# [SOLVED] Help: PS3 is freezing on startup



## 4u111

Hello TSF members,

Im having a big problem with my PS3 Console, as soon as i turn it on, count to 10 seconds and it will get slow and slower untill it freezes up and then shuts down automatically.

That heppens every time i turn it on, and it started to happen when i was watching a movie then it lagged then shut down. I then turned it on and started to lag again followed by automatic shutdown.

I desperately had to open it i removed every component and cleaned every thing, i put new thermal paste on the CPU and the GPU chips, and i still have no luck. 

What could be the problem?

Any suggestion is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Regards


----------



## Redeye3323

*Re: Help: PS3 is freezing on startup*

Whats the ambient temperature of the room because that may have an effect on your speeds...

At the start of your post I thought to myself "heating problem" but the fact that you cleaned it all out etc shows that it probably isn't that so it must be a software problem.

Do you get any error or any sort of warning such as a light on the PS3 at all?

I also guessing it isn't in warranty as you would have just contacted SONY before resorting to fiddling with the components.

Anyway, once I've read you answers to my questions I will try and help you further in the matter


----------



## 4u111

*Re: Help: PS3 is freezing on startup*

Room temperature is normal maybe something like 22 ~ 25.

When it freezes up usually the green light goes to "flashing red" and if i hit the button once it completely turns off and goes to normal red.

Could it be a software problem? if so, i will try to change the hard disk. 

No more warranty and im gonna call them explain my problem, maybe they can suggest me a solution.

Thanks


----------



## rossva

*Re: Help: PS3 is freezing on startup*

Hi 4u111

The flashing red light is often a HDU symptom, so I think you're on the right track.

It can sometimes be a loose / failing connection from the hdu to the mother board (the fact you've taken it apart and reassembled probably rules out the loose connection as I assume you removed and reattached it), and sometimes the HDU failing totally.

Your next logical step is therefore to swap out the HDU.

Let us know how you get on.

PS ambient temp of 22-25... nice... can tell you're not one of us shivering UK guys! :wink:


----------



## 4u111

*Re: Help: PS3 is freezing on startup*

Thanks rossva for your support. Im going to get a new hard disk. I suppose laptops hard disks are the same size to PS3 Hard Disks. I dont have time for this rightnow but i will inform you every step i do. But actually i have a small question, taking the hard disk out only, would it effect turning on the system and see how it responds without the hd? Theoritically, i dont think so, but i'd like to know your opinions about this. 

Regards


----------



## Redeye3323

*Re: Help: PS3 is freezing on startup*

The PS3 will work without the hard drive I think but it won't have all the saves on it. You have lost all your saves but not your Gamer's profile. Also any music and pictures on it have also been lost

The PS3 is compatible with just about any 2.5-inch SATA notebook hard disk. Both 5400 and 7200 RPM drives should work fine


Here is a link to a guide with some pictures showing you what to do.

http://uk.gamespot.com/features/6176090/index.html

Hope this helps


----------



## 4u111

*Re: Help: PS3 is freezing on startup*

Hello again,

First of all, Thanx redeye3323 for your helpful reply. I removed the hard disk and waited about 30 mins before i turn it on. When i turned it on it freezed after 10 seconds, so the same thing, nothing has changed. 

I found a topic on something called "YLOD" in which it's called yellow light of death. However, i havn't noticed that this yellow light come up before the red light, because it comes quickly for less than a second and then goes to flashing red light. and here's a video about YLOD YouTube - PS3 YLOD Fix Part 1 of 2

Im not sure if i have the same problem as shown in the video, i actually doubt it, because my console starts up normally but freezes up after 10 seconds or more, especially when the yellow light disappears quickly. 

Rightnow, im thinking to open it up again (maybe on weekends) and seperate all components but still connected to power and turn it on, then see what's causing the problem. I think it's overheating so, im gonna check the heatsink and the power supply and touch CPU+GPU if it goes hot. At least i isolate the problem to something i can solve.

Any syggestion is welcomed. 

Regards


----------



## Redeye3323

*Re: Help: PS3 is freezing on startup*

I wouldn't recommend that you touch them due to ESD but if you put you hands close and can feel heat coming off them very quickly then that may be the case. You also got to make sure you put thermal paste on if you remove any of the fans or anything which disrupted the thermal paste

I would at least try a new hard drive in it to see if that is the problem perhaps.

One thing I was wondering is does it every go to the dashboard ok as it could be a problem with that...


----------



## 4u111

*Re: Help: PS3 is freezing on startup*

I tried to dispute the hard disk and turn it on without it, but no positive results, still freezing. but actually yes, worth it to try a new hard disk, and in this case im gonna buy a new one or borrow my friend's one.

Why dont you recommend touching the board when it's open? what do you mean by ESD?

And i didn't get your last sentence :|

Thanks for your support


----------



## Redeye3323

*Re: Help: PS3 is freezing on startup*

I meant to type 'ever' sorry, I have cleared it up below...



> One thing I was wondering is does it ever get to the dashboard alright (the menus after the PS3 Logo) as it could be a problem with that...


ESD - Electro-Static Discharge. It builds up in the body from doing most things such as walking across the carpet. Most of the time you cannot feel a discharge but sometimes you can like the old balloon static tricks. Considering you can kill hardware with less voltage (or whatever it is measured in) then you can feel, I wouldn't recommend you just openly touch it. This is also why when building a PC some people wear wrist-straps and other don't wear socks and stand on bare floors. There is only a risk of it, you can get away with it but I don't think you should risk it...

If you can get a hard-drive from your mates that might be better then using your money on one and then finding it isn't a hard-drive problem.


----------



## 4u111

*Re: Help: PS3 is freezing on startup*

I installed a new hard disk and still freezing. Yes You can see the menu and ps3 logo but as i said after 10 - 20 seconds it lags heavily then freezes up. The heatsink is so hot when it's on, it's like it's not doing its job, something wrong with the heatsink board.

I'm buying the tool for reflowing the board, thats all left for me to do.

Any new suggestion before i reflow it is welcome.

Regards


----------



## Redeye3323

*Re: Help: PS3 is freezing on startup*

Two question...

What is a "reflow"?

Also, did you apply thermal paste back on when you replace the heatsink last time?


----------



## 4u111

*Re: Help: PS3 is freezing on startup*

Reflow is when you use something like "Hair dryer" and flow it on the electronic board. Reason of this, is to melt the soldering on the board and fix the cracks on the soldering points. But the hair dryer wont work as it has low temperatures, so there's a special tool for this with higher temperatures.

And yes i applied new thermal paste and have no more thermal paste left for new application, so thats it, my last attempt is to reflow the board. 

Thank You Redeye3323 for your replies, anyway if this doesn't work i will send it to SONY.


----------



## Redeye3323

*Re: Help: PS3 is freezing on startup*



4u111 said:


> Reflow is when you use something like "Hair dryer" and flow it on the electronic board. Reason of this, is to melt the soldering on the board and fix the cracks on the soldering points. But the hair dryer wont work as it has low temperatures, so there's a special tool for this with higher temperatures.
> 
> And yes i applied new thermal paste and have no more thermal paste left for new application, so thats it, my last attempt is to reflow the board.
> 
> Thank You Redeye3323 for your replies, anyway if this doesn't work i will send it to SONY.


Haven't you voided your warrenty by opening the console and trying the reflow?


----------



## ebackhus

*Re: Help: PS3 is freezing on startup*

Unrelated, but I need to try this reflow trick on my iBook. The GPU is always coming loose.


----------



## 4u111

*Re: Help: PS3 is freezing on startup*

First off, my PS3 is now fixed.

ebackus, in my opinion refolw sometimes fix many problems as i lately fixed my on board LAN by reflowing hit after lightening stroke. 

Now the important deal on how my PS3 was fixed!!::

Firstly, i did a reflow on the whole PS3 motherboard for 20 mins, and then put the heat sink back with fan, hard disk and power supply only, and tested them when it was naked with no cover, no wireless and blutooth devices, no bluray and no outter cover. And the result was still freezing.

However (this is important) i noticed that the fan motion was too slow when turning the PS3 on as slow as holding the fan with my finger easily. So i took the fan off and tested the PS3 with out the fan and when turned it on it freezed quickly. 

Then, i kept the fan removed and instead i used my big home fan and put it as close as possible to the heat sink that is on the CPU and GPU. Results: Worked perfectly for 30 mins with no problems (So i now know that the fan is causing the problem because it's not turning with the required speed).


Then I switched the PS3 off, removed the heat sink and to the main board again, i looked up the board carefully to see what's causing the fan to be so slow. My first suggest is not getting enough voltage from the board, so there's a weak point of soldering where it gets the fan connection. Surprisingly, i noticed that the socket power on the board had one missing pin left unsoldered so it was sort off melted and removed from the pin hole ( like open circuit) and two other soldering pins were connected to each other like short circuit. That happened because of high temperature on these points where it made it to slip out of the hole.

So i fixed the soldering points by using a soldering tool and then after that i did reflow again with longer time arround 30 mins. Assembeled it and then worked perfectly. I tested it for one hour i played some games watched movies and was fine.

In brief, if the desoldered pins that got slip out are the cause of this problem, then i think thats why the fan was not getting enough voltage to run the fan at its maximum point. Anyway, when it's worked, the fan was going faster and normally.

Anyway thanks to all of you who helped me in this, and thanks to TSF for every thing.

Any question you may ask regarding to my problem?


----------



## Redeye3323

*Re: Help: PS3 is freezing on startup*



4u111 said:


> First off, my PS3 is now fixed.
> 
> ebackus, in my opinion refolw sometimes fix many problems as i lately fixed my on board LAN by reflowing hit after lightening stroke.
> 
> Now the important deal on how my PS3 was fixed!!::
> 
> Firstly, i did a reflow on the whole PS3 motherboard for 20 mins, and then put the heat sink back with fan, hard disk and power supply only, and tested them when it was naked with no cover, no wireless and blutooth devices, no bluray and no outter cover. And the result was still freezing.
> 
> However (this is important) i noticed that the fan motion was too slow when turning the PS3 on as slow as holding the fan with my finger easily. So i took the fan off and tested the PS3 with out the fan and when turned it on it freezed quickly.
> 
> Then, i kept the fan removed and instead i used my big home fan and put it as close as possible to the heat sink that is on the CPU and GPU. Results: Worked perfectly for 30 mins with no problems (So i now know that the fan is causing the problem because it's not turning with the required speed).
> 
> 
> Then I switched the PS3 off, removed the heat sink and to the main board again, i looked up the board carefully to see what's causing the fan to be so slow. My first suggest is not getting enough voltage from the board, so there's a weak point of soldering where it gets the fan connection. Surprisingly, i noticed that the socket power on the board had one missing pin left unsoldered so it was sort off melted and removed from the pin hole ( like open circuit) and two other soldering pins were connected to each other like short circuit. That happened because of high temperature on these points where it made it to slip out of the hole.
> 
> So i fixed the soldering points by using a soldering tool and then after that i did reflow again with longer time arround 30 mins. Assembeled it and then worked perfectly. I tested it for one hour i played some games watched movies and was fine.
> 
> In brief, if the desoldered pins that got slip out are the cause of this problem, then i think thats why the fan was not getting enough voltage to run the fan at its maximum point. Anyway, when it's worked, the fan was going faster and normally.
> 
> Anyway thanks to all of you who helped me in this, and thanks to TSF for every thing.
> 
> Any question you may ask regarding to my problem?


That is brilliant to see. Thank you very much for posting the solution to your problem, hopefully it will help others in the future. Sorry I couldn't help you but with that sort of problem you need to see the console to fix it.

Could you please mark this thread as Solved under the Thread Tools menu.

Thanks,
Redeye3323 :wave:


----------



## Optimitron

So sorry if I'm bumping a dead thread, I was just searching the net for someone as the same problem as me, and this is exactly it. 
See after reading this, I've pulled apart my PS3 earlier today to the extent of simply removing the main innards of the unit from the rest of the shell, and without removing the fan I couldn't see any soldering pins...I'm not exactly a genius at electronics, so I didn't remove anything else in a further attempt to look for them.
Would you (or anyone else) be able to tell me more specifically the location of where the missing solder was? Around the power socket, or the fan, or? I mean quite specifically, haha. Because, I'm pretty sure I have the exact same problem as this, just not to sure on how to fix it.


----------



## Redeye3323

Welcome to TSF

Try checking it the same problem 1st by watching the fan to see how fast it is and trying to run the console with a desk fan cooling it


----------



## Optimitron

Ha, thanks. And yeah, I guess trying that would be smart before soldering everything together. I just need to find a fan


----------



## Redeye3323

Awesome, it's worth doing the 1st bit even if you cannot find a fan...


----------



## Optimitron

Ok, so, found a fan, and yes, it's runs A LOT longer with that cool breeze flowing into it. I still can't see these soldering pins anywhere however


----------



## Redeye3323

Have a look at this bit of the OP's post...



> However (this is important) i noticed that the fan motion was too slow when turning the PS3 on as slow as holding the fan with my finger easily. So i took the fan off and tested the PS3 with out the fan and when turned it on it freezed quickly.


It may be worth you starting up your PS3 when the casing is removed to see how fast the CPU fan is running...


----------



## Optimitron

Which is what I've done? I took the fan out to have a quick look at it, while it was out I turned the power on, it barely turned on. The fan (when attached) is moving REALLY slowly though. I haven't tried holding it with my fingers, but I think it's going slower than it should. I have noticed when playing games on it however (This is when it still worked of course) that the fan was always really quiet before starting a game, then after a while it would really crank up, so I thought it turning slowly was sorta normal.


----------



## Redeye3323

It might be what the OP said about but it's gunna be hard finding out what bits to solder as I don't have a PS3 to show you.

Perhaps Rossva may be able to help, I will PM him...


----------

