Yellow light of death? Can someone please help me?

[nightingale27]

Hey fellow escapist members. Just today, my 80 GB fat ps3 died... with a yellow light mess.
I've been playing a lot of Fallout New Vegas on there, and I would really like to not lose my data. Due to this inclination, I am avoiding sending it to Sony. I'm also a bit iffy about fixing it myself. Any recommendations for how I can fix this thing? Like a 3rd party store? Or something else?

Thanks in advance!

(Also, I'm kinda new here, if this thread should go somewhere else, let me know and I'll take it down from here)

 

[delet]

You could try calling Sony and ask them. I'm sure they're rather knowledgeable on the subject.

That, or hit it with a hammer until it starts working again.

 

[gibsonman]

I had a similar problem, I couldnt play any games but I could acess the home screen I ended up just wiping it..... but usually the yellow light of death just means an error. It can mean anything from a capacitor breaking to a solder breaking from repeated overheating. theres a lot of online services on ebay and other websites that can repair the yellow light but i don't feel like saying a specific company and them randomly ripping you off..... its going to cost around 60$ up to 140$ to repair it though(still cheaper than sony giving you a refurbished with none of your data)which will mean you get to keep your data. so look around and MAKE SURE YOU TRUST THE COMPANY!!!

 

[nightingale27]

Aby_Z: I'll call them as soon as their offices are open... but I doubt they'll redirect me to a cheaper source.

gibsonman: Yeah, I'm aiming for somewhere in that price range, it's just... Gah. I've spent so much time on New Vegas... and I have plenty of other games that I'm partway through (Dragon Age, Oblivion, Black Ops, Valkryia Chronicles) and I'd rather not have to restart them all... So the biggest thing for me is figuring out how to salvage my save data...

 

[ultrachicken]

Aby_Z: I'll call them as soon as their offices are open... but I doubt they'll redirect me to a cheaper source.

gibsonman: Yeah, I'm aiming for somewhere in that price range, it's just... Gah. I've spent so much time on New Vegas... and I have plenty of other games that I'm partway through (Dragon Age, Oblivion, Black Ops, Valkryia Chronicles) and I'd rather not have to restart them all... So the biggest thing for me is figuring out how to salvage my save data...

Use the 'quote' button to signify when you're responding to another user.

I don't think that the yellow light of death means that the data in your hard drive is corrupted or anything, and I don't think Sony will destroy your data in fixing the PS3.

 

[nightingale27]

Aby_Z: I'll call them as soon as their offices are open... but I doubt they'll redirect me to a cheaper source.

gibsonman: Yeah, I'm aiming for somewhere in that price range, it's just... Gah. I've spent so much time on New Vegas... and I have plenty of other games that I'm partway through (Dragon Age, Oblivion, Black Ops, Valkryia Chronicles) and I'd rather not have to restart them all... So the biggest thing for me is figuring out how to salvage my save data...

Use the 'quote' button to signify when you're responding to another user.

I don't think that the yellow light of death means that the data in your hard drive is corrupted or anything, and I don't think Sony will destroy your data in fixing the PS3.

Like this then? And I've heard from several sources that Sony sends fixed PS3s back in "refurbished" condition, without any data from beforehand. I will ask them if they can try to do this anyway though...

 

[ultrachicken]

Aby_Z: I'll call them as soon as their offices are open... but I doubt they'll redirect me to a cheaper source.

gibsonman: Yeah, I'm aiming for somewhere in that price range, it's just... Gah. I've spent so much time on New Vegas... and I have plenty of other games that I'm partway through (Dragon Age, Oblivion, Black Ops, Valkryia Chronicles) and I'd rather not have to restart them all... So the biggest thing for me is figuring out how to salvage my save data...

Use the 'quote' button to signify when you're responding to another user.

I don't think that the yellow light of death means that the data in your hard drive is corrupted or anything, and I don't think Sony will destroy your data in fixing the PS3.

Like this then? And I've heard from several sources that Sony sends fixed PS3s back in "refurbished" condition, without any data from beforehand. I will ask them if they can try to do this anyway though...

You can remove the hard drive, if it comes to that. Look it up on youtube. It will require some tools. But make sure to talk to Sony about the situation.

 

[Moonpig123]

Sorry to hear that, man. I had the same problem last year. :-(

First off, Sony dicked me around something awful. Their customer service strikes me as being utter dog shit. I eventually got a refurbished model, but still had to pay full price for the damn thing. And it took THREE MONTHS to organise that little deal. Every time I rang up I'd be passed over to someone else, and they'd pass me over to someone else, who'd give me another number to call, which directed me to someone who tried passing me off to someone else... in fact, it took so long that they eventually offered me a free game of my choice. So I got Red Dead Redemption free of charge, which is something. Still got knocked down £300 for the new machine, though. -.-

All you can do is ring them and not take 'no' for an answer. I'm not saying be rude, but just be very firm and make sure they get shit done. I still resent the way they treated me. Ask for the name of the first person you talk to about it, so you can ask for them specifically the next time you ring, and won't have to keep repeating the same story to dozens of different people.

Good luck mate, I hope it gets sorted quickly.