PS3 (Research/Experimental) - NEC/TOKIN Capacitors Replacement - YLOD

[sandungas]

I have some copper pipe, I can cut down the centre, unroll and jammer flat. Then I can cut that.

Still waiting on some solder whick though

Not sure if the walls of a copper pipe are going to have an excesive thickness... electrically is fine but is going to be harder to solder it because you are adding more metal... so the solder job will need more heat
But well... you can hammer it to make it thinner

Another thing you can do to make the solder job easyer is to make some cuts like in this drawing
This cuts allows you to touch with the solder iron in the cuts to heat the motherboard and the copper sheet at the same time

 

[Naked_Snake1995]

I will not discuss the validity of this process as a repair, like he said everyone will try this at his own responsibility, he will not be liable of any damage or loss, what I wanted to say is that soldering is a skill not everyone has and it takes a lot to learn it , this process involves a lot of desoldering and a lot of soldering, I attached a picture of a motherboard we received from a customer just to show everyone an example of where this can end , this customer did not just lose the money he paid for the soldering iron, the solder, the flux, the solder wick and the capacitors, he also lost his motherboard that he had to buy another replacement for it for $175 so when you try this make sure you understand the cost and all the losses so there will be no regrets at the end. When a YouTube video surfaced more than ten years ago telling people they can fix their PS3 by using flux and heat gun a lot of people went out and bought flux and heat gun and they ended up with a lot of damaged beyond repair consoles, I wouldn't overstate that the number of hear lost consoles was in millions, I don't want this to happen again . Check the picture and good luck everyone that wants to try this.

Whomever tries this its solely responsable for the damage they do to they´re machines, i always make my guides with the upmost detail possible,and make my tests personally, so i know what i am publishing and what kind of information i am trying to aware and educate.

My intentions with this guide was to make people to think outside the box, regarding the reballing and the Heatgun repairs,which are not definitive solutions and are more waste of money, the solution was under our noses all along,but it seems people didnt realize it until much later on the PlayStation3´s life-cycle, after owning Reballed machines in the past and reflowed as well,none of them lasted me more than a year.

Wheneven someone tries to follow this guide, they´ll must have at least some sort of base knowledge to get in touch with what kind of repair they are doing,and the risks involved, the information is there, now how you decide to follow the guide is strictly up to the end-user, and sometimes unexperienced users harm theyre units because they didnt thought of the risks and the confidence to perform such delicate repair.

 

[Naked_Snake1995]

My soldering test on dead mobo (always make tests and tests again before to proceed...) :

I don't like the way I connected the jumper wire to the capacitors. I'll change that next time.

That is some fine clean work, did you test it personally? All well organized, like it should be, but ill guess ill stick to my 45º degree SMD due to be working only with a Soldering Iron,but great job regardless

 

[DoublesAdvocate]

Earlier in the thread someone was asking for photos of undamaged caps, I can buy some of the originals if you'd like. If/when mine does YLOD I'd prefer to replace them with caps of original spec anyway even if they will fail after another 4000-6000 hours.

 

[Naked_Snake1995]

Earlier in the thread someone was asking for photos of undamaged caps, I can buy some of the originals if you'd like. If/when mine does YLOD I'd prefer to replace them with caps of original spec anyway even if they will fail after another 4000-6000 hours.

Well at least to have a perspective on the NEC/TOKIN failure point, it would be great if someone used the internal WEBMAN timing to determine the total days from the point the console YLODed and after the repair, but usually the NECs die within 3 to 6 years range, depending on the conditions of the machine and if there is more heat than usually, it degrades the NECs faster.

For me, i use both combinations of Tantalums and NECs, so there its an increased reliability, but nothing wrong on using the original specification NEC/TOKIN OE128E from the factory, its just they aren't particularly reliable, and you may have to switch them at some point.

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[DoublesAdvocate]

top side

bottom side

dimension diagram and schematic from data sheet

sources for all 3
https://www.scribd.com/doc/104195992/Nec-Tokin-Oe128-Datasheet
https://www.tyro-teq.com/ic/product/NECTOKIN/PFAF250E128MTE

 

[snkplkn]

Hey @Naked_Snake1995 ,this Blonde is fixing PS3 YLOD. What do you think? lol

 

[Naked_Snake1995]

Hey @Naked_Snake1995 ,this Blonde is fixing PS3 YLOD. What do you think? lol

Perfect repair, 10/10 - Marry her [emoji23]

MJ from iFixit, i remember her, disassembly me like that PlayStation3 [emoji57][emoji1787]

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[Semaj]

I've done this with CECHC03 PS3s today, one of them had never been opened until today, and neither are working.

I've replaced each of the TOKINs with 4x 330uF 2.5v Tantalums. Added a bridge wire for positive rail for both groups.

Anyone have any ideas on what to check next? Given that neither work, I'm more than sure it's something I've not done correctly.

Cheers!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Fanhais]

reballing rsx bga balls or gpu in short

 

[Naked_Snake1995]

I've done this with CECHC03 PS3s today, one of them had never been opened until today, and neither are working.

I've replaced each of the TOKINs with 4x 330uF 2.5v Tantalums. Added a bridge wire for positive rail for both groups.

Anyone have any ideas on what to check next? Given that neither work, I'm more than sure it's something I've not done correctly.

Cheers!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well not to judge, but you should have just replaced one NEC for starters, replacing all the NECs its never a good idea, next time, just replace one NEC on the bottom side on the RSX and then if you want one on the CELL.

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[Md Hesam]

 

[Semaj]

Well not to judge, but you should have just replaced one NEC for starters, replacing all the NECs its never a good idea, next time, just replace one NEC on the bottom side on the RSX and then if you want one on the CELL.

Well the first PS3 I replaced them all, then the second I replaced 2 at a time, testing as I went. Didn't think it would matter beyond possibly using new capacitors unnecessarily.

What's the difference? Genuinely interested.



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[VTSTech]

The bottom left strips on the top side look a lil dark. Maybe redo those ones and clean up the strips. I suspect the capacitors are not making connection.

CPU/GPU Reflows fixed YLoD's for a long time on PS3's did you rule that out before doing this?

I've done this with CECHC03 PS3s today, one of them had never been opened until today, and neither are working.

I've replaced each of the TOKINs with 4x 330uF 2.5v Tantalums. Added a bridge wire for positive rail for both groups.

Anyone have any ideas on what to check next? Given that neither work, I'm more than sure it's something I've not done correctly.

Cheers!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Naked_Snake1995]

The bottom left strips on the top side look a lil dark. Maybe redo those ones and clean up the strips. I suspect the capacitors are not making connection.

CPU/GPU Reflows fixed YLoD's for a long time on PS3's did you rule that out before doing this?

Reflowed only worked,because you heated the Capacitors,not the actual GPU, do it more often and you´ll ruin the GPU itself, this technique is only for diagnostics, same with reballing.

 

[Semaj]

The bottom left strips on the top side look a lil dark. Maybe redo those ones and clean up the strips. I suspect the capacitors are not making connection.

CPU/GPU Reflows fixed YLoD's for a long time on PS3's did you rule that out before doing this?

Not sure, I think it's the harsh lighting from the camera flash. Either way, I'll have a look tomorrow and check it. The soldering job is quick and dirty so may have missed something.

I have another PS3 that has been reflowed a little while back but given that this article is about how the problem isn't the chips but the capacitors I thought I'd try it.


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[Naked_Snake1995]

Not sure, I think it's the harsh lighting from the camera flash. Either way, I'll have a look tomorrow and check it. The soldering job is quick and dirty so may have missed something.

I have another PS3 that has been reflowed a little while back but given that this article is about how the problem isn't the chips but the capacitors I thought I'd try it.


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Unless you have a faulty GPU that shows artifacting or GLOD "Green Light Of Death", that the PS3 turns on but there is no display, reflowing isnt absolutely necessary, but also works for diagnosting fautly NECs, they do love heat.

 

[DoublesAdvocate]

Well at least to have a perspective on the NEC/TOKIN failure point, it would be great if someone used the internal WEBMAN timing to determine the total days from the point the console YLODed and after the repair, but usually the NECs die within 3 to 6 years range, depending on the conditions of the machine and if there is more heat than usually, it degrades the NECs faster.

For me, i use both combinations of Tantalums and NECs, so there its an increased reliability, but nothing wrong on using the original specification NEC/TOKIN OE128E from the factory, its just they aren't particularly reliable, and you may have to switch them at some point.

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I've bought about 3 PS3s now which all seem to have had a YLOD repair performed on them at some point and all of them usually had a little over ~4000 hours on them, If you check the data sheet it says that the performance of the chip seems to degrade at 5-10% every 1000 hours at 105C. Obviously neither the CELL or the RSX are reaching 105C and even then the 0E128's are a small distance away from them but it would make sense that once they've fallen out of spec by ~20% that they would begin to cause problems.

 

[Naked_Snake1995]

So tell me something, whats your achievement with showing this video? Pooring money into Reballing wont get you anywhere lad.

 

[DoublesAdvocate]

I looked a little deeper into what would be the longest lasting solution for capacitors and it seems as though tantalum capacitors are also prone to failure. Louis Rossmann makes great videos about electronic repair usually focusing on apple products (only because they're the most popular). In one of these he even mentions how a lot of apple repair places did the same thing people on youtube did to PS3s to repair the YLOD where they would heat up the GPU thinking it was failing (which would also heat up the capacitor, thereby restoring it) and when it started working again they would assume it was fixed.

I still see the point of using tantalum though, they're much easier to reattach without a hot air station and are easier(and cheaper) to buy online than the original NEC/TOKIN caps. The capacitor he uses to replace the tantalum is also much larger than the original meaning I doubt it would fit in the PS3.