exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

I didn't really post a huge amount on the first PS3, so I thought I might try a bit more on number two. TBH I only bought it because it was very cheap and the thought of a better case for my own, which although working, has a pretty melted rear case, seemed like a good idea for the price.

Well, I tried to power it on and got a 2 second power on/off, which is usually indicative of overheating. Given the amount of dust I could see, litereally hanging out of every grille, so I suspected internally things were not happy, and when I pulled it apart and found this:


I think in all my time I've only ever seen one other machine so badly dusty inside!!! :dizzy:

It looks like it was used as a vacuum cleaner!!!

One good thing though, the machine had never been opened as the warranty seal was intact (Now not, so warranty is void...), so I could guarantee all the screws would be there and in the correct spots.

Nothing was clean at all:


You can see how nicely the PSU cleaned up:


And the rest looks great too. Just need to clean up the old thermal paste and add new, plus a new CR2032, since the old one was bulging. Never seen one bulging before, so what with the incredible amount of dust, it's been a machine of firsts.

Not just dust binnies, a whole dust warren!

stephen_usher wrote: 10 Dec 2023 17:25 Not just dust binnies, a whole dust warren!

Aye, and all their relatives for Christmas!

The PS3 is back together, and clean with lovely thermal paste and no dust bunnies. It still does a 2 second power on/off, though holding down the power button does make it try to go into safe mode and it lasts about a second longer, but I am wondering if it's the PSU, as the fan spins and all seems normal, but the minute the PSU clunks and kicks in, power goes off, as though it's gone into protection mode.

Could be a short elsewhere, but I may have to pull out the melty PS3 and see how it fares with that PSU and vice versa.

All my PS3 fat consoles died due to a warping of the PCB under the main SOC due to heat. The main SOC became detached from the PCB. I (or rather the technician at work) attempted a re-work using a BGA rework station at work including reballing the main chip but non ever lived again.

alexh wrote: 11 Dec 2023 10:39 All my PS3 fat consoles died due to a warping of the PCB under the main SOC due to heat. The main SOC became detached from the PCB. I (or rather the technician at work) attempted a re-work using a BGA rework station at work including reballing the main chip but non ever lived again.

It is possible that's an issue, but I'm not seeing a YLOD, so it is attempting to power up. As I said, it may end up just being a parts machine for the lower case, will see what I can figure out.

Oh my gosh... :o

Did the guy who sold it was using it as a vacuum cleaner ?

HigashiJun wrote: 11 Dec 2023 11:51 Oh my gosh... :o

Did the guy who sold it was using it as a vacuum cleaner ?

That was certainly one of the thoughts I had. What's interesting though is that the heatsinks and fan were actually reasonably clean compared to the topside of the board and PSU.

Some people put their console right on the carpet, and they literally become vacuum cleaners..
And if you look inside.....


P.s. we need a dust bunny smiley

Maximilian wrote: 11 Dec 2023 14:56 Some people put their console right on the carpet, and they literally become vacuum cleaners..
And if you look inside.....


P.s. we need a dust bunny smiley

Aaaah, too late I cleaned it!!!