PS3 problems - need help diagnosing

[mushroomyakuza]

I was happily playing Modern Warfare 2 the other day when suddenly my PS3 cut out, gave me a black screen, beeped, then switched off completely. When I turned it back on, it switched on for about 30 seconds, then did the exact same thing.

Tried again, and now it just freezes with a little bit of slowdown before hand. Once it freezes though, it's totally unresponsive, except to turn itself off as mentioned above.

I've looked around the net, but generally speaking, while there are a million eBook solutions, there are no free, normal ones. Also, my PS3 light doesn't flash yellow, so this isn't the infamous Yellow Light of Death. But it could be the Red Light of Death - oddly enough it's hard to find an actual diagnosis for what the RLOD is...

Anyone have any experience with this issue?

Need some guidance here. My PS3 is 60GB, one of the older ones, and has the Emotion chip. I bought it second hand from eBay a while back, and while I doubt the warranty still covers it, if anyone knows how to check warranty via the serial number, please tell me how.

I'd rather not fix it myself, take it apart and such, because I'm a technical moron, and have no skill at assembling, disassembling or reassembling things. If need be, I will have it fixed by Sony, but first I'd just like to know exactly what the problem is and if anyone else has dealt with it before.

Thanks

 

[Googenstien]

MW2 caused my new slim to overheat lastyear when I played it.. why? the dumb game was just playing off the bluray and didnt install. So MW2 was constantly reading the disc while I was playing, you can hear the disc grinding away as you play. Does this issue only happen when you play MW2?

It may be an overheating issue.. try to dust the vents on your PS3, make sure its on a flat surface and not on carpet so airflow is good to the unit.

The other thing I have seen mentioned when units overheat is to reapply the Thermal Paste to the GPU.

http://boardsus.playstation.com/t5/PlayStation-3-General/Fixed-PS3-overheating-issue-with-Arctic-Silver-5/m-p/43475956

 

[mushroomyakuza]

The issue isn't exclusively MW2 - I can't even load up a game anymore. It crashes (freezes) after less than a minute of being turned on, even if it's doing nothing at all.

It's on a flat surface, standing up, on a wooden floor.

 

[kasperTFG]

Really, the YLoD is just called that because of how the power light looks when it switches from green to red. The light doesn't stay yellow. And, unfortunately, I think that that is what you got. If you're feeling adventurous enough to void your warrantee, then there are a couple tutorials on youtube that will take you through the process. Otherwise, call Sony, and they'll send you a coffin to send your system in. Sorry about the bad news.

 

[irishstormtrooper]

I would suggest posting your problem on the Sony forums.

Really, the YLoD is just called that because of how the power light looks when it switches from green to red. The light doesn't stay yellow. And, unfortunately, I think that that is what you got. If you're feeling adventurous enough to void your warrantee, then there are a couple tutorials on youtube that will take you through the process. Otherwise, call Sony, and they'll send you a coffin to send your system in. Sorry about the bad news.

Also, I have had the YLOD, and it does flash yellow noticeably. What this guy has is probably not it.

 

[AVATAR_RAGE]

The issue isn't exclusively MW2 - I can't even load up a game anymore. It crashes (freezes) after less than a minute of being turned on, even if it's doing nothing at all.

It's on a flat surface, standing up, on a wooden floor.

Happened to me its the Yello/Red Light of Death. Just as around local PC and laptop repair shops near you. Thats what I did might take you a while but it will save you quite abit of money.

I saved about £100 gettin my repaired from a pc repair shop compaired to sending it to sony.