Sony slams PS3 'Yellow light of death' report

13. raniator I personally think you are incorrect on your point. Having watched the Watchdog item again they do refer to the issue in the original PS3 60gb models. As someone that paid GBP 549.99 for my machine 18 months ago the GBP 400.00 that they refer is actually reasonable.

Having got the issue of the yellow warning light this week I have spent many hours trolling the internet and am horrified to find so many cases of similar issues relating to the original 60gb models.

I have called Sony about the 'yellow light of death' on my machine and was told that no such issue exists and that it was pure media hype which had been carried over from an issue with a competitor. The customer services chap quickly identified my machine as failing due to suspected overheating on the motherboard. A very quick diagnosis given the fact that in the letter to the BBC from Ray Maguire it was mentioned that the yellow light is a non specific fault indicator. Should I question the ability of Sony NO I should not as they clearly are more trained than I and were able to diagnose the problem.

My machine was positioned and well ventilated and prior to the error was actually switched off. The use of my machine is possibly below normal usage for its age. I have not overheated the motherboard.. that was done by the system and I can only put that down to a failure in component or design.

I refuse to pay to exchange my unit for a refurbed one at a cost of £128 when it only comes with a 3 month warranty. This does not fill me personally with any confidence. As per raniator clearly you can now get a new model version with 12 months warranty for only £91.99 more (based on play.com 120gb version @ £219.99 15/11/09)

I am astonished by the number of reported failings of launch models on a day by day basis. We should commend the likes of Watchdog as they do a fantastic job for us the public. Without there assistance lots of products that have failed because of manufacture issues would have been at our cost and we would never know the truth. XB360 issues were originally played down by MS but later meant that warranty periods were extended.

On just one site on youtube that I found because I wanted to check if my overheating issue was correct had over 200,000 visits. I really cannot see why anyone would go looking for sites like this if not affected. The Sony response related to UK failings only.. what about the Worldwide picture?

Luckily we here in the UK have the Sales of Goods Act 1979 which states that a product should last 6 years irrespective of the length of manufacturers warranty. In my case 18 months for a GBP 549.99 games console is not of a satisfactory quality or durability.

Thank you again to Watchdog and forums like this.

12. PLEASE READ AND REPLY WITH OPTICAL PROBLEMS AS SONY DONT SEEM TO BELIEVE THERE CUSTOMERS

i have just recieved my ps3 back as the optical out either stops working or keeps going off this is my third console sony have said there is nothing wrong with it its still broke they say its probaly a compatability issue as my surround sound is a panasonic but it worked from the 1 sept to the 19 oct then went game swapped the console the same day then it went on the 22nd oct game swapped it again straight away it did the same its not a compatibility as i use a dd dts coding and it has the same problem on my mates sony surround sound so they are making sony gaming units that dont work with sony surround sound units its clearly the ps3 which is broke to be honest with you i think they did try it and it did work but they where hearing sound from the tv via the hdmi cable they did not turn the tv down atleast microshaft fix your console and have a free phone number yes i have spent 17 pounds for about an hour and a half to there helpline

11. There's a very detailed fix that the guys over at ps3-hacks came up with so that you can fix this yourself--it's a bit tedious but beats the hell out of paying the 200-some-odd bucks or something that Sony's allegedly charging if you're out of warranty: http://wheretobuyps3.com/index.php/2009/10/ps3-yellow-light-of-death-fix/

10. A few other points.

Not all faulting ps3's and 360's can be repaired. Sometimes the heat build up can cause damage to surounding chips and components. Once that happens, there is no turning back the clock.

It's funny to read sony's reply to all this as contradictory to there response, they have informed several users that there IS a known issue with certain builds of ps3. In particular 20gb and 60gb models that were produced before a certain date. They run an extended warrantee on these ones... if you bought it when they were released. If you bought one of them that had been on the shelf for a good few months then you they wont fix it for you.

At least microsoft offer an extended 3 year warrantee on specific faults. Time for sony to do the same.

9. Hi all. Just thought I'd add my two bob's worth on this as I DO know about all this.

I run a local repair service on the ps3 and xbox 360 in ayrshire, scotland. I started as a customer of both microsoft and sony who had to adress the rrod issue with my 360 and the yellow light of death on my ps3. Once word got round localy that I can fix these, it all grew from there.

First off, there ARE majour faults with both consoles and I find it an insult that sony try to deny there is and blame users for there consoles failing.

The fault lies in defects and poor design in the cooling system. Simple as. They all overheat and this causes the solder joints on specific chips to constantly soften up and eventualy, cold solder. Primeraly the gfx chip and unfortunatly, variouse chips close to the gfx chip.

I don't beleive in the "heat up" technique as it will never work as a perminant fix. Once the solder joints have been softened up to the point that the conection breaks and they cold solder, heating it up will never perminantly fix it because the solder holding the chips has been ruined.

There is only one way to perminantly fix these faulty consoles. Use a heat gun to remove existing solder the use a solder gun to solder the chips back on with fresh solder.

It can be done easily if your good enough with these tools.

This method guarentees no returns. I've repaired probably thousands of 360's and ps3 over the past year and they never come back to me. :)

As for sony claiming there are only a small number faulty, why then have I had to repair over 200 ps3 consoles in the past month alone?

Time for people to get there head out the sand methinks...

8. playstation needs to fix this error on all its machines and future ps3 consoles otherwise it will just happen again