60GB PS3 got YLOD, 360 isn't detecting games; any solutions/alternatives/suggestions?

[The Holy Pretzle]

My PS3 was updated to the 4.11 updated by my brother, and since then I was trying to play MGS HD and the game kept freezing and stutering, until finally last night the PS3 crashed one last time, and subsequent restarts lead to the green light coming up for a second; then a yellow light appears, and finally red lights start flashing. (60GB Launch PS3)

My Xbox 360 isn't starting up any games excluding those that are on my hard drive (XBLA games) when the HD is on (ex. sometimes it would say Play Game when I put in Skyrim, and it would say the disc could not be read, other times it said "Game Disc Unrecognized"), however I tried removing the Hard Drive and seeing if a game started; and lo and behold, Batman Arkham City immediately started. However, I tried doing this again to verify this was indeed the problem, but with the hard drive removed, my Xbox was not detecting it at all now.



What do you guys recommend I do? Just dump them off for a few bucks on craigslist/eBay, or try to do some kind of repair myself? What else can I do? (Such crappy timing for both to do this on me, at least the Wii's still running so I can get some Skyward Sword gametime :/)

 

[FatherChesz]

I had the YLOD on my launch PS3, and there is a procedure for "fixing" it that involves a heat gun and totally dissembling the system. It's not too tough, but it doesn't seem to be a permanent fix either. It should be enough for you to get the system running and complete a system backup if you don't use PS+ for cloud saves. I did this fix twice on my 60 GB and it lasted about 2-3 weeks of light to moderate use each time.

On the 360 it sounds like its a dead hard drive, but you can try cleaning the connectors with compressed air to make sure it's not just a dirty connection.

 

[def PD]

The PS3 YLOD is a fairly easy fix (took me about 2-3 hours the first time including heating/cooldown time, but now I can take it part and reassemble it in less than an hour including heating/cooldown time).

It's definitely only a temporary fix. My PS3's went about 9 months before both of them crapped out again, then about 3 months, then about a week, to about a few hours, enough for me to back-up my saves and what-not.

I would probably dump 'em online and get whatever you can for them.

 

[brewtownska]

For the XBOX, I've heard of situations where clearing the hard drive cache will help when games won't load off the hard-drive or run poorly off the hard-drive. Google "xbox 360 clear hard drive cache" for details. I had to do this a few years ago while playing Elder Scrolls Oblivion because the game was very slow...it helped a ton.

If that doesn't fix the problem, then the next step would be to verify the hard drive is working. A good way to do that would be to DELETE one of the games from the hard drive (be careful to remove JUST the install file, not your game saves), then try to copy it onto the hard drive again. If the copy completes, then your hard drive should be fine. If you get any errors in the process, then it's a good sign your drive may be dying/dead.

Good luck - I hope it's the simple fix and your hard drive is fine.

 

[brewtownska]

I doubt this will help your PS3, but can't hurt to check/try. My 60GB PS3 was giving me problems a few months ago, similar to you where it would run for a few hours, then randomly lockup, then each reboot would take less time until the lockup. Most of the times it locked up, it was between levels, where all the loading happens. So I thought, maybe it was running out of hard drive space to handle all that.

When I first looked, I only had about 1.5GB free on my 60GB drive. I removed some of the game installs (keeping my saved games), until I had 6GB free. I haven't had any lockups since doing that.

Of course, since the problem just started since downloading the 4.11 update, it could be related to that. But if you have old game installs still lingering out there and can be removed, see if the simple fix of deleting some works for you. Fingers crossed!

Mike