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

[ElGris]

yes I know. what is this for? I wrote above exactly what the problem is with these capacitors

No, you didn't. I said YLOD isn't always related to NECs being in bad condition (not in short) or a rework needed on some chip/processor. Fixing a YLOD is not about making a rework on anything on the mobo, you need first to observe what kind of YLOD is (fast or slow) and if the mobo is in short, start using the multimeter to make some measurements. I said that many times a RSX can go in short, and this is well known too. Is a problematic signal, but most of the time you only need to replace either the RSX or the NECs, fully or partially.

 

[Epixjava]

@POLMAN YLOD is not only related to rework or NEC replament needed because they're "not enough" to make the console boot. Many times you only need one NEC in short (MLC capacitors as well) to get an instant YLOD. That's a short. Many times you can have a RSX in short, and you'll only realize of this by delidding it and test the capacitors on it. If the YLOD is delayed, then is definitely a NEC replacement, at least, on the RSX.

@Epixjava Which model you have? if it is a fat, make pressure over the CELL's clamp with your finger and turn on the console. Pretty sure you lost contact with the CELL's bga, that's why the GLOD.

Its a A01 phat... tried the penny trick to add some pressure to the RSX and the CELL. No luck with that method but I haven't tried pressing my finger to it. Don't have the tools to do a full RSX/cell replacement or reball even though I have spares

 

[Grey Ghost]

An update on my end - I know its been quite a few weeks since I started my endeavor. I've became quite busy due to working from home and its been difficult having to split what was normally my space to play video games, watch movies or just relax, has turned into a home office and console repair has taken a backseat.

One little bit of success is that I've identified that the "heat gun" trick, specifically heating all the NEC Tokin capacitors for the RSX and CELL have revived both my ebay PS3, and my own personal PS3. Both CECHE-01 models aka US 80GB units.

I was able to use kapton tape to secure foil around the NEC's in order to isolate as much heat from nearby components and also to minimize the amount of heat that both the CELL and RSX take up for this process.

Simply heating them worked brilliantly.

The ebay PS3 - turn on can use the XMB, watch movies, use the internet just fine. However loading up a game, such as COD MW3 or Uncharted 3, just turns off within 30 seconds of what seems like the CPU and GPU starting their 'workout'

My personal PS3 - turns on and can play any game perfectly fine.

However, and its a HUGE however. The Fans on both consoles are monumentally loud. From what I remember there are 5 or 6 speed settings for the cooling fan. I can literally hear it go through at least 2 speeds on start up. Messing with the menu bumps that speed up another notch. A move? Another notch. A game? Seems like the fan is at max rpm and it almost sounds like a turbocharger at peak boost. Fan speed does go down a few notches after sitting idle in the XMB for about 2-3 minutes.

I put my hand on the vents to feel the temperatures and to be honest, they are much cooler than my PS4 at idle.

What do you guys recommend I attack next?

1. Would replacing the NEC/Tokins with the replacement Panasonic Tantalum 2.5v 470uF capacitors help with fan speed? Is the NEC caps performance due to age/use/external heating have anything to do with the fan operation?
2. Should I delid the CELL and RSX, lap the heatspreaders and using some good thermal paste and see if this is whats affecting the fan speed?
3. Perhaps, the temp probe has worn out and require replacement?

I did see NFC's video on replacing the old NEC/Tokin cap with a new one. I know its a bit useless to do this and simply go with tantalum, but we've gotten many good years out of these before YLOD (at least 4 years, some much longer than that) and this would also help to make these units look as OEM as possible. Especially if some of us are going to be selling these consoles in the future. Would this be in any way worth it?

 

[demetris]

Delid both heat the tokins so you make sure you didn't damage the cpu or gpu die and then replace with tantalums.

Στάλθηκε από το POCOPHONE F1 μου χρησιμοποιώντας Tapatalk

 

[Beanerman]

I see a lot of doubts in this thread, so ill give a bit of a motivational speech, if we can do it, you can do it as well, don't be afraid to try

Ill share a little secret on how i started my NEC/TOKIN repair back in May 2019, this is how we motivate ourselves in Eastern Europe, perhaps it will work for anyone in need as well [emoji23]

Stay safe and Happy repair lads [emoji106]

Sent from my G8141 using Tapatalk

Well, if it wouldn't cost me so much to ship overseas, I'd send you my cech A01. I replaced both nec with 470uf tants on rsx side, console ran for about 30 minutes then delayed ylod again. Also wouldn't read discs either while it was running. Now I have uncharted stuck inside. Was just going to give console away. Has 4.70 fw.

Thanks for tutorial snake

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[SeanRanklin]

My capacitors from local source have arrived, however I had no idea these things were so small!

Gonna need a lot of luck with this as with no experience and such a small item a lot can go wrong, but I can't stop until I either fix my YLOD on Tekken Tag2 and Gt6 or break it.

The time has come. I'm going to do one NEC on the Rsx Side and hope for the best

 

[marciolsf]

View attachment 25562 My capacitors from local source have arrived, however I had no idea these things were so small!

Gonna need a lot of luck with this as with no experience and such a small item a lot can go wrong, but I can't stop until I either fix my YLOD on Tekken Tag2 and Gt6 or break it.

The time has come. I'm going to do one NEC on the Rsx Side and hope for the best

Good luck with this! If you've never had much experience with soldering before, make sure to practice on a scrap board before hand until you're comfortable with operating an iron. I'm not a pro, but I'm fairly well versed with soldering and I had a hard time getting such small components installed, all the more so with installing them at an angle.

I know Ben Heck, Voultar and EEVBlog have some quality guides on surface mount soldering (and soldering in general), so I'd definitely go over those first. And don't forget flux! That's by far the biggest improvement to my tool set.

 

[SeanRanklin]

Good luck with this! If you've never had much experience with soldering before, make sure to practice on a scrap board before hand until you're comfortable with operating an iron. I'm not a pro, but I'm fairly well versed with soldering and I had a hard time getting such small components installed, all the more so with installing them at an angle.

I know Ben Heck, Voultar and EEVBlog have some quality guides on surface mount soldering (and soldering in general), so I'd definitely go over those first. And don't forget flux! That's by far the biggest improvement to my tool set.

Thanks, I've disassembled everything and might leave the soldering for tomorrow as it's getting late here.

I just noticed something strange here with this board. It seems there are a few spaces with strange haze over them, kinda like something was spilled here but it feels kind of like glue? Weird thing is it's in different sides on the board so not sure if it really is liquid damage or just some kind of glue.

Can anyone help? Pics in next post

 

[SeanRanklin]

 

[SeanRanklin]

Update: I just delidded my first RSX ever whooo!!!

It was actually remarkably easy. A little heat with a regular hair dryer for 20 seconds and a blade under the top right chip and it pretty much cut right through!

Not sure if that was a good or bad thing but it helped in getting it off!. As predicted, the paste was rock hard. I REALLY want to do the CELL as well, but i've seen to many people screw up the chip by getting it off incorrectly, so might have to leave that one. I hear the cell can take heavy temperatures by nature anyway.

 

[SeanRanklin]

ANOTHER UPDATE! (LOL)

I couldn't help myself that i came this far, i had to keep going. Managed to get the capacitor off with a flat head screwdriver, some heat and a hell of a lot of patience. Came off well, however, i cant seem to get the remainder of the old capatitor off the positive side. The negative sides do have some shadow there as well, but they are not raised as the positive sides are.

I only have a hair dryer, soldering iron and solder, but i plan to buy some flux tomorow and that thing you use to clean solder (cant rememebr what its called, but its like a metal you use the iron to rub up and down which cleans)

What would be the best way for me to remove the remainder of the old capacitor on the positive terminals? Can i do it without flux? Photo below.

 

[Grey Ghost]

Delid both heat the tokins so you make sure you didn't damage the cpu or gpu die and then replace with tantalums.

Στάλθηκε από το POCOPHONE F1 μου χρησιμοποιώντας Tapatalk

So just do it all at once. I like your style

 

[wrx884]

Thanks, I've disassembled everything and might leave the soldering for tomorrow as it's getting late here.

I just noticed something strange here with this board. It seems there are a few spaces with strange haze over them, kinda like something was spilled here but it feels kind of like glue? Weird thing is it's in different sides on the board so not sure if it really is liquid damage or just some kind of glue.

Can anyone help? Pics in next post

Its just flux residue left over from factory nothing to worry about totally normal.

with the positive pads there are metal tabs from the under side of the tokins that have broken away. best to wait till u have flux as it will help greatly to melt the old solder and allow u to remove them. U can how ever add a blob of solder to help remove them with tweezers but u will still need to clean up the old solder later anyways.

The stuff u need for cleaning up solder is solder wick or solder braid, using this with flux will clean ur board pretty spotless. just make sure u got some IPA to clean up the flux after and ur pretty set man.

 

[SeanRanklin]

Its just flux residue left over from factory nothing to worry about totally normal.

with the positive pads there are metal tabs from the under side of the tokins that have broken away. best to wait till u have flux as it will help greatly to melt the old solder and allow u to remove them. U can how ever add a blob of solder to help remove them with tweezers but u will still need to clean up the old solder later anyways.

The stuff u need for cleaning up solder is solder wick or solder braid, using this with flux will clean ur board pretty spotless. just make sure u got some IPA to clean up the flux after and ur pretty set man.

Hey, thanks for the reply! Good to know the staining isnt anything serious. I was getting a little worried.

Ah yes, solder braid thats what i was talking about. I think adding solder to remove the old tokin solder sounds less appealing than just buying flux. So how does it work exactly, just apply the flux and heat the area for a while then do i need to use any harsh tools to remove or?

I will have to wait until tomorow though as ive done more than enough today and way past my 'bed time' here lol. Once i get the old terminals off, the hardest part is getting the new caps soldered on. it SEEMS straight forward, but as a newbie, something is bound to go wrong (hope not)

 

[wrx884]

Hey, thanks for the reply! Good to know the staining isnt anything serious. I was getting a little worried.

Ah yes, solder braid thats what i was talking about. I think adding solder to remove the old tokin solder sounds less appealing than just buying flux. So how does it work exactly, just apply the flux and heat the area for a while then do i need to use any harsh tools to remove or?

I will have to wait until tomorow though as ive done more than enough today and way past my 'bed time' here lol. Once i get the old terminals off, the hardest part is getting the new caps soldered on. it SEEMS straight forward, but as a newbie, something is bound to go wrong (hope not)

flux will be ur best friend after u use it trust me and u wont look back if u ever do more solder work.

U just apply the flux on the solder on board or place where ur about to solder. U dont do anything special just solder away like u would as if it wasn't there. It will let off some fumes when u solder it, dont worry its normal but it can pay to make sure u have a well ventilated area or even a mask if u use it a lot.

U will see the big difference where the solder will melt much better and/or attach ur components much better and cleaner. If u think ur solder job isnt too well, put more flux and go again no need to add more solder. then clean up any flux residue left on the board with IPA

 

[SeanRanklin]

flux will be ur best friend after u use it trust me and u wont look back if u ever do more solder work.

U just apply the flux on the solder on board or place where ur about to solder. U dont do anything special just solder away like u would as if it wasn't there. It will let off some fumes when u solder it, dont worry its normal but it can pay to make sure u have a well ventilated area or even a mask if u use it a lot.

U will see the big difference where the solder will melt much better and/or attach ur components much better and cleaner. If u think ur solder job isnt too well, put more flux and go again no need to add more solder. then clean up any flux residue left on the board with IPA

Okay so, add flux, then run the iron over it a few times until the old metal solder comes off?

 

[POLMAN]

Okay so, add flux, then run the iron over it a few times until the old metal solder comes off?

use rose's alloy, this will facilitate soldering, it melts at a temperature of 94 degrees Celsius. but you can't solder new capacitors on it, keep in mind. you need to remove this solder with a copper braid and solder it to an ordinary tin-lead 60/40

 

[wrx884]

Okay so, add flux, then run the iron over it a few times until the old metal solder comes off?

pretty much, the braid will act like a sponge, just dont be shy with the flux on the braid, u will see the solder go into liquid state and soak into the braid. U will need to remove that metal part up and away with ur iron b4 using the wick tho, just use tweezers to grab it so u dont knock it onto other components. The positive side doesn't take as much heat like the negative does so u will be able to get this off with ease as is. If u need to add some solder, do it, ur solder wick will clean it off later anyways.

 

[ElGris]

@SeanRanklin Watch some videos about how to solder properly. That NEC removing was nice, but you need to solder the tantalums good.

Its a A01 phat... tried the penny trick to add some pressure to the RSX and the CELL. No luck with that method but I haven't tried pressing my finger to it. Don't have the tools to do a full RSX/cell replacement or reball even though I have spares

You can't make pressure with your weight directly to the CELL's clamp on that one because the CELL is under the PSU. But you could try connecting the PSU out of place, then you would be able to make pressure there.

When you're ready turn on the console without the HDD. You should get image in about 20 seconds more or less, connect the console via HDMI and A/V at the same time to test both outputs. And this if the console doesn't overheat or has YLOD, 'cause that would be another story..

 

[squeept]

Got a whole bunch of notifications and apparently stuff wasn't getting to my e-mail, so if anyone still wanted anything I'll stay logged in for a few days to make sure I see it this time.

I must repeat: I do not repair consoles FOR people. I'll pay you cash money for whatever broken, butchered junk you have laying around, but I absolutely DO NOT engage in repair contracts with individuals. I only offered warranty-less, as-is, at-cost repair for delidding scratches because nobody else does it so I'd be saving them from the trash. Anything else you can go get scammed by your local repair shop like everybody else.