An easy or not PS3 repair, who knows  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / repair

author: vaualbus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 14, 2020, 10:31:58 pm
content: Ok so this can be an easy forum thread with easy solution but I want to go deeper in the repair of a PS3.Ok so the story go like this: I have a PS3 at home that I was using, after I hacked it, as a "devkit" to play around with how is amazing the SPU are.Any way this PS3 have overheat problems relating to the thermal paste between the CPU and the heat spreader (that evidently has become dry) that of course is stick to the CPU die, using thermal adhesive (aka almost impossible to remove, with my tools at least, without destroy the CPU.)So looking around Facebook used stuff I come up with a broken PS3 in a very good esthetic condition for like 20 euros and I bought it.It was advertised as not working and the main cause was advertised as a drop.The failure was described as: it was turn it on and than switched it off after some time.(To be honest I did not ask for more information because I thought that the HDD was bad and that was it.)Anyway as soon as I bought the console I connect it and of course bloody yellow light of dead was happening.So I open it and immediately the evidence of the drop was visible as the BluRay flat cable was disconnected from the main board.Any way I disassembly it and find that it was never opened before and also there was almost no dust, so I guess it was not used as much. it is a "older" 40 gb model from the CHEHG series.So after I disassembled it I analyze the board and no evidence damage is present.Now given the fact that this model is a CHECHG model we have the schematics, service manual cod: SM-PS3-0093E-02, of the console. So I start studied them and begin to some preliminary checks. Ok so main 12V,5V are present from the PSU and I come my attention to the signals that the main board power control chip have for the board.The chip is the, off course, custom Sony chip, IC4002 (pag 22 of the sm) and it receive a couple of signals from bot the CPU/GPU. I start looking at the CPU, from now I will call it BE, and GPU, RSX from now.on the BE side it have an SPI line, a signal to the BE that tell the power is good, a reset signal and signal from the BE that is the interrupt signal. It almost have the same interface for the RSX.So I begin to look at them, soldering small cables because this component is on "hidden" side of the board.So this is what I found, for now, both BE_POWGOOD and RSX_INT are ok, mean that one is asserted high and the other is always asserted low. All powers good signal from the BE/RSX switching suppliers are ok.The problem that I'm facing is that instead the interrupt signal from the CPU, BE_INT is always asserted high and so the boot sequence stop and yellow light happen.So basically what happen is the CPU is telling the system that it have some kind of error, indeed looking the schematics, the pin connected to the line BE_INT is called ATTENTION.So now I pretty sure that I have to reflow the CPU because probably some of the balls got cracked due to the drop but do you guys have some other checks I can do?I have to buy some flux for doing that but all shop in city are closed for vacation at the momentSo is any one have some suggestion on stuff I can verify while I'm waiting for them to reopen later next week?NB: I'm an electronic engineering so please avoid stupid messagesJoking apart I have already checked capacitors and proper voltages as I described above.Thanks,Alberto

author: vaualbus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2020, 07:24:38 pm
content: Yep I ended up reflowing the CPU/GPU/RAM and now it works. No body will know what was bad