PS3 PS3 no power. Red light comes on for a second when plugged in, then turns off.

[IntoTheVoid]

Hey, I'm new here. I've recently bought a broken PS3 for 10 bucks. I wanted to see if I can make it work again. I have a multimeter and basic soldering skills, but I'm no expert in electronics although I want to learn more.

I know that the seller has worked on it before. He said he was trying to fix a USB issue and when he reassembled the console it didn't turn on anymore. When I plug it in, the red light only comes on for a short moment, before turning off again. It's a Super Slim (Cech-42). I've taken the PSU out and it seems like the 12V rail is shorted.

My main question is, how did he manage to kill the power supply by working on the USB ports? And if I were to repair, or replace the power supply, would there be a danger of it breaking as well when I connect it to the board? If so how would I best go about checking the motherboard for issues that would have to be fixed first? Thanks in advance for your time.

 

[IntoTheVoid]

Additional info: PSU does deliver 5V (well it's closer to 4.8V), so I decided to try and see what happens when I just plug in the 5V (without the 12V connected) and it's the exact same thing. Red light for a fraction of a second and it's off again. So that should mean there's something wrong on the board right? Does anyone know of any resource I can check that might show fuses locations on the motherboard? I'll also keep an eye out if I see any shorts around the USB (and elsewhere). I did check the 5V connector on the Motherboard and the 5V there doesn't seem shorted to ground.

 

[IntoTheVoid]

Very strange. I've opened the PSU and checked the voltages again and this time I got 5.5V instead of the 4.8 from before. I also checked for continuity of the 12V rail and it was gone as well. I've found a video showing that you can simulate the power-on signal by bridging the 5V and ACDC-Standby pins and I got 12.6V for a couple seconds, before it started decreasing again.

First I thought that something that caused a short might've shaken loose while I was prying the PSU case open (which took me longer than I'd like to admit), especially since the voltage on the 5V rail also increased, but when I tested it again in the PS3, it still got the same result of a short red light and nothing else. I guess I'm gonna need to take a look at the motherboard next since the PSU seems ok now. Still not sure what caused the strange measurements from before though.

 

[Tj's Tech Niche]

Wild guess here, is it a 3xxx model?
Chasing voltages in the psu is a waste of time unless you have OE schematics. You can quickly just test the console with another known working power supply from another console.
From my experience, quick on and off with nothing but a red light leads to southbridge issues or a cpu fault.

 

[IntoTheVoid]

Wild guess here, is it a 3xxx model?
Chasing voltages in the psu is a waste of time unless you have OE schematics. You can quickly just test the console with another known working power supply from another console.
From my experience, quick on and off with nothing but a red light leads to southbridge issues or a cpu fault.

Thanks for the reply. It's a 42xxA Super Slim and I've been looking for schematics without success so far (I don't think they exist in the public). I'm gonna pick up another used console that's supposedly in working condition this week. Maybe I can use that as a reference to diagnose the broken one (hopefully it's the exact same board).

If a PSU swap doesn't bring it back to life and I don't find anything that sticks out when comparing the 2 boards after a short inspection, I might try to connect to the syscon. There doesn't appear to be a short to ground and if the 5V rail is stable and the syscon itself is not the culprit causing the issue, here's hoping it can give me information to isolate the issue. If it is a Southbridge or CPU issue, it's probably not fixable for me (except for trying a reflow with a heatgun maybe). I'm far from being able to do BGA repairs at this point.

 

[Tj's Tech Niche]

Thanks for the reply. It's a 42xxA Super Slim and I've been looking for schematics without success so far (I don't think they exist in the public). I'm gonna pick up another used console that's supposedly in working condition this week. Maybe I can use that as a reference to diagnose the broken one (hopefully it's the exact same board).

If a PSU swap doesn't bring it back to life and I don't find anything that sticks out when comparing the 2 boards after a short inspection, I might try to connect to the syscon. There doesn't appear to be a short to ground and if the 5V rail is stable and the syscon itself is not the culprit causing the issue, here's hoping it can give me information to isolate the issue. If it is a Southbridge or CPU issue, it's probably not fixable for me (except for trying a reflow with a heatgun maybe). I'm far from being able to do BGA repairs at this point.

Your Welcome, I wish more people on here voiced up on their opinions for stuff like this. We are stronger in numbers Folks!
Testing with another known working psu is a good step. I've personally have yet to see a failed psu in any ps3 as of yet but yours could still definitely be the culprit. I'm leaning more towards a cpu or southbridge fault. You can try to reflow the cpu with a heatgun as it is a BGA chip. Get Flux heated up under the chip for the best possibility of fixing any cracked/cold bga joints. To my knowledge though for the SS models, the southbridge is a standard legged chip, IDK the technical term but it has legs coming from the sides compared to having balls under it for connection purposes.

 

[Kryder]

I'm currently have 2x of dead 42\43xx SuperSlims, it's always "no red light or reaction on power button" but some times i can turn on it - and its turning off (like RSX\Cell failure) after 3-5 secs, but in fact on 42xx i found problems with shorted "1.8v" regulator near WiFi\BT-module, i remove it - and console worked well over 1 hour - without *LOD etc. Today i will try replace 1.8v regulator to LM1117 or (if its dont helped me) - try to replace 88W8781 on WiFi\BT-module....