PS3 Yellow Light of Death is also referred as YLOD. It is the situation in which a PS3 starts emitting flashing yellow light. As per Sony, it means “general hardware failure” Other symptoms are 2-3 beeps, flashing red light etc.

What are symptoms of YLOD?

The most common symptoms of PS3 YLOD are

• Flashing yellow/green/amber colored light
• 2 or 3 beep sounds
• PS3 freezing up during starting up, while playing game or movie.
• PS3 refusing to startup.

What are the causes of YLOD?

YLOD is caused due to PS3 getting overheated and thereby causing the components to get detached. Some time back I covered a post about YLOD causes.

Please tell in detail

See, PS3 is an earth-shattering piece of console ever made in the market. And with such great number crunching power, the amount of heat generation also increases. When the PS3 is being used for playing games or watching movies it gets hot and the solder connecting the CPU and/or GPU to motherboard starts to melt. This is a normal process and there’s nothing to worry about. When left alone, the PS3 starts cooling down and the solder becomes solid again. But sometimes (usually when you’ve been using your PS3 for too long) the solder melts and the motherboard, CPU and GPU get detached. Since the electric circuit is not complete anymore, the PS3 gave a YLOD error.

Can YLOD be fixed?

Yes, YLOD can be fixed very easily. The aim is to connect the detached component back and the PS3 will be good to go.

Who can fix YLOD?

You have 3 choices ahead of you.

• Ask Sony: You can contact Sony and ask them to repair your PS3. Keep in mind tough that it comes with a huge charge.
• Find a repairman: You can try searching for a reputable repairman in your area. Beware though, since even if you find one he will be running short of time and may not give proper attention to your PS3. You may have to wait for upto 3 weeks and may need to shell out upto $100.
• Fix YLOD yourself: You will need some easily available tools and a very good PS3 repair guide.

How to fix PS3 YLOD?

You have 3 choices-

1. Give it to Sony: Give your PS3 to Sony and let them fix it. They’ll charge $150 (+shipping + taxes) and will return your PS3 in 4-6 weeks. Also, Sony will remove all the data from your HDD when repairing YLOD.
2. Find a repairman: Give it to a repairman and ask him to fix it. He’ll charge around $100 and will take around 3 weeks. Good luck finding a reputable repairman who will do good quality repair work.
3. Fix it yourself: Buy a professional repair guide and fix your PS3 yourself. It will cost you $37 and around 2 hours to fix your PS3 YLOD.

Beware of cheap quality guides floating on the Internet. You may end up doing permanent damage to your PS3. Stick with me and I’ll make sure you use the best guide available on PS3 YLOD repair.

How much time will it take to fix YLOD?

• Sony: Anywhere from 4 weeks to 6 weeks, though it took longer than that for some people. On top of that there’s no guarantee that the PS3 you get back will be your own. They are known for sending refurbished ones too so beware.
• Fixing it yourself: Around 2 hours depending on the availability of some simple tools. I covered about fixing PS3 YLOD for free

How much is the YLOD repair cost?

• Sony: Sony will charge $150 (+ Taxes + shipping)
• Fixing it yourself: $37 (That’s full $113 less than what Sony charges)

Will I keep my data on the PS3 HDD?

Sony will completely wipe-off the data off your HDD. But if you fix PS3 YLOD yourself, no data will be lost.

Will YLOD come again?

Yes, YLOD comes again on PS3 even after it is repaired. YLOD is caused due to overheating and since Sony failed to provide enough ventilation system on PS3, YLOD can occur again. The solder can melt again thereby detaching the CPU, GPU and motherboard. There is nothing that can be done since it is a design flaw except making sure PS3 does not get overheated.

What to do if YLOD comes again?

• Getting repaired by Sony: If you got your PS3 repaired by Sony then they give you a warranty of 3 months. If you get YLOD within 3 weeks, Sony will repair it for free (you still need to pay for shipping though).
• Getting repaired by a repairman: If you got your PS3 repaired by a repaired by a repairman then don’t expect any guarantees. He may knowingly use low quality components so that you get YLOD again thus letting him make more money. If you get YLOD again, he’ll surely charge you again.
• Fixing YLOD yourself: If you fix your PS3 yourself then you don’t have to pay a single penny to anyone. You already have the guide with you so essentially, you pay only once. If you face YLOD again or maybe if your buddy faces PS3 YLOD then you can fix your or his PS3 for free. You may ask him for a treat though.

What is the quality of repair if I fix YLOD myself?

I can’t say anything about the quality of repair done by your local repairman. But the quality of repair done by making use of this professional guide is of top quality. The methods being used are exactly the ones which Sony uses so it is of very high quality.

Go ahead. Fix your PS3 YLOD

Are you aware of the problem of freezing up of Sony PS3? Sony Playstation 3 getting freezed is not a dangerous one even if occurs because of various causes. It is well known there are a lot of people who happen to have exactly the same error from different places yet the newest versions of Sony Playstation 3 cannot bypass it getting freezed.

Many different places suggested a couple of remedies through many veteran Sony PS3 users. Switch off the information bar on the top right hand corner of the main Playstation 3 menu. The information bar would be busy searching for connectivity to the Internet even in case you are not online thereby pointlessly slowing down the complete system. There is another option if this did not turn up, what must be done is to reset the PS3 then try doing the same task, which you were performing in the game menu actions, this fix can positively relieve you from the Playstation 3 getting freezed up. The next suggested solution regarding freezing up of PS3 is that you go and disconnect and reconnect the HDMI cable or other related cables.

A bad part when it comes to a PS3 getting freezed is that it is very unpredictable. Thereby making it harder to fix when compared to something which happens at regular intervals. An unpredictable failure is very difficult to verify owing to the fact that even if you might have fixed the problem; it will pop-up again. You are busy with trying to repair it and then waiting to know if you were successful. In case it doesn’t work, you have to implement something else and check again.

The good news is that there exists a huge list of well-known problems that can cause a PS3 to freeze and almost all are simple to repair. Your PS3 will be up and running by one of the fixes.

Some time ago I made a post about fixing PS3 YLOD. Though I talk about YLOD in that post, the good thing is that the tool mentioned over there is capable of fixing a freezed up PS3 as well. Sweet eh.

Sony has manufactured a very good console I must say. Its far superior than X360 in terms of sheer power ans stability. I distinctly remember when PS3 was first launched it was highly acclaimed for having a very low failure rate. But soon many PS3 owners were facing the dreaded yellow light of death. PS3 was plagued by the same thing which X360 was plagued by – overheating.

Yellow light of death (YLOD) is Sony’s way of saying “General hardware failure” so essentially it could mean hardware failure on any part of PS3. However in most of the cases this is due to a detached motherboard. Understanding what happens below the hood of PS3 will help in understanding PS3 Yellow light of death causes more easily. See, PS3 has an extremely powerful processing unit and any powerful processing unit will generate lot of heat.

When you play games on PS3, the CPU and GPU generate lots of heat thus melting the solder connecting them to the motherboard which is completely normal. When you switch off the PS3, this molten solder starts to cool down and becomes solid again. However, after many such cycles either of the CPU or GPU gets detached from the motherboard essentially breaking the circuit. This is the time when your PS3 has YLOD.

Sony could have used better methods of cooling down PS3 or could have used better quality solder joints to decrease the failure rate. But alas they didn’t do it thus making you pay $150 to get it repaired. You can fix it yourself though.

PS3 is a wonderful console but sometimes things can get real shitty. When PS3 was launched, it was believed to be better than XBOX 360 in terms of failure rate, infact Sony claimed failure rates to be lower than 1%. But soon after its launch PS3 started showing the same symptoms that XBOX 360 was plagued with. It started showing Yellow Light Of Death(or YLOD). Sony could have learned from Microsoft when XBOX 360 started showing RROD(red ring of death) due to overheating, considering the fact that they had ample amount of time to make sure PS3 doesn’t get overheated and stop working. Lets not get involved much into what Sony and Microsoft have produced. You’re here to fix YLOD on your PS3, right? So lets do exactly that.

How to detect YLOD?

If you boot up the PS3 and it shows a green light following by a continuous blinking yellow light. Just like the one shown here. It means your PS3 is a victim of YLOD

What is the reason of YLOD?

YLOD is caused The yellow light of death on PS3 refers to general hardware failure, this means it could be anything but in 99% of the cases its a simple case of motherboard and can be fixed all by yourself. Lets not go much into the details but the main reason why PS3 YLOD appears is due to overheating. See, PS3 has an extremely power CPU and GPU which means they generate a lot of heat. Sometimes, due to long hours of usage the solder connecting the CPU and GPU to motherboard can melt and CPU or GPU can get detached from the motherboard thus causing YLOD. Maybe you have been running PS3 for too long or maybe Sony did not provide enough ventilation area, but this is the #1 reason of YLOD.

How to fix YLOD?

If your PS3 is still under warranty I’ll suggest you give it back to Sony and let them repair it for free. You will still have to pay for shipping costs and will have to wait for a few weeks before you get it back.

If your console is not under warranty anymore then you’re left with 2 choices:

The Sony way (costly and more time consuming)

You can give it back to Sony and let them rip your ass off. Sony asks $150 to repair a single console excluding taxes and shipping charges. This means you will have to pay $150 + tax + shipping charges. This will also take around 4 weeks before Sony repairs your console. Also, Sony will remove all the data from your hard disk.Sony also gives you a warranty of 3 months on the repaired (or refurbished) PS3.

Sony may give you a refurbished PS3 instead of repairing yours.

You might be thinking of calling up Sony and giving them your PS3 to be repaired. But wait. $150 is not a small amount of money, hell it is almost half of the price of a new PS3 and there is no guarantee that you won’t face YLOD again after 3 months (many people have already faced YLOD more than once). So, if you face PS3 YLOD again after 3 months, you’ll have to pay $150 (+ tax + shipping charges) again to Sony. Certainly not a wise decision in my opinion. Why the hell even pay Sony for a problem that has no fault of yours, it is Sony’s fault after all. You are better off fixing it yourself.

The D.I.Y. way (cheap and very fast)

The other option is to fix PS3 YLOD yourself. It may sound scary and technical but believe me there’s nothing to worry about. You can easily fix your PS3 in no time without any technical knowledge. People all over the world have successfully repaired their PS3′s and I don’t see any reason why you should not be able to do this.

The advantages of repairing your PS3 yourself are:

1. You just need to pay $37 once, instead of $150 + shipping every time.
2. You can be running back your game in 2 hours from now, not in 4 weeks.
3. You don’t have to lose the data on your HDD.
4. You can repair your PS3 for free in case the problem happens again.

AN IMPORTANT TIP:Don’t jump to the first online PS3 repair tutorial. You may end up doing permanent damage to your PS3

Now that you know that fixing PS3 yourself is the best way. You have 2 choices to do it.

How to fix PS3 YLOD yourself?

Option 1 – Use a free online repair guide

You can search the internet for free PS3 repair tutorials. But be warned that Internet is riddled with many so called guides and videos which claim to teach you how to repair your PS3. However, these tutorials may not show you all the steps needed to fix your PS3. Or the video/ images are not of high quality thus leaving you guessing out the exact method. If you follow such guides you may end up doing permanent damage to your beloved PS3. I bet you won’t want to do that. Even if you are somehow able to repair your PS3, YLOD may appear again after playing game for a few hours and you’d have to repeat the whole process again. You don’t want to use your PS3 for grilling, do you?

Option 2 – Purchase a professional PS3 lights fix guide

The best option is to purchase a professional PS3 YLOD fix guide. The methods used in this guide are the same methods that Sony uses. This reduces the risk of damaging your PS3 to almost zero% ( You need to be careful while repairing though). It contains step-by-step instructions in highly detailed videos (with voice commentary) so that you can clearly follow all the instructions. It also contains high resolutions step-by-step pictures that you can refer to while repairing your PS3. It costs only $37 and comes with a money back guarantee of 60 days (in the rarest of rare case that you are unable to repair your PS3). This means that you have literally nothing to lose.

Use the same method that Sony uses to fix your beloved PS3

Some of the advantages of this guide:

• Get rid of Red, yellow or green light and red screen of death permanently.
• Get rid of ANY PS3 error code.
• You don’t need to pay $150 to Sony or wait 4 weeks to get your PS3 back.
• You will not have to lose you HDD contents
• You will have your own PS3 and not a refurbished one.
• Lifetime (yes lifetime) access to members area.
• Repair all types of PS3′s – 40 GB, 60GB, 80 GB, Slim etc.