Beware: PS3 Hack / Repairs YLOD

**Joey** · 02-12-10, 06:42 AM

Also in follow up to the thread below.

The PS3 YLOD fault is well known to most people , unfortunately the amount of so called experts and businesses taking your money offering a temporary fix for this problem are popping up all over the place.
There are plenty of examples right here on Austech but certainly not limited to here , this is a just one example

There is one member located in Perth that has 55K worth of equipment but refuses to take your hard earned money for something that can not be repaired , it is also in breach of the consumer protection act to offer a service such as this without a warranty.

On the other hand there are shonks charging $100 + to "repair" an unrepairable problem , making ridiculous claims of Reflowing and "Refluxing" , when the only tools at their disposal are paint stripper heat guns or other hot air tools simply not capable of repairing this problem at all.
Most importantly there is NO such thing as Refluxing ! reflux is a condition suffered mostly by children , it is in no way an electronic term.
What makes this claim ever more ridiculous is that these shonks are offering reflow and refluxing as if they were separate processes.
The facts are , Reflowing is a process that can only be carried out by adding new flux to the existing solder , Reflowing can not be performed without Flux being added.
Adding flux to a solder joint and heating it up with a heat gun is not reflowing , it is simply adding flux and heat to a joint and then guessing.
Reflowing is not guess work it is a very precise process that can only be performed correctly by following a very precise time v temp profile , it is accurately plotted with probes that control this profile.
In order to perform this accurately it requires very expensive computer controlled equipment , it cannot be carried out on any IC that has anything attached to it , like a heat spreader ( as used in the PS3 ) , not even with 55K worth of equipment.
Reballing requires the same equipment as above but with an improved profile to prevent further failure , but in the case of the PS3 it is not possible at all.

So if some shonk is offering to repair your YLOD , remember it can't be repaired ,it cant be done with 55K worth of equipment and it most certainly cannot be done with a $20 heat gun with no warranty on the job.
In fact if you pay someone this money even if they tell you it is a temporary fix and it fails , contact consumer affairs in your state and you might just get a pleasant surprise.

Use your $100 towards a later model PS3.

Obviously there are many other problems the PS3's can suffer from that can be repaired but you might want to consider who you trust ,someone happy to rip you off offering a service they simply cannot provide or doesn't even exist ( refluxing ) or someone only offering the services they can actually provide.

**freakee1** · 02-12-10, 07:36 AM

I have "fixed" a few - as I say to the owners

"Your PS3 is stuffed - Heat has caused the motherboard to warp and the cheap lead free solder has cracked causing a dry solder joint.

I have cleaned the dust out of it - buy a new one, and transfer all your details to the new one before it dies again"

I charge $50 to pull it down and clean the crap out of it, pour flux under the ram cpu & gpu (which is where someone created the term reflux), hit it with a heat gun, put it back together, test it and tell them to buy another.

Most accept that this, some think it is a permanent fix and are disapointed when it falls over again - but for $50, you get a chance to get all your data back and this can be a godsend to some.............

f

**Ragnarok** · 02-12-10, 06:31 PM

cheap lead free solder? u mean all lead free solder.

Only permanent fix is to remove the package, clean and reball with lead solder.

Of course this goes way beyond the typical enthusiast and 99% of the console modders.

**roosta** · 02-12-10, 08:30 PM

There's still a lot of people who want that "temp fix" and aren't interested in spending $350-500 on a 2nd hand or new slim PS3.

Any YLOD "temp fixes" i have done have lasted more than 8 months, which is quite a good turn around considering I've seen other people have it reoccur just weeks later, the problem is it really depends on the consoles storage and use. But I too standby the idea of purchasing a slim PS3 to leave a worry like this behind altogether and concentrate on more important things.

RoOSTA

**Joey** · 03-12-10, 03:29 AM

I think the guys offering these services would appear a lot more credible if they drop any mention of Fix or Temp Fix , reflowing , Reballing etc and simply offer a backup / recovering solution , nothing wrong with telling people you have enabled them to recover their data , as a bonus they may also be able to use the unit for a short period but point out clearly it was not repaired and will fail.

Using a heat gun , adding new flux of whatever you do isn't important it is simply part of the data recovery process , the fact that you may be able to play some games on it afterwards should be promoted as a side effect / added bonus of the process.
If people are told straight up this will work to recover their data there will be no expectation or false promises if it is only lasts for a day or so until the recovery is complete. , Saying you are fixing something or doing a temp fix is unprofessional and will lead to a bad a rep especially when you know full well it is going to fail.

One thing you can bet on is that the guy that has one that is still going after 8 months is going to claim he plays it 24/7 and the guy who comes to you complaining it only lasted for 1 month is going to claim he only used it once for a couple of minutes.