My buddy wants to jump online and play, so he texts me and I fire up the PS3, we play for an hour or two, and then I properly shut the system down. No problem-o.

Later in the night, I decide I want to jump back online and play some more, so I fire up the PS3 and jump online. I'm playing for about 10 min or so, and then all of the sudden my PS3 randomly turns off by itself and the power light starts blinking red. I turn the system back on and it says "system wasn't properly shutdown (or something like that), going into system recovery/reboot mode (or something like that)" and so everything appears to boot up normal/fine. I'm playing this time for like 3-5 minutes and again the system just shuts itself off all by itself again and blinks red.

I hop online and discover something "YLOD" (yellow light of death), and this seems to share the same symptoms that I'm experiencing (even tho I don't understand because the light is clearly red, not yellow). But some posters/commenters said it could be due to overheating of the unit. So I let the system sit for an hour or so and then try firing it back up again... same thing... automatically shuts off by itself and it did it twice.

So... now I'm pretty sure I have a serious issue on my hands. I've done some preliminary research, and it looks like Sony is going to charge ~ $170 to repair whatever might be wrong with the unit. Apparently Sony is also running a deal where you can apply for a credit card and then purchase a new PS3 unit for $199 w/ a game. So... if I have to pay $170, I might as well fork out the extra money to receive $50 game for only an additional $20, and I receive a new unit. My only concerns at this point are (1) forking out $200+ for a PS3 when the PS4 is right around the corner and (2) losing all my game saves, game files, etc.

Anyone else have any experience with this? I've heard numerous stories about XBox's red circles of death, but I've never once heard anything about Playstations until doing a little Google searching last night. :-/

I'd pay the $170 then trade in the console when you buy the 4. Either that or try and sell it before the 4 comes out to recoup some of your money.

Mine stopped reading DVDs/games after about 3 years. It would turn on and the prompt screen would come up (games/dvd/network/etc) but it simply would not read a disc. No associated light change, either.

I'd go with RDI's suggestion......seems like the best option

You can sometimes snag consoles on Craigslist for cheap. You could probably also sell your old one on there. There are tinkerer's out there that will scoop up broken stuff and fix them/resell

You might try putting a small fan at the back of the machine while playing. A friend of my sons's did that and it worked well.

Was your ps3 named Zed?

[video=youtube;y7Yp2L6c2KM][/video]

or

[video=youtube;BxWDD4TV0Mo][/video]

Buy a Mac.

Wally;1436266 wrote:You might try putting a small fan at the back of the machine while playing. A friend of my sons's did that and it worked well.

I still have the original.ps3. And ive had to do this. And it works. Mine gets hot and has turned off too.

Well... my pocket is now $350 lighter. Just went and purchased a 250 GB PS3 on my lunch-hour. Would have been about $290 something after tax, but the guy talked me into buying the 3-year warranty (pretty easy sell when I'm coming in with a BROKEN unit to BUY a new one :-/).

Part of me really thinks while it's an issue, anyone who's handy could probably easily fix this. But, since I'm not good with opening things up and messing around with them, I figured it would just be cheaper to purchase a new one. The guy told me it was going to be a flat $150 just to have them even look into it and diagnosis what the issue might even be. Then there would likely be the cost to fix it. Then you still don't have the reliability that nothing with happen, simply because it's an old machine, and something else could go wrong or it could just start experiencing the same issue. So... I decided to just bite the bullet. I figure to get it fixed, I'd probably be looking at $150 for the flat rate + an extra $100 for labor or what not that Sony would likely charge = about $250. So, I'm looking at it as I spent an extra $100 to have peace of mind, regarding a new unit, and then $60 bucks or whatever for the 3-year warranty is practically the price of a new video game.

What kills me is the PS4 release is so close... but apparently the next Gen consoles won't be backwards compatible, so all that money tossed at games would then be a sunk cost.

:-/

Two things where does your ps3 sit in your house. It best to be in an open environment where it can breath and not in a tv stand with an enclosed back. I wouldn't pay the 170$ I would take it to a repair shop somewhere near you or find someone on Craigslist who can fix it for you.

sportchampps;1436413 wrote:Two things where does your ps3 sit in your house. It best to be in an open environment where it can breath and not in a tv stand with an enclosed back. I wouldn't pay the 170$ I would take it to a repair shop somewhere near you or find someone on Craigslist who can fix it for you.

While I might not be the brightest crayon in the box, I do know I need to keep that puppy out of an enclosed area and in the open. So I have it sitting on the top of my entertainment center (where it's pretty much in the open and all vents are free & accessible).

i would do the whole repair shop thing, but I have zero clue where to even begin looking to have someone fix it. And then, again, if I have some 3rd party guy fix it, there's no guarantee that (a) he fixes it and fixes it at a low cost to me, (b) I'm not just right back in the same spot a month or two later, and (c) he doesn't try to hustle me.

I'd try the whole Craiglist thing, but again... (a) how do you find someone reputable via Craiglist (I'm pretty weary of that site to begin with), (b) who's to say it he can even be fixed at a low cost to me, (c) now I'm worrying about spending money to package and send it, (d) who's to say I'm not just right back in the same spot a month or two later, and (e) how do i know this guy is legit (I guess same as (a) above).

I have an og 40 gig ps3 and it is still working...although I did install a bigger hard drive

Sucks that you spent that on a ps3, I just grabbed one for a buddy on Amazon this morning for 230....500gb assassins creed bundle

wes_mantooth;1436417 wrote:I have an og 40 gig ps3 and it is still working...although I did install a bigger hard drive

Sucks that you spent that on a ps3, I just grabbed one for a buddy on Amazon this morning for 230....500gb assassins creed bundle

Show me that deal. I'm looking at Amazon right now and I'm seeing basically the same deal(s) I got(saw)... 250GB for $250 (granted the Sony store was $269) or 500GB for 300.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_n_condition-type_0?rh=n%3A468642%2Cn%3A14210751%2Cn%3A14210711%2Ck%3Aplaystation+3%2Cp_lbr_brands_browse-bin%3ASony|Playstation%2Cp_n_condition-type%3A2224366011&keywords=playstation+3&ie=UTF8&qid=1367355788&rnid=2224364011

Both of which are BEFORE tax. So by the time you add tax and shipping ontop of it, and by the time you account for the 3-year warranty I purchased (I know... maybe dumb of me), that 250GB for $250 is just about what I paid (maybe little cheaper) than the $350 I forked out.