[Guaguasi]

The Problem:
I plugged it in, hit power switch. The system proceeds to beep 3 times and blinks a red light continuously (RLOD). No sounds or anything that indicates that things are happening. Hitting the eject button makes 3 beeps. Hitting the power button does nothing. There is no video, and no green, yellow, or blue lights.

Edit: Video as per @bmob222 youtu.be/DNpQBMDhMJs

System Detail:
Model: CECHE01 | April 2007
Firmware: Unknown
Previous Work: Uncertain.

Story
I saw a couple threads about this but none really resolved the issue. I purchased a broken PS3 with RLOD hoping to fix it/learn something (other than not to purchase a RLOD PS3).

I'm going to ask the individual I bought it from about the work done to it tomorrow. I initially thought there was none, but when I got it home, the sticker was voided and the hard drive screw was missing. That's all, as far as I know, so far.

I, personally, have only taken off the cover, played with the hdd, and removed the metal bluray cover.

Experience
I have little to no soldering experience. I tried soldering a chip to a PS2 back in the day and was traumatized. I have the equipment if need be. I do not own a desoldererer.

I've taken things such as an xbox, ps, laptops, and desktops apart and put them back together. Flashed xboxes without issue.

Basically, I'm a complete amateur. Hit me with your best shot.

[snkysnake02]

@Guaguasi

well the Red light flash ( as long as there was no yellow light before it ) means :

1. either the system is over heating - which obviously is not the case ^_^

2. Hardware malfunction ( Ie Hdd, Blue ray, battery, RSX chip, Cell chip, etc ) if its the cell chip or RSX chip burnt out, best of luck to ya. best bet would be to buy a replacement one of those if its the problem and find a local computer repair store that has equipment to reball them and join them back to mother board.

3. Software malfunction - bad firmware installation

then again if its non of these, it may just need a reflow or reball.

reflow - temp fix 2weeks - a year

reball - permenant fix

I personally would just find a local computer repair store, and ask if they can reball a ps3. shouldnt cost no more then 45$-60$ and most of time its done in same day.

if its a battery problem then @Mr.Dutch can help ya out there with pointers in right direction

[Guaguasi]

1 is out. 3 I'll ask about tomorrow.

This is pretty much where I'm at. How do I go about diagnosing what specific hardware piece is the problem? It's not as if there's a boot log saying, "hey guy, something's wrong with the bluray"

I'd do a reball as a last resort if the price was right and it would fix it for sure, but I'm really trying to spend close to nothing on this.

The system really doesn't seem to do anything except stay "on." Shouldn't the power button do something?

[Mr.Dutch]

Originally Posted by Guaguasi I tried soldering a chip to a PS2 back in the day and was traumatized.

oh man i feel your pain, i tried to solder a neo2.2 in my ps2 about 10 years ago, only 4 wires i think, and totally fucked it up.
i probably used a too big solder iron, and bad eyes combined with bad lighting.

if the ps3 start blinking right away if you hit the switch on the back, then all i can think off is that the thermal sensors are telling the syscon system is overheated, or there's power missing on the syscon. (it uses different voltage to operate, 3,3V and 1,8V if i'm correct)

in all other cases, you only get the red blinking light when you start up the ps3, and it will always be: green,yellow blinking red.

[Guaguasi]

I had considered the thermal sensors after reading a couple threads before posting, but I wanted to get a "professional" opinion first. I looked into it a little and it seems that replacing them is a relatively simple process. I would just need to buy the sensors themselves. Are they something I can just get a radio shack or are they super specialty?

As far as the second issue with the power missing on the syscon, how could I go about checking that? I have a voltmeter somewhere.

Edit:
Would trying a different PSU help at all?

[Mr.Dutch]

Originally Posted by Guaguasi Would trying a different PSU help at all?

if you get 5V reading on the psu's 5 wire cable then it's useles to replace the psu.

i can look up some points for you to measure on the mainboard, this will also tell if the thermal sensors are giving false info to the sycon.

will post back later.

[Mr.Dutch]

@Guaguasi , to measure these points you need to dismantle the mainboard, there's no other way to check anyting besides at the psu or power/eject board.

i added to the pic what you should read, example : 5. /power switch 3,3V (0v when button is pressed)
this means you should measure 3.3V unless the power button is pressed, then you measure 0V

you probably know how to use a meter so i don't have to explain it.
measure to ground

EDIT: psu and power/eject board connected is enough, no need for the bd drive or bluetooth board etc.

syscon check

[Guaguasi]

I must have missed the reply email, I would have tested this already . I couldn't find my voltmeter, so I tried with a battery tester at work to get an idea of the PSU. It was giving me 5v on both 5v but didn't give me anything on the 3v. I looked at a video on youtube and the guy seemed to think it was normal. I'm going to check it again along with these points you gave me later on when I can get a hold of my friend's voltmeter.

I'll let you know what I get when I get it.

[Mr.Dutch]

Originally Posted by Guaguasi It was giving me 5v on both 5v but didn't give me anything on the 3v.

the 3.3V on the psu is an input, 3,3V from the mainboard switches the 12V on.

[Guaguasi]

Ok, so I finally found the time to do this. I'm not sure where #8 is, on the cpu/gpu side of the mainboard? If so, I'd rather avoid having to repaste these things if I can. Anyway, these are my findings:

1. OK
2. OK
3. OK
4. FAIL? 0V without touching anything.
5. OK
6. OK
7. OK
8. Haven't tested yet.
9. Not sure where this is, but I found a 3.3v contact a smidgen to the left of the arrow.

I'm going to leave this thing disassembled in case you'd like me to test anything or take picture or what have you.