First Gen PS3 finally bit it. My baby DIED!!!

Okay. I'm a bit distraught.

My ps3 was purchased on launch day and she's been a trooper for the most part ever since. One time she died for a brief interlude but I unplugged her and put her in time out for about a month. When I plugged her back in she came back to life.

This time there's no amount of tears or time outs that I can seem to foist upon her. I need help.

My PS3 is my favorite. It's backwards compatible with PS1 & 2 games and I would hate to lose all of those old saves. I know it's an absolutely ridiculous option to hand her back to sony for repairs, so does anyone have any suggestions on how to find a reputable PS3 mechanic in my area? I don't even know where to start. I admit, I had begun to take her lifespan for granted, even though she was coughing and whirring like an asthmatic 85 year old with a penchant for parliaments.

The problem is, when I hit the power button, she whirrs to life for a brief moment, and then gives up and shuts down. No yellow/red/puce lights of any color. Just a cough and a wheeze.

But I digress. Any bright ideas out there? I have a box full of games that have been waiting patiently for me to graduate college to complete, plus new ones that friends treated me to for the holidays. My inner gamer is panicking!

That's quite the lifespan your system has had. I guess this means you're the type to take care of your electronics. (I hope)

Whatever you do, DO NOT give it to SONY for repairs. They do like any other major manufacturer, take units, repair them, but then give you a 'refurbished' unit---meaning---you're getting someone else's junker, that was repaired.

Do yourself the favor of looking into repairing it yourself (probably just needs a good cleaning out and a re-thermal pasting) or yes, definitely look into local repair shops. I know you probably have some in your area, because gaming system buying/selling/repairing is big business now. Um, I shouldn't have to mention this but just in case, stay the flip away from GameStop.

Start on YouTube dude. Seriously. There's already tons of how-to videos and you possibly could save yourself a lot of money.

Start with this video first, for some simple preliminary diagnosis.

@DuaIFace: I'm absolutely not entrusting my baby to sony, no worries there haha!

And yes, obviously I've used kid gloves for most of her lifespan. I mean, jeebus. I gendered my damn game system...
Not having my PS3 has been tough, even if I don't have the same amount of free time as I used to to play with her. XD

I have done some research on hoping I can take care of the problem myself but for the most part all I've discovered is that I need a "reball and reflow", thanks to youtube and the heavy hand of my gamer boyfriend (whereas I cringe any time my PS3 makes a creaking sound).

Thanks for the link, I will look more into it. And don't worry. Haaaah. I wouldn't give my baby to Gamestop either.

I have done the reflow and upgraded thermal paste to a couple of my old systems before and yes, it does wonders, but it was with some trial and error. A lot of these local repair shops (some anyways) have these press-machines that do it all in one go. High pressure air-clean, reflow, and a re-thermal pasting to the GPU/CPU if you ask for it.

Of course you could pay a premium for it. But you know what to do first, clean out the system yourself, the best you know how, and refer to the YouTube videos, before you start spending any real money. Good luck.

@Teekal:

Lease your ps3 last long than my and I got my slim PS3 in 2009 and it been having issue this past summer and finally died in a week before Halloween so I get a new PS3 got a super slim PS3 and 500 GB with The last of US game.

Wow it lasted this long. Rip.

I got mine on launch day, 60gb and its still working perfectly! having moved it once from its spot and I always keep it cleaned. It is extremely slow though, like EXTREMELY but runs perfect

Could be possible that the power supply gave out if you aren't getting any lights.
But I'm really surprised that it lasted this long. Truth is, the fat b/c models are ticking time bombs, more so than the fat ones without b/c. Mainly because of the heat they produce and sony not providing good enough airflow to the console and a better way to get the heat out of the console. I know a bit more than the usual person here. I went through 5 fat ps3's over the span of nov 2007, up until oct last year, when I purchased a 120GB slim. Which has served me well up until now.

Here a few things that could have happened. Your cpu and gpu could have overheated. The ps3 will not come on until those are reset, this is basically a sign that you'll have to replace your ps3 fairly quick because it will keep happening over and over. You can reset them with the heatgun method found on youtube. So you can look up ps3 YLOD heatgun fix. If you do get it to work, get everything that is important to you off of it. After doing that, the ps3 can last anywhere from 20 mins, to months, but the problem will come back as I mentioned.

Sony really hit themselves in the head with the fat model of the ps3. Basically the power supply sits right on top of the cpu heat sink. Which isn't good at all.
But it's possible your power supply could have died as well since you are getting no lights. That would be my second guess.

Sorry to hear your loss. The PlayStation 3 60Giggers are the best version. So having a PS3 launch console last until now before dying is amazing. 2006-2014 for a Phat PS3 launch console is a great lifespan. So if you enjoy that edition then send you console to Sony for repairs. Even though it will cost you is worth it. even though you do not get your original console back. You at least get a repaired 60Gigger back.

So unless you don't really care other than getting a working PS3 phat 60GB back. Send to Sony. But if you wish to keep your exact console then search for a repair shop near you. Pay the premium cost if needed. It is worth it. Unless you are really tech savvy don't try the repairs yourself.

Good luck on restoring your 60gigger back to life. I have a PS3 60gigger and a PS3 20Gigger both are last editions of those models before Sony stopped making those editions. Both still work.

So your launch unit lasted this long is quite impressive. Hope that your are able to get your PS3 60gigger working again.