My 60gb launch PS3 got the red light of death. Will Sony offer me a refurb?

So, my launch PS3 finally died :(

My friends are telling me they were offered a refurbished slim for $99. (It might be $150 now?)

What's the general protocol on this situation when I call in? I think I've read online there's an option for $150 to fix it and restore all your files and whatnot, but to be honest I don't care about any of my saved files or anything so a refurbished one would be just fine with me.

Thanks for any input for other users who have gone through this process.

:(

buy a new ps3 slim ,thats the best way to do,maybe the refurb one got ylod before and will get ylod after 6 months of playing.

Went with the 120gb slim refurbished for $99.... not bad

I will be PISSED if this gets the RLOD of YLOD though. It comes with only a 90 day warranty sooo let's hope it doesn't break on day 91 (knock on wood)

$99 isnt bad though considering I made it 5 years with my original launch PS3 and I know people who have been through multiple Xbox 360s haha

Went with the 120gb slim refurbished for $99.... not bad

I will be PISSED if this gets the RLOD of YLOD though. It comes with only a 90 day warranty sooo let's hope it doesn't break on day 91 (knock on wood)

$99 isnt bad though considering I made it 5 years with my original launch PS3 and I know people who have been through multiple Xbox 360s haha

andyACEcandy

my advice to u is to get colling fan for it

Yes you still have the option of getting another PS3 60giger refurbished unit. Or you can "upgrade" to a PS3 Slimline 250Giger. Both options are available to you.

Hey guys.

I just fixed my problem with my 3 yr old PS3 today and I'll fill you in on the problem and the solution.

The problem was that the system would turn off after a few seconds after start up. The screen would begin to slow down as I scrolled through the XMB (main menu). When the system froze, it would flash a yellow light for like a half a second then it would flash red (mind you the yellow light only came on once every 3 or 4 times the system shut off when I turned it on, the other times it just flashed red when it turned off).

This let me know that it was an overheating problem. So the first thing I did was:

1.) Disassemble the PS3 in its entirety. Then clean out the system as much as you can. This might solve the issue for some, but as you might've guessed, it didn't for me, but it may for some of you.

2.) Replace the thermal paste on the mother board over the CPU and GPU. This was the main issue of my overheating and while some may suggest to get a specific kind of paste, any good quality thermal paste will do. Just make sure you cover them up completely and make sure the heat sync is directly over the CPU and GPU by tying down the 4 big heat sync screws when you put it back together.

3.) If the first 2 haven't solved your problem, then the only other option left is to use a heat gun to temporarily melt the sodder on the mother board. Chances are that the specific issue with your system may be due to a cracked sodder in a sensitive part of the mother board. Using a heat gun (NOT A HAIR DRYER) set it to anywhere from 500 to 750 degrees (don't make it higher than that). Use the heat gun all over the mother board, particularly where you see the sodder and all around the CPU and GPU. Make sure you do both sides for about 3-4 minutes. I got my heat gun from Home Depot for 23 bucks, so it's not as expensive if you know where to look.

Here is a video tutorial on applying the paste and using the heat gun from a pretty good expert. He certainly helped me out and almost 2 million others who watched his video.

Hope this helps. I just don't want you guys to shell out money for something that you can fix yourself.

Note: My PS3 was originally a 40G, but I upgraded to 320G back in April.