Need help with my Ps3.. what's going on...

So about a month ago my Ps3 fell off a roughly 1 meter tall table, leaving a mark on a corner of the chassis... because of a particularly distract person.. not me anyways.. Well, when I put it back on it was fine.. I played with no problems until late december.. I shall proceed explaining what happens as of lately now..

Okay.. it was on the day after Christmas I believe, exactly a month later from the fall.. I was playing SC4 online when suddenly alot of colored dots and squares appeared all over the screen.. the graphics began looking glitched and the textures became stretched out.. by pressing the PS button I noticed that even the menu icons were distorted in a somewhat staircase-like fashion.. some icons were big on the left side and small on the right one for example..

Then I proceeded to select ot shutdown the console.. the screen turned black but the system didn't turn off.. I tried turning it off by pressing the power button but it wasn't responding so I had to turn off the power directly by unplugging the cable... After plugging it back I tried to turn the Ps3 on but shortly after the system turned itself off again showing symptoms of YLOD (Yellow light for a brief moment and then blinking red light..). I've then begun to get worried.. as the Ps3 wasn't going to turn itself on after many tries I decided to leave it be for a while...

About 30 minutes later I tried turning it back on and this time the Ps3 booted normally.. after staying a while in the crossboard, I noticed dots appearing over the menu icons.. some icons even became completely green or black squares.. and colored shadings over system messages..

After leaving it off for a day or two I decided to take apart the console for no reason.. I knew I couldn't fix anything but I just wanted to look if something broken was noticeable.. so I opened it up, removed the HDD and all.. and then after a while got everything back in its place.. I turn on the console and begin playing and to my great relief after 2 hours of gameplay nothing bad happened.. no problems.. everything normal..

This however.. went on until today.. when the same issue appeared once again after playing not much longer than 10 minutes.. now I would like to know.. what has happened..? What did cause this..?
I can't be overheating as it's on an absolutely open spot and it has always been there.. I get no warnings about overheating nor the fans go in overdrive while playing.. please someone help me figure this out..!

Oh yeah.. I forgot to mention it's a 120Gb Slim&Lite Ps3.. less than an year old...

its probbably damaged because of the fall it could have altered mechanics in the ps3 and thats why those colored dots appear so i would suggest you go get it check/repaird by a proffesional and never take your console apart unless you know what your doing as this could lead to way worse accidents

I guess I can't send it over to sony because they're gonna make me pay more than $150.. the warranty was to be considered void evne before I opened it because a corner got dented.. they surely would have noticed that..

So.. I should bring it to a "freelance" technician I guess..?

yeah you should if you cant find 1 then go to sony but dont u still have warrenty? or something like that?

I voided it when I opened the chassis.. but I guess it was voided when it fell off because the corner that hit the ground got dented and you can clearly see it..

Wow, dude that sucks. My best guess is that fall. It could have just damaged something that isn't really noticeable at a glance. A 1 meter fall is quite a bit for something like that. I would just send it to Sony with the warranty, and if you don't have a warranty then get ready to buy another PS3. If either of those is the case, I would try and back everything up now, while it is still somewhat working.

I've noticed it begin with lightning effects getting all glitched.. I wonder.. could the GPU be overheating somehow not warning the system..? Could the fall make the heatsink move from its place..?

anythings possible man

I've noticed it begin with lightning effects getting all glitched.. I wonder.. could the GPU be overheating somehow not warning the system..? Could the fall make the heatsink move from its place..?

__Kaine__

Well it's not dead yet.. I can manage to play.. but usually those graphic glitches appear..

Hey there.. it's me again.. I've been playing for 4 months with this problem.. and found a way to fix it temporarily each time it happens but however it requires the system to shut down first..

All I do is press hard upon the console.. then turn it on again and the glitch is not there.. if I'm lucky it doesn't come back until I'm done playing.. this however happens quite usually..

Soo since what I do temporarily fixes the problem every time.. what could it be..? Should I just try replacing the thermal paste..?

Sorry about the console. If it works temporarily I would back up your data before the problem gets worse.

If you're looking for a good repair shop, I had my fat 60gb PS3 fixed at Gophermods. They fixed my YOLD (thermal issue) & then refunded my repair costs when the GPU completely fried 5 1/2 months later (that's what I get for buying a used system of Craigslist). Gophermods doesn't format consoles while doing repairs (data retained) & they are cheaper than Sony (& offer a longer warranty). When mine died I sent it back to Gophermods, they checked everything out & I got a full explanation (technical) of the exact problem with my console from the company owner.

Good luck.