I have done an in-depth analysis of my error logs, marking how many times an error is within the logs and what is the order of it:
Code:
A0403034 10x most recent:
Fatal Booting Error 034 (RSX/CELL Communication Error) which occurred at step no. 40, before the Power On Sequence completed.
3034 errors are known to be caused by BGA Defects (among other issues). See Error Code section below for more details.
A0404421 10x in-between previous 3034:
?
A0801601 2x shortly before above errors:
?
A08014FF 2x similar timing as above:
?
A0801701 2x similar timing as above:
?
A0802022 4x before above:
?
A0801001 1x 4th oldest:
?
00000000 FFFFFFFF 0B48D980 1x oldest:
The timestamps are in UTC format (number of elapsed seconds since 2000). If the battery/cell was empty or removed when the error was triggered the timestamp is recorded as FFFFFFFF
I did replace the battery and the console was running fine for a few months.
I know the meaning of the first and the last logs.
Should I try replacing the capacitors first or should I go with a reflow?
Previous user had a fairly common RSX failure, a YLOD probably requiring a reball to fix. Pehaps they tried the hairdrier trick to temporarily get the console to boot and work long enough to sell it. That explains the string of 3034+4421 errors at different timestamps. .
3034 (RSX defect requiring reball)
4421 (common error associated with 3034)
Someone attempted a reflow, which wasn't effective. Now the errors seem to suggest the CPU was damaged. Perhaps they were too aggressive with the heat gun, causing a CPU BGA defect.
1601 = BE Livelock Detection. "A Livelock is a situation where a request for an exclusive lock is denied repeatedly, as many overlapping shared locks keep on interfering each other. The processes keep on changing their status, which further prevents them from completing the task. This further prevents them from completing the task."
1701 = BE Attention
14FF = Check Stop
Then they went to town on the console with a heat gun destroying the CPU thermal sensor (which is near the RSX).
1200 = BE Thermal Sensor
I wouldn't hold out much hope for that console. I'd check the thermal sensor to see if it was blown off it's pad or moved. If not then you may need to replace it. Then you could try a CPU reball.
Well it's good practice for you. There is some useful information we could use for the forum. becount will tell us how much use the console had before this happened. That'll help us figure out how long these consoles last before the BGA craps out. So I would encourage you to do it.
But yeah, this console needs reballed for sure. Your errorlog is telling the whole story. You initially had DVE (802022) and CPU VRM instability (801001). That's common when the RSX_VDDIO balls are affected. You can confirm this by pressing on that corner of the chip (pressure test) and the console boots. It doesn't alway work, but doesn't mean it's not a BGA defect if it doesn't boot.
I theorize the reason 1001 errors occur in this precarious lead-up to a full on crack is related to unstable impedance of the BGA as solder cracks propagating and get close to a full on crack/break. When that happens the console will teeter on the edge of working and not working. If it happens when the console is on, you'll get a BE Attention error (1701) caused by a checkstop error (14FF), livelock condition (1601), or PLL unlock (1301). Thereafter the defect gets picked up during bittraining in POST (40 3034 / 40 4xxx errors).
Focus on RSX for now. VDDIO BGA is most likely the cause of that DVE error. Reflows suck, they don't last and put the MB through thermal cycles that limit it's future viability for rework (pads start poping off, layers delaminate, etc). You need to reball if you want to do it right, but we should do some more tests to confirm.
Read this post. I suggest measuring resistance at the points on the MB for the 7 RSX voltages. You don't need to have it plugged in. We're just reading the resistance to GND. Note that VDDC is supposed to be low impedance. So 1-5 ohms is normal. Anything less than 0.5 is a short.
it's from an RSX, I know its lithograph, but what happened to it for sure was as Felix said, it was the only contact with little consumption, making it difficult for the chip to work and probably increasing its energy, which must have caused the cause an increase in temperature, until, during the cooling of the chip, the complete rupture of the BGA is heard.
I don't recommend reflow, do a reballing directly or try to turn it on by pressing both chips hard at the same time, in order to make contact between the broken BGA's, turn it on or keep it for a few seconds (about 3 to 5 or more) before the YLOD , do a direct reballing, no reflow, this will only damage the MB in addition to being able to swell the chips/MB or loosen the UV ink that protects the board.
it's from an RSX, I know its lithograph, but what happened to it for sure was as Felix said, it was the only contact with little consumption, making it difficult for the chip to work and probably increasing its energy, which must have caused the cause an increase in temperature, until, during the cooling of the chip, the complete rupture of the BGA is heard.
If you did not guess it, I'm sitting here whit a fat PS3 that is blinking read directly when turned on (within 1-2s).
Long story short my kids received an old PS3 from a relative. The box have been un-powered and unused for the last +5years. We got it for free, Yeey what a joy, this came with no games an only one controller.
Me then as the person I am, was thinking back on my old Xbox (first gen) and wondered is this PS3 is "hackable". So googled a bit and found information how you install custom firmware and Evilnat Cobra(4.88.2).
Did this mod and downloaded some backups to test with. It looked like it was working as intended but during one of the test game the PS3 shutdown abruptly and was blinking read.
Restarted the console and it looked ok. I was thinking that this could be due to "instability" in the software mod. But I had also seen info during my search for the hack that it is not uncommon that the heat-paste dry-out on these machines and need to be replaced.
This should not be a big deal for me as I have bought and put together a great deal of PC's over the years so to clean out and put new heat-paste would not be a big deal. Also in the same time I was thinking that I could clean the inside as I know how computers look after some years of use.
When the kids started playing this one game I noticed there was no sound from the game. I had not noticed this the previous evening when I tested the console as kids was in bed and I had turned of all sound on the TV to not wake them, so don't know if it was broken or not.
Anyway I did not really think more about this then, and in my mind I blamed it to be due to "a bad backup" and it did not really bother the kids so they started playing on it.
Now I do not know the exact amount of hours used, but it is for sure not more then 8h over 2 days that it was used. But it shutdown in middle of play with red blinking light and it refuses to power back on now.
According to the kids they did not see that it was blinking or beeping anything before it turned off (but this they could have missed).
I have a background in trying to fix stuff and therefore I just had to start to google about the issue.
Maybe someone have seen this before And as soon as I started to search, memory came back to me that yes maybe I have heard about some issues with the PS3 and xbox360 when they launched some years back.
While searching I found lots of stuff how to "fix it", starting with hairdryers and heat-guns, then we got into baking ovens and then lastly I found this "ultimate" fix NEC/TOKIN tips.
I as most others when I found NEC/TOKIN thought YES, nice, this is the thing to do(as it is easier then reflow). But something in me was still not satisfied as something did not feel right.
So continued to search and I came across this "small" tread (currently 231 pages) that I started reading.
Then this tread started moving into the SYSCON checking, witch in my opinion is of courrse the correct way to go.
(In my line of work I'm doing troubleshooting to some specific products and there is nothing more irritating then when colleges/customers have been exchanging multiple parts to try to fix an issue and they do not have any good theory behind the part exchanges.
These are products that we are developing and therefor we have all the diagnostics tools and software available and therefore we should not need to guess, but still there are cases when we simply can't understand an issue to 100%).
As in most cases my new gained insight in PS3's (from this forum) came a bit too late. If I would have known about the PS3 advance toolbox I would have dumped the error log directly when I received this console, and the second time when it first time turned of blinking read in the middle of a game play.
Now I'm was sitting here trying to remember how many times I have tried to power it on and in this way bumped out one or more rows of error logs.
Somewhere in the middle of his tread I was very close in ordering a TTL cable, but as I kept on reading my hope then decreased to the point that I'm simply thinking it is worth the effort.
The engineer in me is for sure eager to know what my error log looks like, but still I'm a bit afraid that it will tell me that I need a reball/flow ...
10 years back I would for sure have built a reflow/reball station similar to RIP-Felix's just to prove that I can do it this, but in these days I will just not start something like that anymore. Due to family and other obligations ...
Anyway, only for the sake of it and to give something back to the community (statistics) I ordered the TTL cable and pulled out the log so that someone could hopefully get something out of this.
So here it is:
>$ becount
becount
Bringup : 2405 times
Shutdown: 2275 times
Power-on: 239day 15hour 44min 20sec
[mullion]$
So unfortunately as I'm interpreting this, it is one of the thing I least wanted to see 3034 error ...
do not know what to say about 4402 ...
Now almost two weeks after this story started I'm not able to exactly say witch of these errors was the last one after it was not possible to power on anymore.
I guess that it was 2022/01/31 18:23:20. But somehow the times and dates do not really match how I remember this to have played out.
It was for sure 31 it happened and it was in the evening, but if that is the case there was a lot more errors shutdowns the previous day that I did not noise and that I feel is strange. I also remember that I directly (max 1 minute)tried to power it back on when the kids shouted that it turned of but that is not seen in the log at this point ...
I do not know if the installing of "custom firmware and Evilnat Cobra" could cause some error lines as that was done the 30 and the kids did not have any access to the console that day.
PS3 data
Model number: CECHG03
MB: SEM-001
manufacturing data: Q4 2007
If you did not guess it, I'm sitting here whit a fat PS3 that is blinking read directly when turned on (within 1-2s).
Long story short my kids received an old PS3 from a relative. The box have been un-powered and unused for the last +5years. We got it for free, Yeey what a joy, this came with no games an only one controller.
Me then as the person I am, was thinking back on my old Xbox (first gen) and wondered is this PS3 is "hackable". So googled a bit and found information how you install custom firmware and Evilnat Cobra(4.88.2).
Did this mod and downloaded some backups to test with. It looked like it was working as intended but during one of the test game the PS3 shutdown abruptly and was blinking read.
Restarted the console and it looked ok. I was thinking that this could be due to "instability" in the software mod. But I had also seen info during my search for the hack that it is not uncommon that the heat-paste dry-out on these machines and need to be replaced.
This should not be a big deal for me as I have bought and put together a great deal of PC's over the years so to clean out and put new heat-paste would not be a big deal. Also in the same time I was thinking that I could clean the inside as I know how computers look after some years of use.
When the kids started playing this one game I noticed there was no sound from the game. I had not noticed this the previous evening when I tested the console as kids was in bed and I had turned of all sound on the TV to not wake them, so don't know if it was broken or not.
Anyway I did not really think more about this then, and in my mind I blamed it to be due to "a bad backup" and it did not really bother the kids so they started playing on it.
Now I do not know the exact amount of hours used, but it is for sure not more then 8h over 2 days that it was used. But it shutdown in middle of play with red blinking light and it refuses to power back on now.
According to the kids they did not see that it was blinking or beeping anything before it turned off (but this they could have missed).
I have a background in trying to fix stuff and therefore I just had to start to google about the issue.
Maybe someone have seen this before And as soon as I started to search, memory came back to me that yes maybe I have heard about some issues with the PS3 and xbox360 when they launched some years back.
While searching I found lots of stuff how to "fix it", starting with hairdryers and heat-guns, then we got into baking ovens and then lastly I found this "ultimate" fix NEC/TOKIN tips.
I as most others when I found NEC/TOKIN thought YES, nice, this is the thing to do(as it is easier then reflow). But something in me was still not satisfied as something did not feel right.
So continued to search and I came across this "small" tread (currently 231 pages) that I started reading.
Then this tread started moving into the SYSCON checking, witch in my opinion is of courrse the correct way to go.
(In my line of work I'm doing troubleshooting to some specific products and there is nothing more irritating then when colleges/customers have been exchanging multiple parts to try to fix an issue and they do not have any good theory behind the part exchanges.
These are products that we are developing and therefor we have all the diagnostics tools and software available and therefore we should not need to guess, but still there are cases when we simply can't understand an issue to 100%).
As in most cases my new gained insight in PS3's (from this forum) came a bit too late. If I would have known about the PS3 advance toolbox I would have dumped the error log directly when I received this console, and the second time when it first time turned of blinking read in the middle of a game play.
Now I'm was sitting here trying to remember how many times I have tried to power it on and in this way bumped out one or more rows of error logs.
Somewhere in the middle of his tread I was very close in ordering a TTL cable, but as I kept on reading my hope then decreased to the point that I'm simply thinking it is worth the effort.
The engineer in me is for sure eager to know what my error log looks like, but still I'm a bit afraid that it will tell me that I need a reball/flow ...
10 years back I would for sure have built a reflow/reball station similar to RIP-Felix's just to prove that I can do it this, but in these days I will just not start something like that anymore. Due to family and other obligations ...
Anyway, only for the sake of it and to give something back to the community (statistics) I ordered the TTL cable and pulled out the log so that someone could hopefully get something out of this.
So here it is:
>$ becount
becount
Bringup : 2405 times
Shutdown: 2275 times
Power-on: 239day 15hour 44min 20sec
[mullion]$
So unfortunately as I'm interpreting this, it is one of the thing I least wanted to see 3034 error ...
do not know what to say about 4402 ...
Now almost two weeks after this story started I'm not able to exactly say witch of these errors was the last one after it was not possible to power on anymore.
I guess that it was 2022/01/31 18:23:20. But somehow the times and dates do not really match how I remember this to have played out.
It was for sure 31 it happened and it was in the evening, but if that is the case there was a lot more errors shutdowns the previous day that I did not noise and that I feel is strange. I also remember that I directly (max 1 minute)tried to power it back on when the kids shouted that it turned of but that is not seen in the log at this point ...
I do not know if the installing of "custom firmware and Evilnat Cobra" could cause some error lines as that was done the 30 and the kids did not have any access to the console that day.
PS3 data
Model number: CECHG03
MB: SEM-001
manufacturing data: Q4 2007
Great writeup! Useage seems to be right on track for BGA/bump failure. The smoking gun is the 3034. There is often (but not always) a 4xxx data error associated with it (come in a pair). In your case a 4402. They always occur at the same timestamp. So thats what's up with that error.
You need a reball, as you have correctly diagnosed yourself. Nice sleuthing!
I totally get the decision not to continue. It's an involved process that takes hours to complete, which you cannot take breaks in between. So yeah, with family responsabilities it's a judgment call.
I get what you say about guessing and replacing components blind. It earks me when I see people doing this on YT, having not tried basic troubleshooting with a multimeter first. But you know, we all started somewhere and learned as we went. I cringe reading my comments when I joined the forum. But that was my process of discovery and the price of education. You gotta try, failing is part of the fun. It makes the wins that much sweeter!
I've got a CECHA001 PS3 which was starting up and working fine on many of the games and no overheating, but with games like Grant Turismo 6 i would get ylod almost instantly during gameplay.
This looked like a typical Capacitor failing issue so i replaced all the capacitors from one side of the board.
Started up GT6 again and it worked! Played for 1 hour with no ylod.
For 2-3 months, even though i had 0 ylods, occasionally the game would stuck on loading before starting a race. I thought that this could be due to corruption in the data files and not because of hardware failure.
Unfortunately yesterday after having one of those freezes again, i turned off the ps3 using the power button and from that point i get almost instant ylod when starting the console (1-2 second green light, yellow light and then constant blinking red light.
Any ideas what could cause this? The PS3 worked fine for almost 3 months so the capacitors cant be shorting right?
Would it somehow help if i bridge the positives?
Maybe the rest 4 capacitors from the other side failed completely? Should i replace those too?
Yeah sure doing it later today as got 2 more ps3 60gb to fix as this was apart of a joblot amd hopefully i can fix them all delid them and then keep them for couple weeks before selling them and obviously keeping one
Ive just done finishing another ps3 with caps but still gave ylod so then i gave the rsx a reflow with flux pleass note i did use a reball machine so the motherboard isnt warping and heated it, and now working so could of had bad bga bumps and bad toking so if anyone has made a attempt of nectokin replacement try a reflow but with flux as doing it bare can damage it alot and dont do it to long as your only connecting only 1 or 2 possibly cracked solder balls, also ive notics if you have a good or dying bad board of solder ball connections is when i purchased 2 fully working ps3 on worked without heat sinks and the other instant ylod and with heatsink woking fine this means its on its way for a reball with the other two im replairing i might put some hot glue on each corner of the cpu and gpu and half way like the xbox 360 did as that seemed to fix there problems for the jaspers but its worth a try i guess as i feel like the cpu and gpu and like standing on soap on a bath trying not to fall till the heat sink and frame has a little metal piece stopping it but thats 2mm apart around
Is not ilegal because a photo of the product is not going to reveal any of the circuitry design inside it, so there is no patent broken or any other problem about posting a photo, we are interested in the overal look just to figure what your friend ken did
To be honest, what you said is unbeliebable, lets say he designed his own GPU at home in a PC program, and then what ? he sent the design to TSMC and asked them to build 1 unit for him ?, or he built it in his backyard with a chisel and a hammer ?
To me it looks your friend ken is too much fantasious and you are believening him too much
Is not ilegal because a photo of the product is not going to reveal any of the circuitry design inside it, so there is no patent broken or any other problem about posting a photo, we are interested in the overal look just to figure what your friend ken did
To be honest, what you said is unbeliebable, lets say he designed his own GPU at home in a PC program, and then what ? he sent the design to TSMC and asked them to build 1 unit for him ?, or he built it in his backyard with a chisel and a hammer ?
To me it looks your friend ken is too much fantasious and you are believening him too much
My friend is not ken his names parker, and parker knows ken because he told me long time ago around 2013 he bumped into him took a picture and told him "please tell me why the phatty ps3 ylod " and in a nervous laughter ken said "ill invite you to a coffee and we can go from there " shook his hand then rest is history
I have a feeling all the fatty ps3 will he all dead by 2030 as the capacitors are old barely get used so it shocks the capacitors and fuses the boards make a cracking sound even when u lift them to delid them more dead ps3s are appearing and this yeah seems to be a high rate of ps3 deaths as theres been load on reddit, so what im trying to do for s replace as much of stuff on the motherboard like new hdmi and try replacs them tiny capacitors and gett a bigger ohms etc and fewer the capacitors on the same rail if you know what i mean
Thank you so much for your detailed description!
This really helps me and saves the hassle of replacing the tokins, I already have them with me, but that will be the next step if reballing doesn't help.
I will go straight for reballing by a professional of all the chips with new balls on the mobo. I think the first post of this thread contains enough information that will be helpful during reballing, but I think they might handle it even without, we'll see.
I did execute becount as the last command in my errorlog, but the number seems unbelievable when converted into decimal.
Is not ilegal because a photo of the product is not going to reveal any of the circuitry design inside it, so there is no patent broken or any other problem about posting a photo, we are interested in the overal look just to figure what your friend ken did
To be honest, what you said is unbeliebable, lets say he designed his own GPU at home in a PC program, and then what ? he sent the design to TSMC and asked them to build 1 unit for him ?, or he built it in his backyard with a chisel and a hammer ?
To me it looks your friend ken is too much fantasious and you are believening him too much
Thank you so much for your detailed description!
This really helps me and saves the hassle of replacing the tokins, I already have them with me, but that will be the next step if reballing doesn't help.
I will go straight for reballing by a professional of all the chips with new balls on the mobo. I think the first post of this thread contains enough information that will be helpful during reballing, but I think they might handle it even without, we'll see.
I did execute becount as the last command in my errorlog, but the number seems unbelievable when converted into decimal.
I also got F0000003 as an answer to everything when I had not got internal mode working yet. First time I tried internal something went wrong and I needed to revert all the writes for enabling internal I had done and then redo. After that it started working ...
with the other two im replairing i might put some hot glue on each corner of the cpu and gpu and half way like the xbox 360 did as that seemed to fix there problems for the jaspers but its worth a try i guess as i feel like the cpu and gpu and like standing on soap on a bath trying not to fall till the heat sink and frame has a little metal piece stopping it but thats 2mm apart around
