Flashing red light

I was curious if anyone had any experience with a flashing red light on their fat ps3's? I've had mine since around launch and it quit on me last month. It beeped three times and just flashed red.
I let it cool off for the night and tried it again the next night and same thing, I didn't even start a game before it beeped and shut off. I can't see a yellow light before it starts flashing red and the fan sounds really low, like its almost off. I know its hard to diagnose something you can't see, just tring to get a few opinions since my searches always lead to YLOD, which I don't see.


Forgive me if this is in the wrong section, I couldn't find anywhere else to put it.
Thank you.

You definitely have a YLOD. I've had the same symptoms with two other systems. Check out this previous thread. You can trade in your old system to Sony possibly for a slim version if you have a non 80gb.

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=311603

Also, not sure if you care about everything on the hard drive, but if you want to save everything, you can only back everything up to a different PS3 and then you might need to do the hair dryer trick to buy your PS3 another month at max.

YLOD. Three options you've got are... Buy a new PS3 and do a reflow to get it up and running long enough to transfer data to new PS3 via ethernet cable, Trade in old PS3 for a new Slim or get your phat PS3 reballed for around $80-125.

I still need to get mine reballed, I really want my backwards compatibility back.

yea, it was an original 60gb model. I liked having the BC, but dont really use it that much anymore so I think i'll be ok without it. I've already bought a new PS3, Got taxes back so I bought the uncharted bundle and haven't even opened the game lol.

I really doubt that i'll send it to sony. Read to many stories where they just send you a completely different refurb. Is a month all I'll get from the hair dryer trick? I know its days are numbered since it broke but it working for a bit to get some more saves is better than nothing.

I wonder if the original PS3's failure rate is as high as the original 360s? While the original 360s seem to die much quicker, the early PS3 models (particularly the 20/60 BC models) seem to have a failure rate that is damn near 100% as well.

I've seen an increase in failures of those lately, Especially the 60gb.

Hair dryer trick buys you a random amount of time back depending on many different variables. But I would say it should at least be a week of time.

My 60 GB PS3 died on me a month or so ago due to YLOD. I liked the idea of the PS2 backwards compatibility but rarely used it and I have an old PS2 sitting around. So I used the hair blower trick to get the disk out and backup the data (took 4 hours!), then I traded it into GameStop for $150 credit toward a new PS3 (that GS trade-in deal has expired). I just would not trust the fat PS3 any more. I had already sent my launch PS3 to Sony after 2.5 years due to YLOD and got the refurb (at a cost of around $150) which lasted about 3 years.

Oh, and the backup seems to have been fairly useless (at least the full backup). It only restored my (non-protected) Game Saves (lost DA:O, TW12, Saboteur saves). It did not restore my DLC or game installs. I had to redownload everything and re-install games and patches. Luckily I had deactivated my accounts so that I could redownload my gameshare DLC.

I do prefer the fat... felt like a tank. The new only seems "cheap". The fat never seemed loud to me. The new one, when first reading a disk, is very loud but then quiets down.

EDIT - You do have YLOD - you might see the yellow when the unit first turns on, the light is green and then beeps, before it changes to red, you'll see a greenish-yellowish color. And you posted in the perfect forum.

I never got a change to do a back up. I managed to get my saves with a month trial of PS+ and deactivate my/share accounts because the system would stay on a few minutes everytime I turned it on. So it wasn't a complete failure when it died.

I know its probably not in my best interest to take it apart, But if i do, will anyone still take it for trade in like gamestop? I know sony won't touch it after that and I might try to get sony to fix it for free before i do it. Since I spent 500+ on it.

BTW Cheapfrag, Does the slim seem comparably slower doing installs and downloads than the fat? And I agree about the noise. The disc reading is kind of annoying

[quote name='yesidoknow']I never got a change to do a back up. I managed to get my saves with a month trial of PS+ and deactivate my/share accounts because the system would stay on a few minutes everytime I turned it on. So it wasn't a complete failure when it died.

I know its probably not in my best interest to take it apart, But if i do, will anyone still take it for trade in like gamestop? I know sony won't touch it after that and I might try to get sony to fix it for free before i do it. Since I spent 500+ on it.

BTW Cheapfrag, Does the slim seem comparably slower doing installs and downloads than the fat? And I agree about the noise. The disc reading is kind of annoying[/QUOTE]
I can't speak for Gamestop, but Sony will take it back as long as it doesn't look like you abused the system even without the warranty seal. A launch model would be at over 4 years out of warranty anyways.

Well My cousin says his teacher can fix it for me for free. They use it as a class learning project. I already have a new one so I don't think I'll lose to much if they screw it up but i Kind of want to take it apart myself first just to look inside. What do you guys think?

[quote name='yesidoknow']Well My cousin says his teacher can fix it for me for free. They use it as a class learning project. I already have a new one so I don't think I'll lose to much if they screw it up but i Kind of want to take it apart myself first just to look inside. What do you guys think?[/QUOTE]


its easy enough to do with a youtube video to follow but if you have access to someone who can do it professionally then go with it hell in the end once you get your shit transferred trade it into gamestop and get a vita or something.

[quote name='yesidoknow']BTW Cheapfrag, Does the slim seem comparably slower doing installs and downloads than the fat? And I agree about the noise. The disc reading is kind of annoying[/QUOTE]

I actually thought the internet downloads were quicker with my slim than the fat ps3. That was always one thing about the ps3 that I could never understand, the download speed always seemed super slow. With the slim, they seem quicker. Haven't really noticed a difference (faster or slower) with the game install speed though.

[quote name='RedvsBlue']I wonder if the original PS3's failure rate is as high as the original 360s? While the original 360s seem to die much quicker, the early PS3 models (particularly the 20/60 BC models) seem to have a failure rate that is damn near 100% as well.[/QUOTE]

Damn near 100%? Where's your source on this besides anecdotal evidence that you read on forums?

My launch 60 is still going strong. I know I'm not the only one. I have however had 2 Xbox 360's fail on me. I don't even how you can compare the two.

[quote name='mtxbass1']Damn near 100%? Where's your source on this besides anecdotal evidence that you read on forums?

My launch 60 is still going strong. I know I'm not the only one. I have however had 2 Xbox 360's fail on me. I don't even how you can compare the two.[/QUOTE]
A large amounts of Phats are dying but they've lasted years versus the RROD. Age and dust are taking them out now, I mean how can you be upset with having a piece of launch hardware that lasts 2-3 years versus the competition that didn't even make it in some cases 2 months without a failure.

In all honesty, there is only two things wrong with the Phats that can be corrected pretty easily aside from maintenance, the fan could be bigger and the weak solder. Fix those two and you should have a bullet proof system for BC play.

Air flow is a big deal too. Tons of people are keeping their PS3s in cabinets, but they really need to be kept out in the open. The heat needs to escape.

[quote name='RedvsBlue']I wonder if the original PS3's failure rate is as high as the original 360s? While the original 360s seem to die much quicker, the early PS3 models (particularly the 20/60 BC models) seem to have a failure rate that is damn near 100% as well.[/QUOTE]


I have 2 60gb models that work just fine. They're in an open, ventilated area and I dust them off just about every week.

[quote name='4tygames']Air flow is a big deal too. Tons of people are keeping their PS3s in cabinets, but they really need to be kept out in the open. The heat needs to escape.[/QUOTE]

Mine was always in an open entertainment Center or on top of one. I'm worried about fixing it and being paranoid constantly everytime it cuts off that its going to die.