PS3 (Research/Experimental) - NEC/TOKIN Capacitors Replacement - YLOD

Hello everyone! So I was checking some problems that my PS3 had and found this post, here is my case and hope that y'all could "guide" me through this. I have a CECHE01 phat USA ps3, it works fine for ps1/ps2 games and not so exigent games in general, however when I play Black Ops 1 Zombies it shuts down with three beeps and a flashing red LED whenever I play a big map like Call of the Dead or Moon, but for maps like Kino, Five or the entirety of the WaW maps it works just fine; also, when I play God of War 1 HD it literally shuts down too whenever a cinematic plays, but it's kinda random, so a cinematic starts and sometimes it can get through it entirely and I can keep on playing, but on some other times it just doesn't make it on time and the system shuts down mid cinematic, it never have crashed on gameplay.

So far the system had never turned off with a yellow light, however it has booted up while flashing green and switching to yellow (it doesn't turn off, whenever that happens I can use it just fine anyways). Also, I tried playing Black Ops 2 a while ago and something similar to GOW happened but this time it crashed completely at random, I could be in the main menu and it could crash, I could be playing Tranzit and it would crash at any moment without doing anything special, pretty much Black Ops 2 was more like a hit or miss situation.

To add some more info, as I said the yellow light only shows on a very few instances when I turn it on and the system doesn't shut off anyways, also I've never opened it, changed thermal paste or done anything internally, only installed Cobra CFW but even back when I only had HEN those problems were already present. Hope someone could tell me if this tutorial would help or if its anything else. BTW I tried TLOU without getting so far, only played like 10 minutes and my console never crashed at least for now, also I wanted to ask if I need the capacitors I could get them on Aliexpress since that's the cheapest option for me. Thanks!,
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Leiuxe said:
Hello everyone! So I was checking some problems that my PS3 had and found this post, here is my case and hope that y'all could "guide" me through this. I have a CECHE01 phat USA ps3, it works fine for ps1/ps2 games and not so exigent games in general, however when I play Black Ops 1 Zombies it shuts down with three beeps and a flashing red LED whenever I play a big map like Call of the Dead or Moon, but for maps like Kino, Five or the entirety of the WaW maps it works just fine; also, when I play God of War 1 HD it literally shuts down too whenever a cinematic plays, but it's kinda random, so a cinematic starts and sometimes it can get through it entirely and I can keep on playing, but on some other times it just doesn't make it on time and the system shuts down mid cinematic, it never have crashed on gameplay.

So far the system had never turned off with a yellow light, however it has booted up while flashing green and switching to yellow (it doesn't turn off, whenever that happens I can use it just fine anyways). Also, I tried playing Black Ops 2 a while ago and something similar to GOW happened but this time it crashed completely at random, I could be in the main menu and it could crash, I could be playing Tranzit and it would crash at any moment without doing anything special, pretty much Black Ops 2 was more like a hit or miss situation.

To add some more info, as I said the yellow light only shows on a very few instances when I turn it on and the system doesn't shut off anyways, also I've never opened it, changed thermal paste or done anything internally, only installed Cobra CFW but even back when I only had HEN those problems were already present. Hope someone could tell me if this tutorial would help or if its anything else. BTW I tried TLOU without getting so far, only played like 10 minutes and my console never crashed at least for now, also I wanted to ask if I need the capacitors I could get them on Aliexpress since that's the cheapest option for me. Thanks!,
Click to expand...
This is my standard first response.

But since this tends to get this reaction...
iu
...I'll go one step further and tell you exactly what to do.
  1. Use this tutorial to dump Your SYSCON errorlog. You can use PS3 Advanced tools to do it, since your console currently boots.
  2. Read the FAQ to catch up to speed on the YLOD. Specifically what the YLOD is. It only flashes yellow once, then red indefinitely. That FAQ has a video of what it looks like and lots of information about what we know. But that first post is a collection of all of this, plus other useful research and links. Kind of a highlight reel. But there's defiantly a lot of info.
 
Regarding gluing the cell ihs back on, i wonder if it would be worthwhile to get a piece of metal cut out that can be permanently attached to the pcb like on a ps4 processor maybe using epoxy or something that way you can keep the ihs loose for easy paste replacement. Might be expensive though.

72860_7_sony-to-support-ps4-for-multiple-years-after-playstation-5-launch.png
 
So, I've seen a few videos on YouTube of people replacing the Tokins with electrolytic and the system performs as normal. Obviously tantalums are smaller and don't require them to be adjusted/moved about in order to fit under the top metal shield

Here's my question: Tantalums seem to require a jumper wire connecting the positive rails. Is this also required when using electrolytic caps?
 
joesaiditstrue said:
So, I've seen a few videos on YouTube of people replacing the Tokins with electrolytic and the system performs as normal. Obviously tantalums are smaller and don't require them to be adjusted/moved about in order to fit under the top metal shield

Here's my question: Tantalums seem to require a jumper wire connecting the positive rails. Is this also required when using electrolytic caps?
Click to expand...
Yes.

Don't trust any YT video that doesn't diagnose using SYSCON error codes and then stops after the console boots. They need to follow the console over the next 2 weeks, with daily testing, to rule out thermomechanical false positves from heat strain.

..that's all of them AFAIK.
 
RIP-Felix said:
Yes.

Don't trust any YT video that doesn't diagnose using SYSCON error codes and then stops after the console boots. They need to follow the console over the next 2 weeks, with daily testing, to rule out thermomechanical false positves from heat strain.

..that's all of them AFAIK.
Click to expand...

Felix, you're the most helpful person on this forum. You're actually the person who helped me get my Syscon codes a while back. Now I just need to find out how to solder these caps with the jumper wire

Since I'm replacing all 4 RSX Tokins, Should I run 4 Jumper wires (one where each Tokin used to be), or just 1 per side of the board?
 
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joesaiditstrue said:
...I just need to find out how to solder these caps with the jumper wire

Since I'm replacing all 4 RSX Tokins, Should I run 4 Jumper wires (one where each Tokin used to be), or just 1 per side of the board?
Click to expand...
Good question. The issue is current. Your jumpers need to be able to carry the current without burning up! So you need to choose thick enough gauge and/or enough jumpers to distribute the load.

The RSX has a max TDP of 80W, but it won't realistically reach that. Assuming it did though, that would be 65 amps. The minimum gauge solid core conductor needed to carry that much current is 8 AWG. That's over 3mm thick!

So obviously you need to use more than one jumper! It's a good idea anyway, because you want to distribute the current along the same patch it took before, with similarly low impedance no matter which path it takes. This way no one capacitor gets more or less current than the others. So you want to keep everything symmetrical. Use the same number of TaPol caps and jumpers wires for each tokin replaced. That sort of thing.

I recommend 3x 470uF TaPol and 1x 16 AWG Solid Core Jumpers for each tokin replaced. Or 2x 18 AWG Solid core. But to make it easy and clean use a tantalizer.
 
RIP-Felix said:
Good question. The issue is current. Your jumpers need to be able to carry the current without burning up! So you need to choose thick enough gauge and/or enough jumpers to distribute the load.

The RSX has a max TDP of 80W, but it won't realistically reach that. Assuming it did though, that would be 65 amps. The minimum gauge solid core conductor needed to carry that much current is 8 AWG. That's over 3mm thick!

So obviously you need to use more than one jumper! It's a good idea anyway, because you want to distribute the current along the same patch it took before, with similarly low impedance no matter which path it takes. This way no one capacitor gets more or less current than the others. So you want to keep everything symmetrical. Use the same number of TaPol caps and jumpers wires for each tokin replaced. That sort of thing.

I recommend 3x 470uF TaPol and 1x 16 AWG Solid Core Jumpers for each tokin replaced. Or 2x 18 AWG Solid core. But to make it easy and clean use a tantalizer.
Click to expand...

Thoughts on these? My OCD wants to just put 4 on each of the previous Tokin pads, with a jumper wire on each pad as well

https://www.newark.com/panasonic/2r5tpe330m7/tantalum-capacitor-330uf-2-5v/dp/98W0348
 
joesaiditstrue said:
Thoughts on these? My OCD wants to just put 4 on each of the previous Tokin pads, with a jumper wire on each pad as well

https://www.newark.com/panasonic/2r5tpe330m7/tantalum-capacitor-330uf-2-5v/dp/98W0348
Click to expand...
They should work fine, perhaps better since there are more of them to divide the ESR.

joe musashi said:
why the PS3 Tantalizer - Beta Release (v0.3b) still beta?
Click to expand...
Relatively few people have used them, to confirm they work in the real world. A number of people have used them and I haven't heard any complaints yet, so I think it's well on it's way out of the experimental phase. I still need to do some bench top analysis, but I'm lazy and procrastinating.
 
RIP-Felix said:
This.

I suspect dependencies...
  1. pip install pyserial
  2. pip install pycryptodome
But you should follow the tutorial...
Click to expand...

I did install those dependencies and I did follow the tutorial entirely, but I'm unable to pull any data from the PS3.

Here's the version of python and pip dependencies I have installed:
https://pastebin.com/SBnRZbCM

You can see my attempts here:
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/c...con-auth-auth-fails-always.36354/#post-322799
I've made a separate thread

Do I need to connect the PS3 power supply or diag port?
I have the console disassembled, so I can test at will.
 
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olokos said:
I did install those dependencies and I did follow the tutorial entirely, but I'm unable to pull any data from the PS3...Do I need to connect the PS3 power supply or diag port?
I have the console disassembled, so I can test at will.
Click to expand...
Well, if you have followed my tutorial, then I'm just repeating myself, but...

You only need 3 wires. First, I suggest you desolder those pins. The pins will easily tear a trace off the board. Cut off the connector and solder the conductor strait to the pads for (RX, TX, and DIAG). You don not need a GND yet and it's easier to just use alligator clips to the ground ring around the edge of the MB.

Do not ground DIAG yet. You should ground the USB to the MB using aligator clips. This is just so the PS3 and PC share the same ground and will not build a charge between them. BTW, if you have the console disassembled, be sure the GND wire on the power switch is connected to the MB. Don't just plug in the PSU and leave the GND wire off.

Plug in RX/TX. TX (transmit) on your USB adapter goes to RX (receive) on the MB. It doesn't matter if you get it backwards, later you can just flip those 2, power off/on, and try to AUTH in again.

From there, it's all software. Double check that the USB adapter is found and correctly assigned a driver in "Device Manager." Check the COM port it was assigned. This can change from port to port, so I suggest you always plug the adapter into the same USB port each time, or make a habit of checking first.

Lastly, I suggest using a CMD terminal. Just open the file containing the syscon script and put "CMD" into the filepath bar. It'll open the terminal mounted to that filepath. Then run the scrip.
 
I just got a message from OSHPark saying there was an error in manufacturing the tantalizer PCB. Did anyone experience this?

Message:

"
There was a manufacturing error on your recent project "PS3 Tantalizer 0.3b copy". We weren't able to send any copies of this board due to a design issue.

The design has drill slots around the edges that don't allow for any tab placement. This means the boards have no way to be held in the panel after those slots are drilled.

I've refunded your purchase because this design will more than likely continue to fail in the same way.
"
 
toast_recall said:
I just got a message from OSHPark saying there was an error in manufacturing the tantalizer PCB. Did anyone experience this?

Message:

"
There was a manufacturing error on your recent project "PS3 Tantalizer 0.3b copy". We weren't able to send any copies of this board due to a design issue.

The design has drill slots around the edges that don't allow for any tab placement. This means the boards have no way to be held in the panel after those slots are drilled.

I've refunded your purchase because this design will more than likely continue to fail in the same way.
"
Click to expand...

I'll look into a revision that addresses this.

They are only attached with a few mm on 4 corners. So I get what they're saying, but I ordered a test run of them and they didn't complain. Others have ordered and they didn't have that issue. Regardless, you are now! So maybe that Beta moniker isn't ready to be lifted just yet!

Often what PCB MNF's do when they run into an issue like this is adjusted the design on the panel to make it work, but don't communicate that. This tech did it different than the last one, that sort of thing. Or perhaps the low volume of tantalizers myself and others have ordered wasn't enough to make the issue pop up. Like a 1 in 50 kind of failure rate. IDK. I'm not an expert at making PCB's or anything. I didn't get any feedback from them or others about it being any sort of issue...until now.
 
Okay, I made a revision that should work. I have been wanting to test out v scoring, so this gave me the opportunity. Basically this revision is 3x tantalizers separated by v-scoring. OSH park has a minimum order size of 3 boards, so that's 9 tantalizers. Because I wanted to avoid issues with them penalizing it, I placed the edge cuts outside the slots. This means there's more PCB real estate and higher cost ($5.50 for 9x). V-scoring means you should be able to just break them apart.

I'm new to v-scoring. I wasn't sure how to indicate I wanted them to do it, so I added it to the comments layer and included it in the gerber files. I didn't see any way tell OSH park about this in the checkout options, so I hope they check that layer and understand what I'm trying to accomplish. I ordered a test run, but I'm not really hopeful this one will work out given the learning curve. I guess we'll see.

Still in beta...sigh!
 
RIP-Felix said:
Well, if you have followed my tutorial, then I'm just repeating myself, but...

You only need 3 wires. First, I suggest you desolder those pins. The pins will easily tear a trace off the board. Cut off the connector and solder the conductor strait to the pads for (RX, TX, and DIAG). You don not need a GND yet and it's easier to just use alligator clips to the ground ring around the edge of the MB.

Do not ground DIAG yet. You should ground the USB to the MB using aligator clips. This is just so the PS3 and PC share the same ground and will not build a charge between them. BTW, if you have the console disassembled, be sure the GND wire on the power switch is connected to the MB. Don't just plug in the PSU and leave the GND wire off.

Plug in RX/TX. TX (transmit) on your USB adapter goes to RX (receive) on the MB. It doesn't matter if you get it backwards, later you can just flip those 2, power off/on, and try to AUTH in again.

From there, it's all software. Double check that the USB adapter is found and correctly assigned a driver in "Device Manager." Check the COM port it was assigned. This can change from port to port, so I suggest you always plug the adapter into the same USB port each time, or make a habit of checking first.

Lastly, I suggest using a CMD terminal. Just open the file containing the syscon script and put "CMD" into the filepath bar. It'll open the terminal mounted to that filepath. Then run the scrip.
Click to expand...

I appreciate Your tips, but there's no point to desolder a perfectly and cleanly soldered wires, this will increase wear and tear. I don't have alligator clips at hand neither, but believe me, the soldered wires are soldered properly and once fixed, they will be desoldered properly.
For now I keep them soldered and only move the ends connected to the USB UART.
Also in my previous post I did use CMD, I usually just press windows button and write cmd, then smash enter and I'm there.
I removed the full path to the script from the command I pasted previously for privacy reasons, but that was the only thing I have changed.
I totally understand the reasoning behind desoldering, but it will just increase wear and tear of the pins on PCB. I am fairly tech-savvy in general, so I can handle hardware pretty well. (and now I'll smash the pins, lmao, jk)

One issue with the guide is that nowhere in the guide at page 192 it is said that the 5V PSU line has to be connected into the PS3 mobo.

I kept doing everything right, but connecting the 2 prongs into the PSU (12V line) instead of plugging in the white wire from PSU into the PS3 mobo.

That was really the problem - not connecting the white PSU wire into the PS3 that prevented me from reading the logs off the console, thankfully @_XBrD4shDOE_808_ have found the problem in my course of actions here.

If I may suggest, adding another point 2.5 in External Access Mode: Easier to access, less you can do. section of the guide saying: Connect the source power and white 5 pin wire from the PS3 PSU into the PS3 Motherboard.

That part was missing in the guide and I couldn't really find anything useful online until @_XBrD4shDOE_808_ pointed out my mistake based on NSC Modz video.

Here are the error logs I have received from the console, using external mode:

Code: 
V:\ps3syscon-master>python ps3_syscon_uart_script.py COM3 CXR
>$ auth
Auth successful
>$ ERRLOG
F0000006
>$ ERRLOG GET 00
00000000 A0403034 0C48F654
>$ ERRLOG GET 01
00000000 A0404421 0C48F654
>$ ERRLOG GET 02
00000000 A0403034 0C473BF5
>$ ERRLOG GET 03
00000000 A0404421 0C473BF5
>$ ERRLOG GET 04
00000000 A0403034 0C473A63
>$ ERRLOG GET 05
00000000 A0404421 0C473A63
>$ ERRLOG GET 06
00000000 A0403034 0C4739AE
>$ ERRLOG GET 07
00000000 A0404421 0C4739AE
>$ ERRLOG GET 08
00000000 A0403034 0C47378A
>$ ERRLOG GET 09
00000000 A0404421 0C47378A
>$ ERRLOG GET 0A
00000000 A0403034 0C473677
>$ ERRLOG GET 0B
00000000 A0404421 0C473677
>$ ERRLOG GET 0C
00000000 A0403034 0C47342F
>$ ERRLOG GET 0D
00000000 A0404421 0C47342F
>$ ERRLOG GET 0E
00000000 A0403034 0C473428
>$ ERRLOG GET 0F
00000000 A0404421 0C473428
>$ ERRLOG GET 10
00000000 A0403034 0C47333E
>$ ERRLOG GET 11
00000000 A0404421 0C47333E
>$ ERRLOG GET 12
00000000 A0403034 0C473323
>$ ERRLOG GET 13
00000000 A0404421 0C473323
>$ ERRLOG GET 14
00000000 A0801601 0C472E4E
>$ ERRLOG GET 15
00000000 A08014FF 0C472E4E
>$ ERRLOG GET 16
00000000 A0801701 0C472E4E
>$ ERRLOG GET 17
00000000 A0801601 0BF11465
>$ ERRLOG GET 18
00000000 A08014FF 0BF11465
>$ ERRLOG GET 19
00000000 A0801701 0BF11465
>$ ERRLOG GET 1A
00000000 A0802022 0BE87888
>$ ERRLOG GET 1B
00000000 A0802022 0BE875A1
>$ ERRLOG GET 1C
00000000 A0801001 0BBC58BC
>$ ERRLOG GET 1D
00000000 A0802022 0B506785
>$ ERRLOG GET 1E
00000000 A0802022 0B506559
>$ ERRLOG GET 1F
00000000 FFFFFFFF 0B48D980
>$ becount
F0000003

I already have tanthalium capacitors with me, I haven't read the log error through yet, but I will do that soon.

Is there anything else that is useful with an YLOD console that I can't do with external mode, but I can do with internal mode?

I've heard about getting precise timestamps, but is there anything else apart from that? (internal vs external)
I will read through the logs soon and see what the cause could be. I bet a lot of those logs will be me trying to start the console, but there's a chance they have not been overridden yet, especially since ERRLOG GET 1F returns 00000000 FFFFFFFF so maximum and minimum values (error or null value?)

Once again, thank you very much for your efforts, input and guides!
 
olokos said:
Here are the error logs I have received from the console, using external mode:

Code: 
V:\ps3syscon-master>python ps3_syscon_uart_script.py COM3 CXR
>$ auth
Auth successful
>$ ERRLOG
F0000006
>$ ERRLOG GET 00
00000000 A0403034 0C48F654
>$ ERRLOG GET 01
00000000 A0404421 0C48F654
>$ ERRLOG GET 02
00000000 A0403034 0C473BF5
>$ ERRLOG GET 03
00000000 A0404421 0C473BF5
>$ ERRLOG GET 04
00000000 A0403034 0C473A63
>$ ERRLOG GET 05
00000000 A0404421 0C473A63
>$ ERRLOG GET 06
00000000 A0403034 0C4739AE
>$ ERRLOG GET 07
00000000 A0404421 0C4739AE
>$ ERRLOG GET 08
00000000 A0403034 0C47378A
>$ ERRLOG GET 09
00000000 A0404421 0C47378A
>$ ERRLOG GET 0A
00000000 A0403034 0C473677
>$ ERRLOG GET 0B
00000000 A0404421 0C473677
>$ ERRLOG GET 0C
00000000 A0403034 0C47342F
>$ ERRLOG GET 0D
00000000 A0404421 0C47342F
>$ ERRLOG GET 0E
00000000 A0403034 0C473428
>$ ERRLOG GET 0F
00000000 A0404421 0C473428
>$ ERRLOG GET 10
00000000 A0403034 0C47333E
>$ ERRLOG GET 11
00000000 A0404421 0C47333E
>$ ERRLOG GET 12
00000000 A0403034 0C473323
>$ ERRLOG GET 13
00000000 A0404421 0C473323
>$ ERRLOG GET 14
00000000 A0801601 0C472E4E
>$ ERRLOG GET 15
00000000 A08014FF 0C472E4E
>$ ERRLOG GET 16
00000000 A0801701 0C472E4E
>$ ERRLOG GET 17
00000000 A0801601 0BF11465
>$ ERRLOG GET 18
00000000 A08014FF 0BF11465
>$ ERRLOG GET 19
00000000 A0801701 0BF11465
>$ ERRLOG GET 1A
00000000 A0802022 0BE87888
>$ ERRLOG GET 1B
00000000 A0802022 0BE875A1
>$ ERRLOG GET 1C
00000000 A0801001 0BBC58BC
>$ ERRLOG GET 1D
00000000 A0802022 0B506785
>$ ERRLOG GET 1E
00000000 A0802022 0B506559
>$ ERRLOG GET 1F
00000000 FFFFFFFF 0B48D980
>$ becount
F0000003
Click to expand...

There's not much to do here... The dreaded gpu fault strikes again :(
 
Hi there!

New here.

It's been a long time since I've posted in forums so please bear with me.

I have a BC PS3 60GB that has YLOD and I'm learning what can be done about it. I'm currently reading through the posts here and taking my time with the "Start here" guide and "FAQ".

It sounds most likely like I've bit off more than I can chew after being caught up in the NEC/TOKIN hype but I'm glad I have done some more research before jumping in to random repairs feet first.

I haven't attempted anything yet and I've only done a partial tear down of the unit I have so far. The warranty sticker and cover for the security screw were missing from the unit but other than that I don't think any repairs have been attempted yet.

I'm thinking about obtaining some equipment to be able to get the SYSCON error logs to properly diagnose the YLOD. I have soldering equipment but I don't have a TTL Serial adapter to be able to hook up to the motherboard. Would something like this work? I'm in Canada so I'm looking at Amazon.ca. I also found this but it's for 5 pieces and I don't think I would need more than one. Also going to pick up some male to female wires since I don't have anything like that yet.

I'm still working through the FAQ page before going too far but I might attempt a full tear down either tonight or over the next couple of days while I wait for the equipment that I need.

One other question I had is if anyone knows of a Discord server either for members here or folks who are working on this sort of thing. I know it's a big ask but I would probably benefit from some live assistance when attempting to obtain the error codes on this unit. Maybe there is a post about this somewhere. I'll browse around but if anyone can point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it.

Thanks in advance for any help!
 
olokos said:
One issue with the guide is that nowhere in the guide at page 192 it is said that the 5V PSU line has to be connected into the PS3 mobo.

I kept doing everything right, but connecting the 2 prongs into the PSU (12V line) instead of plugging in the white wire from PSU into the PS3 mobo.

That was really the problem - not connecting the white PSU wire into the PS3 that prevented me from reading the logs off the console,
Click to expand...
Yeah, I didn't think to mention that. Thank you for the feedback. I will add that in for sure!
 
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