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If you have a Phat, Sell it. A warning from Refurb land.

20K views 150 replies 67 participants last post by  blklightning 
#1 ·
Well, looks like I waited too long for a slim deal, as my 60GB Phat refurbished unit just kicked the bucket with the dreaded YLOD. My long term worries came true, once again.


I bought my original 60GB on launch day, and it worked steadfast until June of 2009. I heard of others getting the YLOD, but mine finally failed too. $150 and three weeks later (mid July) Sony mailed me a refurbished Phat, and so the clock started ticking again. My first one died a little over 2 years from purchase. Almost to the month my second died two years later.


If you currently have one, I'd strongly recommend you sell it, or trade it in for a slim. I'm no longer convinced that the heat / solder issues are a minority problem within the scope of electronic failure rates. Yours will eventually go too. Be warned.


Not sure where I'm going from here. I've read about reballing the RSX, but I'm hesitant because it seems hard to find a reputable servicer, there's no guarantee it'll work (or be fixed correctly or competently), and it seems a reball might also only be a temp fix.


I will reflow it for the time being to make a backup, deactivate it and grab my save files that weren't updated this week.


I'm not too keen on giving Sony cash anytime soon. $700 at launch and $150 for a refurb isn't chump change. They can go to hell if they think I'll pay $100 to get a refurb slim.


Maybe I'll wait for a U3 bundle, or something worthwhile. Either way, Sony Customer Service is going to get an earful.
 
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#4 ·
OG 60gig refurbed phatty bought January 07 for $368 died February 09 after 25 months. $150 refurbed from Sony in 2 weeks turn around time February 09, replaced laser July 2010 (had one from a parts one so FREE!) Redid the thermal paste and still going strong to this day! So for a total of $518 I have enjoyed my phattys for over 4.5 years. Well worth the risk, IMO, on refurbs!
 
#8 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by corey99699 /forum/post/20820080


Has anyone had a reball done on theirs?I'm curious how long one would last from a reball as opposed to a reflow.

Seems they go for about $100, and most won't offer a warranty on them. The problem is the entire system is comprised of silver-tin solder, and they only reball the RSX. At some point, my guess is the other joints will go eventually.


If you're going to pay $100, the extra $50 to get a refurb makes more sense, since you can turn and sell that to make money towards a new slim.


I'd trade it in for a slim, but I don't want some POS refurb with a lame 90 day warranty.


What the chances we'll see a price drop to $200 @ GC/TGS?
 
#11 ·
No thanks. I'll keep my four usb ports and memory card reader. Although, if I do need to refurb again I wonder what will happen to my urban camo skin
 
#12 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by tgable /forum/post/0


They are projecting 15m PS3 sales in the next fiscal year, that is a tall order without a price drop.

I've heard plenty of predictions of a $50 drop announced this week at gamescon. Although When the rumors of the new cech-3000 models came up all I saw were mentions of a 320gb model so I wonder if they'll keep the price the same and upgrade the hdd. Curious the new 360 has a 320gb as well...dun duh dun duh
 
#13 ·
OP sorry to hear that man.


For me last December I made the move when Amazon was offering a $100 credit back on your next purchase.


I used the $100 amazon credit on a 500GB SATA 2.5 5400 rpm hard drive which I installed on my new PS3 Slim. I bought a USB 2.0 enclosure hard drive kit and use the original 160GB SATA 2.5 5400 rpm hard drive from the PS3 as a data back up drive, and I bought the PS3 Slim vertical stand.


Luckily for my launch OG 60GB PS3 was still running fine so I formatted it, cleaned up and even stuck back the OG 60GB internal drive and I sold it on craigs list for $260.
 
#14 ·
Well I had a few game saves that weren't backed up in the past week (Usually do so on the weekends) so I stopped by Home Depot for a $22 heat gun (400C) and Radio Shack for some Arctic Silver 5 Thermal paste $10 and had myself a nice little Sunday.


Taking it apart was rather easy, and the construction of these old 60GB's is rather good. Nothing force clipped in, nothing too out of the way to make it breakable, even the screw holes are mostly labeled. Good plastic and a good chassis. It's filled with dreaded ribbon cables, but they're placed well and it's almost impossible to break one in this device.


One thing thats obvious from just looking at it is the cooling and heatsink system is not up to snuff, especially for the heat these original models pump out. Once giant fan, two small aluminum heatsinks and a little bit of copper running through them to radiate heat out. Heat is also dissipated through the chassis protecting the Mobo with other minor components, which to me seems like a bad idea.


Did the heatgun fix, applied the thermal paste and put her back together.



She works perfectly!



Which means the YLOD was in fact the RSX or CELL chips solder joints (90% of the time thats the case). No idea how Sony is getting away without a class action lawsuit on this one, as it's a known defect in the design, and happens quite a bit. I'll chalk it up to Japanese hubris, much like their real world IT security disaster, and their self made PR disaster that followed.


Got my game saves, and currently backing her up. How long will she last? Who knows. But when she goes, Sony's getting an earful. They should be offering a exchange program for all of their early adopters IMO, who supported them with some serious cash when others were laughing at the price tag. Funny enough, the fan is running super quiet now with the new thermal paste (applied appropriately). Whoever put the old thermal paste on made a mess and it looks like way too much was applied, which could have been a factor leading to a YLOD. As for dust, my system was practically dust free. A few dust bunnies here and there around the vents, but the mobo was spotless, the fan wasn't bad, and all the other electronics were dust free. So dust doesn't seem to be a factor IMO, which is disheartening for those who think keeping it clean will keep their system running strong (I was one).


For those who still have one that's works (out of warranty of course) I do recommenced taking her apart, giving her a good cleaning if need be, and applying a good grade thermal paste. It's probably the only way you might mitigate the solder problems.


Lesson learned here, next Gen I'll be sitting on the sidelines and waiting it out a year or two to make sure they have their act together, and I'll grab a 3rd party 5 year warranty too. MS and Sony seem to be cutting corners to drive down costs, and not properly designing these things with cooling systems on par with modern PC's. Hopefully by next gen they learned a little something.
 
#17 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by freemeat /forum/post/20824378


damn that sucks and why did you pay so much more "$700 at launch" over retail in the first place?

My bad, I thought they were $699 but turns out they were $599.


Maybe he bought it somewhere that a game bundle was required? I know when I got my PS2, that's what Kaybee toys required, system + 3 games.
 
#18 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by freemeat /forum/post/20824378


damn that sucks and why did you pay so much more "$700 at launch" over retail in the first place?

$599 launch unit plus a controller, a game and $2.50 for a HDMI cable



I include everything I purchased that day, since that's what it cost to get "in" and play at least one game.


Obviously the costs of everything have been amortized over the last 5 years, but it's still a steep price to pay for a launch console setup + then refurb + the headache I'm going through now. That's close to $1000 on the systems and initial setup alone, not counting additional games, DLC, peripherals, ect.
 
#19 ·
Sorry to hear. Of the four friends I have who bought launch PS3's (myself included), we've all lost our original units to YLOD. It's definitely a bigger problem than Sony admits.


Sony is being saved by the fact that there aren't all that many launch units out there relative to their total install base, that and the fact that units are lasting 4-5 years instead of 1-2 (as with many RROD 360s). That's considered "acceptable" by industry standards. Just sucks on the consumer end.



As for next gen, it's really tough to say what that will look like or when it will come. The industry just isn't the same as it was 5-6 years ago. Not remotely. We could be looking at moderately powered consoles designed primarily to run bite-sized downloadable titles. Generating a lot less heat and processing power. Also, more will be handled remotely by networks rather than consoles.


But who knows? At least you got your saves. And, yes, launch consoles are ticking time bombs.
 
#20 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rs600cubed /forum/post/20822080


I've heard plenty of predictions of a $50 drop announced this week at gamescon. Although When the rumors of the new cech-3000 models came up all I saw were mentions of a 320gb model so I wonder if they'll keep the price the same and upgrade the hdd. Curious the new 360 has a 320gb as well...dun duh dun duh

Sales would not increase with a larger hard drive though. The Gears bundle is 320GB, the normal SKU is 250GB.
 
#21 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by TyrantII
Lesson learned here, next Gen I'll be sitting on the sidelines and waiting it out a year or two to make sure they have their act together
QFT.... I'm still on my launch 60gb( knocks on wood) but already gone through 2 360's( a paltry number going by some of the stories I've heard about people going through 4-5 consoles). Will definitely 'wait it out' next gen before jumping in.
 
#22 ·
My jan '07 unit is still going strong. Not sure what I'll do if it dies. May be time to sign up for PS+ so I can store the saves online, it would really suck to lose a couple of them. Then again, if it dies I may just sell off all the games and accessories as the only games I'm excited about that I can't get on computer are the Uncharted franchise and GT. At this point in my life, I have to kind of pick where I invest my time and the ps3 doesn't rank too highly. I'm laid up for the next couple of weeks due to an injury, but once I can walk around again I probably won't use it for much other than a BD player and when I want to drive a couple of cars or tracks that iRacing doesn't have.
 
#23 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by TyrantII
$599 launch unit plus a controller, a game and $2.50 for a HDMI cable



I include everything I purchased that day, since that's what it cost to get "in" and play at least one game.


Obviously the costs of everything have been amortized over the last 5 years, but it's still a steep price to pay for a launch console setup + then refurb + the headache I'm going through now. That's close to $1000 on the systems and initial setup alone, not counting additional games, DLC, peripherals, ect.
ok, makes sense. Yeah, the first two years of this generation were expensive! Between the PS3 and 360 I spent a ton (more on the 360 actually due to paying for Live).
 
#24 ·
Speaking of which, I pulled out my launch day 60 gb system from the storage closet to throw away yesterday and decided not to. I figure someone on here might want it. So if anyone wants an original 60 gb system the blu ray and dvd lasers are shot and it does not have a hard drive. Other than that everything else works. Just pay for shipping and its yours. Going to try and see if I can fit it in a flat rate box.
 
#25 ·
My 60GB launch unit went out last month with a YLOD. I was always checking out the forums here in the last year with everyone else claiming their launch models YLOD. When my mine went I took the $99 slim offer from Sony. Got rid of my PS2 collection of games a long time ago so that didn't matter. My only issue was the 2 USB ports since the kids still play Rockband but was able to rectify that with a USB Hub. So far, so good.
 
#26 ·
My RB2 instruments have USB hubs in the receivers. Not sure why you need a hub. Either way, a USB hub can be bought for around $5-$10, so really no great loss. I have not missed any of the features of my BC PS3 since changing them both to slims. I found a really cheap PS2 on Craigslist for all the PS2 games, but honestly I haven't had it hooked up for a year. I haven't gotten rid of the PS2 though, I do still have plans for it, just haven't gotten around to doing anything.
 
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