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

oh boy oh boy this year is a disaster for the ps3 backwards compatible model every working ps3 i buy arrives faulty every single one people are starting to sell them as working by temporary making them work snapping photos and bang they can get away with it only managed to get some money back from them not supplying tacking number so got away with it but that was with 1/9 guess ive gotta start chipping up the rsx's
 
Yep, I only buy them if the warenty seal is intact, and working, I get assurances from the seller it's never been opened. I tend to pay about 100 pounds for these units and when I receive them I do an unboxing video and test in real time.

Once I verify its working I then remove the warranty seal with heat, so I remove it intact, and I then check it has its original tabs and look for signs to see if its been opened. This is all recorded and I have sent many back from eBay because the unit either didn't work, wasn't as described or it had been opened before.

I have always been able to get my money back and in some cases I was given a refund and told to keep the console.

So my advise is get reassurance it's working, seal intact and never been opened. This way you cover yourself and if they are not an honest seller they won't agree to the above.



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vyktormvmpay25 said:
Otherwise I will touch from now only cok002 untouched boards
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Untouched boards are hard to find I guess. Most consoles I've got from ebay or other sites are badly messed up. Seems everybody starts to watch youtube repair videos nowadays and then they try to repair stuff, which ends up almost beyond repair. So sad to see that many broken nintendo switches or playstations. Even the case gets often cracked like a coconut :D
 
That's why it needs to be untouched, I don't repair I just referbish and I buy faulty consoles purely for spares like the blu-ray drive. I can replace tokins and tag them on but I don't class myself as a repair person.

However over time I have accumulated around 30 backwards compatible motherboards so I recently got the hardware to read the syscon and I will be investing in a quality rework station. Hopefully I can do some Frankensteins but I know I will fail many times before I succeed.



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Timbo9876 said:
I wanted to spend about one thousand pounds, yep I'm from the UK, Surrey to be precise. For this I would want a rework station and everything that's required to reball. If that's not enough I will be happy to save up more because I want to give myself the best chance of success, this will help to pay for the equipment and hopefully make a profit on motherboards I had written off for parts.

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Well, you're not going to get a BGA rework station that's capable of handling the PS3 for less than $1000. I would recommend the AHCI Pro. That listing looks like a good deal, but it was just the first result I came across. So shop around. @Shawn Shakir can help you with the settings, he has a similar machine.

@NewRetroRepair has a modified IR6500 to works. He replaced the bottom heaters and rewired the thing to make it just capable of handling the PS3. It's under powered out of the box. He could tell you better than I how much the mods cost in addition to the $500 unit. And I think he has a profile that it working.

Both those units use the same PID controllers. Which you can buy off the shelf if you want to DIY a station from scratch. There are YT videos on that.

And if you're super cheap, there's my Ghetto setup. You could get setup and reballing for under $1000 using my approach, but I wouldn't recommend it. It takes a lot more hands on finesse. OTOH when you get the hang of it, it does work well. It has some advantages. For one, hot air controls the temperature better than IR - which can have hot spots on Black chips, which absorb more IR radiation than do reflective surfaces. Hot air heats everything equally to the set point. Meaning I have more control of the temperature. It can't overshoot unless I set it too high. The major downside is that it takes longer to heat and reflow the chip than a suitably powered (at least 2000W) IR station can.
 
Hi Felix,

I'm happy to save more and get the right equipment, I'm so busy with customising and refurbishing these consoles I just don't have the time to fiddle around making a work station.

When I see a jovy 8500 at a reasonable price I will look to purchase one of these, once I get this I will need to get everything else like the BGA stencil kit, I will watch as many videos of computer booter doing this as I can to obtain as much information as possible, I'm lucky I have 3 junk boards to practise on before I move onto the 25 that I will be doing syscon reads for soon, expect a complete noob to be asking lots of questions in the not to distant future!

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RIP-Felix said:
So guys. I haven't checked this thread in awhile. I was hoping others would step up and help out.
Click to expand...

This whole saga has been fascinating to me. It's been an eye-opening lesson in the propagation of misinformation. Once the genie was out of the bottle, it turned in to an infestation that needs constant tending. If you turn your back on it for even a few weeks, suddenly everyone everywhere (especially reddit) starts saying that every YLOD is the capacitors again.

Anyway, for the rework stations:

I use an ACHI IR-PRO-SC. It's fantastic because it's made almost entirely of "off the shelf" components, so it's infinitely repairable and modifiable. It doesn't hurt that it's crazy cheap (if you can find them anymore). The mod everyone was doing back in the day was to replace all the heater plates with Elstein plates. It's been awhile since I was researching everything to put my setup together, so I don't know if those are still a thing that you can find.

If you have a good quality hot air station already and want to go the cheapest route possible, the T-8280 has been the gold standard for affordable, large preheaters for over a decade.

edit: I posted this in the Frankenstein thread, but if anyone here is in the states and needs some practice boards, let me know. I'll send some out for just the cost of shipping. Total virgin G and H boards with bad 90nm RSX chips.
 
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squeept said:
@Timbo9876 every problem you're going to have is because you're using too much flux. There. Now you're a pro.
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Thats contradictory with an inner joke a friend and me had, it started many years ago the first time i started installing modchips in our PS2's and later other stuffs always related with consoles. I used to do the solder and technical job and he was "supervising me" (you know what means that, lol, looking over your shoulder and commenting)
Wel... everytime i had a problem with the soldering job he was saying "drop some flux"... and the fact is many times he was right, but he was always insisting so much in it that it was making me laught (and is imposible to solder while laughing, so we used to end laughing a lot while doing the solder job)
Actually, at some point we started telling it like if it was a motivational sentence, and we applyed to everything... if you have a bad day, health problems, your girlfriend, or whatever... the solution is always to "drop some flux" :D
12498046.jpg
 
sandungas said:
Thats contradictory with an inner joke a friend and me had, it started many years ago the first time i started installing modchips in our PS2's and later other stuffs always related with consoles. I used to do the solder and technical job and he was "supervising me" (you know what means that, lol, looking over your shoulder and commenting)
Wel... everytime i had a problem with the soldering job he was saying "drop some flux"... and the fact is many times he was right, but he was always insisting so much in it that it was making me laught (and is imposible to solder while laughing, so we used to end laughing a lot while doing the solder job)
Actually, at some point we started telling it like if it was a motivational sentence, and we applyed to everything... if you have a bad day, health problems, your girlfriend, or whatever... the solution is always to "drop some flux" :D
12498046.jpg
Click to expand...

Drop some flux! :mushroom:
 
￡452.63 60%OFF | ACHI IR6500 ACHI IR PRO SC BGA Rework Station Repairing Station Kit Upgrade from IR6000 IR9000 Infrared BGA Rework Station
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mLxmJya

Hi Filex, so there are two and the Achi pro seems it has a lot more power. The link to the one you sent.me isn't avaliable in the UK however this is from aliexpress.

It seems good for the price just over 800 pound, is it good enough?

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And I also found this (link below), is there some specific specs I need to be looking out for?

￡512.29 12%OFF | Infrared Bga Rework Station IR8500 V.2 BGA Machine IR Soldering Station Reballing Kit Motherboard Mobile Phone Chip Repairing
https://a.aliexpress.com/_m0KrwSw

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Just make sure it's big enough for the board, the PS3 motherboard is relatively huge. I've never used anything with smooth heating area, I assume that's just some kind of diffuser for plain old ceramic plates underneath. Probably sacrifices a little power to get a little more even heating? I think LY is pretty much the same brand as ACHI - they both just slap their branding on some stuff from the same factory. They've been around for awhile. PC 410 PID controller is a good sign that there's lots of easily repairable / upgradeable stuff under the hood.
 
Timbo9876 said:
￡452.63 60%OFF | ACHI IR6500 ACHI IR PRO SC BGA Rework Station Repairing Station Kit Upgrade from IR6000 IR9000 Infrared BGA Rework Station
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mLxmJya

Hi Filex, so there are two and the Achi pro seems it has a lot more power. The link to the one you sent.me isn't avaliable in the UK however this is from aliexpress.

It seems good for the price just over 800 pound, is it good enough?

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This one is probably what I would buy. I agree with squeept about the one with glass top. Will get in the way and reduce wattage a little. And also trap heat between the ceramics beneath. The advantage is that the flat surface is easier to clean. It's basically the same as a radiant heat kitchen stove.

I do like the idea of easier cleaning. But it comes down to wattage. If they are at ot under 2000W, get the one without the glass top. It'll transfer heat more efficiently. But for convenience the glass is nice. If its got around 2400W then it'll still have the horsepower needed regardless. So may as well get the glass one. Either would be fine.

I just don't know about ali express. I hear it's hit or miss sometimes. Reviews suggest there may be some issues with wiring and quality you may have to adress before it can be used safely.
 
Hello everyone, I'll let you know about my nec tokin capacitor repairs. My repairs on my CECHL failed. By wanting to remove the 6.3 v capacitors to replace them with 2.5 v, it no longer worked. I soldered in different ways but nothing changed. After a while, I lost my patience and banged the soldering iron on the motherboard in anger, which caused her death again. So I gave up on this one. On the other hand, I still wanted to manage to repair a console with a Ylod (probably caused by the nec tokin) for my own satisfaction. So I bought another PS3 (CECHK) that I paid very cheaply, with the same symptoms. I proceeded as follows: 1. In order to know if the failure is really caused by the nec tokin, before any disassembly, I applied to the back of the console, a session of 3-4 min with a hair dryer to warm up the capacitors. She started. 2. Despite its instability, I took the risk of flashing it to install a CFW 3. I then installed ps3 tools to access the error log and the diagnosis displayed the well-known errors 1002x29 and 1001x2, at this time there was almost no doubt about the malfunction of the nec tokin. 4. I waited long enough to be sure the capacitors had completely cooled, causing the YLOD. I opened the console but unlike the previous console I didn't want to completely remove the nec tokin, because I'm convinced that even if they no longer have the same numbers of microfarads, they still have a little bit. So I proceeded to the "piggyback" technique 5. I started by placing 2 capacitors (470 uf 2.5 v) next to the first nec OE108 of the RSX and 2 capacitors (470 uf 2.5 v) next to the first nec OE128 of the CELL (top side of the motherboard of course ). I reassembled the console to test and there, no need for a hair dryer to start it, they are stable on the XMB. Second test I launch a game (fantastic four) and I leave the cinematics on a loop (30min), it is always stable. Third test, I launch Motorstorm and barely arrived on the menu, it cuts. So my capacitors are not enough. 6. I dismantle the console again, I realize that one of the capacitors at the level of the CELL was badly welded, I resolder it. I take this opportunity to add 2 other capacitors (470 uf 2.5v) next to the second nec tokin RSX. I reassemble the console and I always test with Motorstorm, I arrive at the menu, I start a game, it works, but unfortunately 3-4 minutes later, it goes out, damn it. 7. I disassemble again, and I decide to add 2 capacitors (bottom side of the motherboard) like this photo at the RSX. I also take this opportunity to add a capacitor (top side) on the second Nec tokin of the CELL. I reassemble the console to test and there drum roll. I run Motorstorm, start a game and leave the game on the graphics engine for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 mins, no stability issues, yessss. Then I launch a slightly more graphically complex game (Assassin's Creed) and I played for more than 3 hours with no problems. I think I'm on the right track. I'll try with even more complex games like Uncharted 3. Anyway thank you all for your experience.
 

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For North American folks here (or near the same contient), I spotted what looks like a good deal, a CECHE01 (BC model) with random YLoD, seems likely to be the capacitor : https://www.ebay.com/itm/393953372468
If someone purchase it, fix it, let me know !
Unfortunelatey the shipping to Europe cost more than the console, so I won't do it.
 
Yep, I'm a fan of this method, when a game starts but fails after "X" amount of time I have always added 2 caps to the CPU and its always been fine. I use Panasonic 470uf 6.3v

Nice job and well done, I didn't realise about the error log in ps3 xploit so that's something I will be looking into as well as doing some Syscon reads soon.

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Djudju said:
Hello everyone, I'll let you know about my nec tokin capacitor repairs. My repairs on my CECHL failed. By wanting to remove the 6.3 v capacitors to replace them with 2.5 v, it no longer worked. I soldered in different ways but nothing changed. After a while, I lost my patience and banged the soldering iron on the motherboard in anger, which caused her death again. So I gave up on this one. On the other hand, I still wanted to manage to repair a console with a Ylod (probably caused by the nec tokin) for my own satisfaction. So I bought another PS3 (CECHK) that I paid very cheaply, with the same symptoms. I proceeded as follows: 1. In order to know if the failure is really caused by the nec tokin, before any disassembly, I applied to the back of the console, a session of 3-4 min with a hair dryer to warm up the capacitors. She started. 2. Despite its instability, I took the risk of flashing it to install a CFW 3. I then installed ps3 tools to access the error log and the diagnosis displayed the well-known errors 1002x29 and 1001x2, at this time there was almost no doubt about the malfunction of the nec tokin. 4. I waited long enough to be sure the capacitors had completely cooled, causing the YLOD. I opened the console but unlike the previous console I didn't want to completely remove the nec tokin, because I'm convinced that even if they no longer have the same numbers of microfarads, they still have a little bit. So I proceeded to the "piggyback" technique 5. I started by placing 2 capacitors (470 uf 2.5 v) next to the first nec OE108 of the RSX and 2 capacitors (470 uf 2.5 v) next to the first nec OE128 of the CELL (top side of the motherboard of course ). I reassembled the console to test and there, no need for a hair dryer to start it, they are stable on the XMB. Second test I launch a game (fantastic four) and I leave the cinematics on a loop (30min), it is always stable. Third test, I launch Motorstorm and barely arrived on the menu, it cuts. So my capacitors are not enough. 6. I dismantle the console again, I realize that one of the capacitors at the level of the CELL was badly welded, I resolder it. I take this opportunity to add 2 other capacitors (470 uf 2.5v) next to the second nec tokin RSX. I reassemble the console and I always test with Motorstorm, I arrive at the menu, I start a game, it works, but unfortunately 3-4 minutes later, it goes out, damn it. 7. I disassemble again, and I decide to add 2 capacitors (bottom side of the motherboard) like this photo at the RSX. I also take this opportunity to add a capacitor (top side) on the second Nec tokin of the CELL. I reassemble the console to test and there drum roll. I run Motorstorm, start a game and leave the game on the graphics engine for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 mins, no stability issues, yessss. Then I launch a slightly more graphically complex game (Assassin's Creed) and I played for more than 3 hours with no problems. I think I'm on the right track. I'll try with even more complex games like Uncharted 3. Anyway thank you all for your experience.
Click to expand...
Do you have oscilloscope or you add/exchange blind parts as me. I did it blind as I got issue "1002" after few days in 4 or 5 units
2 cok002 and about 3 slims.
Caps were failing because of my mistake during reball I did not use aluminium foils to cover them or there was oxidation inside them. All units were acting same, working few days after reball both cell and rsx. Later like after few days none were started to work all magic ylod. I did uart diag on all 1002 was the first and most error. I wish I had oscilloscope before right I've started all those units. Those are my errors and while I reball process desoldered gnd side of one or more caps lead to errors, probably I don't know, some weak/weat board smells like old humidity environments and those will fail in time for sure.
Again doing repair on these I will buy for sure scope from now, not only for this type of repair but for more further investigations is well needed tool.
Please guys stop doing it wrong.
 
vyktormvmpay25 said:
Do you have oscilloscope or you add/exchange blind parts as me. I did it blind as I got issue "1002" after few days in 4 or 5 units
2 cok002 and about 3 slims.
Caps were failing because of my mistake during reball I did not use aluminium foils to cover them or there was oxidation inside them. All units were acting same, working few days after reball both cell and rsx. Later like after few days none were started to work all magic ylod. I did uart diag on all 1002 was the first and most error. I wish I had oscilloscope before right I've started all those units. Those are my errors and while I reball process desoldered gnd side of one or more caps lead to errors, probably I don't know, some weak/weat board smells like old humidity environments and those will fail in time for sure.
Again doing repair on these I will buy for sure scope from now, not only for this type of repair but for more further investigations is well needed tool.
Please guys stop doing it wrong.
Click to expand...
Hello, no I don't have an oscilloscope so indeed it's a bit blind but not completely because as I said, before any manipulation, I test the hair dryer and if it starts there chances are it's a nec tokin problem. And then I run the syscon error log which gives me the codes 1001=CPU and 1002=RSX (in general)
 
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