Just received a PlayStation 3 with the cursed yellow light of death (YLOD) its 6 years of age and so will probably have the lead solder which should make the repair more sustainable as to further use.
Both ps3 fat and slim models can receive the YLOD manufactured defect.
The yellow light on the Sony PlayStation console is a none specific fault indicator, and can be caused by a number reasons. After inspecting many consoles our engineers have found that in most cases the cause of the YLOD fault is, the lead free solder fracturing underneath the graphic processing unit on the ps3 motherboard.
The YLOD fault is in most caused by the high operating temperature of the graphic processing unit and the use of lead free solder in the manufacture process. Over time and because of the heat generated by the GPU the lead free solder starts to crack and as a result your console will no longer function. Block or clogged up cooling vents can greatly exacerb
ate the problem, see pic on left.
The cure rests in stripping it down to motherboard level and re flowing the solder pins that sit beneath the GPU until the solder remelts and once left for say 20 mins will have sealed the gaps and cured the YLOD.
This method is successful in most cases unless there is an underlying cause such as the hard drive joint but that is rare.
Once the joints are all good its time to rebuild the system and put our endeavors to the test.
The final click on the ON switch and wallah all is good and well and the PS3 is ready to give many more hours of Call of Duty etc.
PC Workshop are very experienced with console repairs and charge a flat fee of £45 for this type of problem.
