PS3 Yellow Light of Death (YLoD): BBC’s Watchdog

Sony has been deleting and locking any threads related to PS3s breaking. Owners posting there Model and serial number on the Official Forums. At one point I saw the list in the thousands before it was deleted. They have been covering this up for years. I have lost 2. Sony then gets your $500.00 ps3 and then another $150.00 on top of that.

It great when someone sticks there neck out and Holds the big guys accountable..

There’s been some criticism of this report elsewhere on the net as some people have missed what the report was focussing on. Watchdog were reporting the high prices Sony are charging to fix the consoles and the limited warranty given on the repairs. The majority of consoles experiencing the YLOD were the original 60GB models, which cost over £400 on release. Sony are charging £128 to repair these consoles, offering a measly 3 months warranty on the repairs, yet all consoles appeared to be suffering from the same problem and could be repaired in under an hour with the right skills and equipment.

Sony have insisted they do not make money on repairs and in fact lose money, which I find very hard to believe. Sony have a history of charging extortionate amounts to repair consoles, often regardless of how old they are. I bought a launch PSP from Japan which failed shortly after purchase but Sony, unlike Apple, do not offer a worldwide guarantee policy. I contacted Sony only to be told my warranty covered me in the country of purchase and not in the UK and that will “teach me to buy hardware abroad”. I was quoted £150 to repair the PSP, which was £50 less than the cost of new machine. Luckily I found a company online that repaired the PSP for £30, including all postage costs.

The report, and my experience of Sony’s repair procedure is they charge high prices to fix an item, regardless of fault on items that are not covered by their warranty, no matter how new the item is.

I didn’t think that paying half the cost of a new console was all that bad to replace a dead launch unit. Show me a better deal. Hec, if it’s out of warranty, pretty much everything else you buy is screwed. How much to repair an Xbox out of warranty? Or a washing machine?

I’ve had a PS3 die on me (well, not on me, whaaaa!), and though I was bummed, I have to admit that it’s been hammered hard since launch. I’ve just phoned them, and a replacement is arriving Tuesday. Cost me £128, no big deal really. Certainly better than using one of those cow boy companies on the Watchdog programme that charge about £100, and didn’t actually fix some of the units.

Yeah, that Watchdog programme was utter twaddle, written by Ian Lee, a freelance Microsoft journalist and self confessed Sony hater.

Oh, and it was a flashing red light error on mine, not the yellow light. Overheating I think, probably dust inside, plus that ffffast huge HDD I stuck in it causing all my issues. Oh well, roll on Tuesday.

Yeah, this article has been torn apart all over the internet. A very shady character did the story, and most of their conclusions and supposition are based on facts they can’t even figure out themselves (gases stuck inside the PS3…what gases?, 11 PS3′s ‘fixed’, 4 of which later turned out be non-functional anyway) There’s zero credibility to this report…

The Watchdog Report on PS3 is a total joke.. It would not surprise me if Microsoft wrote them all a check.. It is pure generated BS to attack the success PS3 is having at the moment.. hence the idea that microsoft wrote them a check.

Looks like Sony has about a 0.05 or half a percent failure rate and they are trying to create some kind of news that it is widespread.. well if you have millions of units.. it won’t be hard to find the 155 (what they found) that have a bad unit. Replace Sony PS3 with any electronics device that has sold millions.

I have a PS3, quite a few of my friends and relatives have them.. none of ours have ever gone bad in years and none of us know anyone that has had one go bad.. they are rock solid.

A much more interesting story would be the RROD that XBox has and why Microsoft just spends billions fixing the units instead of fixing the problem.

Well every person i know who bought a launch 60GB has had theirs die in the past two months. My guess is that you have a 40GB or an 80GB.

Secondly, are you actually being serious about the RROD that it very old news, and not really a problem anymore.

Myself, i just bought a slimline ps3 when mine broke like two weeks ago and i’m gonna attempt to fix the old 1 myself nextweek. Don’t be an ignorant fanboy especially when you don’t have any relavent info to back yourself up.

my ps3 got ylod a yesterday. ive ordered a slim which is coming monday. im going to fix my ps3. the reason i ordered a slim is because the fixed ones tend to break again after a couple of months. theres clear instructions on youtube on how to fix the problem. you need star keys, a heat gun and thermal compound. i have all except therm comp which is a tenner from maplin. i plan to fix it and trade it in at computer exchange. will prob get between 100 and 150 quid. sod it. i get a slim and new warranty and make money on something that will prob break in 2 months. someone’s gonna be unlucky when they buy it but hey, dog eat dog and all that

i bought mines about 2 months ago left it on for 3 hours by accident now its got a 3 beep tone and a yellow light,

bought i cheap as the “slim” model is out now, gutted will phone sony 1st thing tomorrow and demand a replacment,

Guys this is no joke, there are over 200 people who have suffered this Yellow Light of Death, even sony has registed the domain name yellowlightofdeath although links to there home page!! I have had this dreaded thing happen to me and fixed it thanks to the fix from Gilksy and a heatgun on Youtube!!!! Sony should fix this for under $50 or for free not 250 AUS dollar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Having seen the show by chance, it reminded me of fixing my YLOD problem just 6 weeks before. Yes the YLOD. It can be done by using a heat gun and some silver compound – costing you around £25 – but confidence is priceles.

Both Playstation & any PS3 ylod repairers will only ever guarantee a repaired/refurbished console for 3 months, as it is likely to happen again – the rpair ios by no means a permanent one.

Someone comments earlier that all 60gb models have started to fail around now, and yes I got mine on release date. Maybe that is true & Sony should take a look at themselves and ask are they really satisfying their customers. That in many cases have been loyal to the brand throughout the years, and continue to be, by even by replacement consoles.

Sony!!! get your act together. Brilliant technologies, but listen to your consumer.

I heard about the Watchdog programme a couple of weeks ago, and was surprised that they were targetting the PS3 rahter than the notorious Xbox.

But last night my 60 Gb PS3 that I’ve hsd for 2 and a half years, and thought was bulletproof, died with classic YLOD symptoms! Went onto the official PS3 forum and found two other people who had had exactly the same thing happen to them that same evening!

The launch PS3 will be falling over in their thousands worldwide at the moment if a 30 month lifespan is typical.

Out of warranty, of course, but will pay £65 to get it fixed independently, back up my data, reinstall the original hdd, and then trade in for a new slim PS3.

:-<

Whats the difference between the red and yellow light?

my old 40gb ps3 got the yellow light of death. I had it for 1 year and 8 months. so i was 8 months out of warranty. so i phoned up the shop i got it from, and told them that they needed to replace or repair my ps3. They said no untill I told them the sale of goods act. Basicaly they the shop not sony have to replace my console for me. Dont spend money on extra warranty you are covered by 5-6 years warranty or what you feel is a good amount of time for your product to last for. Type in google sales of goods act. you dont need to go out and buy and new 1. Also you can phone consumer direct (UK), for advice on what to say and where you stand, they also offer you help if the place you got it from are a bit funny and wont sort it out for you. good luck guys and i hope this helps!

I agree with PS3bb. This issue is affecting launch 60gb system owners. To date I personally know three people that have the YLOD on there PS3 and all of them are the 60gb versions. My 60gb system got it in August 2009. The other 3 people I know got it in October. All have been repaired by a reflow process by a professional. What the many that say Sony shouldn’t be responsible fail to realize is that the launch units used 90nm cpu technology and draws alot more power than any other model. These units get extremely hot on the far right, right up under the Bluray drive. It is also a well know fact that the solder in these unit lack lead which used to be used in solder to established a very strong connection between circuits on the motherboards. Reflowing does work as a temporary fix to this issued which justify’s Sony fixing all 60 gig versions ONLY with this issue for fee because is defect due to craftmanship/workmanship of the product. You can do absolutely nothing wrong and this will happen to all 60 gig versions. Depending on how much you play its a matter of time. Sony is covering this up quickly by having those that are unaware of the pay a $150 fee for repair. If you do your research alot times they don’t even fix it, they send you totally different unit which screws you even more because you lose everything when you insert a new HDD. This also allows Sony to kill off more 60gb version that are out in the market that have the potential to go bad. Don’t get caught up in this is business hype. When you are wrong, you are wrong. Fix the 60 gig versions Sony.

ive got a 40gb ps3 and got YLOD after about 1 and a half years of owning it, i got it fixd independently and after 2 months it broke down agen, i did get a 3 month warranty from the repairers but it is coming up to the end of that period and its broken down agen. theres not much point payin 75£ evry 3 months so ive decided to jus buy a slimline for £200 which isnt too bad for an all around better version of the original releases 60/40 gb.
if your warranty has run out and sony won’t replace it, buy a new console, they only keep breaking down evry month or so, or as i found out my ps3 lasted even less time each time i had it repaired under warranty from the independent repairers.

bought my 40gig ps3 on 04/06/09 on 11/14/2009 I recieved the dreaded YLOD ….I will post on every thread and sign every petition until sony owns up and fixes this problem without raping the consumers out of another $150.00 (I paid
freakn $399.00 plus tax) own up to your design flaw SONY!!!

I think thats what I am going to do….makes no sense to repair my current ps3 when it will keep breaking down….sony needs to reimburse people that are getting the YLOD

All I want is Sony to give me a new console because it is a design flaw. I don’t want to keep repairing mines either. My 60 gig was repaired in august and ylod again just two weeks ago. The shop called me and said they can’t fix it and will reimbusre me the repair charge. No problem. Now its time for Sony to step up to the plate this is ridiculous. Telling someone to just buy a new and forget about is letting Sony off the hook. While we just lay down and take it. Sony designed this console for a ten year lifespan with a one year warranty. Ok, cool. That doesn’t means its ok for the product to fail after year one from JUST TURNING YOUR SYSTEM ON OR OFF!!! Yes electronics do fail, but most last past 5 years or so from normal usage, which is Sony’s excuse for not living up to the responsibility right now.

sony 40gb – ylod 2 years to the day. Unbelievable!! this is a problem Sony face up the facts you rip off merchants.

well theres ur problem i hope all the consoles and hard ware u buy in ur life fails dog eat dog an all that u cunt adam bad boy