So far the PS3 was a role model for a reliable piece of hardware. Other than the competition, the PS3 so far didn't have a reliability issues similar to the RRoD on the 360. Not that this is going change in general, but it looks like that at least re. the old 60 GB model, this is no longer the case.
The issue is very well known already: at some point in time during the PS3 life time the user turns on the PS3 which shortly shows the green LED which instantly turns to yellow (therefor the name) and switches off after another second. From that point on there is no other solution than calling the Sony help desk and filing an repair request.
What makes this even more frustrating is the fact that this seems to be an 60 GB model only issue, the console that still has the PS2 compatibility mode and is therefor for many owners the preferred PS3 edition.
The next potential frustration ist the fact that Sony does not really repair those consoles but rather replaces them with refurbished models with a new case. What seems to be nice policy turns out to be a big issue as all your downloaded content is linked with this hardware and their are only 5 parallel hardware profiles possible. In other words, after 5 hardware replacements you are no longer able to re-download any of the purchased content. The solution to this problem is to deactivate a console to unlink this specific hardware from the account, but guess what, if you are facing a technical issue with your PS3 you don't have the possibility to do that on your broken console.
So what is the actual problem with those consoles? Hard to say as there is no official statement from Sony saying that this is an issue at all. What it looks like right now, this is somehow connected with power supply which obviously seem to break mainly on the 60 GB models.
At this point it's hard to say how many consoles are impacted by this issue but based on the coverage in the various boards and blogs, this is far beyond the normal failure rate and very consistent across all cases. Personally I have two 60 GB consoles and actually got my second console just because of such an issue. Fingers crossed I hope that I am not experiencing this ever.
Any feedback?
by Mutsch at 14:34
Categories: PS3
Spaulding on 02/25/2009 13:46
My PS3 (60GB launch-console) did exactly the same thing. While I was playing it all of a sudden turned itself off and started blinking. Sony customer service told me to get it replaced for 230€. WTF?!? So I contacted konsoleprofis.de. They were able to fix the problem. Now I got my console back (with my data still intact) and it's rocking again. Time to do a backup, I guess :-)
When you check several forums it seems that currently the launch consoles (60GB) are dying all over the world. Seems to be a more severe problem.
The good news is that there is an option here other than getting a refurbished PS3.
Can you imagine the feeling when I am starting up one of my PS3s? That's how the Xbox folks must have felt ...
Spaulding on 02/26/2009 9:41
I'm just glad I didn't lose all my savegames. But everytime my PS3 freezes now or makes some strange noise I fear it's broken again. My brother's PS3 (60GB) is also acting up latelay...
Since the YLOD might also affect the power supply I turn my PS3 off completely now using the main switch in the back.
toffee222 on 05/31/2009 22:35
Bad news for all ps3 owners is that the Yellow Light Of Death problem is also happening in the 40gb models and therefore will probably also eventually occur on the 80gb and 160gb models! My 40gb broke whilst playing COD5 online and kept hold of the disc. I'm unwilling to pay SCEE £145 to replace it with a reconditioned model (new XBOX 360 - £134.99) and only 3 month warranty. I have now paid phonebitz £10 to remove the disc for me and they have quoted £50 to replace the mother board.
My PS3 (60GB launch-console) did exactly the same thing. While I was playing it all of a sudden turned itself off and started blinking. Sony customer service told me to get it replaced for 230€. WTF?!? So I contacted konsoleprofis.de. They were able to fix the problem. Now I got my console back (with my data still intact) and it's rocking again. Time to do a backup, I guess :-)
