Previously I documented my attempt at resolving the PS3 YLOD issue for good.
Unfortunately, that fix only lasted a few weeks or so. I've since repeated the same routine several times and only gained a few days at best.
So... Looks like the arctic silver fix isn't going to take care of it in my case. Oh well.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Monday, November 19, 2012
Playstation 3 YLOD fix?
A couple months back my PS3 stopped working. It turns out I was a victim of the dreaded 'yellow light of death', or YLOD.
This occurs from poor cooling of the GPU chip, which eventually causes the chip to become unsoldered at certain points.
A quick Google search for PS3 YLOD uncovered dozens of fix videos on youtube. They entail taking apart the unit, and with a heat gun, reflowing the solder on the chip.
Initially this fix worked. The playstation played for a few hours, then died again :(
I had gone through the same process several times, each time the fix would last shorter and shorter.
Finally on a posting, someone mentioned removing the heat spreader plate from the GPU and replacing the dried up thermal compound between the chip and the spreader. The posting was prefaced by saying that there's a good chance you'll permanently damage the chip while trying to remove the heat spreader, but I had nothing to lose at this point.
Taking the heat gun, I heated the plate a little, and with a putty knife, popped off the heat plate.
I cleaned off all old thermal paste, reran the heat gun to reflow the chip again, and applied a new dab of Arctic Silver 5, (grain of rice sized dab), to the middle of the chip.
After putting back the heat plate and reassembly, everything was hooked back up. It's been in use for a couple weeks without flaw. My kid has been using it heavily w/ MW2,3, and GhostBusters.
So far, it's holding together longer than previous fixes. It really looks like it's fixed this time.
So, if you've tried the reflow and it's not working any more, you might wanna give this process a shot. It may or may not work, but it worked for me.
This occurs from poor cooling of the GPU chip, which eventually causes the chip to become unsoldered at certain points.
A quick Google search for PS3 YLOD uncovered dozens of fix videos on youtube. They entail taking apart the unit, and with a heat gun, reflowing the solder on the chip.
Initially this fix worked. The playstation played for a few hours, then died again :(
I had gone through the same process several times, each time the fix would last shorter and shorter.
Finally on a posting, someone mentioned removing the heat spreader plate from the GPU and replacing the dried up thermal compound between the chip and the spreader. The posting was prefaced by saying that there's a good chance you'll permanently damage the chip while trying to remove the heat spreader, but I had nothing to lose at this point.
Taking the heat gun, I heated the plate a little, and with a putty knife, popped off the heat plate.
I cleaned off all old thermal paste, reran the heat gun to reflow the chip again, and applied a new dab of Arctic Silver 5, (grain of rice sized dab), to the middle of the chip.
After putting back the heat plate and reassembly, everything was hooked back up. It's been in use for a couple weeks without flaw. My kid has been using it heavily w/ MW2,3, and GhostBusters.
So far, it's holding together longer than previous fixes. It really looks like it's fixed this time.
So, if you've tried the reflow and it's not working any more, you might wanna give this process a shot. It may or may not work, but it worked for me.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
40m EFHW for the Tiny Tornado
Keeping with the theme of ultra compact, I made a 40m end fed halfwave coupler based on the suggestion from http://www.nfarl.org/mart/node/34
Here it is all cased up in a short piece of 1/2 cpvc. Adjustment hole on top, and binding screw to connect the 1/2 wave wire is on the left.
It's raining today, so I haven't had a chance to take it out and throw up a wire to test it, but on my ft817 it indicates no SWR... So it's a start.
Forgive the blurriness of the picture, but it's basically just an 11uH inductor in an L network w/ a 50pF trimmer. RCA plug on the left, euro binding post on the right.
It's raining today, so I haven't had a chance to take it out and throw up a wire to test it, but on my ft817 it indicates no SWR... So it's a start.
73 and good QRPing
Jim - AB9LM
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
40m Tiny Tornado w/ PTO
I recently completed building a 40m Tiny Tornado with PTO VFO from scrounged parts.
Tiny Tornado details can be found at:
http://www.indianapolis.net/QRPp-I/KA8MAV_VFO-TT-40.html
I wanted a small cw transceiver that was easy to build, super cheap, and that would fit inside my favorite project enclosure.
Although I wanted to fit the 9v battery inside, I felt that it was a waste of precious altoids real estate.
Instead, I soldered some 9v snaps to a piece of PCB and attached it to the side. Doing this, I'm left w/ some extra room to put a key, or maybe an earbud.
The circuitry turned out a bit messier than I would have liked... I'm certainly no master at Manhattan style building. Not to mention, after soldering the board into the tin, I realized I still needed to drill some holes in the chasis. Booo!
Anyway.. The important part is that it works, and works well as far as I'm concerned. I'm able to tune the entire 40m band... From the CW side, all the way to the end of the phone portion. After a couple minutes of warmup, the VFO is quite stable. With a tuned antenna connected, I'm able to copy even weak signals with little trouble. Although this is a direct conversion receiver, and would need a RIT ordinarily, I think that keying down pulls the VFO just enough to give me the proper amount of shift. .. Which is a good thing, because I dunno how to put a RIT into this PTO VFO.
Into a dummy load, I measured about 300mw on a 9v. I've not had a QSO yet, but very close. I heard a station calling CQ, so I replied... He came back with AB9DM? My attempt to correct him failed as my paddle hose up.
I plan to post a video showing the audio, but as of this writing, I have S9 QRN at my location.
I'll also be putting up a pic of the compact EFHW tuner that I'm working on exclusively for this rig.
Tiny Tornado details can be found at:
http://www.indianapolis.net/QRPp-I/KA8MAV_VFO-TT-40.html
I wanted a small cw transceiver that was easy to build, super cheap, and that would fit inside my favorite project enclosure.
Although I wanted to fit the 9v battery inside, I felt that it was a waste of precious altoids real estate.
Instead, I soldered some 9v snaps to a piece of PCB and attached it to the side. Doing this, I'm left w/ some extra room to put a key, or maybe an earbud.
The circuitry turned out a bit messier than I would have liked... I'm certainly no master at Manhattan style building. Not to mention, after soldering the board into the tin, I realized I still needed to drill some holes in the chasis. Booo!
Anyway.. The important part is that it works, and works well as far as I'm concerned. I'm able to tune the entire 40m band... From the CW side, all the way to the end of the phone portion. After a couple minutes of warmup, the VFO is quite stable. With a tuned antenna connected, I'm able to copy even weak signals with little trouble. Although this is a direct conversion receiver, and would need a RIT ordinarily, I think that keying down pulls the VFO just enough to give me the proper amount of shift. .. Which is a good thing, because I dunno how to put a RIT into this PTO VFO.
Into a dummy load, I measured about 300mw on a 9v. I've not had a QSO yet, but very close. I heard a station calling CQ, so I replied... He came back with AB9DM? My attempt to correct him failed as my paddle hose up.
I plan to post a video showing the audio, but as of this writing, I have S9 QRN at my location.
I'll also be putting up a pic of the compact EFHW tuner that I'm working on exclusively for this rig.
73 and good QRPing
Jim - AB9LM
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
FT-817 data jack / Vox mod
The 817 allows you to setup the data port for SSB type data for modes like PSK31, RTTY, Hell, etc...
But I recently found the need to use FM through the data port. In this case, the internal VOX feature would be handy. Unfortunately, FM is not an option through the data port.
A few days ago, I stumbled upon a mod for the FT-817 that enables the internal VOX feature through the data port.
The original how-to can be found here.
The IC of interest is on the bottom side of the board.
If that photo is too small to see, you basically run a 10k resistor from pin 12 to pin 4 or 1.
I used some 30 gauge wire soldered to the resistor, glued the resistor to the board and then ran my wires and soldered to the chip. Needless to say, the soldering was quite delicate work.
Ignore the jumper and the red wording.
That was from the original document.
Note the orange resistor I drew in, this is
where I put mine.
Reassemble and give it the test. Put the rig into FM mode, turn on VOX, and hook up the data interface. You may need to turn up the VOX gain.
Important: Unplug the microphone! It's easy to forget that with VOX on for data, the mic is still picking up your background noise.
After doing this mod, I set my radio up and fired up echolink. I was able to quickly setup an echolink repeater and use my HT to connect to echolink enabled repeaters all over the world.
But I recently found the need to use FM through the data port. In this case, the internal VOX feature would be handy. Unfortunately, FM is not an option through the data port.
A few days ago, I stumbled upon a mod for the FT-817 that enables the internal VOX feature through the data port.
The original how-to can be found here.
The IC of interest is on the bottom side of the board.
If that photo is too small to see, you basically run a 10k resistor from pin 12 to pin 4 or 1.
I used some 30 gauge wire soldered to the resistor, glued the resistor to the board and then ran my wires and soldered to the chip. Needless to say, the soldering was quite delicate work.
Ignore the jumper and the red wording.
That was from the original document.
Note the orange resistor I drew in, this is
where I put mine.
Reassemble and give it the test. Put the rig into FM mode, turn on VOX, and hook up the data interface. You may need to turn up the VOX gain.
Important: Unplug the microphone! It's easy to forget that with VOX on for data, the mic is still picking up your background noise.
After doing this mod, I set my radio up and fired up echolink. I was able to quickly setup an echolink repeater and use my HT to connect to echolink enabled repeaters all over the world.
IC-706 stock microphone repair. HM-103
A friend of mine was recently faced with a broken tension clip on the RJ-45 of an HM-103 mic. (Stock microphone for the IC-706Mk1)
I offered to replace the connector knowing how easy it should be to just crimp on a new one.
WRONG!
After lopping off the defective end, I was shocked to find that the wire colors in the connector didn't match the colors in the chopped end.
With the flat side facing you the connector was as follows:
Empty,Black,Empty,Green,Black,White,Blue,Empty
The wires in the cable were: Black,Green,Bare,White,Blue,Red.
So, the correct pin layout is: Blank,Black,Blank,Green,Bare,White,Blue,Blank
I crimped the new end on, and voila. Worked FB.
Hopefully this helps anyone that find themselves needing to make this repair.
I offered to replace the connector knowing how easy it should be to just crimp on a new one.
WRONG!
After lopping off the defective end, I was shocked to find that the wire colors in the connector didn't match the colors in the chopped end.
With the flat side facing you the connector was as follows:
Empty,Black,Empty,Green,Black,White,Blue,Empty
The wires in the cable were: Black,Green,Bare,White,Blue,Red.
I couldn't even tell on the chopped end where the bare or red wires go. I searched the web up and down and found several people looking for the same solution. I never found an answer, so I resorted to surgery on the broken end.
I finally discovered that the red wire was simply not used, and the bare wire was surrounded with heat shrink to make crimping easier inside the connector.So, the correct pin layout is: Blank,Black,Blank,Green,Bare,White,Blue,Blank
I crimped the new end on, and voila. Worked FB.
Hopefully this helps anyone that find themselves needing to make this repair.
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