A thought regarding older PS3 "phats" and keeping them alive

YDL running on the Sony Playstation 3

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A thought regarding older PS3 "phats" and keeping them alive

Postby ppietro » 09 Mar 2012, 00:39

I'd like to preface this by stating that this is not for the faint of heart. You must be comfortable with electronics disassembly and re-assembly. Also - I take no responsibility for any damage you do to your system. If you break it - I'm sorry - but that's not my fault.

That being said....

Hi everyone,

I've been using my launch PS3 (aka "phat") for quite a while now. And - over time - I started noticing something. Something that started to bother me.

What I noticed was that, after a while, my PS3 fan would start spinning louder and louder. Not at full speed - but spinning more than it did previously. There was still warm air coming out of the back of my PS3 - so some ventilation was happening, but it began to bother me.

Now - I'm very careful with my PS3. I keep it very clean - and always run it free-standing, with nothing blocking the vents. So - this behavior surprised me. Doing a little on-line research, it turns out that PS3 launch consoles can have an issue with internal dust build-up, even though they appear clean on the outside.

So - I decided that - since the console was out of warranty - and that Sony would remove OtherOS if I ever sent it to them for repair - I would take it apart and see how it looked inside.

And - boy - I'm glad I did.

It was caked in dust. And - very fine dust at that. Dust you couldn't see from the outside. It was especially dusty around the central cooling fan - caught in the heatsink fins so it couldn't escape. The only way you could remove the dust was to carefully remove the fan and pull it out via the resultant opening.

Now - it runs much quieter. And - I'm convinced - much healthier.

A note about disassembly: It's not hard to take apart your PS3, but you have to be careful with it. For me, you start by pulling back the protective sticker on the same edge of the console with the hard drive door. (This is the sticker underneath the small rubber foot, not the model number/information sticker.) NOTE: Once you've done this, you've voided your warranty, so be sure this is what you want to do!

What you find when you pull back this sticker, is that the rubber foot is part of a larger rubber plug. Carefully remove this rubber plug, and you'll find a custom screw. Luckily, I had a set of security tools I bought at Fry's Electronics, so I was able to find a bit that matched and loosened the screw.

Once the screw is loose, you can slide the panel with the "PLAYSTATION 3" logo down, and gently pull it off. This reveals the real face of the console. There are 6 large screws here, 1 medium large screw and two small screws you need to remove. Be sure to make a note of where you removed the screws - you'll need to put them back later!

Once all 9 screws are removed, look for a small plastic latch on the connector side. Gently unlatch it, and the top should hinge open at the power buttons.

From here, you'll have to carefully remove the blu-ray drive (it should be loose - just be very careful not to disturb the heatsink pad after you remove it, so you can use it again), the power supply and the power/eject daughterboard. The key here is to just proceed carefully, looking for the arrow indicators on the chassis to help you identify the screws you need to remove. Be sure to make a note of where you got the screws - there are a few different types here - large threads for locking into the plastic, small threads for metal on metal contact.

You'll have to disconnect a few ribbon cables too - they are locking, but should pull out fairly easily. You'll need to remove a ribbon cable to fully remove the top cover - the memory card slots are bolted to this. It's helpful to make a note of how the cables route too - they've really packed them in there.

What you're trying to do is remove enough screws to disengage the chassis from the back cover. You DON'T want to actually dissemble the chassis and expose the motherboard. If you do it right, you should be able to lift the chassis from the back plastic cover as a whole, without actually exposing any circuitry.

Now - if everything is right, you should see the massive fan that cools the PS3. There are three small screws that bolt this fan into the chassis. Remove them, lift the fan out, and carefully remove the dust that's accumulated in there. I used small toothpicks to fish some of the dust between the fins, and just pulled out the rest. Something about this particular fan design is, apparently, flawed and tends to suck dust directly into these cooling fins. You'll also want to clean as much dust from the rest of your PS3 before you put it together. Just be careful not to damage anything - we're just trying to clean it a little, not restore it to factory condition.

Assembly is the exact reverse of disassembly. Refer to your diagrams, and it should go together easily. Don't forget - you'll need to lock the ribbon cables down when you put them back.

If everything is good, once it's fully back together, you can power it up. Make sure you hear the fan start! :)

And that's it. Hopefully, you've just extended the life of your PS3. I was stunned by how much dust I pulled out of the thing. I'm certain it was blocking airflow in the unit.

Final thought: Some folks have mentioned that the heat sink compound over the CPU & GPU disintegrates over time. This disassembly procedure won't get to the level where you can check that. I'm still monitoring my unit to see if I need to worry about it. I'll keep you guys posted if I decide to replace the compound with something like Arctic Silver or something.

Cheers,
Paul
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Re: A thought regarding older PS3 "phats" and keeping them a

Postby ACEFOMIQUZ » 12 Mar 2012, 17:25

Right now I'm also full feeling with my PS3 CECHH00MG for almost 4 years. I've faced the same situation just like you. What I want to do is to buy a new one, and let this one retire. Of course the new one is a phat for installing my favourite YDL. :)
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Re: A thought regarding older PS3 "phats" and keeping them a

Postby ppietro » 12 Mar 2012, 18:04

ACEFOMIQUZ wrote:What I want to do is to buy a new one, and let this one retire. Of course the new one is a phat for installing my favourite YDL. :)


After you buy the "new" phat, you'll want to check it for dust build-up as well. Remember - mine had no outwards signs of this - it looked factory clean on the outside. :D

Unless - you can get the phat as an unused, new unit in a sealed box. Then - you're probably fine.

Cheers,
Paul
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Re: A thought regarding older PS3 "phats" and keeping them a

Postby relet » 12 Mar 2012, 21:33

Where is the source for the "new phat"?
I checked from Amazon, there are plenty of "new" phats, do they have "OtherOS" inside for sure?

I decided to open my current ps3 one day follow the way instructed (it is very useful, thanks), I cannot afford the lost of my treasure ydl62ps3, it plays the dosgames even better than my Windows7 pc, only the dosbox comes a bit small, anyway to enlarge it?

Thanks.
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Re: A thought regarding older PS3 "phats" and keeping them a

Postby ACEFOMIQUZ » 13 Mar 2012, 13:15

relet wrote:Where is the source for the "new phat"?
I checked from Amazon, there are plenty of "new" phats, do they have "OtherOS" inside for sure?

I decided to open my current ps3 one day follow the way instructed (it is very useful, thanks), I cannot afford the lost of my treasure ydl62ps3, it plays the dosgames even better than my Windows7 pc, only the dosbox comes a bit small, anyway to enlarge it?

Thanks.

He said "new' phat, OK? NOT "new phat". :lol:
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Re: A thought regarding older PS3 "phats" and keeping them a

Postby ppietro » 13 Mar 2012, 22:33

ACEFOMIQUZ wrote: He said "new' phat, OK? NOT "new phat". :lol:


Yup - exactly. I meant "new" as in "newly purchased", not a new model. I figure all phats at this point are fairly old, and the only way to get one is used.

relet wrote:I checked from Amazon, there are plenty of "new" phats, do they have "OtherOS" inside for sure?


The only way you can tell for sure is by checking the firmware revision - there are no visible indications. All of the phats have the ability to run OtherOS, but Sony removed it via software from Firmware 3.21 and have never re-enabled it. The slims have never had native OtherOS support.

So - what you'll want is a phat with guaranteed Firmware 3.15 or lower. NOTE: OtherOS wasn't available until Firmware 1.60, I believe, so you'll need at least that one installed.

Cheers,
Paul
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Re: A thought regarding older PS3 "phats" and keeping them a

Postby ACEFOMIQUZ » 14 Mar 2012, 16:01

ppietro wrote:
ACEFOMIQUZ wrote: He said "new' phat, OK? NOT "new phat". :lol:


Yup - exactly. I meant "new" as in "newly purchased", not a new model. I figure all phats at this point are fairly old, and the only way to get one is used.

ACEFOMIQUZ wrote:I checked from Amazon, there are plenty of "new" phats, do they have "OtherOS" inside for sure?


The only way you can tell for sure is by checking the firmware revision - there are no visible indications. All of the phats have the ability to run OtherOS, but Sony removed it via software from Firmware 3.21 and have never re-enabled it. The slims have never had native OtherOS support.

So - what you'll want is a phat with guaranteed Firmware 3.15 or lower. NOTE: OtherOS wasn't available until Firmware 1.60, I believe, so you'll need at least that one installed.

Cheers,
Paul


What's wrong with the red part? That's not my question...
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Re: A thought regarding older PS3 "phats" and keeping them a

Postby ppietro » 14 Mar 2012, 19:03

ACEFOMIQUZ wrote:What's wrong with the red part? That's not my question...


Cut and paste error - fixed.

Cheers,
Paul
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Re: A thought regarding older PS3 "phats" and keeping them a

Postby relet » 14 Aug 2014, 09:13

Hi, I just bought a "new phat" from ebay, there is a very nice seller helped to find this 2.17 firmware one, and I have installed YDL6.2 inside,
gook luck.
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Re: A thought regarding older PS3 "phats" and keeping them a

Postby KoolChri$ » 18 Sep 2014, 15:38

Hi, I'm glad to see this forum still have activity. I just got my 20gig PS3 back on System Software 2.0. Planning to get my other Phat onto 3.15 and give YDL a shot on both of them. No experience with Linux, only Windoze and Crapple, lol.
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Re: A thought regarding older PS3 "phats" and keeping them a

Postby KoolChri$ » 18 Sep 2014, 21:33

Hi there,

Just got 20gig launch unit downgraded to System Software 2.0. I think I'm going to get my other 80 gig phat downgraded to System Software 3.15 and try installing YDL onto it as well.

Glad to see forums like this still up to help with noobs! :lol:
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Re: A thought regarding older PS3 "phats" and keeping them a

Postby ACEFOMIQUZ » 12 May 2015, 05:57

Hey guys, haven't seen you for such along time.I'd installed firmware above 3.15 and with no otheros for a long time. Now I miss the time that I was using YDL6.0~6.2. A good memory really!
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