At the beginning of this month, as I neared the end of my playthrough on 3D Dot Game Heroes (great game btw), I became one of the unlucky few to get the infamous Yellow Light of Death (YLOD). Since I have a launch 60 GB PS3 model, I kind of always anticipated this happening in the back of mind...I did have it going on 6 years. After repeated times of trying to boot it back up with no success, I did what any sensible, calm minded gamer would do...take to the internet. So, for about a hour I read different people's experiences on how to deal with a YLOD and eventually viewed a set of videos on how to repair it.

So being an IT guy, I thought opening up my PS3 and following the video to repair it wouldn't hurt. Besides, I did the same thing and was successful when I replaced my harddrive for a new 500 GB one, so no harm no foul. After, going to the hardware store and getting all the supplies recommended in the video, I began my 2 hour journey to fixing the issue. I tried the reflow process and needless to say, it didn't work. I was just happy that I was able to reasemble it without frying the motherboard or anything. So, I thought...well maybe the issue isn't the thermal compound seperating the CPU and GPU from the motherboard...maybe it could be the rare chance of it being a faulty power supply. So, I ordered a new power supply and week later (on my birthday) installed it. Second time wasn't the charm. So of course when I went to boot the PS3 up again, I still got the YLOD. At this point, I said "screw it" and attempted another reflow. Somewhere during this last attempt, I officially achieved....turning my PS3 into a paper weight (HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!). No boot, no nothing.

So, I finally gave in and called Sony. Of course having no warrenty (fat 60 GB lauch model, remember?), I took a chance and paid Sony the fee it cost to potentially repair or replace my PS3. I waited a week for the box to arrive and another couple days for my new refurbished PS3 to arrive back to me (stuck game packed in and all). Without further delay, here are the lessons that I learned:

Lesson #1: Always Be Prepared!

This is the one thing that I actually did right and I credit it to my paranoia and my IT backgroud. About a year ago, I decided to invest in a 2 TB external harddrive when I upgraded my harddrive and to back my PS3 up once a week. I got a LaCie for only $100 from Best Buy and had been doing a decent job of backing everything up with the PS3 backup utitlity on a weekly basis. However, in order to even get your PS3 to read an external harddrive...more than likely you're going to have to change the format from NTFS to FAT32 (since the latter is what the PS3 is formatted to). Without getting all techie on you, traditionally you can't do this on a PC due to some insane limitation set by Microsoft that prevents its Windows formating utitlity from changing the format on anything above 30 GB (or so). So, its best to download and use EaseUS Partition Master Home Edition which is a straight forward and easy to use freeware found here:

http://download.cnet.com/EaseUS-Partition-Master-Home-Edition/3000-2248_4-10863346.html

This along with storing all of my PSX and PS2 data on a memory card were the only things that stood between me loosing EVERYTHING. I did lose a week's worth of process on 3D Dot Game Heroes but that still isn't as bad as loosing all of my game saves. The reason having the memory card was important is because when restoring the new fat PS3 model to my original's state, the new one didn't have the virtual memory card spaces to properly allocate the PSX/PS2 data on to the harddrive.

Also, when I swapped my original 60 GB harddrive for the 500 GB one...I didn't throw the old 60 GB one out! Sony has this policy where the only way they will replace your fat PS3 with a refurbished one is if the original 60 GB (or 40 GB or 80 GB) is installed. So, as you may have already figured out, I took out my 500 GB drive and put back in the 60 GB. Here's an indepth tutorial on how to properly do this:

http://www.gamespot.com/users/Double_Wide/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25993017

Lesson #2: Only Believe SOME Of What You Read Online

Remember all of those times I opened up my PS3 to apply a fix I found online? DON'T DO THIS! I know the online videos and message forums all sound very convincing that a self applied reflow can fix your YLOD the majority of the time...but its not worth it (Trust me, I'm an IT guy). Here's why: despite everything that I read online, Sony actually does a good job at addressing customers with a YLOD issue at a reasonable price. Some things that I was reading as to why repairing your PS3 yourself was a better alternative is because...Sony charges $450 to do so; Sony won't touch the PS3 (including the fat models) if the warrenty sticker is gone; if Sony can't fix your fat model they replace it with a slim...ALL FALSE! When I called Sony they basically game me 2 (3 to be technical) options:

1. For $129, ship us your fat model (we'll provide a box with a free shipping label) and let us attempt to fix it.

2. If we cannot fix it, provided you supply the original harddrive, we can either replace it with a refirbished version of the same model OR

3. Replace it with a brand new slim model

Now, if you're like me and value the backward compatitiblity of the original fat models...option #2 sounds like music to your ears. This all took about 2 weeks from when I placed the phone call for me to get the refirbished fat model PS3. As you may have figured, Sony was not able to fix my PS3. By the grace of God they either did not pick up on the fact that I opened it and tried to fix it OR none of what I did was considered modification/ware n' tear. Either way, this is why I'm stating trying to fix the issue yourself isn't worth it! I could have very easily lost any opportunity to own another fat model and could have saved myself more money (wasted on supplies trying to fix my PS3) & probably had my own PS3 back, fixed 2 weeks faster than what did. When/If you get a YLOD, just call Sony...PERIOD.

The fixes shown online may actually work but its not worth anything potentially going wrong and a common theme is that the reflow fix is only good for a couple of months before the PS3 gets the YLOD again. One other piece of advice that I did read that seemed pretty legit was, not to plug too many things into your fat model at once to avoid a potential YLOD. At the time, I had a hub connected to one of the usb slots which allowed me to plug in the Eye Toy, headphones, two controller chargers in addition to the other two controller chargers and fan that I had attached to the other 3 usb ports. Yeah, I should have known better but it makes sense that this may have greatly contributed to my YLOD as the fat models probably can't handle powering so many devices at a given time.

Lesson #3: There's No Reason To Go A Month With No PS3

After this (especially now owning a refurbished fat model), I'm going to invest in a back up slim model in the case (not sure how likely) of another YLOD. Something to just restore my last backup on and keep playing until I get my fat version back. It was a nice little hiatus from my PS3 and I did have fun playing my portables more but I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss my PS3.

So, that's what I took away from the whole experience as I was very fortunate not to really suffer much from it. Hopefully, someone will read this and it can help them from making some of the same mistakes I did...which will minimize the stress associated with such a crappy situation. -Peace