Sony's Fallen Giant
Written by Erik Kubik Friday, 29 October 2010 11:00
We are continuing our Top 10 articles from The Goozex Report with the fifth most-viewed article. This piece was originally published on January 9, 2010. What helps make this article so special is that it was written by Erik Kubik, who is now the Editor in Chief of GoozerNation.
Sony’s Fallen Giant
Erik Kubik shares this sad moment about his PS3. My ps3 died this last Monday, right in the middle of some Red Faction Guerrilla multiplayer. The 60 GB system that loved me for the past 2 ½ years croaked. My console and I had been through thick and thin.
On that horrifying night, 30 minutes into the game my ps3 suddenly shut down, which I thought was slightly unusual. I powered the system back up, it ran for 5 minutes, beeped, and then shut down while briefly flashing a yellow light and then started flashing a red light before I powered it off completely. From my initial research on the Internet, I would say the power supply or one of the fans went bad. How can this happen? I kept my ps3 in a well ventilated area and I never used the system for more than three hours at a time.
Overall, two and a half years is a good run for a system. My regular Xbox broke after a year and a half. I sold my Dreamcast and Gamecube after a year and they never broke down on me.
I noticed about three months ago the fans on the system were working really hard. I thought to myself at the time that I should back up my saved games. Why didn’t I do that…?
Now, I come home from work and instead of relaxing with the ps3, I attempt to watch TV or play the Wii or DS; it’s just not the same. I find myself getting bored and thinking about the ps3. Now it sits in the corner, an ominous black coffin at the edge of a slow and painful death, having gasped its last breath earlier. I have a feeling the broken console is mocking me and my despair.
I purchased my ps3 in August of 2007 so the warranty is long expired. I do have a few options though. I could pay Sony $189 dollars to fix it and receive a three-month warranty. Sony would have my black coffin for a week to two weeks. I would receive either a refurbished console or my original one. None of my data from the hard drives would be saved. I could pay a third-party repair service around $100 and they promise to save all my data and have it back to me in three days. They offer a 30-day guarantee. Based on recommendations and their feedback they appear to be legitimate and stand behind their work. Or I could save some out-of-pocket money and sell it on eBay for parts; broken 60 gb ps3’s seem to fetch $130-$150.
My biggest concern is losing the data. I have 40+ hours dumped into some of the games. Games like Fallout 3 and its DLC, Resident Evil 5, infamous and Uncharted 2. The only saving grace in losing this data is that I could clean out my game collection and trade the titles I no longer play on Goozex.
My final option is to try and pinpoint the issue and fix it myself. If it’s the fan or the power supply, those can be purchased online for $30-$50. There are plenty of videos that demonstrate the fixes. However, I run the risk of completely breaking it and wasting my time.
If I decide to get rid of it, I think it’s time I went to my local GS, use some saved up trade-in credit, and pick up a 120 gb slim.
I have a feeling my ps3 was giving me some sort of sign. Like it was telling me that I play too many video games and that I need to cut back a bit. Or maybe it was that I should have acted on the warning signs from four months ago when it started dying.
My last option is to jump on the 360 bandwagon.
Comments
Are you aware how similar the 360 and PS3 really are? Are you aware that there's multiplatform games that the 360 manages to run better than the PS3?
Not to mention out of all the PS3 exclusives you named, there's only two that are unique and scream "Buy a PS3 solely because I'm awesome!", those being LBP2 and Infamous2.
I can never get over you fanboy scum. PS3 turds like yourself always play the "PS3 is better cuz its bluray" card, and 360 fanboys always use the "our online is 5x better than PSN!".
What ever happened to liking games solely because they're good, and not what system they're on? The 360, Wii, and PS3 all have their flaws, but are all great at something with great exclusives for each.
Also, it makes zero sense to buy a 360 because then you're scrapping all your games as well which means you lose way way more than the cost of a new console. at 60 bucks each if you had 20 games that's 1200 dollars in sunk costs that you'd be losing. Forget gamestop or EB games or microplay, they'll give you pennies for your games. 20 bucks is the most you'll get on a trade in 3 get it free deal.
only took one week. i had mass effect pc to work on anyway
this happened right after buying a move controler and ps3 sports as well, how to train your dragon.
my ps3 was reletivly old too. about 3 years. used the crap out of it and transported it everywhere." im on a 3G connection" and the data plan is a joke.
for me its all about the look and all the extra features the 60 gigs came with. no way i was getting a new ps3.
Why have a console that can't play any games? That's just stupid.
I do have a 360 to bide the time when my ps3 is out of action or for a bit of FORZA while I wait for GT5, but as this is rare it barely gets played... But even this is now not an option as it has got the RROD :'(
1 step desassemble the Ps3 :
2 step reflowing:
You Just need a hitgun to reflowing
3 step termal compound :
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=138&Itemid=1
I used the zalman's one, artic silver 5 is good too
how to do this? here are links motherbord repair guide and for videos :
http://www.yellowlight.co.uk/documents/YLODfix.pdf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GROObR9yvaY&p=A0BEEFB935E33AF3&playnext=1&index=1
PS3 arrived, I restored all saved all info via USB transfers - again no problem. Warranty on this machine was 3 months
Subscribed to Playstation+ in Jun, then in Aug - same green freeze screen of death! I called Sony & told them what happened.
Despite being out of warranty, they sent me another original PS3 - FREE OF CHARGE & AGAIN WITHIN 2 DAYS!
Sony behaved with honour to replace the second unit - They were really sympathetic about my situation (I did explain that I was a launch day customer, had bought around 25 titles & upgraded to Playstation Plus, which I guess they checked via my account details).
That's my story!
Konami & Hideo Kojima, Square Enix, Ninja Theory, Namco (Tekken), Koei, Insomniac Games and the list will continue to grow throughout 2011.
psmove is a pretty damn lame wiimote ripoff, and it hasn't sold very well in the US. It's just NOT a novel experience, we've been playing it for 4 years now. Kinect will be selling Xbox360's by the millions this Xmas... the psmove is going to get owned badly and so will the ps3. As for exclusives there's one title I'd feel envious about, UC3. But there's NOT ONE GAME WORTH BUYING A PS3 FOR... NOT ONE
Finally ps3 reliability >> x360 reliability, I have heard horror stories of people getting more than one RROD in a year before the x360s came out (mainly release x360 consoles), you are much better off with ps3.
If your fans were running loud before it died, the GPU or CPU were probably overheating (the factory thermal paste dries out over time, reducing its heat transferring properties).
Resurrect your PS3 and copy any game saves and files you want. Copy directly; backups are only usable by the console they were made on. Same with the HDD data on the drive itself.
Keep in mind that the solder reflow technique is NOT permanent.
Once you have your important data, you can either sell your PS3 or pay SCE the repair/service fee and in all likelihood, you'll receive a refurbished unit. Basically reconditioned to factory specs in a new case.
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