So there is that method of repairing the ps3 by replacing the thermal paste and heating the up the ps3 to re-solder it. Many say it will fix it permanently, others say it is a temporary thing, I realize it is dependent on just personal experience. So I wanted to ask if anyone has actually fixed their system.

To clarify: my system will turn on for a sec and shut down, its not overheating, best guess is this yellow light of death.

did you go to ifixit.com? When mine burned out in Feb. I ordered the kit from them, worked out great. Until I over heated it again. Completly my fault that it happened.

@laserguy: Yep, that link in my post was to the ifixit site but I am in Canada so they can't send a heat gun across the border. There is a dude who will do it for me, for about the same price.

My concern is that aside from abnormally high use that weekend( little cousins came to visit), the thing was in an open area and was dusted with compressed air every once in a while. Given that I repair it, what happens when I finally marathon thru last of us. I think I will breakdown and cry if the ps3 breaks down at any point near the end of the game.

Edit: WTH right? I should just go for it! Yolo, swag sw4g swag, ps4 is out already, give it a couple years and there will be a ps3 emulator and I can finally finish last of us and metal gear ground zeroes, or buy a used ps3 for dirt cheap. CURSE YOU SONY FOR NOT MAKING THESE CROSS PLATFORM!!.

@super2j: Ground Zeroes will be on PS4 and Xbox One.

Nope. When I fixed mine it crapped out the next day. I kinda thought it would happen though, and only used it to retrieve my save game files.

Paid tho have mine fixed. Lasted about 4 months and crapped out again. The second time was for good.

Not permanent.

Mine didn't last, and I can't imagine anyone's really would. The problem is the solder itself, and this fix just reflows it to restore conductivity. Without replacing the solder entirely (I don't even know how you'd do that), it's all but guaranteed to happen again.

I was lucky enough to have mine die right when they introduced cloud saves to PS+, so I was able to get all my saves off for the ~6 hours it stayed alive, but I was not able to play anything after that. It sucks, but you should make your peace with the system; if you get it back up, it'll just be living on borrowed time.

My ps3 was the second gen so It had less "known" issues then the fat original but yet Gran Turismo 5 destroyed it. I put at least 100 + hours into GT5 when it first came out and at the time, it really made the ps3 run hard till they had some patches come later on that seemed to lessen the strain but by then it was to late. My ps3 ran like an oven and at one point it was as if I was running through the mud. Everything was slow. Menu opening was in slow mo, sound was in slow mo. Turning it off went slow, turning it on was slow. It was the weirdest things I had ever seen a ps3 do but damn was it hot. Sony fixed it and sent it back and has ran perfect since. It is now 3 years later. <3 my ps3

@thebrainninja: @spoonman671: @yakov456: @tearhead: so would you guys say its better for me to save my 50$ and just use it on black friday/boxing day to get a 99$ 3ds (i know its gunna happen)?

The fix might not be permanent. I lasted for 7 months, so i did good with the fix. But now I cant fix it, i have a heat problem and a burned circuit board I think. My ps3 is trashed, I ran it to hard. Id say sell it cheap and get a 3ds. Keep the hard drive for the future. Its sitting in my game cabinet looking cool.

It lasted a couple months but not permanent.

my repair lasted a year, then it broke again. It was an older model PS3.

second time I bought a new one.

Who repairs consoles? When it breaks you get a new one

I sent my PS3 away for repair by Sony after it stopped reading discs, and it's been perfect to this day.

@jz: People who cannot justify buying a 200$ aging system the week the new hot shit comes out.

I never got the YLOD. My fat ps3's bluray laser died, but I easily replaced it. Then the disc drive wouldnt spit discs out, but I didnt feel like fucking around with it so I just bought a slim (even though I know I could have fixed it. I got frustrated and threw it in a plastic container whille it was opened up, so there's pretty much no hope for it now). Had the fat for 4 years and the slim for 2 (which still works without issue).

Have you tried cleaning the system out? Maybe it's just super dusty in there

Mine lasted for a year i think? Then it was kaput. Even the repair guy said it isnt going to be permanent.

Well the first one I got back from sony was even more broken than the one I sent to get fixed, but not including that one the next one they sent back has continued to work fine.

My launch PS3 is still running just fine, thank you very much.

I repaired mine several times, reflowed the BGAs and added more flux each time, replaced the thermal paste etc. The first repair lasted a decent while, but it was definitely diminishing returns on each subsequent one.

Got it to work for a bit more than a month than it failed on me again and I couldn't get it to work again. I picked it up used and it was definitely opened up before so I bet it was fixed at least once before.