[bigwong]

Hello esteemed colleagues of the Hacks and Mods section.

I come to you with a case of the death of a motherboard and what is to be done.

December 5th, 2012 9:00 pm
Investigation of proper flashing of a CECH-2101A was completed at the site known as PS3Hax Network. It was determined that said model held within it a Spansion NOR ROM.

December 7, 2012 3:00 pm
Purchase of E3 Flasher Limited completed and expected arrival in 3 days.

December 10th, 2012 10:00 am
E3 Flasher arrives at final destination and disassemble of PS3 began shortly there after.

12:00 pm
Connection to ROM for flashing was completed and E3 was updated with latest firmware. An initial backup of ROM was completed and held errors. Immediate disassembly was committed. Still errors with dumps. Checking the seating of the E3 Flasher on last time and leaving the metal shield off this time due to speediness of possible future dissasembly. Device was powered on, screen went fuzzy and then started displaying scrambled numbers. Device was then powered off and subsequent attempts to power on were futile.

5:00 pm
Inspection of Power Supply (with voltmeter), Ribbon for eject/power button was shaved for possible damage to ends while insertion occurred. Visual Inspection concluded that cause of death could possibly be a gash in solder leads from Cell CPU to Cell CPU.

i.imgur.com/iFPmvHvh.jpg

So there is the report. I have given it time and truly I can look at all of this with a cool head. Yet, I still feel like an idiot confessing I was way too rough with my Heat Sink on the Board. Can someone confirm this for me? (apparently it won't let me add photos) What Should I do next? I really want a CFW PS3 and I have $100 in my pocket right now. All the other parts are checking out just fine.

Thank you in advance for actually reading this wall of text.

[Mr.Dutch]

and you removed the flasher?

can you also explain it in plain english?....lol

[bigwong]

I apologize.

TLDR: I tried to install an E3 flasher, seems with several attempts of getting clip on I gouged a hole in a solder line between the CPUs. Removed E3 and still will not start up.

Dead as door nail.

Here is a shot of the gouge:

i.imgur.com/dxdLT4L.jpg

[Mistawes]

You could fix those traces (well, I mean send it to a pro to fix, doesn't have to be a PS3/console specific "repairman") but you could have also done some damage to the components themselves by powering it on after the damage was done. If it's just the RSX damaged, you (..they) can swap it for a matching replacement, but if the CPU is damaged, it's more or less a write off. Hopefully it's just a cut connection..

Feel free to correct me anyone!

Such a typical place for damage like that though, 1cm to the left (at a guess by scale) and nobody would care, but of course it has to be one of THE most important millimeters on the motherboard that it happens.. I feel your pain!

[bigwong]

Originally Posted by Mistawes You could fix those traces (well, I mean send it to a pro to fix, doesn't have to be a PS3/console specific "repairman") but you could have also done some damage to the components themselves by powering it on after the damage was done. If it's just the RSX damaged, you (..they) can swap it for a matching replacement, but if the CPU is damaged, it's more or less a write off. Hopefully it's just a cut connection.. Feel free to correct me anyone! Such a typical place for damage like that though, 1cm to the left (at a guess by scale) and nobody would care, but of course it has to be one of THE most important millimeters on the motherboard that it happens.. I feel your pain!

Thank you for the reply and your considerate words.

I have a new development. I have never tried to actually put in a disk to see if it would start up. I put one in (after I read another thread) and it started up. at least a beep and the cpu fan is in a slow gear. You can also hear the blu-ray drive spinning too.

So did I finally get a full confirmation that this bad boy is done? I have seen mobo's with blu-ray drive boards on ebay for $75 for other models. Does anyone have any suggestions or spare ones? Thanks again.

[Mr.Dutch]

Originally Posted by bigwong So did I finally get a full confirmation that this bad boy is done? I have seen mobo's with blu-ray drive boards on ebay for $75 for other models. Does anyone have any suggestions or spare ones? Thanks again.

you could have those traces repaired by someone.

[bigwong]

Originally Posted by Mr.Dutch you could have those traces repaired by someone.

I truly appreciate your response Mr.Dutch. Do you know anyone in this network that is reputable and capable of completing this? I live in the middle of no where midwest USA and these technical sorts just don't exist around here. Any direction I could take on this would be really appreciated.

[Sarah1331]

Shame your not uk buddy I'd do it



Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

[Mr.Dutch]

Originally Posted by bigwong I truly appreciate your response Mr.Dutch. Do you know anyone in this network that is reputable and capable of completing this? I live in the middle of no where midwest USA and these technical sorts just don't exist around here. Any direction I could take on this would be really appreciated.

i know @playerkp420 is doing downgrades but if he also do repairs?

he lives in the us.

[bigwong]

Originally Posted by Mr.Dutch i know @playerkp420 is doing downgrades but if he also do repairs? he lives in the us.

PM'd @playerkp420 anyone else around here know for mobo trace repairs? It looks like a total of 3 traces were damaged. I've done some soldering before and messed with conductive pens but nothing on this scale. I would hate to make it worse. Good thing about him is I could have him downgrade while it is at his place with my flasher.