PS3 overheating

[MikeF]

I tried this last night and my fans didn't really ramp up at all. My fans must be super quiet

[saif]

FullSpec, that is very impressive actually. I had a PSP picked up by Sony (for free) while I lived in Japan and even though they said the problem was outside warranty, theey sent it back (unfixed) free too. I guess they can spend more time on each problem when there are fewer of them.

[Brad]

Yeah, I don't think MS could offer that kind of service due to the number of broken units they have to deal with. Bottom line though is I went from feeling absolutely gutted to thinking "well done Sony!" in under 5 minutes when they told me they'd send a replacement in 2 days. Also, a guy at work replaced his 60 gig drive with a 250 gig one. Problem was that the screws holding the original drive into this kind of slide in rack thing were threaded so he couldn't get the 60 gig drive out of it. he phoned Sony and they just posted him a new mount the next day FOC.

Weird how different companies offer different levels of service. I'm sure the experience is different in each region too. For instance, Nintendo UK have the worst customer service of anyone I have ever dealt with in my life but I gather that the US division is good?

[JP]

John, what do you mean by "turn it over to the top end"? Do you mean upside down? Horizontal or vertical?

My PS3 always gets noisy now after about 10 minutes (it never used to).. but as it's noisy due to being hot and therefore running at the highest fan speed already I don't quite understand how just turning it over can reset it to the slow speed...

I turn it so that it's verticle but standing on it's head.

When I do that it's like it goes up another couple of gears and it feels almost like the wind from a fan. Because this isn't a standard operating speed but the speed that the fan gets to when doing the fan test in the newer models I only leave it like that for 10 seconds as happens in the standard test.

This does tend to clear away any excess dust inside the machine as even though I do hoover it fairly regularly it's not unusual for there to be dust visible on the inside of the vents.

Once the blockage has been cleared then the fans don't need to work as hard to cool the machine down so remain on 1st gear for me.

I'm not an expert with thsi stuff so I can't really recommend that other people do what I do but it keeps it nice and quiet for me. I believe that the older models of the PS3 had one of two varieties of fan depending on which factory the fans were made in and that can affect the fan noise.

My mate had a problem with his PS3 too within a week of getting it but it was his own fault really. He turned the PS3 from one orientation to the other while a disc was inside it. After a bit of messing around he managed to squeeze the disc out but then his PS3 wasn't reading other discs without skipping.

He phoned Sony that morning and they sent a courier the following evening who picked hsi up and left a replacement. I'm guessing that he lied like hell to them as I can't imagine that user stupidity is covered by the warranty.

That was obviously his fault but consumer electronics will fail from time to time I suppose.

[huxley]

It's beyond me how they get the reputation of being the "safe console that doesn't break." I've never had a 360 die on me yet, but my first (euro) 60gb overheated in a well ventilated area and just stopped displaying a picture and making sound. Nothing would fix it.

No worries now though. Sold both my PS3 consoles... and I have a PS2 slim again. Much less hassle. Alot nicer to look at too. Sorry Sony.

PS3 gets a huge PHAIL from me.

The PS3 has that reputation because the failure rate is so low when you compare it to the other consoles out there. Congrats on keeping your launch 360 alive for so long, maybe share some tips for for long life with the rest of us who have been less lucky.

[Darwock]

I turn it so that it's verticle but standing on it's head.

When I do that it's like it goes up another couple of gears and it feels almost like the wind from a fan. Because this isn't a standard operating speed but the speed that the fan gets to when doing the fan test in the newer models I only leave it like that for 10 seconds as happens in the standard test.

I see what you mean now.. I just tried it myself and nearly shat my pants - I had no idea it was capable of running the fan so fast!

[squishyfishy]

The PS3 has that reputation because the failure rate is so low when you compare it to the other consoles out there. Congrats on keeping your launch 360 alive for so long, maybe share some tips for for long life with the rest of us who have been less lucky.

Stand the console vertically. Keep it in a well ventilated area. Don't play it ten hours a day :P hehe.

Sorry to have ragged on the PS3. But I wasn't happy with it. There were 3 games I wanted the system for, and I didn't think that justified owning one.

The My 360, wii, ps2, psp and ds and pc are more than enough... dear god. I'm so sad.

[JP]

I see what you mean now.. I just tried it myself and nearly shat my pants - I had no idea it was capable of running the fan so fast!

Lol it's a hell of a speed isn't it and it really throws the air around.

Luckily, I filmed mine the first time to give people an idea what to expect.









...true story

[Kit]

I had a look for a pic for you and found a video of somebody disassembling one. Really not sure why people would video themselves doing that but luckily it does show just how tight things are inside.

Thanks for the vid. I’ve just watched a few more and the amount of dust that can accumulate is pretty worrying Think I’m going to take mine apart tomorrow and give it a good clean - best thing to do considering my options.

5.20 - dust fest.




* In the third video *

http://kotaku.com/gaming/ps3/how-to-...ps3-214566.php

Look where the fans located.

[Kit]

Update:

Eventually got round to taking it apart a few days ago.



I turned the brightness up so you could see how much dust had settled in the case.







I think the problem may have been caused by poorly applied thermal paste. I popped some arctic silver on there and so far I haven?t encountered any problems.