Tag Archives: PS3

PS3 YLOD Fix: How I did it

Posted by on October 7, 2012 No comments

Hello PlayStation 3 Owner,

If you have run into this issue, I am aware of how frustrated you are. I’ve been there and just recently fixed mine and my brother’s PS3 (Fat Body). We both encountered this same issue.

Back-story on my issue: My PS3 ran into the Yellow Light of Death (YLOD) issue and after much troubleshooting; checking cables, powering down for days, trying again… I gave up and purchased a replacement rather than paying for a repair via Sony or some third party. My PS3 has been in a box for about 2 years or longer. Recently my brothers encountered this same issue and I quickly thought, perhaps I should experiment on my old system to see if I could fix it, and if I was successful, fix his also.

Now I have read that the PS3 YLOD is caused by either too much heat or extreme cold temperature causing the solder connections to get cracked. These conditions might also loosen the connections and now you have a PS3 with the YLOD issue. That said I attempted to preform the “blow dryer method”.

You will need the following YLOD Fix it Kit:

  • 1 small screw driver
  • 1 small flat head screw driver / or in my case finger nail
  • 1 blow dryer (borrow one from your mom, sister, girlfriend, or wife)
  • 1 towel or in my case a small blanket (such as the one my son uses for naps)

Now that you have your YLOD Fix it Kit follow these steps:

  1. Unplug your PS3 from the Power, Video (HDMI), USB attached devices
  2. On the left side of the PS3, you will find a little tab, lift it out to reveal the hard driver holder
  3. Unscrew the little blue screw in the center, then pull out the hard drive, depending on the model you may need to slid the hard drive hold to the side then pull it out. *note* place the hard drive, cover, and little blue screw someplace safe.
  4. Wrap the PS3 in a towel or blanket, cover the whole unit but expose the vents in the back. *note* turn the PS3 upside down during the process so that the bottom of the PS3 is facing up
  5. Using a blow driver on high heat, blow hot air into the back vents, go slowly side to side for approx. 15 minutes. 
  6. Remove the towel or blanket, you will notice that the bottom will be very hot. Allow the PS3 to remain upside down and cool for about 15, 20, 30 minuets. Don’t attempt to cool it faster by placing in the freezer, allow it to cool to room temp on its own. **note** there is a reason for this, and I’ll go into that later
  7. Once the cool down is complete, re-install your hard drive, screw and cover tab.
  8. Attach your Power, Video (HDMI),USB attached devices
  9. Turn your TV on and change to the proper input
  10. Finally we are at the moment of truth; power on your PS3. If all went well you will see the green light and the PS3 XMB will be disabled on your screen. You are now back in action.
***final note***
If this doesn’t work the first time around please attempt it again, in my case I only had to do this once for it to work, my brother did it two times and his is working once again.

Good Luck to you,
- Jermal

PS3 Media Server – Simplified

Posted by on July 29, 2012 No comments

Hello Friends

This time around I will provide some details on setting up the PS3 Media Server software on your Linux/Ubuntu install. This time the steps have been simplified. So please follow my steps and you should be up and running in no time at all.

Step 1. – Install Ubuntu Server or Desktop (I prefer using server)

I first started with a fresh clean install of Ubuntu Server (Ubuntu 12.04 LTS). After the server was installed I set my network address to something static.

Step 2. – Installation of base software requirements
Find your way to a command line and follow the steps below

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python-software-properties
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:happy-neko/ps3mediaserver
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ps3mediaserver

I normally have no need for the sudo command as I run my install from the root user account. Enable this account by typing sudo passwd and set a password; at this point you will be able to log on as root.

At this point your PS3 Media Server is installed. You now need to configure the software so that it know the location of your media files.

Step 3. - Configuration – Configuration options for PS3 Media Server

Logged in as the root user you will need to edit your PMS.conf file which is located here: /root/.config/ps3mediaserver/
Using the nano command: nano .config/ps3mediaserver/PMS.conf I open the configuration to set options such as the location of my media files.

There are many options that you can set, and that is based on your preference. If you need help feel free to reach out to me with any questions and I’ll do my best to assist.

Step 4. – Starting your PS3 Media Server

You can restart the service by issuing the following command: /etc/init.d/ps3mediaserver restart

Or you can reboot your server.  Oh your PS3 game console under video you should see your new PS3 Media Server in the list.  If all has been configured correctly you should be able to access your media.

— extended info —

My media is located on a file server here at home. I use the smbmount command to mount my storage. However doing this each time I restart my media server is a pain so I do the following:

First you need to have the smbmount tool installed. Type apt-get install smbfs to install this. Now that we have the tool installed you need to create a location on your system where you media will live. I suggest using /media/video for video /media/music for audio. The location and preference is up to you.

Now that the above is completed I change directory to /etc/init.d/ . I then create a new file that will be used as a start up script when my server boots.
Here is my setup steps:

cd etc/init.d/
nano ps3media – edit this file with something such as this:

#!/bin/bash
smbmount //server/video/ /media/video/ -o user=user,pass=password
exit

chmod + x ps3media – we are making the script executable
update-rc.d ps3media defaults - telling the system to run this script

*reboot* to test your setup

 — My Systems Requirements —

Ubuntu Server (Ubuntu 12.04 LTS)
2 CPU (1.8 GHz) — Single CPU or Dual Core
512MB to 1GB of RAM — 512MB is fine in most cases
8 GB Hard Drive — You can get away with 4GB if you like

PS3 Media Server (Again)

Posted by on April 7, 2012 No comments

It’s been about 2 years now and well it was time for me to rebuild my PS3 Media Server
The last time I made a write up about this; I gave a few steps and left some out. Here is my rebuild and steps I took to get it working.

I started off by installing a fresh copy Ubuntu Server.
After the updates, I was ready to go.

Like the last build I did the following:

apt-get install mplayer mencoder ffmpeg vlc vlc-nox
apt-get install openjdk-7-jre-headless
apt-get install sshfs smbfs

The ssh and smb fs is used to mount remote storage locally if needed

After that has completed I move my way over to http://www.ps3mediaserver.org/ choosing the latest Linux build.
Latest Version:   PS3 Media Server 1.52.1 – Linux/Unix

Extracting this with tar xzf <filename>
I then moved the pms files to a new folder location.

/opt/pms/ ; you can also choose your own, and it’s entirely up to you.

mkdir /opt/psm
mv ~/pms-linux-x.xx.x/ /opt/pms

Then I changed into the directory

cd /opt/pms

I make the following scripts executable

chmod +x PMS.sh
chmod +x linux/tsmuxer

I then modify the PMS.conf file

cp /opt/pms/PMS.conf /opt.pms/PMS.conf.backup
nano /opt/pms/PMS.conf ; there are many options here, I’m sorry but I am not going into this during this post. I will suggest to you to set “thumbnails = false” to speed things up

The only thing I had changed in this file was the directory where I have my video media files

/media/video ; this data doesn’t exist on my server. It’s shared on another system and I am connecting to this using smbfs (smbmount)

Now it’s time to setup the startup script

cd /etc/init.d
nano startpms *this will create a new file to start the server*

Add the following lines:

#!/bin/bash
smbmount //host/video/ /media/video/ -o user=username,pass=1234pass
cd /opt/pms-1.52.1/
nohup ./PMS.sh &
exit

Save the file and make it executable by typing: chmod +x startpms
Now you issue the following command: something I did not do the last time

update-rc.d startpms

After a quick reboot of my server, I again have a running DLNA / UPNP Media Server running on a Linux box.

Netflix is not working on PS3 – July 2011

Posted by on July 19, 2011 No comments

It seems Netflix is down on the PS3

Reset PS3 Video Setting

Posted by on July 2, 2011 No comments

This short write up is for a friend who needs to know how to reset his video so that he can move away from composite video (blah) to HDMI (come get some).

  • Make sure the system is off.
  • Hold down the Power Button for a few seconds (about 5) – until you hear the second beep.
  • The video settings are now reset and you should be able to choose your input and configure it from there.

As easy and simple solution that many do not know.  Now you do.

Thank you Eric for giving me something to post!

Kazuo Hirai – PSN Relaunch Announcement

Posted by on May 15, 2011 No comments

Sony‘s PlayStation Network has finally started to come back online, Sony Corp. President and chief executive Kazuo Hirai announced Saturday evening. The mandatory PlayStation 3 system update (v3.61) is currently available. Once installed, many PSN services, including online game-play for PlayStation 3 and PSP, should soon be available for users in the Americas, Europe, Australia and New Zealand and the Middle East. Sony expects to have full, worldwide access restored by May 31.


Users in the US can check this map to see whether service has been restored to their state.

Are we there yet?

Posted by on May 14, 2011 No comments

It seems Sony is making a move to bring the PSN (PlayStation Network) online. In a recent post (link), we were all thanked for our patience during this outage and that service is being restored.   While this is not all happening at once it does give us a glimpse at the silver lining of this dark cloud which has disrupted all of our game play.

Sony to make good on PSN Outage

Posted by on April 28, 2011 No comments

It seems in the wake of all that has happened Sony is attempting to make some form of restitution to its users for the downtime.   As you know many of us PlayStation Users have been affected by this outage.  Even I have ranted on about leaving my PS3 to the wolves and jumping ship.   Well there may be some light shining thought all this darkness after all.  In a statement made yesterday:

“We apologize for any inconvenience players may have experienced as a result of the recent service interruption. As a global leader in online gaming, SOE is committed to delivering stable and entertaining games for players of all ages. To thank players for their patience, we will be hosting special events this weekend across our game portfolio, including a Double Station Cash day on Saturday, April 30th. We are also working on a “make good” plan for players of the PS3 versions of DC Universe Online and Free Realms. Details will be available soon on the individual game websites and forums.”

While this may hold some of us over, I myself still want my PlayStation Network back online.

is temporarily unavailable…

Posted by on April 25, 2011 No comments

“The PlayStation Network is temporarily unavailable …” I guess the term temporary is a period of time in excess of 5 days or more.

Sony also indicates they sincerely regret the PlayStation Network suspension due to a breach in their security and are making efforts to resolve the problem by re-building their systems.  This puts users such as me who use the PS3 not only for gaming, but to watch movies on Netflix in a very frustrated position.

So what new news has Sony released? Nothing so far; but what we do know is that on Friday, April 22, 2011 Sony issued a statement saying that the downtime is due to some form of external intrusion.

I now wonder if there is any relation to the “sky falling’ or “raining” event with Amazon’s cloud network last week.  For those of you who didn’t know; Amazon hosted sites across the US had gone offline for periods up to 12 hours; with the majority of the outages in Amazon’s northern Virginia data center.

Well, I’ll continue to wait, read and write to vent my frustrations

PS3 Media Server – Remix

Posted by on September 26, 2010 Comments Off

For several weeks now I have been running PS3 Media Server (http://code.google.com/p/ps3mediaserver/) hosted on Ubuntu 10 Desktop (http://www.ubuntu.com/), when I decided to fine tune my environment by making the system headless as I had no need to interact with a desktop environment.

Info:

PS3 Media Server is a DLNA compliant UPNP Media Server which can stream movies to a large majority of DLNA clients such as the PS3.   It’s written in Java, with the purpose of streaming or transcoding all kinds of media files, with minimum configuration needs.  The PS3 Media Server also runs on Windows Platforms running the latest versions of Java.

Ubuntu is a … let’s stop here, if you don’t know what Ubuntu is then perhaps you should stop reading now.

Mini How-To:

Starting off with a fresh clean install of Ubuntu Server (Linux flavor of choice) I step though the installation choosing to only install the OpenSSH Server.  Once logged into the system I issue a quick sudo passwd to change the root password and activate root account. For the remainder of the install process I will use ssh to work in the CLI (command line interface) of my server install.

Step 1:   Install Base OS of Ubuntu 10 Server

Install base Ubuntu Server OS, enabling SSH access, changed root password activating it.

Step 2: Install the prerequisites on the server along with updates to get that out of the way

While in the local terminal or via ssh run the following command(s) (if your logged in via root, no need for sudo)

~# apt-get install mplayer mencoder ffmpeg

~# apt-get install openjdk-6-jre-headless

~# apt-get install vlc vlc-nox

Step 3: Download Install and unpack PMS (PlayStation media server)

Now I download the latest Linux release of PMS from http://code.google.com/p/ps3mediaserver/downloads/list and extract it.

~# cd /home/<your directory of choice> *note if you are root, you can place this where ever you wish*

~# wget http://ps3mediaserver.googlecode.com/files/pms-linux-1.10.5.tgz

~# tar xzf pms-linux-1.10.5.tgz *this will extract the packaged*

Step 4: Move the PMS to a new folder location. I choose the /opt/ folder, you can also choose your own, and it’s entirely up to you.

~# mkdir /opt *if this does not exists on your system.  It should in Ubuntu by default

~# mv ~/pms-linux-x.xx.x/ /opt/pms

~# cd /opt/pms

~# chmod +x PMS.sh

~# chmod +x linux/tsmuxer

Step 5: Now we create and modify the base PMS configuration file

This file hold general options used by PMS, you can change the configuration as mine are tailored for how I run PMS, these options are subject to change.  *note it’s a good idea to tweak your settings for the optimal performance

~# nano PMS.conf

If the file does not exist you will have a blank page to work in.
The following are the options in my configuration file:

thumbnails = false

mencoder_ass = true

hidevideosettings = true

hide_extensions = true

hide_enginenames = true

audiochannels = 2

folders = /media/video

Step 6: Testing that PMS is working correctly.

~# ./opt/pms/PMS.sh

When this is run you will see test output from the application staring up and logging of status events.

Step 7: PMS start-up script

~# cd /etc/init.d

~# nano startpms *this will create a new file to start the server*

Inside the file contains the following information:

#!/bin/bash

cd /opt/pms

nohup ./PMS.sh &

exit

Save the file and make it executable by typing: chmod +x startpms

This can all be added to the system startup configuration; however I have no done this yet.

And now you have a running DLNA / UPNP Media Server running on a Linux box.

System Specifications:

Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS – 2.6.32-24-generic-pae
512 MB RAM
Intel 2 GHz P4
8GB (no need for this much space as media is remotely hosted on network storage). Media is hosted on remote systems and mounted to the Linux installation which uses local directory paths.

This system is hosted in a virtual machine guest under VMware ESXi, 4.0.0, 261974