PS3 Console Fan Boots to Highest Setting during gameplay or idle

slow driver

slow driver

7
United States
United States
s_tischhauser88
Have gt6, with 1100+ cars , latest 1.11 version, ps3 starts cooling fan right at startup of disc, and/or while at main menu. Have cleaned ps3 of any debris dust, vents are clean, and have ps3 setting above a/c vent for cooling. The ps3 is cool to the touch if not cold. I have recently formatted the ps3 160 gb slim and only reinstalled the gt6 1.11 version, and i get to the main menu, the fan boots to highest setting yet again. So i have formatted yet another and now i dont play gt6.

Is there anyone else out there thats having similar issues with this game title with a ridiculous ps3 fan constantly on high?
 
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Same thing happened to mine and I doesn't matter if I use my dust removing spray the fan blow like crazy.
 
My PS3 already had the fan going on its lowest setting basically all the time, but lately it goes to the 2nd and 3rd (highest?) fan speeds rather quickly during gameplay. At the same time I've also noticed this since I've moved and I now have the PS3 in a warmer room whereas it was in a cool basement before, so that was my first thought as to why that is. It does happen with other games too though, although GT6 gets the fan going on its highest speed quite easily and more often than other games.
 
I have that issue if the vents get blocked, too much dust etc. If its still going on with cleaned vents maybe too much dust is inside the system at this point.
 
Well thats good to know that im not the only one, on the particular issue. It does make wonder if the ps4 will have something of the same issue. Or even to transfer game save data of gt6 to the ps4. But none the less its a great game.
 
Also make sure that you have enough clear space around your console so that the fan can actually remove the hot air. I have my PS3 in a shelve and I have to lift it out on the floor when ever I use it. If I don't, the fan gos to max speed in 20 min.
 
MTM79
Also make sure that you have enough clear space around your console so that the fan can actually remove the hot air. I have my PS3 in a shelve and I have to lift it out on the floor when ever I use it. If I don't, the fan gos to max speed in 20 min.
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Well I have said or noted that its right above a/c air vent getting all the cold air. With nothing else around it.
 
This tends to happen when the thermal compound on and/or inside the heatspreader on the CPU and GPU of the PS3 dries up and loses its thermal conductivity. It's the same problem which killed off a lot of the original 60GB units (overheating leading to cracked solder joints).

You might want to try replacing the thermal paste yourself, or if you're not confident with working inside the system have someone do it for you.
 
This happened to my Fat PS3, I thought it was just a Firmware update to prevent overheating, about a month later it died on me. I took it apart and noticed that the thermal paste was as dry as sand.


I recommend you open it up, clean the heat spreaders and apply a decent quality thermal paste.
 
I recommend you alter the position on where the PS3 is placed, make sure you place it horizontally or else the fans will kick in at really high speeds, heating up the PS3 to its melting core and making it go into a supernova by shutting your PS3 down in a few hours.
 
This also happens to me, but only in a hot day. In a cold rainy day or in most nights for example, it doesnt turn to the highest speed.

And it is obviously VERY annoying.

I'll have to think about changing the thermal paste and cleaning it from the inside but I dont want to do it myself because I think its difficult and I'm not good at assembling/disassembling stuff like that.
I already struggled with the PS3 gamepad :ouch:
 
lldantell
Same thing happened to mine and I doesn't matter if I use my dust removing spray the fan blow like crazy.
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Top Tip: You should not use the spray as that just blows the dust into the machine. You need to use a vacuum to suck the dust away from the vents.
 
There's a sequence of button-pressing that makes it go through a self-clean mode. (For the slim) Google?

This one doesn't stipulate that no disc should be in the console, but the original one I saw said no disc.
 
Jaywalker
There's a sequence of button-pressing that makes it go through a self-clean mode. (For the slim) Google?

This one doesn't stipulate that no disc should be in the console, but the original one I saw said no disc.
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No, thats a fan test and its not for cleaning. it only puts the fan to the maximum speed for some seconds. I read somewhere that its not recommended to do.
 
I've never heard a Slim going on vacuum cleaner mode. I didn't even know they had this mode. I have a four year 160gb Slim and it's as silent as it's always been. It does seem to have a higher fan speed with some games after a while, but again, I can barely hear it, and I have it right next to me.

My old 40gb Fat did go into supersonic fan speed after it's fifth year, and man it was loud! But it never did it with GT5 (it didn't live long to see GT6).

My advice as the rest have given you. Clean it, and place it in a well vented area.
 
This thread makes me nervous because my ps3 is 5 years old and it's a fat model (74 GB brand new in 2009). It seems to be fine though and it doesn't get loud like my friend's ps3 did before it died. The fan does kick up a bit when I play gt6. I have no idea what thermal paste is. Every once in a while I do vacuum the vents on it.

Edit: my fan does not kick on for a while. So either my ps3 confused or I took care of it or it's Jesus​
 
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Same experience here, PS3 has lots of room to breathe, yet it frequently goes into high cooling modes which make the fan annoyingly loud (and there's always a bit of a scary feeling of 'is that still normal'). GT6 does put a lot of strain on the system, as does GTAV, and both games cause the fan to go into high cooling modes relatively quickly. This happened as soon as I got these games, and it does not happen when I run older games or games that aren't as hardware hungry such as GRID Autosport. GT6 even does it when I just idle on the menu while doing stuff on PC. I have a 320GB Slim which is 3 years old. I have been using it a lot, mainly running GT5, in places with worse air circulation/warmer air around it for years, and before these fan modes only kicked in on hot summer days.

So I assume it's a combination of the increased workload caused by these games and the age of the console. Does anyone know if it is dangerous for PS3s to run in these high temperatures for many hours?
 
daan
Not a GT6 issue. Thread moved.
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ok as noted from the replies from above, i have already did the thermal paste removal and install. And yes i see it is a GT6 issue seeing that its the only game that insist on heavy use of fan speed. regardless, of type of, or model of the ps3 , to do a format on the ps3, then to reinstall the gt6 package to the 1.11 version takes at least 30+ mins. then add all the data save for 1100 plus cars, it still seems to be a gt6 thing. and by the way (daan) does your system kick on the fan at the highest setting, and also how often do play gt 6, along with data, as far as # of cars, upgrades all modes unlocked etc.?
 
slow driver
daan
Not a GT6 issue. Thread moved.
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ok as noted from the replies from above, i have already did the thermal paste removal and install. And yes i see it is a GT6 issue seeing that its the only game that insist on heavy use of fan speed. regardless, of type of, or model of the ps3 , to do a format on the ps3, then to reinstall the gt6 package to the 1.11 version takes at least 30+ mins. then add all the data save for 1100 plus cars, it still seems to be a gt6 thing. and by the way (daan) does your system kick on the fan at the highest setting, and also how often do play gt 6, along with data, as far as # of cars, upgrades all modes unlocked etc.?
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This is a good point actually, Yamauchi himself has advertised GT6 as 'using the PS3's full potential' which in turn means putting the maximum burden on mostly old PS3s, causing these heat issues. You could also argue it's a rather poorly optimized PS4 game, at least in some ways.

This is very much a problem caused by GT6, not the PS3 hardware itself. My own PS3 can run GT5 perfectly fine for hours, while GT6 causes these massive heat issues within minutes of sitting on the menu screen. GT6 is overloading the PS3 hardware.


Edit: Thinking about it, and looking at the participation in this thread, this seems like an issue affecting a lot of GT6 players. The OP has brought up a very valid problem I didn't see mentioned on the GT6 forums before, it'd be nice to have it back there.
 
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KiroKai
Same experience here, PS3 has lots of room to breathe, yet it frequently goes into high cooling modes which make the fan annoyingly loud (and there's always a bit of a scary feeling of 'is that still normal'). GT6 does put a lot of strain on the system, as does GTAV, and both games cause the fan to go into high cooling modes relatively quickly. This happened as soon as I got these games, and it does not happen when I run older games or games that aren't as hardware hungry such as GRID Autosport. GT6 even does it when I just idle on the menu while doing stuff on PC. I have a 320GB Slim which is 3 years old. I have been using it a lot, mainly running GT5, in places with worse air circulation/warmer air around it for years, and before these fan modes only kicked in on hot summer days.

So I assume it's a combination of the increased workload caused by these games and the age of the console. Does anyone know if it is dangerous for PS3s to run in these high temperatures for many hours?
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Yes it it dangerous, it should be as quiet as the day you bought it, get the thermal paste changed.
 
Rickster
Yes it it dangerous, it should be as quiet as the day you bought it, get the thermal paste changed.
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That's why I doubt the hardware is "getting old" yet, as I described in the post you quoted other games play normal, like they always did since I got it. The fan is running at normal speed/volume. It's also running at normal speed on GRID Autosport which is much newer than both GTAV and GT6. That's why I believe this is more a case of the game overloading a regular system.

As long as my system runs regular games 'quiet as the day I bought it' it seems like a higher risk to open it up and mess with it to me. No?
 
Out of curiousity, which PS3 do you have? As far as I can tell, there's 2 slims.
 
KiroKai
Me?



Care to elaborate?
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There's this slim:

ps3-slim-01.jpg


And then there's this slim (The one I currently own):

8001374977_a2826448ed_k.jpg
 
The console you own is called Super Slim... it wasn't even on sale 3 years ago as it's a 'facelift' of the Slim, and there has never been a Super Slim sold with a 320GB HDD while the top of the range 320GB Slim was very popular.
 

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