PlayStation® General

[MATT-CHEW82]

Fat 160G PS3, I've had it about 4 years now.  THe last month or so, I've been having really bad problems with games hard freezing.  Black Ops 2, Battlefield 3, Killzone 3....whether I'm online or on campaign mode for these games, the system will freeze all of a sudden, non responsive to the controller, and I have to hard shutoff the system by holding down the power button.

I vacuum the vents religiiously, keep my PS3 in a well ventilated area, but yet it's been running hot a lot lately.  I did a FULL restore the other day, erasing EVERYTHING off of my PS3 and started over.  fired up black ops 2, and again it froze within minutes.  Battlefield and Killzoen have also been freezing.

I recently read up about a trick to turn off 1080p and 720p and run all games in 1080i, that did noting either, froze within minutes.  Is my PS3 on its last leg?  With the thousands of hours I probably have on this thing, is it about to die?  

I did notice that it beeps 3 times when I have to hard shutoff, which apparently is heating issues...no?  My PS3 sits out on top of an entertainment unit wide open, the fans work fine, and again I vacuum the vents on the PS3 once a week.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I'm so tired of my PS3 being unplayable lately.

[Asphaltum]

That's what happened to my fat PS3 just before it died, eventhough I still blame it on Skyrim. You may want to get it serviced. I just went and grabbed a slim since I had the system since launch and figured I was lucky for it to have lasted as long as it did. Within the same time period of owning my PS3 I had two RROD 360's so I still felt fortunate that my PS3 lasted as long as it did.

[MATT-CHEW82]

THanks for the reply.  Yikes, sounds like my PS3 is on the way out.  

[Asphaltum]

No problem. I know that there are places other than Sony that can repair PS3's (at least in my area), you might want to take a look around in your area. There are also u-tube video's that go step by step on how to repair PS3's.

[prowood420]

My slim does this occaisionally but I don't think its dying it happens when I'm online and someone leaves a game after playing for a long time

[the_ed_85]

Since the system is so old, it could be your thermal paste. Try to replace it (can buy some at best buy for about $10). If the thermal paste is old and not transferring heat to the heatsink on the CPU, the system will overheat and freeze on you. Replacing the thermal paste should help you out. Also, you might want to replace your hard drive if you start to have problems saving and loading (this can cause a system freeze also).

[abushr]

Mine also does this periodically (when I forget to turn on my fan).  I blow mine out frequently, but now when I play it, I put a fan in front of it to make sure it has plenty of air/circulation.....as long as my fan is on...no freezing....  going to look into that heat gel someone else mentioned.