I've noticed fps problems in many games, darksiders and sains row 3 recently and no one has really mentioned huge fps issues for either game. Could this be a problem with my console? It's an old fat 40gb model that is quite dusty, maybe it has something to do with that? Or am I just so used to PC frame rates I'm expecting too much? Thanks.

It might be the console but before that I'd try temporarily replacing the hard drive and see if it exhibits the same problems. Maybe there's caching issues with it.

When my PS3 broke it was locking up every couple of hours for a week or two before it wouldn't turn on anymore. If your's isn't locking up on a regular basis then it's probably not breaking, or at least not in the same way that mine was.

It might be an issue with the hard drive, but not necessarily that your PS3 is dying.

When mine got the YLOD, it was sudden (it was working fine)...

My first PS3 YLOD as well with no symptoms prior to that. Of course my dad decided to put in a game and immediately ejected it and the PS3 didn't like that very much. Instant death for some reason.

Darksiders 2 for me runs fine... just mild framerate drops at times when in large areas or tons of enemies (like when you fight 50 skeletons in a small room).

My first PS3 YLOD as well with no symptoms prior to that. Of course my dad decided to put in a game and immediately ejected it and the PS3 didn't like that very much. Instant death for some reason.

Darksiders 2 for me runs fine... just mild framerate drops at times when in large areas or tons of enemies (like when you fight 50 skeletons in a small room).

@Lunar_Aura: @GrantHeaslip: I've been meaning to upgrade my HDD anyway (40gbs if far too small) I guess this is a good incentive to do so?

I had serious Framerate issues recently noticed it on Walking Dead Ep 2 and then anything else I tried.. turned out I had like MB's free on the HDD, I just deleted a bunch of stuff and that fixed it, so I guess try that

I'm now experiencing this with Disney Infinty... I still haven't updated the hdd because I'm not sure where the actual problem is coming from, the ps3 or the hdd.

@nekusakuraba: Yeah man, It's definitely your HDD. I've had framerate problems up the wazoo before replacing it entirely. X-Com for example would slow down during enemy turns. Since replacing the hard drive, I've barely seen slowdown on games.

Does your fan get super loud too?

@solh0und: Yeah it does, it makes a lot of weird noises as well.

Hard to say. When my old model got the YLOD, it didn't have a single warning sign. Was in the middle of playing Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, was watching a cutscene, and BOOM, it just happened. It was bizarre.

@quarters: After doing a bit of research it could also mean I'm about to get the YLOD. It would be a damn shame to upgrade my hdd, just to get the YLOD, but it would also blow to buy a new system and have the other one be a simple hdd problem.

Consoles, amirite?

@nekusakuraba:

I will say, be ABSOLUTELY SURE to back up your saves, ASAP. Be it through the cloud or on a USB drive. Unlike the 360, if you PS3 dies, you can't just pop the hard drive in another machine and keep your saves. It forces you to reformat it if you do that. The only way to do it is through cloud/USB. I had to learn that the hard way.

@nekusakuraba: Wait do you have the fat or slim PS3?

@solh0und: I have a 40gb fat PS3.

@nekusakuraba: Hmm you might want to consider looking for a new PS3 as well...,

I hear that the fat ones have a higher chance of croaking than the slims.

@solh0und: Damn, and with the ps4 so close to launch... I wish that it was backwards compatible. :/

I wouldn't necessarily read too much in the fans being noisy, etc. That's bound to happen as the system fills up with dust and gets older anyway. Have you tried to defrag the harddrive or anything? I would try backing up all your saves on a usb stick or something and then try something like this.

If you want to upgrade from 40 anyway, but are scared of the system dying soon after, I suppose you could get another HDD and if it does YLOD down the line, you could get one of the cheaper 12gb flash memory PS3s and put that HDD in that. That way, you don't buy a new system until you know you need to and you won't really lose out. Brad was saying on the latest bombcast that he heard that if you wanted to put a HDD in those, they use a proprietary one you had to buy from Sony, but that's not the case. They'll use the same harddrives any other PS3 will. The misconception probably came from the fact that you do need to buy a little caddy to sit the drive in, since the machine doesn't have a hard drive in it, hence no caddy. I think mine was $11 delivered. Unfortunately, it's different from the caddy in your 40gb, so you can't just use that. I've got one of those systems now after my launch 60gb finally gave up after about 4 temporary YLOD repairs and I really like it. It's suuuuper quiet and light and after literally having to take my old system apart numerous times to get discs out of the drive when it did YLOD, I'm actually a big fan of the manual toploader :P

But yeah, whatever you do, back up your saves! Although some might be locked and can only be backed up by using the PS+ cloud storage feature, which is a bit of a bummer.

Guess what guys? I was playing GTA V today and it died. It's not a solid yellow light, it's a green, yellow and then flashing red lights. Not sure what it means or how to fix it.

You've served me well, friend.

@nekusakuraba: That's the "Yellow Light of Death". You can YouTube how to fix it if you're into doing that or you can get a new PS3. My 40GB did the same thing back in 2009. I only had it for a year though.

@awesomeusername: I thought that the yellow light of death was a solid yellow light?

Nope, it does what your PS3 is doing. A quick Google search says it's overheating problems by the way.

@awesomeusername: So would you consider it worth fixing? I've spoken a repair place and tephra charge $80 to reball it but with no guarantee it will fix the console permanently, and just claim it is a temporary fix.

Invest in an airduster and give your ps3 an extensive air enema.

@nekusakuraba: I wouldn't know. I didn't get mine repaired. I got a new one like 2 years later. If you want to play GTA V and any other titles coming out this year like Beyond, GT6, or Rain, I suggest just getting a new PS3. Try looking for one cheap. If not, if you're getting a PS4, pray they put the titles you want to play onto Gaikai. Or find a friend who has a PS3.

I definitely want my PS3 back, I have a big backlog with stuff like Infamous 2 and Last of Us I have to get around to!

I have two options from this point -

Use the hairdryer trick to get all my data off the machine, and then dump it (or send it into sony so they can send me back a refurbished one.)

The Pros? I get all my data back, and get to sync my trophies and it's free!

The Cons? It will melt some of the PS3 case, and I don't know if it'll even work. It wont last long.

Or I can get a reball for $80

The Pros? Will last longer, no melted ps3 case.

The Cons? Might have to just buy a new ps3 anyway, and that $80 could be a waste of money just for an extra 2 months of using this one.

Not sure if related, but worth mentioning to see if it possibly might be. I had issues with my PS3 this year, mine to is an original fat launch PS3. For me it was movies (specifically bluray movies) which would freeze randomly now and again. I did some investigating and found out it was down to the bluray drive. I also found out that the issue can also affect video games though honestly I wasn't playing a whole lot of PS3 games at the time so never got around to seeing if the same problems were affecting video games as it was movies. But the issue might be related, I know the bluray drive is the cause of a lot of PS3's trouble from asking a duder who knows this stuff.

I ended up replacing the drive which was easy and cheaper than getting a new PS3. Plus damn it if I'm going to have my PS3 launch console fail on me before the PS4 launch :D I'm taking a weird pride in finally having at least one console last a generation without total failure. Even if I have had to replace a component within it. Still, might be worth looking into. Like I said, the drive is problematic after a few years of use.

Best of luck.

@machofantastico: Did you ever get the yellow light?

@nekusakuraba: I definitely think you should get a new/used one then. Who knows how long it'll take to get some games on Gaikai and if the service won't get delayed or something. Your trophies don't get delete by the way. Unless you didn't sync it before it messed up.

That sucks, my PS3 has not done that luckily.

@nekusakuraba: My advice would be to try the hairdryer, just long enough for it to start. Once that happens, use the cloud or a USB drive to backup all your backlog saves, because if its busted, you won't get to access them... pluging the hard drive on a new PS3 won't work because the console formats it when you plug it. Once you have the backup, start saving for a new console... You have to understand that anything you do (hairdryer, reball) are temporary solutions. Once your PS3 gets a yellow light, there is no guaranty of how long it will last or even if it can be fixed.

Other than that, good luck.