Cue the *whoawhoawhoawhoa* jumping sound of the Six-Million Dollar Man!.
In case you can’t tell what that is over there to the left. That is the Motherboard of my 1st generation CECHA model 60GB Playstation 3. It’s a beautiful and gut wrenching sight, isn’t it? You may be asking yourself: “Why, for all that is holy or unholy, would you rip apart such a beast, such a monument to modern gaming, you monster.” And I will respond with: “That’s hurtful… *sad face*” But I digress; the reason I took apart my PS3 was to bring it back from the brink of death.
I’m going to go through some of the things I did and how I took it apart to hopefully help others with the older model PS3’s in keeping their systems from uncertain death. While the PS3 didn’t have the same failure rate as the launch day Xbox360 models, it was still a hot running system that had it’s share of deaths. While Microsoft kind of manned up and handed out a 3-year warranty, The PS3 kept it’s 1yr warranty. What muddies the situation for PS3 owners is the fact that Sony will not repair these older consoles. If you are outside of the warranty, and frankly, if it’s a “fat” model, you are. You will be forced to pay a $150 fee to get a replacement or full price at a store. That replacement will be a slim model, no if’s and’s or but’s.
Saving these majestic creatures is our only hope for a rich and fulfilling future for our children and our children’s children.