PlayStation 3 Yellow Led of Death (YLOD)
Today I got a Yellow Led of Death on my PS3. The PS3 does not turn on and the all you see is the power led going fro Red to Green, then to Yellow, then you hear three fast beeps, and finaly the LED blinks Red and nothing else happens.
I seems that the only solution is to send the PS3 back to Sony. They will do it for free if your’s is still under warantee if not you’ll need to spend $150 USD. The RMA process should take about 10 days.
If this happens to you, and like me you have a Game disk inside the PS3, you’ll also find out that the eject button will not work, and you will not be able to remove your disk.
Some people reported that Sony did not send their games back with the new console, so I was worried about loosing an additional $50.
I found a way to eject the disk:
- Power off the PS3 on the main switch on the back of the console
- Press and hold the Eject button
- Turn on the main power switch
- The PS3 LED will go green and the fan will spin at max speed
- Wait a few seconds and press the eject button a couple of times, the disk should now eject
- watch the PS3 die after 30s or so…
This procedure did not fix my PS3 but at least I got my disk back before sending it to Sony for repair.
Let me know if this worked for you?
BigDiver 
it worked! thanks. u find out what the problem was?
thanks for the help!!!
I called Sony sent the PS3 and they sent me a new one without every explaining what really happened or why it happened!
Damn that doesn’t work for me. I even tried holding my PS3 upside down to get the disc out, but no luck. That yellow light comes on then all hopes lost. I lost my Killzone 2 :(. Well Sony will send it back, but from what I read the disc will come a while after I get a replacement unit. That just means I won’t be playing that game any time soon :(.
Doesn’t work for me either, have any other ideas?
Killzone 2 is a ps3 killer
yes so is killzone 3
Happened here too…
No ideas then, my PS3 is now fully functional so I cannot try the procedure again. When I first tested it it took something like 10s for the LED to flash, after the FAN was spinning at top speed. Then I pressed the eject several times and it popped out.
Is your fan speeding up?
Do you hear the disc spinning up?
Try to press and hold the Eject instead of just once or twice.
Good luck!
After reading the article, I feel that I need more info. Could you suggest some resources please?
If you are looking for PS3 YLOD repair contact me via my website. dwdpcrepair.com
Wow. My PS3 has the YLOD and this worked! It took about three tries, but suddenly the disk ejected, the green light stayed on for about 20 seconds instead of just 2 or three, and then I got the beeps, yellow light, and then the flashing red.
Thanks alot for the advice. I’ve called Sony and they said they would replace the PS3 and also give me another 12 months warranty free as compensation for the fact that the machine broke. Yay!
guys its so simple to fix yellow led of death. just take out your ps3’s mother boad out. get a hot gun and heat sink compount.. give 350 degree heat to prosseser for 15 sceconds.. it works. you can see full guid in you tube.. just sech yld fix. enjoy
Outstanding site.. I will definitely come back again:D
i think the power of death only happens to 60gb ones????
now im put off buying one (if thats the case!
Nah, I have a 20GB one and it did the exact same thing.
What did you end up buying?
no i have an 80gb and it happened to me yesterday
yeah i have a 40gb and it got the YLOD , 3 days ago. good thing im under warranty!
Tried that fix but ejecting the disc didnt work! Might just throw my ps3 out my window at this stage!
If you have the yellow light of death there is no quick fix you can do by pressing and holding buttons. The system has overheated and needs repair. The thermal paste needs to be replaced between the processors and heat sinc. You may need to reflow the processors as well. I have done the repairs on my own as well as other systems. If you would like your PS3 repaired feel free to contact me via email – dwdpcrepair@gmail.com
Yea the disk eject trick only works on the 60gb models. I have a release date 20gb model and I got the ylod a few days ago. Fixed it myself and got my game back.
Nah i t didint work. ps ive got a 60gb
I have a 40 gig model and it worked for me.
Same here. Exactly like he described.
My 40 gig ps3 got the ylod last week. I had it for a year and 3 months.
My 40gb ps3 got the ylod one month after warranty was up. Sony agreed to repair but if you mention the yellow light they will send you a replacement without ever trying to fix it. I got a refurbished one and had to format hard drive. Post above is right about replacing thermal paste for ps3’s w/ ylod. You can do it yourself with youtube videos -watch gilsky’s videos.
Had a rented movie stuck in there when i got the yellow light, this worked like a charm, now i dont have to pay blockbuster for the disc haha
i just got the ylod yesterday on my 60gb ps3 i have a 160gb hdd in it tho i was playing battlefield badcompany when i got it i tryed the disk eject trick didnt work looks like im calling sony:(
I was playing Battlefield : Bad Company when I got the ylod also. When I play it on the refurb model they sent me the fan goes on high the entire time, but the disk or system never get hot thought. I have had the refurbihed one for about 1 1/2 months and its going strong. Make sure your next ps3 stays well ventilated and hopefully it will withstand the test of time. The 60 gb models have ylod the most and sometimes on the refurb too, good luck to you!
Just figured out I had the YLOD after not playing it for a week. Well, at least I managed to get the disk out on the first try using this trick.
To be honest, I didn’t think this was going to work at first. Thank goodness it did though. Oh yeah, and of coarse thank you BigDiver.
i have a 60 gb and this didn’t work for me
my cod4 game is still in there =[
I got the ylod this morning, searched the internet and found that it may be an overheating issue so i found a vid tutorial on youtube and cleaned all the dust out of the system, when I plugged it back in it wouldn’t even turn on this time just flashing red led. So I searched some more and it looks like I will be sending it in to Sony plus 150 USD to get it fixed. My COD4 was stuck in there and the disk eject trick did not work. Since my warranty is up anyway, and I heard about people having problems getting there games back from Sony, I opened it up and removed the disk manually. Not to hard but you do need a small screwdriver set and patience. Good luck to all with this issue
it worked 4 me.. im stoked skate 2 is mine again thanks brother
my 60 gig got ylod this mournining it ate my resistance 2
It worked!!!
I have a 20GB PS3, and it died at 9am this morning as I was watching a music video on it. There was still a DVD stuck in it, Angel Season 5, and I can’t bear with the thought of losing that DVD, seeing as it belongs to a collector’s item box…
So, I Googled, found this, tried it out, and now my DVD is out.
Not going to Sony to get it fixed, though. There’s a guy in my country(Holland) who fixes this problem for a small amount of money. This way I won’t lose my save-data, either. Next time I’ll save that to my external hard-drive approx every week, just in case.
Anyway, I really recommend doing this to get out the disc. Thanks a lot to the person who posted this. You’re a genius!
I meant 40GB.
*sigh*
Guys my PS3 is a 80G bought in 2008, and it works on it perfectly.
According to the some of the comments the trick does not work on the 60Gb, but it works on 20Gb and 80Gb.
The forced eject doesn’t work for me 😦 (60 gb ps3)
Hopefully Sony’ll return the game stuck inside!
But, another question, maybe off topic, but I really hope someone can help.. I need to back up before sending to Sony. I’ve removed and placed the hdd in an external enclosure, but only in DiscTools (hope my translation from norwegian is correct) can I see it is connected, but it doesn’t appear in Finder… And what software should I use to transfer content to another external drive?
… I forgot to mention that I use mac with OS X 10.5.8 …
Major bummer!
I’ve found out that there’s no way to use the hdd in any other machine/enclosure because the disk is encrypted and the original machine is the only excisting hardware key… :((
That is true, the HD will only work in its original Ps3. You can find a third party repair on craigslist for cheaper than Sony and you get to keep original files. I bought a slim Ps3 cause I got the ylod and my refurb was running sooooooo loud. Sony will only send you a refurb.
I think this has more to do with what malfunctioned to cause YLOD than which system you have…. I’m not going to send in my PS3 to Sony. I bought this launch unit as pre-release. One of the very first sold anywhere. I have fixed YLOD twice now. Its a 60GB unit with all original parts. I’m thinking of upgrading fan after I have it fixed this time and maybe getting an intercooler, though I should just tap a hole in the back of a mini freezer and keep it in there. Heard there are better fans than what is installed and my fan does not function properly. This is the third YLOD I have gotten on this machine. I will prolly fix myself, Whats it going to hurt if you try anyways? worst case you send your brick in for a refurb to the tune of $150 whether you messed it up further or not… there is always the chance it will work…. Mine lasted three months since my last repair and this time I will use flux in conjuction with the reflow. Should help a lot
I would have tried to fix it if the warranty wasn’t valid anymore, but here in Norway, the consumer law gives us 5 years warranty (even on cell phones), no matter what Sony says. According to the service guy, I’ll get a new ps3 in a couple of weeks.
Thank you so much!!!!
mate, you are an actual legend, thank you so much just saved me like $50
Don’t waste money to find someone to fix it yet! It may be a minor issue that you can be fixed by yourself. Remember, you are not the only one to suffer this problem! Because I had help so many people to fix the same problem now. You are so lucky to be there. I share a guide for you – It make me like a pro to help my friends and many people. It is too expensive to send back to Sony repair if your machine is out of warranty!
I had solved the yellow / red lights flashing problems after bought this guide. The author of the book is really kind and helpful to his customers. May be you can buy it and share what you have learned !
PS3 Yellow Lights Fixing Guide : http://bit.ly/8fksGD
Stop trying to sell this lame guide. I have read this guide for free at another website and the fix it has does not work. Fix it through Sony or cheaper professional. I has the ylod and ended up getting a the new slim one. It is way quiter and does not not get near as hot because it uses newer technology. It also loads games faster and reads all discs quicker. This is the way to go if you can afford. I pawned my refurb unit from Sony for $260 and through in $40 to get a new one. @ years extra warranty was only $20 at Walmart. So now this bad boy is covered for 3 years!
I recently experienced the YLOD after attempting to turn my boyfriend’s PS3. I knew he was going to think that I did something to his game. I’m so happy that I found this blog and was able to remove the disk from console as per “BigDiver’s” instructions. Awaiting the UPS return box to send it to Sony for a warranty repair.
So I got my ps3 from my friend…fixed the YLOD once…worked for 3 months and thats the consensus for the solder reflow fix. I have heard of another way that is supposed to last longer.
Right now have my inglorious basterds Blu ray in the drive and cant get it out. why could not put a manual eject button like theyused to on the old computer cd-rom drives.
YLOD last night on my 60GB. It ate my MWF2 game and this did not work for me. thanks anyway.
I just tried it, after trying various other method. And to my surprise it worked, which i was glad about as i was getting to take the thing apart.
PS3 60gb
Hey, recently discovered this blog but I have to say that it looks sweet. I fully agree with your post. Have a good day, keep up the great work and I will definitely come back.I just got in to the BF BC2 Beta for free, check out this youtube video for instructions on how you can do it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeEGe5fIAXo
Thank you so much for that and thank god it worked sorry for the people that it didnt work for but i had a rented game stuck in there and i would have to pay 60 dollars for it and it wasnt even good it was Prototype
Amazingly… what you blogged about definitely got me excited! (ok i know you’ll reckon im a retard haha!) relaxing games haha! killmeimbored.com has them!
Doe’sent work on the launch 60gb.. i ‘ve tried….many times:(
God, thank you so much! My 2 year old 40 GB just YLODd, taking my copy of Red Dead Redemption down with it, until my wife found your advice. Truly a life saver. Pineapple. My favorite. ^^
OMG, thank you!
My PS3 got the YLOD with a rented blu-ray inside, you just saved me 30 bucks.
I dont care if my PS3 died from the fans going crazy as im sure it’s shot already and its a 3 year old 40 GB model.
PS3 slim 120 GB here i come!
omg ty so much Lollll SAVDED MEEE i was playing MW2 and when i joined my friends game it turned off. very nice on that (Y)
Yay, worked on the AUS 40GB fat version =) YLOD 2 years 3 months after purchase, 3 days after my mate who bought his around the same time.. Coincidence?
thanks u saved da game disc which not belongs to me XD
Ye man thx for the help. Wtf it was my friends game stuck in there when it happend so… Really pleased that i got it out so i dont have to ship it to sony with the his gamedisc in there. Fuck playstation. Ylod pisses me of. Havent heard any reports on ylod on the new slim version so i think i might aswell just buy that new and break the waranty breatch on my old one so i can fix the harddrive and might recover some of my savedata. However the only thing that really matter is my mw2 stats. Going to 20 straight days to earn 9th prestige. The stats are however saved on the online profile. Fortunatly ^^
I was desperate on getting the DVD out of the slot as it was a game which is owned by s.o. else. It worked in the first try on a 40 GB model.
Thanks a lot for the advice!
Dude awesome man i was worried about something happening to this disc because it was one of the complete series of BSG and without it thus it would no longer be a complete series. Huzzah, now off to buy a new one… ugh lol.
It worked on my ps3 slim (250 gig)
it worked man i almost lost modern warfare 2. thanks man.
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Thanks, I just got the YLOD last night and I have tried to fix it myself with You Tube, but it did not work. I also had my COD Black OPS game in it and with your help I got it out tonight. I really do believe that Sony does this for a reason. I have a 40 GB and it was running just find for the last 2 years now it is dead. I really don’t know if I will spend anymore money with Sony. Unless they give me a free system, I mean come on its not our fault that they put out some junk system. Remember Sony keep your customers happy and they will keep coming back.
yeh thanks. Mine died last nite on my birthday 😦 it was its 2nd birthday too ;( i got my black ops out thanks to your tip. am waiting for email back from sony cba to ring them tho i mite if i dont like wats in the email. mine was the first ones out but still it isnt old to be dead, my old ps1 and 2 still work like ten years on!
Got my disk back, thank you so much, you’re a god 🙂
Just got the YLOD the other day and it blows. Had it for almost 4 years and the eject button tricks aren’t working so I am currently taking disc drive apart with small screwdriver to retreive black ops. Already got the new slim and its way better if you have the funds. Sony expects us to pay half of that and wait 2 months for a fix?? no thanks
Dave, your previous post is similar to my story. I’ve already had 4 PS3 units from Sony under warranty or goodwill gesture. Rang them yesterday after the PS3 munched on my Black Ops disc.
They said they weren’t prepared to offer a replacement as a goodwill gesture, but they could offer me a ‘refurb’ only guaranteed for 3 months, cost £130. An appalling offer.
Looks like I’ll have to save my pennies and grap a Slim, and lose backwards compatibility on old PS2 games 😐
Thanx got my MW2 out
eject trick worked on my 40gb unit. sony is not yeilding on charging me $99 plus tax to repair/replace. WTF i want a new unit for free or close to it. oh yeah i’m out of warranty range but come on this is a defect! can anyone say “class action law suit”? where are the gamer/lawyers at up in here????
Hey thanks for the tips by the way.
You are awesome!! Thank you so much for this! My Black Ops game got stuck in my ps3. I went out and bought another and then my kids broke it. You just saved me from buying a 3rd copy!!!
It worked thank you
Thank you so much.Worked perfectly for me. You just got to keep hitting the eject button, and the disk should come out after the fan dies. =D
Your a genious, thankyou very much 😉
Thanks for the tip, apparently mine just got the YLOD aswell, but its not from overplaying it, mine has been stored for awhile so there is no way it fried from overheating, actually what caused mine to crash is PSN’s firmware update 3.61, within an hour of installing it, it died. I blame PSN for this, ive already contacted them.
It worked for me, thanks for the instrunctions:) ( I was really thinking that i’ve had lost the game, but the instrunctions were very helpful)
Worked for me! Thank you. Was holding it and it fired up and then had to release and press the eject button again for it to work. Thanks again for the tip, mine was a 160GB – not slim model.
Worked perfectly – had a rental disc in the PS3, so this was a BIG problem
THANKS VERY MUCH!
It worked for me, got my SSF4 game back! Gonna go buy a new PS3 Slim!
Thanks!
I hope it works I have FIFA 12 in there -.-
Got my disc thank god
This worked perfectly for me. You sir are a mother f***en god send!
Now to contact sony bout this….
Mate, seriously thankyou 🙂 this worked a treat to get my disc. gutted i will now have to pay for a repair but cheers fella
Thanks!! It worked!
Thanks bud all worked here got my black ops out of 40 GB fat model 🙂
The lod is caused by over heating of the game system a easy way to prevent this is to clean your ps3 the reason why is because dut and dirt collects on the air vent so it can’t breath then it over heats and your screwed. Ive had my ps3 for over 4 or 5 years and I haven’t gotten it because I clean it.
An intriguing discussion is definitely worth comment. I think that you should write more on this subject matter, it might not be a taboo matter but generally people don’t discuss such topics. To the next! Best wishes!!
Thanks man that trick worked and now my ps3 is back on. U saved me
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