So, I was in the middle of playing Red dead, just lost my horse to a mountain lion and went to break and new one when my ps3 just cut out and the light started blinking red. The same thing happened last night but it simply turned back on giving me the “ps3 was not turned off correctly message”, i thought nothing of it, Red dead is full of glitches and stuff would have been surprised if theres no crash. This time the same thing happened, after i switched the ps3 back on the light goes blue for a second and flashes green once, then quickly flashes Orange/Yellow and then turns off and thus goes red again. Is this what people mean by the yellow light of death ? So or so im ps3 isnt gona turn on again, and I’m really not sure what to do now. First of all do i send it to sony to get it fixed ... can i ? since it is a launch model my warranty is def run out. Do i just buy a slim  and put my HDD in there ?

Im realy not sure what to do now, so anyone that has already gone through this please let me know what you did and how it worked out,  

 Thank you in advance. 

Unlucky. Happened to my launch 60GB last christmas. Sony gave me a 120GB in return though, for free. <3

Dude, I got the YLOD 2 days after SSFIV came out.  I was pissed.  If you like tinkering with the stuff and feel confident, here's a link
 
 

That sucks. My brothers launch PlayStation TWO still works, amazingly.

Lots of ppl I know has gone through that, I miss my backwards compatibility. I bought a 3 year waranty though at best buy, they were bitter giving me a new ps3 and cancelled out my waranty after that.

So I just called UK support, and since my console is out of warranty it will cost me 131£ to get a refurbished model, however the guy told me the original hard drive needs to stay in the system and if that is what happens then all my saved games are gone. I’m not really up on all this stuff but isn’t there a way of transferring saved games and stuff of this hard drive onto another one ? So if i was to buy a new slim model I could transfer the saved games and all that from my hard drive to the new one without any problems?

Luckily, my launch 60GB is still kicking. It will be a sad day when it dies.

That sucks.   I hope that isn't the problem. My launch 60GB is still kicking.  Luckily.

It happened to me in January of 09. Had to pay $170 to get a "new" one.

Yeah it happened to me a little while ago to while bioshock 2 was in there. Lost all of my game save, so have been playing red dead before I start bioshock again. 
 
Had to pay 200 bucks in Canada for the 60GB repair, but they got it back within 3 days which was great service. If it happens another time, I'll just attempt to do this - doesn't look that hard.

You can transfer your saves to an usb stick, all the games and trophies are tied to your account, so it's not a lot you'll be missing if you just transfer the savegames. 
EDIT: (if you can acces the menu that is) can't remember if the ylod lets you do that....
 
Alternate solution. get a solid state drive (or what the ps3 drives are called) and clone the drive onto the new one using pc or mac.

Get a 360 
 
AHAHAHA... Nah, I kid. Look at my profile name, it's blue, for Sony. So never, never buy a 360, I say. Back to topic, what I would do if I were you is contact Sony and check what your options is with them before you do any tinkering.

You are basically out of luck with your save data. Installing your hard-drive in another PlayStation 3 will not work, because it is required that the hard-drive be formatted for the system, erasing all of the current hard-drive data. If you submit your PlayStation to Sony for repairs, be sure to periodically back-up your data from the new unit. I've had a repaired PlayStation break days out of its three month warranty, showing that even new units can be faulty. With that said, my friend has had his refurbished 60GB PS3 for a couple of years now, so they're relatively reliable. I wish you good luck in your repairs.
 
Also, Sony is currently offering (at least here in the states) a replacement 120GB Slim when you submit your 60GB PS3 and repair fees. You can still get the same model if you chose, but it's something to consider.

It's too late now, but the only thing that works is either putting saves on a Flash Drive or running the backup utility to an external Hard Drive. Which I need to do again as the fan in my 60GB has been going into overdrive lately, worries me as this is MY refurb from Sony after my original YLOD'd.

Man, you had to bring this thread back TODAY?!? I just bought a refurbished 60 giger, and you all have me thinking its going to break any second now.

I had this happen the week before Christmas last year. Had to open up the system to get the blockbuster game out.
 
Needless to say I wasn't really surprised what I got from Santa.

" I had this happen the week before Christmas last year. Had to open up the system to get the blockbuster game out.  Needless to say I wasn't really surprised what I got from Santa. "

i got my wii since it launched, plays perfect :P

" i got my wii since it launched, plays perfect :P "

i hope to god my launch 60 gig never does this.
I will make damn sure sony gives me a 60 gig with ps2 bc back.

Same thing happened to my 60GB PS3 a few months back. I just went ahead and ponied up the $150 to Sony, because I needs my backwards compatability, and ended up getting a refurbished one back. Of course I lost all of my saves which sucked a lot. I did upgrade the HDD at this time, which was way overdue.

" Unlucky. Happened to my launch 60GB last christmas. Sony gave me a 120GB in return though, for free. <3 "

" @Abyssfull said:

" Unlucky. Happened to my launch 60GB last christmas. Sony gave me a 120GB in return though, for free. <3 "

Happened to me six or seven months ago, and I just bought a 320GB Move bundle, for super cheap. Then my dad got the original 60GB fixed, so now I have two PS3's in my house. The second one is hooked up on our big TV. "

" @LiquidPrince said:

" @Abyssfull said:

" Unlucky. Happened to my launch 60GB last christmas. Sony gave me a 120GB in return though, for free. <3 "

Happened to me six or seven months ago, and I just bought a 320GB Move bundle, for super cheap. Then my dad got the original 60GB fixed, so now I have two PS3's in my house. The second one is hooked up on our big TV. "

Jesus, this certainly took me surprise. They never prepare you for 8 month old comment replies in internet school X_X "