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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.พ. 2025
- Having opened a lot of PlayStation 3 consoles, I have discovered that you can cause a BGA defect just by opening your console. Every console I have opened, I have recorded and watched it back. Having done this I have found that if the console is hard to open due to the thermal paste acting like glue between the heat spreaders and the heat sinks, you can pull on the CPU and GPU chips causing a broken solder joint on the ball grid array. This can result in an instant YLOD or a GLOD.
Sometimes, the console will boot but run badly and over a short period of time and begin to show system errors. This can be prevented by heating up the CPU and GPU, the thermal paste loosens, making the console easier to open and reducing the risk of a system error.
I have had people ask if they can heat the chips with hot air, either by using a hair dryer or using a rework station. Basically, don't do this. You would have to heat the heat spreaders by taking out the fan. You won't be heating the chips evenly, and you won't know how hot the chips are getting. This can have a detrimental effect on the console and defeating the object of what we are trying to achieve. By following the tutorial, you are heating the chips evenly as its heating them from the middle of the chip. also, you know the console is reaching safe temps, or if you're running custom firmware, you know exactly how hot they are getting.
Enjoy the video
I just got the 60GB backwards compitable with 15 ps2 and ps3 games. Thanks for this vid. The previous owner took care of it and its in emaculate condition. I'm praying I can leave it for while without the YLOD. This is one of the best consoles ever made in my opnion. With a PS5 and this console you have access to the whole PlayStation catalog via dics
Pads and thermal paste only work for 5 years. Your console needs these replacing to help prevent system failures
@@timdark9282 yeah I will do the maintance on it for sure
@@timdark9282 I'm assuming that's a 5 year shelf life for the thermal paste? Or is that determined by the usage of the PS3? The more you use the system the more the paste degrades over time? Also can issues be avoided by going through and replacing the old paste every so often? Kinda like changing the oil on your car. This all being done properly I want to add.
Honestly, the ps2 backward compatibility is a little meh. Most ps2 games run at 480i, and the ps3 uses a simple "bob" deinterlacer. It's ok, but there is a lot of combing artifacts. That backwards compatible ps3 is too much work and worry to play ps2 games.
@@michaels9917 CECHC/E can look sharper for regular 480i games to 1080p, but with CECHA/B/C/E you can force progressive with 🔼 and ❌ held down, some games give you a menu, et voila 480p and it looks pretty sharp via HDMI. CECHA/B also give you the option to run an OPL build with GSM, so you can upscale the games to 720p/1080i as long as you don't mind zooming the image on the TV a bit as it windowboxes.
I'm not sure how common this is, I opened my system cold and changed the thermal paste over 2 months ago, and I use this system regularly. Console had 133 days of runtime at the time of thermal paste replacement. I would still just warm the system up rather than killing a Backwards compatible PS3 over something so small.
Absolutely, from my experience, you have a 5 percent chance of causing a BGA defect simply by opening your console cold. I always warm the console up prior to opening it.
Dude I did this 24 hours ago and I had absolutely no idea, in my case nothing happened but thank god I came across this video, now I know and I'll def spread the word.
I had one of the oddest ps3 slim I ever repaired was a cech2001b I bought for 5$ from a thriftstore, I let the system run for 20mins shut it down to open it up and clean it, next funny thing was the rsx delid it self 😆 so Half my job was done and prior to opening the warranty seal was still undamaged so I know I'm first in and yeah the system still works and gave it to my friend as I have 6 ps3 all different type and models.
Running the console for 20 minutes heated up the thermal paste enough sonic didn't pull on the substrate. I have no idea why the RSX de-lidded!
By 2030 there will be a PS3 ward in every mental institution for YLOD PTSD
Now I feel bad for all the ps3s I've opened not knowing this. (Even the ones I fixed disc drive issues on.)
No one knew this could happen, its only because I recorded all my refurbishments that I was able to work out what was going on. It's better we know this otherwise we can destroy a console without realising. That's why I wanted to share my findings to help us all prevent system failures due to how we open the console
@@timdark9282Tim what do you think theoretically if a user pulls the fan without heating l,could it cause slowdowns In games like frame rate issues both ps3 and ps2 games affected?Or does it produce only ylod and glod errors.
Pulling.g in the BGA could either cause an error (if the BGA connection is broken) or it could cause poor performance (if the BGA is pulled but not completely broken, but damaged)
After ruining my former ps3 by probably pulling the two components away from each other that had stiff thermal paste attached to each end, this time when attempting to clean my new ps3 for a second time, i took your advice given in this video. After now cleaning my current ps3 and after reassembling my system, my ps3 works just as it did before (no yellow light of death or anything of that sort). Thanks for this video, man. It was really good advice.
Absolutely, I'm really happy that the preventative measures helped to preserve your console. Since I have started opening PS3 consoles like this, I have never had one fail yet.
I'm really surprised no one has never addressed this before, I'm glad I could help 😊
I think this is what did it for my 80gb software back compat system. Warranty sticker was still intact & it was in immaculate shape. First thing I did when I got it after trying out a few games was replace the thermal paste. When I put everything back together, green light would stay on, but there was no HDD light & the controller wouldn't sync up. I couldn't access safe mode or any other menu either. I'm no stranger to refurbishing systems & have worked on other PS3's in the past, so I was honestly devastated. After searching for solutions & a possible reason for hours and hours - this makes the most sense.
I'm sorry to hear this happened. It has also happened to me. However, because I recorded all my refurbishments, I was able to look back on the footage. This is when I discovered the resistance between the IHS and the heatsink could have pulled on the BGA. I then looked back on another video where the same thing happened, and I noticed a pattern. It's now been several months of me using this new warm-up technique, and I haven't had a single failure. I wanted to share my findings so other refebishers can be aware of how to avoid this failure.
I opened mine, and it was cold. I was getting temps as high as 80 C within 1 minute of idling on the xmb with that console so I knew it at least needed a repasted before I could use it further. When I got to it one day, I opened it cold, and the thermal paste was so much like dust it was nonexistent. It didn’t stick on at all. It was almost like the opposite! Original Sony paste too. Not sure why this happened, but it was a low runtime console, maybe that has something to do with it. Repasted it and it barely goes over 60c ever unless I play gta 5 for a couple hours which I never do on that console anyway. Gta 5 PS3 is single player only so I might as well play it on my modded PS4 instead, u can still get mods and stuff to about the same extent as PS3 just tailored for single player.
Absolutely, if you have a console with low power on time, the thermal paste is still wet, and the console opens with little to no resistance.
However, this is not typical of a PS3 console, and most consoles have 100 days plus power on time. Subsequently, the thermal paste drys out and forms a solid mass that acts like glue between the CPU and GPU heat spreaders and the heatsink. For the reasons I have mentioned in the recording, this is dangerous as it pulls on the CPU and GPU substrate that can either damage the chip or cause BGA issues.
This seems like common sense to me. I have always taken mine apart after the system was previously warmed up. Thanks for the share
I love this video .. good job
I'm glad you like it
That explains so much :(
Thanks mate
This video is one I shall keep in case I have issues in the future. I picked up a back compatible model last week in mint condition, it plays everything fine, is there any recommendations as the best way to look after it. Many thanks in advance.
The fan profile set by Sony is ineffective and allows the console to reach 75 degrees before increasing the fan to cool it down. The issue with this is that the underfill on the RSX die was designed with a flaw that means if the underfill reaches 78 degrees the the chip could be compromised causing, what is known as, a flip chip error.
The way to avoid this is to completely discard the Sony firmware and run Evilnat 4.91 PEX. Once this has been installed, you would be able to install an application called webman. With webman now installed, your console will never exceed 68 degrees, preventing the flip chip error. So this is the best preventative measure you can take other than actually opening the console and replacing the paste. Saying that I would still recommend running custom firmware anyway as no de-lid can prevent the console, eventually reaching the temps that could cause a flip chip error.
Thanks for the tips! I got a Fat PS3 and took it apart cleaned it and all. I played Bioshock 2 for about an hour (one of the only games I have) just to do the trick of heating the thermal paste. I hope I didn’t mess up the chips. It came off with relative ease. I had to put some pressure but it came off without prying. It seems to work with no problems and I actually had issues w/ it reading ps2 discs but now it is reading them!
Hi Logan, sometimes a good cleanout and a change of thermal pate will improve your PS3 performance, I'm guessing that's what you did?
@@timdark9282 Yea!
I have taken apart 10+ ps3 backwards compatible and never had any issues I always take them apart cold and I delid and test them fully never had issues
Well, I never encountered the issue until I opened well over 80 consoles. It's a very small risk, which I calculate at about 5 percent. So, saying you have opened 10 doesn't give you the range required to assess the issue. You only have to look online to find posts that say things like, "I opened and cleaned my consoke, and now I have a YLOD". You can literally find hundreds of these posts by experienced referbishers that can't work out what went wrong.
Because I recorded every referbishment I do, I was able to look back at the footage and discovered that when the IHS was harder to remove from the heatsink, this was when the error occurred.
I use this method because since doing this, I have had no issues, and currently, I have opened well over a few hundred consoles with this method. Before this I had about 5 failures in my first hundred that I opened. This was enough for me to investigate and work out what was going on.
Since sharing this method, it gave confidence to people who failed before to try again. And everyone that has followed this tutorial hasn't had a failure.
@@timdark9282 ok but how does it affect the performance if the console works
@omarsu5430 it's quite simple and explained in the video. Both the RSX and CPU have large heat spreaders, which are attached to the chips with thermal plaster and silicone. These heat spreaders are pushed onto the heatsinks with thermal paste. After a long period of time, the heat spreaders form a bond with the heatsinks that's hard to separate. Pulling them apart with more force increases the risk of a BGA defect. This is because when you pull on the heat spreader, you are pulling on the BGA, and if you pull hard enough, you will cause a BGA defect.
By opening the console when it's warm, it loosens the bond that the old thermal paste causes, thus making it easier to separate the heat spreader from the heatsink.
maybe you could save some time using hotair at 150° C to heat up the heatsink - assisted by a little arduino with display and thermocouble on a wire .. built in few minutes and you could heat the paste up in a controlled manner.
Thx so much for the info - I think your thought could be very much right. At least it seems completely logic to me..
My solution is something that anyone can do without the need for a heat gun or a rework station. It's also the safest as the custom firmware gives you the exact temperature, so you know the moment the console reaches 75 degrees, it's time to shut down the console and stat the refurbishment process
@@timdark9282 definitely the way to go for any non-professionals, you absolutely nailed the point there.
Actually, I was just thinking of how professionals like you could save some time - but you are also right to not propagate that.
Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge and merry christmas !
I wish I knew someone close to me that does this.
You can simply post it to me, my address is under my profile under business seller, see link below
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265555620203?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=Dkdl9BxLThm&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=Dkdl9BxLThm&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
@Tim Dark I'll look into it working unit just want maintenance, thermal repaste, pads replaced and battery.
Could you post a link to get a hold of you pls
@Juan you can message me on eBay, I gave you the link to my painted case and referbishment service
i have 80gb backwards compitable it still works great i bought used over 2years ago here in Canada in my city . i open it once check it i was so clean no dust in fan
Great, just don't pull on the motherboard and your be fine. If you ever want to change the paste then follow my guide
hi
i still have my backward compatible ps3 test, well yes the fan is damn noisy, it's covered by my hi-fi installation, once again the blu-ray drive is faulty (this time it doesn't take the disc anymore)
well i think i will replace the 1TB hdd that i puted in by a ssd...
Hello brother I wish I see your video before I opened it I guess I have A Green light of death myps3 run and stay on green light with no screen nothing Can u help with it ?
It's likely you have caused a BGA issue. To confirm this, use my temporary solution to test. See link below.
th-cam.com/video/e_ZgYJMAIJ8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=c83078DhyzibxyGH
when i got my ps3 it was working fine untill after i opened it and changed a thermal paste when i turn it on it shows artifacts and after couple more tries it becomes a glod when i checked the syscon it says 3034(gpu failure),after watching this video i now know why(i have cechc04 model).
If you open it incorrectly and damage the solder joints on the components how would you fix them? Is it as simple as applying new solder to replace the damaged joints? Is doing that harder than it seems?
You would need to reball the RSX chip. So, it's not a simple fix, I'm afraid
@@timdark9282 if its the bumbs its gonna be temporary
How do you manage when you’ve got a YLOD console?
@willgraham9725 remove the fan from the heatsink and heat the back of the heatsink. A hairdryer on max setting will be enough, or you can use a hot air station set to 150 degrees. Be sure to point it at the back of the two aluminium heatsink plates for about 1 minute. You can now attempt to separate the motherboard from the heatsink as the thermal paste will now be more like liquid and less like glue
Would I have the same issue with a slim? I'm just planning on re pasting the console not de lidding!
Because all PS3 consoles use heat spreaders, it's advisable to open the console warm. This is because the surface area of the IHS is large enough to grip the heatsink. This happens when the paste acts like a glue. A BGA issue is then a possibility as the force required to separate them is enough to cause a BGA crack. This can happen under the RSX and CPU chip.
@@timdark9282 thanks for the reply and advice I'll do that then!....I have had the console a couple of years so it could do with a clean etc! Cheers again
@@smittenthekitteninmittens2679 No problem
Whats your ebay store?? I want to buy one of the backwards compatible models that is refurbished well?
My seller ID is Timbo98765
What if the council does not work can you use a heat gun to slightly warm it up before opening
If the console doesn't work, you can remove the fan and gently heat up the back of the heatsinks with a heat gun set to low or 100 degrees. I don't recommend anyone to do this on a working console. This is a last resort and should only be done if the console can not boot
@@timdark9282 Thank you very much counsel does the red light of death going to try to see if I can fix it have never done one we will see And thanks for all the good videos been watching a bunch
@edsautohelpmore1204 No problem, what's the model of your console. You will find it on the back
It is A01
@edsautohelpmore1204 okay, yes, remove and gently heat, that's fine to do on this model
I restore some of them by changing some ics also some tantalum capacitors delid them and making some cleaning until now none of them gives me issues.
It's only a 5 percent chance, but when yiur refurbishing hundreds of PS3 consoles, to lose 5 for every 100 is something I want to avoid
My ps3 slim playing the last of us
68cpu rsx 68 fan arround 45-50 speed never opened before i need repaste ?
It's likely you need a delid. Try a repaste first, but if it doesn't solve the issue, it's likely ro need a delid
@@timdark9282 now i change to syscon control fan after 5min playing above 72 i try repaste first thank you so much
I just bought myself a backwards compatible PS3 (CECHC03) and I'm having trouble.
I can play PS2 games or HD collections just fine but if I try to play an actual PS3 game it's too demanding and the system shuts off.
I don't have a clue how to repair it or anything, I'm very worried it will eventually die completely.
I'm in the UK, do you know any reputable repair shops? Do you handle repairs yourself if someone pays you for it? I really need help.
Thanks.
You need to see my other tutorial regarding shutdowns when playing high intensive games. It's normally tokins and extra tantalums need to be piggybacked on to the existing tokins sobthe capacitors can deal with the loaded that's needed to be given to the CPU and GPU
Also if you have custom firmware you can install PS3 Pro Tools, you will now be able to perform a syscon dump to USB. This will now give you the last 31 error codes which you can look up on wiki
@@timdark9282 real diagnosis is THE REAL way to go since syscon is available. ty for pointing that out as well ! compared to any other form of "debugging", this is giving you so much information for so little risk & work - should be seen as a mandatory step by a professional for any problematic console from my pov.
@5L4P5T1CK Absolutely, we have had a lot of work go on behind the scenes to reverse engenier Syston so that the codes can be deciphered and given meaning. It would be an absolute crime not to use this information as so much work has gone into this. If you are serious about doing a professional refurbishment, this process needs to be followed. Otherwise, you are just doing work for the sake of it and could be completely missing what needs to be done.
NEC TOKINS PROBLEM IF IT SHUTS OFF DURING INTENSIVE GAMES ITS NEC TOKINS THAT NEEDED TO BE REPLACED WITH TANTALUMS
Just got a CECHC in immaculate condition and I am legitimately scared to open it or even use it
Gave it a test run and it runs well and stays silent so no need to tamper with it for now
But I'm scared of the time I might have to lol
Why not let it warm up before opening ?
That's exactly what I do in the recording!
Well uhm damn. Watching this after I already did my refurbish.
Here’s to hoping I didn’t scuff anything up
You have a 5 percent chance of pulling on the substrate. Did the plates separate from the heatsink easy? If they did, you probably have nothing to worry about
@@timdark9282 yeah they separated mostly easily. I applied low but constant pressure, until the heatsink just came up by itself
@YuMarukisatsu sounds like your be fine 🙂
What's your opinion on the eraser mod? I assume the pressure it puts will also negatively affect the solder joints
The correct procedure for a over heating CPU is a de-lid. Unfortunately, this process is easy to get wrong, and getting it wrong can kill your console. So, for this reason, the eraser mod is a good alternative with much lower risk. If you don't have the money to get a delid done, this is your next best option
My PS3 have the eraser mod from 6 months, still no problems at all.
@Jelko BG A de-lid with liquid metal is the ultimate cooling, will knock 10 degrees off your eraser mod. Don't get me wrong, it's better to have the eraser mod than nothing at all, but a de-lid with liquid metal is the best cooling your PS3 can possibly have
@@timdark9282 The cpu was never problem on the ps3, there is no problem, even if it runs at 75° the only reason to keep the cpu cooler is that the rsx will also run cooler. The real problem is the rsx, because the bad bga design. My cechc04 with delided rsx and eraser mod on the cpu runs around 57° on both cpu and rsx, the fan is set at 35%
@Jelko BG That's not exactly true, so to be clear, I'm not being argumentative, but we need to be clear on the facts.
(1) If the CPU runs hotter, the fan ramps up regardless of the RSX temperature. So if you run custom firmware, you find a hot CPU forces the fan to increase which...... you guessed if it runs the RSX cooler.
(2) The motherboard is prone to heat board warping, so a hot CPU could flex the motherboard and cause numerous issues for your PS3.
(3) A hot CPU will force the NEC tokins to work under load, causing NEC tokin failure. The fix we now know is tantalum capacitors.
(4) A hot CPU causes the fan to ramp up, putting more strain on the PSU. This ultimately causes PSU failure
So whilst the CPU is fine running hot, everything else around it simply can't cope with the stress and extra workload it inflicts on all the other components. We also know the 90nm RSX is prone to flip chip errors (information can be found on the bump gate article), so if this chip goes over 65 degrees, it will fail at some point in its life causing the Informers 3034 error YLOD.
So, in a nutshell, shell the cooler the CPU the more likely your keep the entire console under 65 degrees, without the need to run a high fan speed. This will help to avoid many possible errors on your PS3 I get temps below 60 degrees on both CPU and RSX with a fan speed of 30 percent using liquid metal
My internet wasn't working, so I swapped the network board drive, still no network. Then my Bluetooth wouldn't connect unless plugged into the console. Tried updating to 2.53 to play a game ans it errored me out. Now I'm stuck on an never ending loop. Can't access safemode either lol fml
What model of PS3 do you have?
@Tim Dark hey Tim, CECH-E01. Picked it up, added new paste, system was clean otherwise. No saved data since Jan 2009. Played it, tested it for a good 30 minutes, ran great until I tried updating system software :(
Did you try the Blu-ray drive? Did it read and play games? If so, check that the BD drive is connected via the power and ribbon cable
@Tim Dark I did, yes. Every single cable is up and running. Currently trying to install the update again.
@@tylerwisniewski are you updating via USB or Internet network? What's the error code?
Why it blinking yellow and green
Because webmans fan profile is being loaded. When this happens the console blinks yellow and green on start up
Or... just use a a hairdryer and warm the chips before removing the heatspreader.
A hairdryer doesn't give even heat which could cause board warping leading to a BGA defect. The way shown in the video ensures the console is heated in the way it should be and is much safer than just simply "adding heat" to the chips.
Pretty sure that's how I broke mine 😢
@@sampson4886 Yep, it's more common than people realise
dude you dont need a backwards compatable ps3 too play ps2 games i jail broken my slim ps3 i can play ps2 games fine .
@roninstormYT it won't play them from disc and needs to be jailbrokern. The resolution is better on a BC model, and it doesn't need jailbreaking, which is more convenient for a lot of people. But I get it, if your happy to install your discs and jailbreak your console, it will play PS2 games reasonably well
Hey can I please get a link to your ebay store or other market place. I would love to buy an original PS3 from you.
Hi, I don't have any for sale currently, I will give you a link when my next listing is up
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/266177121620?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=Dkdl9BxLThm&sssrc=2524149&ssuid=Dkdl9BxLThm&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
Fuck. I wish I thought to do this when I took apart a CECHK that was extremely dusty. This is a smart idea for next time.
Yep, I use this method on any Phat or fat PS3 console. The board comes away from the heatsink with no force, ensuring no BGA issues.