The PS3 is a great gaming console, of that there can be little argument. However, that’s not to say it doesn’t have its problems, as anyone who has ever witnessed the dreaded PS3 YLOD will testify.
This problem, which gets its name from the fact that the consoles green power light starts to flash a yellow colour, is caused by a hardware failure due to overheating of the electronics inside the case.
Most gamers are, understandably, reluctant to open up their consoles and get into the inner workings but when you understand what causes the problem, the fix actually makes a lot of sense.
The repair itself involves re-seating the heat-sink that covers the graphics processor and applying extra heat paste to make the whole assembly more efficient. Then, the heat damage has to be un-done by a process known as re-flowing.
In all, it takes about an hour to complete and its actually very easy to get right, even if you are a complete novice. However, I would strongly advise you to get a good video repair guide to help you complete the repair with the minimum of fuss.
Taking the console to bits and successfully putting it back together again can actually be one of the hardest aspects of the repair. I don’t know about you but whenever I try and fix things like this I inevitably end up with a handful of spare screws or, worse still, I end up with a strange rattle from the unit itself.
Using a good, comprehensive repair guide can prevent such issues from happening and those PS3 YLOD repair manuals that come with detailed high resolution video are even better because you can see an expert performing the same repair step by step right there in front of you.
Given that your average repair guide costs only a few dollars, and given the fact that the official Sony repair can run into several hundred bucks, its an easy choice for most gamers to make.