PS3 Freezing issue help?

[kylum]

I got a ps3 in yesterday that has a freezing issue. The hdd needed to be formated. After and hour or two of it failing. I got it to format in another system. Then it worked fine. I took it out and used hiren's boot cd to run seatools, killdisk and bad sector repair just toake sure there was nothing wrong with the drive.

All went well nothing wrong with drive. Once back up and running it still freezes about 40 mins to hour of use. Game, streaming, or just setting there at xbm. It wasn't overheating, no excessive heat coming out of it other than a little from power supply but the usual amount. Tried a new hdd. Same thing. So I went on to change the thermal Compound. It was still in good shape but had to chane since I removed the board. Surprisingly it was a very very clean system. Very minamal dust.

I really don't think it was over heating cause the fan stayed on low at all times during testing and liken I said before. No excessive heat blowing out from fan. What could cause this issue. Will a reflow fix it. I hope not cause it just doesn't seem like it needs it but I'm still a noob so...

It's fat 40 gig non bc
Oh and I have reinstalled 3.5 on it also

Thanks in advance

[TechGeek990]

could possibly be that the hdd has a bad connection to ps3. make sure the ps3 hdd is connected properly. it could be the hdd doesn't fit correctly causing it to come loose sometimes making the ps3 freeze.

[kylum]

Hmm, I will check this. Seems highly unlikely since there is no vibration to cause this. Plus it works after a reboot.

[cackalack]

absolutely nothing to do with your hard drive it definitely needs a reflow, it's not far off the YLOD, I'm not taking a guess I've been repairing PCs and consoles for years, you're lucky you're getting warning signs rather than 1 minute its fine and the next minute it's off flashing, get it reflowed straight away and the repair will last ages if you keep using it you'll push the gpu too far and the repair won't be worth doing.

if you're in the UK you could use my service http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110616259468&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT, if not then either have a go yourself or get it done properly

Regards

[barrybarryk]

He's right it's overheating, reflow it. A heat gun is only £20 but make sure you add some flux (about £10) or the problem will keep coming back.

There are some great youtube tutorials for doing it yourself.

[kylum]

I was thinkin it was in need of a reflow. I'm not in the UK but I do have a heat gun, flux, griddle and sum thermal paste. However the only thermal paste I have and can get here is antec formula 5. Think that that is good enough for ps3 heat. It's worked fine in some friends 360's. Shoul I reflow with out the rxs spreader on or Shoul I take it off. I'm kinda scared taken it off plus don't really know what I can use to remount the spreader not gonna use crazy glue.

[cackalack]

sometimes it will come away when removing heatsinks anyway there's no need to glue it back down just clean chips up best you can, and just apply thermal paste and resit beware of dodgy youtube videos most people on there are idiots and don't have a clue, if you're going to use heat gun make sure it has a low setting 300-400 degrees, and if possible make a support jig for your board so it doesn't flex when heated and also makes the board very easy to work on.

[kylum]

Cool. I was gonna heat it first. I will post back once I'm done with the reflow and let you know the outcome.

[kylum]

well i finally did a reflow on it and now it freezes even sooner then before. freezing while loading. can't even make it to xmb. Should i try to reflow it again or what. I don't know what to do on this one. I'm about to take a hammer to this POS.

[mickeypegleg]

You, yourself said you are a "noob". So why not just pay for a repair? Get it Re-Balled, not Re-Flowed. A Re-flow is just a DIY fix that will cost just as much as Re-Balling. Ask around in your local Games shops and you will get all the info you need.

Good Luck.