Yellow Flashing Light on PlayStation 3

Many owners of the PlayStation 3 (PS3) are reporting that their machines are dead with a flashing yellow light, called “The Yellow Light of Death” by gamers. When the flashing yellow light shows, the machine will no longer work. Sony admits that many tens of thousands of PS3 have failed this way since PS3 came to market in early 2007.

It is believed that the “The Yellow Light of Death” is limited to the 60GB model when PS3 were sold at launch time. Media and user requests to Sony about the failure rate and affected models have been met with repeated refusal by Sony, claiming that it is sensitive information.

Sony states that: “The phrase “yellow light of death” has been adopted by certain members of the online community to describe the situation in which PS3 systems have shut down following the illumination of the yellow light on the PS3’s front panel. The yellow light indicator is simply a non-specific fault indicator that can be triggered in a range of different circumstances.”

What is bad is that this failure typically occurs after about 18 to 24 months after purchase, just after the one year warranty period expires. So the consumer is left with a dead machine that costed a lot of money. If it is out of warranty, in the US, Sony charges $150 to fix it.

BBC’s Watchdog reports that some repair shops have found that heating up specific parts of the circuit board will fix the “The Yellow Light of Death” failure. Heating the circuit board up to allow the solder joints to melt may correct some bad connections from poor solder job when the circuit board was initially made. Sony has countered that the heating procedure is amaturish and is not a recommended pratice to fix the problem.Computer Repair, Computer Service, Computer Help, Computer Fix, PC Repair, Laptop Repair