PS3 video issues

[iwannadie]

A buddy of mine has a launch day ps3 that is just starting to act up and thought I would ask around for any info.

He says the video distorts and just shows color artifacts. The backgrounds and stuff are just unrecognizable but usually the text is clear. He's reset all the settings and tried various cables and tv's all with the same result. Everything is fine otherwise and it's rarely been used and then suddenly it came up with this issue.

From what I've read it sounds like the GPU is dead. Is that something that is fairly easy to replace, as in stripping the case, boards and plugging it in? Or, does it require some detailed soldering? Are those launch day machines holding any value because of the backwards compatibility? If he sends it into sony for repair will they just send him back a newer refurb model or will he get to keep the backwards compatibility model? Lastly, anyone want to buy a slightly non-working BWC ps3 ; p .

 

[toyotanos]

Does is start out OK then distort or is it always crappy from the moment you turn it on? I had an issue where the heatsink on mine was plugged and wasn't cooling well. I have also heard of thermal compound replacement (use artic silver 5 imo) on the gpu heatsink helps greatly...but all of those start with decent picture that gets crappy over time. Hope this helps!

 

[iwannadie]

He said it starts out ok with minor background artifacts then in a matter of a minute it gets un-viewable. Like he will start it with the settings reset and by the time he tries to go through the setup it's all artifacts but some text remains clear. I wish I could actually see it not just describe what he is seeing ha.

 

[toyotanos]

indeed. sounds like the gpu may be either blown or overheating. If its in warranty, send it in. If its out, then he has to decide whether or not to send it in (for unknown $$) or try to clean the heatsink and apply new thermal compound himself.
Last question- have you tried a brand new HDMI cable? I had a bad cable and it would drop video but sound would be fine. Just a thought. Sounds like you may have, but its worth a shot

 

[GrimJack]

This won't help much, but the same thing happened to a friend of mine. He bought his near launch, with the intention to use it more as a blue ray player than anything else. Blue rays turned out to be more hassle than advantage - things like he picked up Conan in BR, turned out it hadn't been remastered, still had the original mono sound. When the thing started acting up, it was the last straw, he took it outside and repeatedly drove over it with his pickup.

Now he is back to gaming on his PC, which always works, and he bought an upscaling DVD player that likewise always works and puts out nearly the same quality as his old PS3, without any of the silly hassles that came along with it.

 

[iwannadie]

indeed. sounds like the gpu may be either blown or overheating. If its in warranty, send it in. If its out, then he has to decide whether or not to send it in (for unknown $$) or try to clean the heatsink and apply new thermal compound himself.
Last question- have you tried a brand new HDMI cable? I had a bad cable and it would drop video but sound would be fine. Just a thought. Sounds like you may have, but its worth a shot

A buddy of mine has a launch day ps3 that is just starting to act up and thought I would ask around for any info.

He says the video distorts and just shows color artifacts. The backgrounds and stuff are just unrecognizable but usually the text is clear. He's reset all the settings and tried various cables and tv's all with the same result. Everything is fine otherwise and it's rarely been used and then suddenly it came up with this issue.

 

[toyotanos]

ya, ya... figured you had but never hurts to ask

 

[iwannadie]

Heh, it would be awesome it they warranted things for that long instead of a few months.

 

[te72]

Blue rays turned out to be more hassle than advantage - things like he picked up Conan in BR, turned out it hadn't been remastered, still had the original mono sound. When the thing started acting up, it was the last straw, he took it outside and repeatedly drove over it with his pickup.

I never understood releasing old movies on BR. Sounds like your friend might have a few anger issues haha...

 

[Cz.]

From what I read, apparently the early launch PS3s have a problem with the GPU's thermal paste. If you look on youtube you can see videos of how to at least temporarily fix the issue, but I came to the conclusion that if has happened once, you're basically on your way to having a dead ps3. I don't really remember the details, but you can't fix the issue because the side of the chip that has the bad thermal connection isn't serviceable, you can re-apply paste to the side that contacts the cooling fan, but that isn't really the underlying problem.

While not as widely known, it's also referred to as the Yellow Light of Death (YLOD), though it appears that in your friend's case it hasn't gotten that bad yet.

You do have the option of sending it to Sony, but from what I read on a few forums, apparently sony will send you a "refurbished" model that may or may not work as well as the one you sent to them. Since the backwards compatible model is no longer made, they can't give you a new one and apparently they have not really attempted to fix the issue with the ones that are sent in. Last I heard the charge was around $100-$150? And there really wasn't a guarantee that it would work.

 

[iwannadie]

I don't see how it can be an over heating issue because it happens right on start up. Unless it was an overheating issue that damaged the GPU. Re-applying thermal past in this case I can't see doing anything.

My previous PS3 had YOD and from my understanding that is when it over heats and some of the solder joints are severed. The fix is refluxing it to fill in the solder gaps and nothing to do with the GPU. Unless the YOD is caused by any number of internal failures.