Anyone ever fix their own PS3?

[Xmann]

My PS3 got the YLOD last week.   After doing some research, the issue seems to be an overheating problem.    I've searched here locally and my choices are paying a local shop over $100 for repair or there are several people on Craigslist that can do it for $50.    I really didn't want to pay $100 or trust handing over my PS3 to a stranger from Craigslist.

I was wondering, has anyone here done this themselves and been successful?    I thought about doing it myself, but taking it completely apart makes me very nervous.   I'm not mechanically inclined enough to completely disassemble the unit and put it back together.

Anyone here done this?

[Destructor]

Well, I once did my PS1 years and years ago, and that was pretty easy. But something tells me that the PS3 is just a wee bit more technical in nature.

Honestly, I'd say if you could find good directions, and see how complicated of a fix it is beforehand, you could determine if you could do it yourself or not.

[Kagath]

There was a series of Youtube vids from someone doing a complete disassemble to reassemble. The guy was an electrical engineer or something from the UK. Should be able to find it pretty easily. Like 10 vids or something.

[Xmann]

I did find it (but can't find it now).   He made it look easy, but i'm afraid i would get it apart and couldn't get it back together.

[hitbyambulance]

i have done a bit o' PS2 disassembling/reassembling. there were some fiddly cables in there...

[Eel Snave]

My boss disassembled his PS3. He said there were like 50 screws holding it together, and he wasn't even exaggerating.

[Xmann]

*UPDATE*

So i found someone on Craigslist that was advertising he could fix PS3 YLoD.   I was very nervous as i don't trust a stranger to drop off my system and let them fix it in their bedroom.

Well this gentleman actually runs a computer repair shop out of his basement and told me he could fix my problem.   So i took it over and sat with him as he worked on it on his workbench in his basement.   He was a nice guy who told me how he repairs PS3, 360, and Wii consoles as a spare job on the weekends.    Took him less than an hour and whamo, my PS3 is back working....all for $40. 

The issue was the thermal paste had dried up and it was over heating.   

So my suggestion to anyone who gets a YLoD, check Craigslist and try to find an honest person to fix your console without having to pay Sony $150 for something someone else can do alot cheaper.

[Kagath]

Nice. I'm thinking about picking up a slim and selling my 60gb soon. Working great but want something a little quieter for BD watching.

[corruptrelic]

My 60GB died around two months ago but not from the YLOD, it would power on and sometimes let me play for 10 minutes, then the screen would get a garbled look to it with artifacts going back and forth across the screen. You could still hear all the sound, though.

A guy from work who has fixed a lot of Xbox RROD took a look at it and said the graphics card was going and there was really no way to fix it.. so I managed to sell it "as is" (described the problem in full detail) for $80 on craigslist complete with the 500GB hard drive. The guy who bought it said his son fixed PS3's for fun so it'd give him something to do.

Now I'm debating whether or not I want to justify another $300+ on a new slim PS3.. miss playing MAG online more than any other game I've ever played!