANS (he broke the HDD bay when trying to replace it... He's got the HDD in there like a NES cartridge.) But it lasted a YEAR doing that, so I'm quite impressed.

I did the gliksy method. I bought the paste for $10, and the screwdriver for $6, and borrowed a heat gun. 5 hours later, after not following a guide on opening the PS3, it works.

But I can see how this works. I don't know about if it'll be successful though. But a very cheap fix! The heat-gun is the most expensive part in repairing PS3's for a single-fix.

[stonecold1]

is fine got the launch model works fime 3 years 2mnths dont have any problems as of yet still

[Jihaad_cpt]

My Original Launch 60gig PS3 YLODed I am happy to announce that I will be purchasing a GOW3 bundle PS3 Slim on Saturday, this happened about 2 months ago. I cannot wait luckily my brothers Launch 60 gig is going strong so it has been keeping me company

[GoodSpeed]

No luck of course. I attempted the washer fix but to no avail. I figured this would be my last recourse before I purchase another PS3. If anyone else gives this a shot I wish you luck. It's not difficult to do and the disassembly is simple enough. If your confused on breaking it down Gilksy's YouTube videos give a comprehensive step by step.

[Fatal Blow]

I just fixed my ylod ps3 60gb 3days ago and my friends one on sunday but not like this took everything out used a heat gun then added new paste bang job done am not giving sony £120 for a fixed ylod that they fixed and not a new one

[CrIpPeN]

true about PS3 being low on failing, but it happened to my 60 GB model, it's like you can't avoid it.

Lucky for the guys that still has a 60Gb model kicking, but my is fixed though, but how long will it work?

I hate the idea, when I put in my harddrive I will lose my saves and all that.

[AngelorD]

Yeah it's pretty much inevitable on the old models...
Mine gave up last week, a day before I got GOWIII! Good thing I borrowed it earlier and had a chance to finish it.

[nycredude]

If you are that worried about your saves. Then you can do one of two things. Either back them up on a usb drive (but you can't copy the protected ones, usually rpgs) or buy a slim and use the data transfer to backup everything. It only takes a few hours to copy everything and when done the slim looks and acts just like your old fatty. Every piece of program and save games, themes also is exactly the same!

[barakiu]

Wii breaks the least of three and in all cases i can recall Nintendo will pay for it for free if it's defective, same goes for DS.

PS3 doesn't break as often as Xbox360, cited as 8 percent, but you have to pay nearly the cost of a new console if it ylod.

Xbox breaks per 1/3, but at least Microsoft NOW replaces your console for free, and in many cases after the 3 year warranty has expired. Xbox also scratches discs, but a warranty hasn't been issued on that.

Wii(and DS) is just about the only safe bet. (PSP might be too, haven't heard of much breakage there.)

[Dellis]

I bet this is what SONY does and asks 150 bones for

[GoodSpeed]

Sony does reheat the solder and reflux the chips but the difference in techniques is what separates the two processes. Amateurs use a heat gun which is only temporary and isn't heated to exact specs while Sony uses a IR Heat array that equally distributes the heat at constant, specific temps. The problem is the solder and it's inability to handle the amount of heat the system produces. Older models produce much more heat and I would suggest purchasing a slim for that fact alone.

[mastemikegee]

an easier method. I'm going to try this out this week. I've been wanting to get my 60gb PS3 back on its feet. i also think i have a disc still inside. have had my 80gb PS3 since March of last year now. lol

off to look for some washers....

[bert]

I contacted Sony just to see if they would remove my game disc that is stuck in my launch 60GB PS3 & return it without repairing it at a cheaper cost & I was in a round about way told to go pound sand. It's all or nothing with Sony. So a design flaw on their part has taken my game disc hostage but somehow it's my fault & I have to pay $150+tax for a fail in the design of the launch PS3. Call me crazy but somehow that doesn't seem right. So now I officially have the worlds most expensive paper weight at a whopping $760+ bones.

[thehitman]

3.5 years no problem still.

[Meryl]

my advice to all YLOD victims, do not bother with your fat ps3 after you fix it, sell it on ebay and buy a ps3 slim, they are much more quiet and it has not crashed or frozen on me once, my old 60gb even after a couple of month used to at least freeze on me but my new slim is a beast.

[onenut]

i won't be getting screwed next time around with consoles bricking all the damn time, FW problems and trying to milk us for useless DLC content, f@ck consoles, i'm sticking with my reliable, upgradeable PC

[nycredude]

Reliable? Are you joking? Driver updates, incompatibility issues, hardware, overheating, and software problems, not to mention viruses and adware/malware, security holes, and Drm issues are all commonplace on PC. Fact is to enjoy your PC to it's fullest you need to have a decent amount of tech no how and to be honest when I want to play a game I just want to play a game, not sit there for hours figuring a problem out beforehand. That is why I have both hd consoles AND PC.

[Meryl]

let me know how many times you have witnessed the awesome Blue Screen Of Death lol, windows is so cruel to PC's.
also when you own a PC they get old real fast and you often have to make upgrade's to play on the latest games, it takes no genius to know this actually costs you more in the long run, my PS3 has been much cheaper to maintain than any PC I have owned before.