Broken ps3 that’s not even turning on.

S

Succ

Forum Noob
New to PSX so bear with me. So I have this broken CECHA01 that's been collecting dust and I'm considering using a syscon diagnosis to figure out what is truly wrong with it (and hopefully bring it back to life but that's wishful thinking).

For context, I bought it off Mercari and the seller scammed me. They did mention that the ps3 was "a little noisy", paraphrasing a little but that's what they said. When I bought it and plugged it in to turn it on, the fan was on 100% all the time and it you can hear it across the house.

I brought it up to a repair shop called CPR to see what was going on with it. It was unfortunately penny tricked. When I got the console, it was working for a brief second but then it got louder and louder and louder until finally, it YLOD (I was idling in the XMB) Or at least Im assuming it did. When I tried turning it back on, it would turn on for a brief second but shut off almost instantly, no YLOD, nothing. I, of course, took it back to the repair shop to have it look at again. And after a couple weeks of it being in the shop and even sent to a place to have it Reballed, it was deemed unfixable and the guy sent it back to me and gave me a refund.

I couldn't leave a bad review on Mercari because this endeavor took weeks and I already wrote in a good review (stupid on my part). I even got in contact with Mercari customer support and they told me that there was nothing they can do. So I was stuck with this broken ps3.

A year passed by with it collecting dust and having to buy another CECHA01 ps3 (this one worked), I had an idea in my head, there's a very slim chance it can stay on juuuuust long enough too do a syscon diagnose to figure out why exactly this ps3 died. And of course, I got the same result. Turned on and in less that half a second, turned off immediately with no YLOD, not even a red light. So I'm wondering if anyone here has any ideas of what could be wrong with this ps3 and maybe get it to turn on just enough to diagnose the original problem with the ps3.
 
In a bullet list here's what springs to mind;

Bad PSU - Replace it
Choked with dust - Open it up and clean it very thoroughly (this includes opening the PSU and optical drive to give them an internal clean)
Bad, old thermal paste on RSX \ Cell - clean and replace it
Dirty contancts on internal ribbon cables\connections - clean them with 99.9% IPA
Bad NEC\TOKIN capacitors - replace them with 470uf 2.5v Panasonic 2R5TPE470M9 (4x per NEC minimum)
RSX itself is dead - you'll need to find someone capable of replacing the RSX with a 65 or 45nm version and doing some hoodwinkery to get everything up and running again.
 
Ketxxx said:
In a bullet list here's what springs to mind;

Bad PSU - Replace it
Choked with dust - Open it up and clean it very thoroughly (this includes opening the PSU and optical drive to give them an internal clean)
Bad, old thermal paste on RSX \ Cell - clean and replace it
Dirty contancts on internal ribbon cables\connections - clean them with 99.9% IPA
Bad NEC\TOKIN capacitors - replace them with 470uf 2.5v Panasonic 2R5TPE470M9 (4x per NEC minimum)
RSX itself is dead - you'll need to find someone capable of replacing the RSX with a 65 or 45nm version and doing some hoodwinkery to get everything up and running again.
Click to expand...

Tried replacing the PSU, didn't work. It seems like it's more along the lines of a power issue than a bad RSX issue although it could be the case. I was tipped off to order a new Power Eject sisterboard and to try replacing the 5 volt cable on the PSU as those could be what's causing the problem. Console itself isn't really dirty I don't think. No real big dust buildups when I took it apart. I would think that any other issues that you mentioned would give out a YLOD and not just nothing. Thank you for the advice anyways, I really do appreciate it
 
God only knows what these repair shops did to the console. You need to send it to someone reputable and just let them diagnose it. Sounds like you're kind of in over your head on this one. Broken cecha01 consoles go for roughly $100 on eBay. You also might want to consider cutting your losses on this one. It looks like you may have a power short somewhere. On the plus side, you do appear to have standby, so reading the syscon should be doable.
 
luvbuckets said:
God only knows what these repair shops did to the console. You need to send it to someone reputable and just let them diagnose it. Sounds like you're kind of in over your head on this one. Broken cecha01 consoles go for roughly $100 on eBay. You also might want to consider cutting your losses on this one. It looks like you may have a power short somewhere. On the plus side, you do appear to have standby, so reading the syscon should be doable.
Click to expand...
Maybe I am in over my head a little bit but I do want to try getting into repair. I kinda knew that i probably wasn't gonna be able to fix the console but if I can at least get it to YLOD instead of just nothing at all, that would be a step in the right direction.
 
Succ said:
Tried replacing the PSU, didn't work. It seems like it's more along the lines of a power issue than a bad RSX issue although it could be the case. I was tipped off to order a new Power Eject sisterboard and to try replacing the 5 volt cable on the PSU as those could be what's causing the problem. Console itself isn't really dirty I don't think. No real big dust buildups when I took it apart. I would think that any other issues that you mentioned would give out a YLOD and not just nothing. Thank you for the advice anyways, I really do appreciate it
Click to expand...

Not necessarily I've come across a lot of slims that have ended up having a YLOD but not exhibited the behaviour of one and even simple issues like a dirty connector or ribbon cable causing symptoms like a YLOD. Its why its always important to clean and check all connections and cables because rouge dirt and debris can and does kick out all kinds of red herrings. When all else fails, that when you test the console with nothing but the bare minimum connected to see if it does anything different, if it does, you at least know the main system board is probably alright.
 
Ketxxx said:
Not necessarily I've come across a lot of slims that have ended up having a YLOD but not exhibited the behaviour of one and even simple issues like a dirty connector or ribbon cable causing symptoms like a YLOD. Its why its always important to clean and check all connections and cables because rouge dirt and debris can and does kick out all kinds of red herrings. When all else fails, that when you test the console with nothing but the bare minimum connected to see if it does anything different, if it does, you at least know the main system board is probably alright.
Click to expand...

huh, that's very strange. Like I said, I ordered the power eject sisterboard and a new 5 volt cable to see if that fixes the issue. I do have some soldering skills but it's been a long time since I've done it. If I don't get this PS3 working… or at least getting it to YLOD so I can diagnose it, it would be good practice for me.
 
Strange yes, but not uncommon in my line of work I'm a PC guy so fix anything ranging from a PC to consoles and controllers at this point after 28 years or so I've seen just about every kind of anomaly and the root cause of it. Most of which have been things you'd never read about in a text book. You can't beat experience and a simple willingness to learn so as you say if nothing else this is a good chance to practice some things.
 
You have a short on the motherboard, u will need to send it in for repairs so they can find it. The repair shops should have done a syscon error check and given u all this info if it was done correctly. If not find someone else that will and can do the correct procedures from the start.
 
6vQODrZ
If you're dead set on trying to find this short, you'll need a multimeter. Open up the console and remove the back metal plate. Cut two pieces of cardboard into squares and place them behind the RSX and cell. Then fasten the leafsprings back into place (on top of the cell and RSX, over cardboard). Plug the PSU in (make sure you put a piece of paper underneath it to prevent a short). Now you have access to the bottom side of the board while you turn it on. Check these areas for power:

https://imgur.com/gallery/6vQODrZ

Who knows you may get lucky and find a blown fuse somewhere. That could help you pinpoint the area that's causing the problem.
 
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