PS3 Crashes, Flashing Red Light : V - Skyrim

» Fri May 18, 2012 12:40 pm

this had happened to me/.... i had a 40 gb ps3 fat and i got it at launch.... i put skyrim on and played alittle bit and i got all the way to riverwood the first town and my ps3 just went black and i turned off the ps3 and back on and it restored the file data... that was 4 days ago but now i have a 320 gb ps3 slim and skyrim is the best game in the world (no problems and save file is 12.2MB ) i had an old character and the save was all the way up to 17.3MB but i deleted him because the game got boring.. ::

)) hopfully u invest and get a new ps3 or just a xbox360

After speaking with Sony Support (a FANTASTIC organization, btw - easily the best customer service experience I've ever had), I found out that a trade-in program exists for launch PS3's that have died - opt to trade-in your old system, and they will send you a 160GB Slim for $99. According to the customer service guy I spoke to, this price covers the cost of shipping as well.

The other alternative is that they will "fix" your old model, which means shipping you a factory-certified one, for $129.

I was impressed by the trade-in program for the slim - seriously, I know it stinks having to pay ANY money to continue gaming, but it's a serious upgrade from my dead launch system for one that's better in every way (except BC).

I only wish i didn't have to give up my old system in the process; I would've like to have honored it somehow.

» Fri May 18, 2012 6:16 am

After speaking with Sony Support (a FANTASTIC organization, btw - easily the best customer service experience I've ever had), I found out that a trade-in program exists for launch PS3's that have died - opt to trade-in your old system, and they will send you a 160GB Slim for $99. According to the customer service guy I spoke to, this price covers the cost of shipping as well.

The other alternative is that they will "fix" your old model, which means shipping you a factory-certified one, for $129.

I was impressed by the trade-in program for the slim - seriously, I know it stinks having to pay ANY money to continue gaming, but it's a serious upgrade from my dead launch system for one that's better in every way (except BC).

I only wish i didn't have to give up my old system in the process; I would've like to have honored it somehow.

Huh, I'll have to remember that. I ended up fixing mine because I REALLY wanted the data off my HDD and knew it wouldn't work in another PS3. If mine dies again I'll call Sony and seeing if I can get the same deal. Cheaper than buying a new one.

» Fri May 18, 2012 1:14 am

UPDATE

My sincere thanks to everyone who commented and replied to this thread. I only wish I had looked at it sooner.

I was on my way to backing up my data to an external hard drive, but before doing so, I decided to download a couple demos and sync trophies from all accounts.

During the trophy sync, it crashed again. I'm sure you can all guess what happened on boot-up.

On this day, after four-and-a-half years of faithful service, my PlayStation 3 died.

RIP, buddy.

ORIGINAL

This just happened, and scared the living crap out of me.

Was playing Skyrim, clearing some bandits out of a cave, and suddenly my system beeps three times and crashes to a black screen. The system's light was red and flashing. Needless to say, I just about [censored] a brick.

While crossing my fingers, I pressed the power button once to turn off / stop the flashing, flipped the power switch in back to off then on again, and restarted the system. It had to "check and restore file system" to look for corrupted data, but the process was quick and I didn't lose anything thankfully. Got back to the XMB without a problem.

Anyone experience the same thing? This has never happened to me before with any of my games. I have owned this 60 GB model since launch.

» Fri May 18, 2012 10:56 am

After speaking with Sony Support (a FANTASTIC organization, btw - easily the best customer service experience I've ever had), I found out that a trade-in program exists for launch PS3's that have died - opt to trade-in your old system, and they will send you a 160GB Slim for $99. According to the customer service guy I spoke to, this price covers the cost of shipping as well.

The other alternative is that they will "fix" your old model, which means shipping you a factory-certified one, for $129.

I was impressed by the trade-in program for the slim - seriously, I know it stinks having to pay ANY money to continue gaming, but it's a serious upgrade from my dead launch system for one that's better in every way (except BC).

I only wish i didn't have to give up my old system in the process; I would've like to have honored it somehow.

Sony's support is pretty top notch. Has anyone suggested just replacing the hard drive?

» Thu May 17, 2012 11:43 pm

Sony's support is pretty top notch. Has anyone suggested just replacing the hard drive?

From my understanding, it's an issue with the breakdown of thermal compound and/or lead soldering around the motherboard. A friend of mine experienced the same issue, and was able to get his to work for a few more hours by pouring on more thermal compound in the right place.

I'd be tempted to do this if only to salvage my old save files. All of the important PS3 save files from this year (FF13, inFamous 2, Catherine, Deus Ex, Resistance 3, Uncharted 3, and Skyrim) are backed up in the PlayStation Plus cloud, thank God. Unfortunately, I will be giving up all of the PS2 save files, and ones from my older games.

It really svcks, but it's not the end of the world. That (imo) very sweet $99 deal lessened the blow somewhat, and I'm SO glad I picked up a Plus subscription during the summer.

» Fri May 18, 2012 9:26 am

I had my YLOD last year's summer, but, as silly as it sounds, a hair dryer got it working for another year. At some point it will be dying for good though. Just saying because even after YLOD you can make it run again for long enough to make a full data transfer to a new Ps3.

Please elaborate. Before I send my system off, I'd like to salvage the data to my external if at all possible. How did you use a hair dryer to keep it running? Did it require removing any PS3 casings?

If you could super-descriptive, that would be awesome.

» Fri May 18, 2012 2:28 am

Please elaborate. Before I send my system off, I'd like to salvage the data to my external if at all possible. How did you use a hair dryer to keep it running? Did it require removing any PS3 casings?

If you could super-descriptive, that would be awesome.

Just Google "PS3 YLOD hair dryer fix". You'll find a ton of links, including YouTube vids. It's basically the same as the RROD fix for the 360. What it basically boils down to is putting the PS3 in a box or wrapping it with towels (dry) and then blowing a hair dryer into the vents or something.

» Fri May 18, 2012 9:20 am

After speaking with Sony Support (a FANTASTIC organization, btw - easily the best customer service experience I've ever had), I found out that a trade-in program exists for launch PS3's that have died - opt to trade-in your old system, and they will send you a 160GB Slim for $99. According to the customer service guy I spoke to, this price covers the cost of shipping as well.

The other alternative is that they will "fix" your old model, which means shipping you a factory-certified one, for $129.

I was impressed by the trade-in program for the slim - seriously, I know it stinks having to pay ANY money to continue gaming, but it's a serious upgrade from my dead launch system for one that's better in every way (except BC).

I only wish i didn't have to give up my old system in the process; I would've like to have honored it somehow.

That's if you live in the US though.
It's tough luck for other countries unfortunately (I was quoted $200 to get mine fixed).

» Fri May 18, 2012 11:37 am

Please elaborate. Before I send my system off, I'd like to salvage the data to my external if at all possible. How did you use a hair dryer to keep it running? Did it require removing any PS3 casings?

If you could super-descriptive, that would be awesome.

Heya! First of, my sincere condolences. I feel your pain, mate.

The fix for this is pretty easy, actually. Get yourself a standard hair dryer, unplug your Ps3 and cover the Ps3's front with a towel. No need to remove any casings. Then use the hair dryer on the back of the console for like 10 minutes straight. But move the dryer slowly from left to right constantly. The whole inside of the console needs to heat up. Warning, it can get very, very hot, so don't place the Ps3 on your lap or something. Stop after 10 minutes and let it cool down for half an hour or an hour. You could speed up the cooldown by letting the fan go to full power. I did that very often.

To do so you'd need to plug the power cable back in, of course. Then hold the eject button while at the same time switching the backside power button from OFF to ON. Any disc will be ejected and the fan will rotate very fast for about one minute or so. Then the system will shut down automatically. Repeat this until the air which is blown out is no longer hot but slightly warm.

After that your console will be good to go for another week or even a month with no problems. Like I said, by repeating this method I made my Ps3 run for another year. If you have further questions, feel free to ask. :]

Edit: Just to make it clear, you only need to heat the inside of your Ps3 ONCE. No need to do it again until the YLOD returns after a week/month.

PS: Another heads up, if you use the hair dryer for too long or if you repeat the whole method for too often, the plastic case of your Ps3 will begin to transform and melt. 10 minutes per session should be enough.

» Thu May 17, 2012 11:08 pm

I had about 4 freezes in the first 100 hours of play and they were all after I had the PS3 on for several hours. Since hitting 100 hours on Skyrim, The freezes have gotten progressively worse. The last 2 nights it froze after only being on 10 min. It now freezes once every hour. I love this game but I'm getting close to trading it in now.

» Fri May 18, 2012 5:05 am

To be fair though, the majority of freezes came up with the latest patch. I'm kind of certain that they messed up somewhere by rushing out this patch. The next patch should *fingers crossed* deal with this issue properly.