YLOD- Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Stop The Bomb

McClarenDesign

Insightful, but bollocks.
Premium
5,785
United States
Norman, OK
McClarenDesign
I know there have been a lot of concerns with the endurance of some older systems, namely the fatties. I myself have a Fat40, which I got the day Prologue came out. Luckily, it's been faithful ever since.

So far...

With online B-spec coming, and the fact that I'm ready for the endurance races, it's time to prepare and I thought I'd share my set up. Please keep in mind that although a bit pricey, it's cheaper than buying a new system.

1. Belkin laptop cooling pad- http://www.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=472610 >$20 at Walmart

2. Honeywell air circulator- http://www.target.com/s?ie=UTF8&CPN...r-circulator&LNM=Honeywell fan air circulator $16 @ Target

3. APC backup power supply (optional, but recommended if you live in an apartment or somewhere with occasional power surges or storms)- http://www.walmart.com/ip/APC-450VA-Back-UPS-ES-120V-8-Out./12321684 $42 at Walmart, but it could save your data and give you piece of mind.

Granted, it's crude, so if you've got a better set up for your tons-o-fun fatty PS3, please share.
 
I have my 60 gig from the PS3 launchday.
didn't have any problems yet.

But it's alway better to prevent :D
 
About the air circulation fans, where should you position the fans?
behind the PS3 or at front or side?

I have a PS3 slim by the way, and it gets real hot during b-spec endurance races.
 
One of the big reasons for overheating is clogged vents.
Keep those clean, and you should be fine.
If you keep your PS in a cabinet, you can have a fan that pulls
hot air away from your components, and draws cool air in.
 
I bought Sony's two year extended warranty, and there's still a year and a half left on it. I'm through with the endurance races anyway - with Dead Space 2 coming out on Tuesday, I'm certainly not going to have my PS3 running pointless computer programs for 24 hours when I could be playing a great game on it.
 
I have a Fat 60gig (upgraded to 160Gig) and leave it on 24/7. Never had an issue with it.

I think the 360 has made too many people paranoid about leaving next gen consoles switched on. The PS3 is an incredibly well made peice of kit that has proved over time to have a very typical failure rate for modern ellectronic devices. Unless you have your PS3 in an enclosed space or a dusty environment I really dont think it's something you have to worry about.

Love the Dr Stranglove reference :)
 
Stop saying that "If it is well ventalated and not in an enclosed space you will have no problems or away from a dusty environment!" Blah, Blah, Blah! My PS3 has just died on me (never had a problem with it until it died) I have had it since launch and it has always been in a cool, ventalated, relatively dust free environment (Because a dust free environment is relatively impossible!) and it has been in an open area, plenty of space either side.

Fact of the matter is that it is pure luck if your phat PS3 actually lasts for a long time, thing is, if you use it a lot, especially with GT5 etc. it will kill it off at some point. I tried doing the YLOD fix after it died yesterdau but the PS3 died again after two hours so I've been out today and bought a slim PS3 and had done with.

Once again to be clear, there isn't much you can do to prevent the phat PS3 from eventually going, you are lucky if yours keeps going, I opened mine up and the amount of dust in there was no where near what I expected.

Good luck to all phat owners ... And one last thing, be careful with colling fans that actually clip onto the PS3, they actually hinder cooling rather than aid it, so don't use them. As for laptop cooling pads, I'm not 100% convinced they will help where they are positioned, it would be more beneficial sitting it up onto some small stands (exteneded versions of the rubber feet the PS3 already has) so air can circulate better underneath aswell.
 
Good luck to all phat owners ... And one last thing, be careful with colling fans that actually clip onto the PS3, they actually hinder cooling rather than aid it, so don't use them. As for laptop cooling pads, I'm not 100% convinced they will help where they are positioned, it would be more beneficial sitting it up onto some small stands (exteneded versions of the rubber feet the PS3 already has) so air can circulate better underneath aswell.

Would a few blobs of blu-tack extend the feet of the PS3 enough to help cooling? My PS3 has a stand so it doesn't bother me but it's an idea for those who have theirs layed flat.
 
Would a few blobs of blu-tack extend the feet of the PS3 enough to help cooling? My PS3 has a stand so it doesn't bother me but it's an idea for those who have theirs layed flat.

Anything can be made to work, but blu tack will probabaly squish down flat. Lift it a half inch or more and it should be fine.
I used some little squares of rubber, but anything can work, glue a few pennys together, chunks of wood, get creative.
 


Uploaded with ImageShack.us]

I ordered 2 of the 120mm fans. I dont care for TT, but it was the simplest solution. Plus it has speed control. Thermaltake mobile fan 12

I took off the fan's stand, cut holes and mount holes and just threaded in small bolts to fasten the fans and guards to the back of my cabinet.
Fans power on and off with the PS3. You can see the USB power cables running around the side and into the front USB ports.

I have them both running exhaust right at the rear, door infront has gaps for fresh air to enter. Have kids so it was the only real way to cool without exposing fans to tiny fingers.
Right behind fans is the wall and my cold air return vent is right there

Total cost was sub $20CDN
12530_1.jpg

I liked the USB fan because its powered by whatever device I choose. My DVD player, Wii and PS3 all have USB, but I only ever use the PS3, so I plug it and the fans start and stop when the power up the PS3. Saves you trying to rig up some electrical frankenfan.
Its a very simple DIY project that takes no time and costs almost nothing. 120mm PC fans are quite quiet.

EVEN if you dont rig it up to the back of a cabinet, just the fan sitting aimed to help exhaust air can make a world of difference for thermal protection.

The PS3 cools itself fine, so long as you can remove the heat from the area directly behind it. My method works excellent, also for even more cooling, add a cheap laptop cooler as the OP suggested, they wont directly cool the system, but it helps with area airflow.

Duster clean our the PS3 once a week.
 
Just to add to the above post, running a fan through the usb of the PS3 can add extra heat, so ideally having the fan plug into the wall would cool more. Standing the PS3 upright also aids in cooling, as heat rises.
 
Just to add to the above post, running a fan through the usb of the PS3 can add extra heat, so ideally having the fan plug into the wall would cool more. Standing the PS3 upright also aids in cooling, as heat rises.

Most HD TV's have USB ports on them. These should be able to power a USB fan.
 
Since B-Spec has been running for a couple of weeks and my PS3 has been on pretty much nonstop I have a desk fan pointed at my PS3. I also have it standing straight up so the bottom doesn't get too warm. My PS3 is also a 40gig version (different HDD in it now though) from about the same time Prologue came out.
 
Just to add to the above post, running a fan through the usb of the PS3 can add extra heat, so ideally having the fan plug into the wall would cool more. Standing the PS3 upright also aids in cooling, as heat rises.

USB only uses around 5v at 2.5w, so temperature increase is almost completely nonexistent.

Heat may rise, but the PS3 exhausts through the side. Since we are not talking about stagnant air, but air thats already being moved via the fan, your not going to do anything but focus the heat in one area.
Also should note that there have been several people do thermal tests on the PS3 to evaluate the horizontal/vertical cooling ability and every case I read, the PS3(fat and slim) ran cooler in the horizontal position. But none of them are solid studies by any means.

other factors would be that dust settles, and with open vents up top, you would get more dust inside.

Air gets sucked in the front as low as it can. Like you said, hot air rises. If your in an open air environment it probably doesnt matter, but if your in an entertainment center, you would have hotter air up top, and if half your cold air intake vent is up high, your just sucking in warm air.

but its splitting hairs. There is no tangible proof that either position is more beneficial then the other.

There are power bars that have a master plug and several slaves. All items will power on and off when the master plug item is on or off. A good way to turn cooling on and off if your having plug in fans vs USB fans.
 
About the air circulation fans, where should you position the fans?
behind the PS3 or at front or side?

I have a PS3 slim by the way, and it gets real hot during b-spec endurance races.

I have my postitioned horizontally, and have the circulator fan blowing into the intake on the right hand side, and blowing slightly behind to help the exhaust in the back.

Considering some PS3s YLOD due to the glue, I take care not to keep the fan on when the PS3 is off. Rather, just before I turn it off, I turn of the circulator fan so the system can cool at it's own pace.

Having the laptop cooling pad was just an additional piece of mind. It lifts the system up, promotes air ciruculation underneath, and has helped in cooling to some degree, but I don't have hard data (temps, etc.) to back that up. Hopefully the redundancies I've built in will ensure a longer life. At the least, it helps me sleep better at night (while Bob's busy doing his thing).
 
i have had my 60 gig fatty since about 2007-2008. Don't use any fans and it has never went wrong once.

Yeah, that's the story for MOST people until they suddenly get the yellow light.

This isn't typically an intermittent thing that slowly gets worse. It'll work fine up until the point that it doesn't.

Mine did.

Some people WILL get lucky and will never have an issue. But it's pretty clear that GT5 loads the system harder than just about anything previously. Thinking that just because you've never had a problem in the past means you never will is just foolish.

Even if you don't get additional cooling everyone oughtta be backing up their saves to USB. I find it difficult to feel bad for anyone who doesn't and loses their stuff.
 
I just replaced my bluray drive, in my 08 fatty, so I should be good to go.

yea mine went out a few months ago on my fatty (bought it less then a year ps3 came out). I bought just the eye drive part of it and it didn't fix it, so instead of spending more for the whole drive I just bought a new slim. I will buy it a bluray drive some time but don't really care now. also I have that part for sale if any one needs it (going to put it on ebay soon). cost $85 new i'll sell it for $50 (was in my ps3 for 10 mins).
 
Last edited:
I have had my PS3 60 gig fat since launch. Since the warranty has been expired for quite some time, I have taken mine apart and used canned air to blow all of the dust out.
I will post a pic of my setup. I use a box fan and good ventilation. I also run my PS3 flat, not standing up.
For everyone who thinks that having their PS3 upright is better...I give you exhibit A.
thermasp.jpg


http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/28/ps3-too-hot-try-keeping-it-horizontal-thermal-image-guarantee/
I have seen that one before, but it doesnt hold any water in an argument because its not apples to apples comparison. the horizontal PS3 pic is from the front, the vertical pic is from the rear.

Would have made a world of difference if the pics were from the same location.
 
Won't help much at all. The reason is - you still can't properly cool down cpu/gpu chips with that.
Like example in my PC. It has 6 coolers, 2x 140mm, 4x 120mm, + CPU, Power Supply and GPU fans. Also, i have an air conditioner, so i always have not more than +19C in my room.
Yet, when CPU or GPU under heavy load, it get's up to 55C on CPU and 87C on GPU (GTX480 with GF100 chip a.k.a. fermi lol ). While overall temp in my PC case is just about 30 - 33C.

Same for PS3. You'll need to modify the whole cooling system to get some real results, otherwise it'll be a self fooling.
Those things helps a bit only if: it's very hot in your room or you place your PS3 to the limited space (like on Neocodex's pic).

And even if forget about all that. YLOD usually caused by heat/cold cycles, because lead-free solder can't hanle it well and eventually cracks, so CPU/GPU losing conctact with a motherboard and you see a YLOD.
And you can't avoid those cycles unless you will never turn your console off.
 
And even if forget about all that. YLOD usually caused by heat/cold cycles, because lead-free solder can't hanle it well and eventually cracks, so CPU/GPU losing conctact with a motherboard and you see a YLOD.
And you can't avoid those cycles unless you will never turn your console off.

If it runs cooler, there will be less expansion, and therefore less fatigue on the solder.
 
Yeah, that's the story for MOST people until they suddenly get the yellow light.

This isn't typically an intermittent thing that slowly gets worse. It'll work fine up until the point that it doesn't.

Mine did.

Some people WILL get lucky and will never have an issue. But it's pretty clear that GT5 loads the system harder than just about anything previously. Thinking that just because you've never had a problem in the past means you never will is just foolish.

Even if you don't get additional cooling everyone oughtta be backing up their saves to USB. I find it difficult to feel bad for anyone who doesn't and loses their stuff.

And worrying that you will have an issue so never risking leaving your PS3 turn on for any length of time is also foolish.
The PS3 has proven itself to be a very reliable piece of ellectronics. No need to baby it the way 360's require babying.

Yes some people will have units die on them. That is true of every piece of ellectronics ever made.
However, the failure rate of the PS3 is no higher then any well made piece of ellectronics.

If it were we would hear constant stories of failure as the 360 used to have after launch.

Don't be afraid to leave your PS3 switched on just because the 360 had a serious issue with build quality. The 360 was the exception not the rule.

But absolutely I agree that everybody should make regular backups of any important data. That's true for any data be it PC or console.
 
If it runs cooler, there will be less expansion, and therefore less fatigue on the solder.

*sigh*
People think it runs cooler, because air from the back and up of PS3 is cooler when you use those things. But chips on the motherboard will be about same temp, it was tested million years ago and not only with PS3.
Even more, all those "devices" may ruin the proper airflow inside the case and because of that cpu/gpu won't be cooled that well = even higher temps for those chips.
I wish it was THAT simple to cool down stuff like that. Just get a bunch of the 3$ coolers and that's it.... =)
 
Last edited:
I have a launch 60gig "phat". In the 3+ years that I've had it I had to replace the HD, which I upgraded to a 320, but sadly lost all of my game saves and I had one YLOD. Luckily I found a place in Chicago (the city where I reside) that repairs the most common cause of YLOD and that is overheating of the soldering compound that keeps the CPU in place.

Supposedly laying the PS3 flat helps, but mine YLOD'd while it was flat. To be fair though, it spent 2 out of it's 3 years in the upright position.
 
I have a 40GB Fat since launch and it has played all the great titles out there for the ps3. It is in an open space and it never caused me any problems, except for a couple of times when my room got too hot because I've left the heater on (it was winter) even myself was choking with the heat so the ps3's fans kicked off. After that no problems.

I bought my ps3 the same time as my cousin, and in he's one the lens gave out. It was still working but the lens just cant read any disc. I got nervous around the time, because I thought mine would do that as well.

As I keep saying to my friends who says that I should get a cooling fan for it to "help" keep it cool, I just say, it depends on the user and how they take care of their electronics. I keep my ps3 in a well opened ventilated area and clean it every week, to keep the dust away.

Now with GT5, no problems at all, I've been running Bspec endurance races everytime I go to work and go to sleep. Recently I unlocked the 9 hour endurance races and I've been doing that ever since. Its perfect if you're away from work. I just open a window so fresh air comes through my room.

My fatty has been running for 3 years now and its still providing some great games for me to play.
 
Luckily I found a place in Chicago (the city where I reside) that repairs the most common cause of YLOD and that is overheating of the soldering compound that keeps the CPU in place.

Supposedly laying the PS3 flat helps, but mine YLOD'd while it was flat. To be fair though, it spent 2 out of it's 3 years in the upright position.

Hooray Chicago Gadgets! They fixed mine as well. I was happy to pay the $50 as my saves were a bit outdated, but I've since given that PS3 to a friend whose family has been hammering it (including a lot of GT5 time) for the last month. I've told him he should unload it on eBay while it's still working and use that cash to buy a new slim, but so far he's not done so.

Mine had spent its entire life since launch day laying flat.
 

Latest Posts

Back