PS3 Replace BD with Fan

[Bogarto]

Hello, I tried to search on the forums if this has been tried before. I'm finding more ways to resolve my CECHG02 overheating issues. Comparing it with other models I realized that the heatsink design of my console was the least privileged when it comes with the copper rods. Mines got only 1 for each CPU and RSX. I have de-lidded both and applied MX5 but im still getting 65-CPU and 67-RSX on idle. Not sure if RSK on the high side is normal, ill probably redo the TP.

I'm trying to find out if this can be done. I have a working BD but the noBD CFWs being available it crossed my mind to completely remove the BD in replacement of a fan. This is how im imagining it will be, a case fan directly blowing over the RSX retainer clip or a small cross flow fan mounted on the vent shaft.

I'm very new with jailbreaking. I remember the first time I tried was 5 years ago and it failed so I stick with OFW. Recently JBd my console with 4.88 CFW Evilnat and I'm very surprise what this machine can do in 2021.

My questions, what are the difficulties I may encounter installing a NoBD CFW? Should I reset back to OFW first then install NoBD CFW? (Read about boot loops for bad BDs)

Thanks!

 

[bguerville]

Hello, I tried to search on the forums if this has been tried before. I'm finding more ways to resolve my CECHG02 overheating issues. Comparing it with other models I realized that the heatsink design of my console was the least privileged when it comes with the copper rods. Mines got only 1 for each CPU and RSX. I have de-lidded both and applied MX5 but im still getting 65-CPU and 67-RSX on idle. Not sure if RSK on the high side is normal, ill probably redo the TP.

I'm trying to find out if this can be done. I have a working BD but the noBD CFWs being available it crossed my mind to completely remove the BD in replacement of a fan. This is how im imagining it will be, a case fan directly blowing over the RSX retainer clip or a small cross flow fan mounted on the vent shaft.

I'm very new with jailbreaking. I remember the first time I tried was 5 years ago and it failed so I stick with OFW. Recently JBd my console with 4.88 CFW Evilnat and I'm very surprise what this machine can do in 2021.

My questions, what are the difficulties I may encounter installing a NoBD CFW? Should I reset back to OFW first then install NoBD CFW? (Read about boot loops for bad BDs)

Thanks!

I am afraid that noBD is NOT a solution & you should look for another way to cool your system.
A noBD patch simply allows a firmware to be installed on a console with BD or BD controller failure by neutralising the BD sanity checks in the fw update process.
However once the noBD firmware is installed, parts of the OS still rely on a functional BD to work & a number of features immediately cease to function properly when the BD is removed.
On Cobra/Mamba iso support no longer works when the BD is not functional & one has to resort to using legacy JB folder game backups. There is probably something devs could do to get iso support to work even when there is no BD controller but for the moment, it is what it is.
Note that if you remove the BD drive but leave a functional BD controller attached to the motherboard, you will experience fewer issues with the OS or Cobra.

 

[Bogarto]

@bguerville Thank you for taking the time on answering my questions, that confirmed my thoughts. I think it'll also be beneficial if there is a working CFW in the future that is capable of bypassing the checks on the physical BD. No offense to players who loves doing it with a disc but as almost all of the games available either to be played from a thumb drive or HDD0, with the BD drive out there's plenty of room for HW mods, possibilities are endless. You actually answered my unposted question, I will try that option of removing the drive and leaving the board attached to MB. I'll be careful with this procedure as I read other problems arose by doing so. I'll look for possibilities of a cross flow fan fitted on the vent space, if there is a small one I can find.

I've seen a temp comparison table on another site and the norms varies. Is my temp within the norms? I feel something's wrong since my RSX is always hotter than the CPU. Current FAN setting is dynamic at 68 and lowest a 40%. I mean my idle temps are mostly the same while in game but fan is working hard at 87%

 

[bguerville]

@bguerville Thank you for taking the time on answering my questions, that confirmed my thoughts. I think it'll also be beneficial if there is a working CFW in the future that is capable of bypassing the checks on the physical BD. No offense to players who loves doing it with a disc but as almost all of the games available either to be played from a thumb drive or HDD0, with the BD drive out there's plenty of room for HW mods, possibilities are endless. You actually answered my unposted question, I will try that option of removing the drive and leaving the board attached to MB. I'll be careful with this procedure as I read other problems arose by doing so. I'll look for possibilities of a cross flow fan fitted on the vent space, if there is a small one I can find.

I've seen a temp comparison table on another site and the norms varies. Is my temp within the norms? I feel something's wrong since my RSX is always hotter than the CPU. Current FAN setting is dynamic at 68 and lowest a 40%. I mean my idle temps are mostly the same while in game but fan is working hard at 87%

I don't think a fan at 87% to keep rsx under 70c while gaming is right at all, even on a phat console. I think you have a serious overheating problem, the fan should never need to go over 50% & that's already high.
I think a nicely tuned system should probably never see the fan going over 40 or 42% max to keep chips under 70c even with the heaviest gaming..
To give you an idea, iirc someone who bothered to fully delid Cell & RSX to change the paste inside, reported afterwards using a fan running at 32% to keep the chips under 65c. For a ps3, that's close to perfect...
In contrast, I have 2 slims that both need maintenance, they are starting to heat up a lot more than they used to a couple of years ago & to keep them at 68C, the fans can climb up to 45% for one & 47% for the other, I already find it unbearable.. Lol

 

[Bogarto]

Yeah 45% and 47% is unbearable, what word can you put on my 87% fan speed . I'm definitely redoing my TP. Could be a poor job for a noob. I'm surprised my PS3 still worked after the de-lid, I may be lucky and I completely accept if called stupid but I just wanted to share the mistakes occurred during my 1st de-lid:

1st - I may have chipped a very small material from the Samsung chip trying to asses how the blade will enter and separate RSX heat spreader from the glue. It's very obvious when I flash a light on the chip. Separation from the 3 other chips was too easy using a hair dryer. Now if given a chance to do another de-lid, I'll try the hair dryer first as the factory glue on the chips are weak, they're was past their 10 years durability I guess.

2nd - Around 5 or 6 dots of exposed copper on the CPU die . Having to find out same number of green material on the glue, heat spreader side. I'm sure my custom made tool entered the gap on a wrong angle towards the die. Also the tool ended up with a pointy tip since i'm grinding the metal to thin on every entry. This is a very devastating site once the heat spreader was removed.

3rd - I knocked out a very tiny resistor in between CPU and RSX when I was pulling the tool out while stuck on the CPU glue. Lucky to have placed a masking tape over that area and it went with the tape when removed or else I wouldn't find out about it.


I did scratched my head heavily for 3 hours before deciding to put it back together. Hoped for no short circuit and prayed justifying what I did was for a goodwill. LOL!

I was surprised it still turned on. Overheating could have been due to those lapses I made. And yeah, I'm practicing my soldering skills to put that tiny resistor back.

 

[bguerville]

Yeah 45% and 47% is unbearable, what word can you put on my 87% fan speed . I'm definitely redoing my TP. Could be a poor job for a noob. I'm surprised my PS3 still worked after the de-lid, I may be lucky and I completely accept if called stupid but I just wanted to share the mistakes occurred during my 1st de-lid:

1st - I may have chipped a very small material from the Samsung chip trying to asses how the blade will enter and separate RSX heat spreader from the glue. It's very obvious when I flash a light on the chip. Separation from the 3 other chips was too easy using a hair dryer. Now if given a chance to do another de-lid, I'll try the hair dryer first as the factory glue on the chips are weak, they're was past their 10 years durability I guess.

2nd - Around 5 or 6 dots of exposed copper on the CPU die . Having to find out same number of green material on the glue, heat spreader side. I'm sure my custom made tool entered the gap on a wrong angle towards the die. Also the tool ended up with a pointy tip since i'm grinding the metal to thin on every entry. This is a very devastating site once the heat spreader was removed.

3rd - I knocked out a very tiny resistor in between CPU and RSX when I was pulling the tool out while stuck on the CPU glue. Lucky to have placed a masking tape over that area and it went with the tape when removed or else I wouldn't find out about it.


I did scratched my head heavily for 3 hours before deciding to put it back together. Hoped for no short circuit and prayed justifying what I did was for a goodwill. LOL!

I was surprised it still turned on. Overheating could have been due to those lapses I made. And yeah, I'm practicing my soldering skills to put that tiny resistor back.

Don't beat yourself up.
This BGA setup is a terrible design & delidding is notoriously problematic. It usually takes a few attempts to master the whole process & select appropriate ways, tools & methods to reduce the associated risks.

 

[Bogarto]

So I went and reinstall the BD and noticed the FW has now shows "4.88 CEX Cobra 8.3 noBD".

Everything works fine, I mean Webman load games from both HDD and USB. I'm now curious what caused it to show noBD. Was it because the CFW detected that there was a time I tried to load a game while the BD was unattached from the console? Any inputs on how I can revert it to 4.88 CEX Cobra 8.3 [Full]? I'm also worried to be stuck in boot loop as I'm planning to replace the internal HDD with a bigger capacity drive.

 

[Coro]

So I went and reinstall the BD and noticed the FW has now shows "4.88 CEX Cobra 8.3 noBD".

Everything works fine, I mean Webman load games from both HDD and USB. I'm now curious what caused it to show noBD. Was it because the CFW detected that there was a time I tried to load a game while the BD was unattached from the console? Any inputs on how I can revert it to 4.88 CEX Cobra 8.3 [Full]? I'm also worried to be stuck in boot loop as I'm planning to replace the internal HDD with a bigger capacity drive.

webman can detect noBD. that is a webman notification in your image.

 

[Bogarto]

webman can detect noBD. that is a webman notification in your image.

Got it. Thanks! I unticked the NoBD Patch in WebMan MOD Setup. I remember that I did tick it the other day trying to find out if games will still load even if BD was physically disconnected. Thanks for all the support. I'll leave the BD attached but also hoping for a CFW in the future where ISO support will still work even when there is no BD controller attached.

 

[bguerville]

Got it. Thanks! I unticked the NoBD Patch in WebMan MOD Setup. I remember that I did tick it the other day trying to find out if games will still load even if BD was physically disconnected. Thanks for all the support. I'll leave the BD attached but also hoping for a CFW in the future where ISO support will still work even when there is no BD controller attached.

I fully agree.
ISO support without a functional BD/BD controller would be a great feature.

Unless existing code (from BDEMU & the likes) could be reused (not sure at all), I would assume it will require the implementation of a new emu layer to take the place of the missing controller or if we are extremely lucky maybe patching a few syscalls would be enough. Either way, technically it should be feasible.

You are unlikely to ever get this as a CFW feature per se but rather within a payload like Cobra/Mamba which of course could be integrated within a CFW, the difference is subtle but meaningful because a functionality offered by payload means that the feature can easily be deployed on any CFW, including pre-existing CFWs, this is one of the reasons behind Mamba's existence actually.

It goes without saying that I dunno every single person dabbling in ps3 coding out there or their plans, but so far very few people have contributed to Cobra/Mamba development, so to my "limited" knowledge, nobody is currently working on such a feature... I don't recall any talks or plans to work on it over the past few years however Cobra development leaps forward every now & then either at the favour of fw updates or because an interested dev has freed enough time to work on payloads.
There is a somewhat limited audience for this feature but I think it is substantial enough to warrant some interest, still I am afraid it will not happen any time soon.
Keeping in mind that there are few active devs & many features that could be considered more of a priority over this one, among many other examples, I can think of bringing native ntfs/exfat/ext2/ext3 support to the kernel, bringing unencrypted UFS2 to the internal hdd, bringing TRIM for older SSDs, fixing Bluetooth pairing issues etc.. the list is long.