The PS3 and the 'Yellow Light of Death'

[Rostello]

Call me a sceptic but as soon as I heard "Ian may be a self declared Xbox man" the 'bias' light in the back of head went bezerk. I'm suprised that after all the this time I've never heard of the "Yellow Light of death" so in that regard I'm suprised but I'd prefer it to be reported in a fair and resonable manner by an impartial reporter, not by a Microsoft columist, who stands to gain from smearing the PS3.

But anyway, until it happens to me or one of my friends I'm not to worried, as has been said, so long as tech support is good, its not really an issue for me.

 

[DrunkWithPower]

Every console as it's faults... just some breaks more than others.

 

[Jamash]

The difference between RRod and YLod is that the Yellow light is not a built in function.
If you have a Red ring that shows up every time your console fail it's poor quality.

I'm not quite sure I understand what you're saying.

The RROD and the YLOD are exactly the same, they're both external indicators of a general, non-specific, hardware fault, which could be caused by any number of components failing.

Are you suggesting that the yellow light on the PS3 isn't a function of the console or that it isn't an indication of a failure, and that it's just a coincidence that it shows when the console isn't working?

 

[LeonLethality]

MY brothers ps3 suddenly stopped playing games (though he treats it like crap for gods sake he leaves it in the garage where it can get stolen! and that place is unsanitary) and I have had mine since release and it works better tan his new one, so I have yet to suffer but he does, I read it was the 60 gb with the highest failure rate? if so I'm glad I got the 80 gb

though its a good thing I got the 3 year warranty just in case =D

I still have a ps1 and ps2 even an NES that works perfectly fine I'm ure a huge factor is how you treat the consoles and a small factor is the faults, thats my opinion anyway

 

[John Funk]

I've had two PS3's fail on me.

My 360 hasn't died once.

 

[Spaceman_Spiff]

What's funny about this is the ammount of messages removed at the bottom of that page.

 

[Nalbis]

(Touch wood) I must have been really lucky with my xbox then, i'm coming up to a year of owning mine and not a single problem with it. Its been carried around all over the place aswell! But i've not heard of a PS3 breaking down until now :] does the wet towel trick work? xD

 

[slipknot4]

The difference between RRod and YLod is that the Yellow light is not a built in function.
If you have a Red ring that shows up every time your console fail it's poor quality.

I'm not quite sure I understand what you're saying.

The RROD and the YLOD are exactly the same, they're both external indicators of a general, non-specific, hardware fault, which could be caused by any number of components failing.

Are you suggesting that the yellow light on the PS3 isn't a function of the console or that it isn't an indication of a failure, and that it's just a coincidence that it shows when the console isn't working?

If you wore a owner of a ps3 you would be very aware of the face that the ps3 always whos the Yellow light before it starts. The YLOD is just the same very lights over again but in a more precistant may.

 

[rossatdi]

My 360 did die once. But it only took about a week to get it replaced.

I didn't mean to post as a fanboy thing, just thought it was interesting!

 

[v3n0mat3]

This is the very first time I've heard of the Playstation's version of the RRoD. Honestly, I kind of expected that they would have one. Although according to the report, less than less than 1% (that wasn't a typo, btw) have failed in the UK... and they are making a big damn deal about it? Like more than half sold have failed? If they wanted to be as fair as they claim to be, then they would do a report on the Wii fail rate. Hell, if they haven't already, the 360. What disturbs me the most is in fact the 360 bias!

 

[j0z]

I have had my PS3 for... almost 2 years, will be 2 years this xmas. I have never had a problem with it, and I hope I never do.

 

[Valkyira]

It seems the 360 haters can't really bash on the RROD now the ps3 has the the YLOD. I read ages ago that ps2's were designed to brake after 3 years but I don't know if it is true.

 

[Zac_Dai]

For balance, here's an article against the BBC's coverage.

http://news.spong.com/article/19238/BBCs-Watchdog-PS3-Show-FAIL

Even though this brings a balanced view point and does seem to indicate the BBC failing at being neutral again (as it always does). No one here will give a shit since most are rabid fanboys or closet ones hiding behind good grammar.

 

[Crunchy English]

Seems a bit biased. Why focus on a problem that only affects a fraction of a percent of the install base? Surely it's irresponsible to compare that to a 54% fail rate over on the other side?

Sony is doing so much stupid crap, the best these guys can come up with is to try and parallel the RROD? Poor form and dirty pool I say. You want to be biased? Do it right. It's not hard, watch:

Home is the biggest waste of time on EARTH. It will never make it out of beta, because no one could ever justify charging for such a terribly designed product.

Sony's game selection (although vastly improved over the last year) is significantly less than either of its competitors.

In Canada, over half the online capabilities of the PSN are non-existent. (I can rent movies on 360, but not on PS3) We only just got PSN points cards this summer.

Sony outright lies to people. One of the hardest parts of my day at work is when my boss runs the Sony E3 videos. Jack Tretton trots outs on stage and says "2008 was the biggest year ever for Sony". Now, I'm not %100 on this, but didn't Sony lose like a billion dollars that year? Yeesh.

Killzone 2 was an absolutely beautiful, elegant and boring shooter. Seriously, that might have been the best-looking game that no one should ever play.

See? Bias is easy. These guys took the lazy way out, and looked stupid because of it. When the system you're clearly accepting money from (Xbox360) has a 54% failrate, you talk about ANYTHING else, not invent a barely relevant problem in your competitiors.

 

[sune-ku]

I've had two PS3's fail on me.

My 360 hasn't died once.

Ah... you mistook it for a giant black doorstop too?

That's pretty unfortunate though (not to mention statistically unlikey) I know more people with PS3's than 360's and haven't known them to have any problems yet, but those with 360's have nearly all had to replace them at some point - still I get the impression MS are better at dealing with problems once they happen.

 

[olee12343]

I don't own a PS3 or anything, but I think they're making too big of a deal for a .5% failure rate. Although Sony refuses to release the official numbers, it's still pretty decent for a console that people use 20 hrs+ a week.

It seems the 360 haters can't really bash on the RROD now the ps3 has the the YLOD. I read ages ago that ps2's were designed to brake after 3 years but I don't know if it is true.

My PS2 is 5 years old and still works. My 360 lasted 2 years before RROD'ing on me.

 

[Jamash]

Although according to the report, less than less than 1% (that wasn't a typo, btw) have failed in the UK... and they are making a big damn deal about it?

1% is still 12500 disappointed consumers, and Watchdog is a consumer affairs program.

I think the issue isn't just the number of failures, but how much Sony are charging to fix the problem after 12 months.

Seems a bit biased. Why focus on a problem that only affects a fraction of a percent of the install base? Surely it's irresponsible to compare that to a 54% fail rate over on the other side?
These guys took the lazy way out, and looked stupid because of it. When the system you're clearly accepting money from (Xbox360) has a 54% failrate, you talk about ANYTHING else, not invent a barely relevant problem in your competitiors.

You're missing the point, Watchdog isn't entering the console wars and batting for Microsoft, they're reporting in a very real issue in the UK which has affected 12500 consumers, it's not even relevant to compare it to the 360 when the story is about the PS3 and Sony's questionable business practices affecting the consumer.

Also, why would Watchdog, a British consumer affairs program, make a comparison with questionable figures derived from a shoddy poll of American readers of an American magazine?

It's not relevant, and even if somehow relevant to compare the failure rates of PS3 in the UK to the failure rates of 360's in America, that poll is of such laughable validity that it wouldn't be included.
The poll didn't ask which model of 360 had failed, it didn't even require people to have ever owned a 360 to answer in the poll, all they had to be was a subscriber to the magazine to contribute to the 54% failure rate.

I doubt the BBC are taking money from Microsoft, and 12500 failures in the UK isn't a barely relevant problem, neither is the 150 pounds repair cost (which is the real issue), for a consumer affairs program like Watchdog.

 

[Valkyira]

I don't own a PS3 or anything, but I think they're making too big of a deal for a .5% failure rate. Although Sony refuses to release the official numbers, it's still pretty decent for a console that people use 20 hrs+ a week.

It seems the 360 haters can't really bash on the RROD now the ps3 has the the YLOD. I read ages ago that ps2's were designed to brake after 3 years but I don't know if it is true.

My PS2 is 5 years old and still works. My 360 lasted 2 years before RROD'ing on me.

Congratulations... Have a cookie

 

[Keepitclean]

this generation of consoles have remarkably poor build quality i mean the xbox 360 mine has rrod twice and had laser problems once in the last 3 years and now to hear the ps3 has its fair share of problems too. WTF? consoles are meant to get better as generations go on not worse

 

[Svenparty]

They should have reported the 360 failure (as there are much more users effected by that)

I own a 360 and not a PS3 so I'm not being biast