Meet the patients

In order to be able to experiment, I've scrambled together a ragtag collection of PS3s and parts.

Actually I have a few more but they were not availble for this photo opportunity...

From the back to the left, we have my current development machine. This is a functional CECHG01 40GB PS3 with firmware 2.60 running Yellow Dog Linux. It's missing a bluray drive since I have no need for it in this machine.

Next to the right is another CECHG01 machine suffering the Yellow Light of Death. No investigations done yet.

The next one is my newest acquirement, a CECHL01 machine that refuses to start. It's got some burn marks  on some components/board so I think I know what's wrong. I don't intend to try to fix this one, just going to use it for organ harvesting.

Next we have another YLOD victim, this one a CECHA01. Obviously no PSU, harddrive, top case, power board or anything. This YLOD is not due to RSX chip. Rather I suspect the NEC-Tokin Proadlizer being toasted. It goes YLOD almost instantly which is a likely indicator for problem with the power. Will try to resuscitate it by transplating proadlizers from the CECHL01.

Next one is another CECHA01 also suffering from YLOD. This one also has some other problem than simple RSX. I haven't investigated much.

Then there is a CECHG01 that refuses to start. It doesn't show YLOD but it goes back to standby when trying to power on. Note: the red LED does in fact NOT flash when it goes back to standby. Note sure what this indicates.

Then in the front row we have my main gaming machine, although at this moment it had been disassembled. I didn't feel like putting it back together just for the photo. It's a fully functional CECHA01 with a 160GB harddrive and of course a functional bluray drive. It does suffer from spurious YLODs, so I'm working on stabilizing it. Will either reball the RSX, or go all out and transplant a 65nm RSX from the CECHL01.

To the right of it is a pretty new acquirement, which is another CECHA01 suffering from YLOD. This one didn't come with a PSU nor bluray drive, and after I took this photo I opened it up for the first real inspection and it turns out that the power board, although included, is broken. The wifi antenna was also broken. The screw receptors in the bottom shelf were broken off, so I superglued them back together. It's got a fracture in the plastic in the back on the right side too. I have tried to bring it back to life with a simple reflow but so far no luck. The RSX becomes warm so it might be the problem is not the usual BGA solder problem.

And finally a bare motherboard of a CECHG01. It's said to be YLOD but I haven't even tried doing anything with it yet. I might be able to fix it, and if so, I will sell it off (no love for later motherboards than CECHEs...)

My other PS3 gear includes another CECHE01 console with everything included. Still waiting on it to arrive. It doesn't power up. I also have a CECHB01 motherboard on its way, also refuses to boot. And finally a CECHG01 which is fully functional but missing the associated Bluray control board.