PS3 Gpu problem

[spatimouth]

I just bought a used PS3 for 50 bucks that for the most part refuses to display any video. When I do get it to display the video it's mostly garbled and then the system freezes. I'll have to turn it upside down to temporary fix it. I'm tempted to attempt a heatgun reflow, or try baking the motherboard in the oven at 390 C. Anyone have any success stories or any tips they'd like to share on this repair?

[momaka]

Re: PS3 Gpu problem

I would not recommend you bake the board in an oven. Too many things that can go wrong. At the very least, there's components on both sides of the board, so some of them may fall out. Plastic on the connectors may melt as well.

Besides, there's plenty of cheap heat guns that will do the job. I got mine pretty cheap from Micro Center (it's this one).
You will also need flux, preferably the no-clean type since you will be putting in under the CPU and GPU before the reflow.

Remove any thermal compound from the CPU and GPU before the reflow and put new one afterwards.

By the way, can you post a picture of the blue-ray ribbon connector on the main board? I just did a PS3 reflow last month, but was unsuccessful. I suspect the "tech" who reflowed it before me screwed up something, including the blue-ray connector (which looked damaged), but I'd like to confirm this. Thanks.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: PS3 Gpu problem

390C is too much. I always went with 210C over 7 minutes when i was using the oven. And no i never had any stuff fall out tho i did melt some plastic parts on an Asrock motherboard - that was because the oven's thermostat broke without me knowing it. Since then i've used my multimeter's temperature probe to monitor things.

Anyway before you try any reflow method please remove everything you can from the board, and see if the board is flat. If it's bowed forget about it. I had a Gigabyte AMD board that completely failed when i tried to reflow it because they used a plastic CPU backplate and over time the board bowed hard enough to damage the soldering. When i cranked the heat up on my hot air gun, i heard cracking noises. That was the chipset unsoldering itself completely because the board was so bowed.

Also if you want a reflow to last apply liquid flux prior to reflow and make sure the heatsink goes on real tight afterwards.

[seanc]

Re: PS3 Gpu problem

Also if you want a reflow to last apply liquid flux prior to reflow and make sure the heatsink goes on real tight afterwards.

So in the case of something like an nVidia 8800GTS, I should have attempted to get some flux under the chip first, right? If it fails again, i'll do that.

[spatimouth]

Re: PS3 Gpu problem

Here are some pictures. The first picture is of the bluray cable and the next is the aftermath of the heatgun. I bought some liquid solder flux from microcenter... but it looks messy as hell... I'm hoping I got the right type. I blasted the gpu at around 220 and 240 C for 10 minutes. I noticed the board was kinda warping so I used some bolts and washers to try to keep it in palace. This is the 3rd time I've done this. The other two unsuccessful attempts I blasted it for around 5 minutes. If this doesn't work I'm probably going to sell it for parts.

[spatimouth]

Re: PS3 Gpu problem

still not working..... bla.....

[momaka]

Re: PS3 Gpu problem

still not working..... bla.....

Wow, yours too? I reflowed mine twice, but nothing changed for me as well (was still getting YLOD).
Are you at least still getting the same problem or is your PS3 totally dead now? Or do you have the Yellow Light of Death (YLOD)?

390C is too much. I always went with 210C over 7 minutes when i was using the oven.

I'm not sure if 210C will be enough since the PS3 uses lead-free solder as far as I know.

I bought some liquid solder flux from microcenter... but it looks messy as hell... I'm hoping I got the right type.

I think Micro Center only had one type. Got mine from there as well. It was the $10, 100ml one from MG Chemicals. Came in a black bottle. If you have the same one, it should be right.

I blasted the gpu at around 220 and 240 C for 10 minutes. I noticed the board was kinda warping so I used some bolts and washers to try to keep it in palace. This is the 3rd time I've done this. The other two unsuccessful attempts I blasted it for around 5 minutes.

Doubt the warping was caused from the heat because I reflowed mine twice, with the second time at over 400C. No warping or damage to the board whatsoever. Did you pre-heat your board? If not, peraps this could have cause the issue.

[stj]

Re: PS3 Gpu problem

ylod can also be caused by the psu (not many caps in them, but not the best either)
or a bad drive.

[smit93422]

Re: PS3 Gpu problem

I'm getting ready to reflow one someone gave me to see if I could fix. Thank you all for the tips. I'll be back to let you know how it worked!