How reliable is reballing a 60GB PS3?

Question

My 60GB launch PS3 has finally given me a yellow light of death. Luckily I married into a second PS3 over a year ago (phew!), but my wife's Slim has neither most of my saved games nor can it play our PS2 games.

The Internet seems conflicted on whether or not reballing is a good long-term solution. People offering it say it can work great for years. Other people say it only works for less than a year, or that 60GB models specifically are a moneypit for repairs once they start having problems. I've found some places that offer reballing services, but these are relatively expensive (€80+ and with only a couple months guarantee) compared to just buying a new PS2. On the other hand, 150 hours of Skyrim and I don't even remember how much Disgaea 3 are on that hard drive.

Are there any statistics available on how long I can expect it to last? Or information about the reliability of the reballing process from someone who knows about electronics but doesn't have a financial stake in telling me it'll work great? Does success depend greatly on the skill of the repairer or will any professional get about the same results?

Answer 1

The ideal solution for you would be, of course to have a fully functioning 60GB PS3 last forever. This would give you both things you want: your saves and your backwards compatibility.

Reballing your PS3( re-soldering the chip joints )

This service: http://ps3repairman.com/ps3-repair-services/ps3-reballing-service

Offers to reball for 90$USD + 35$ Diagnostics Fee. He uses a leaded solder instead of Sony's lead-free solder and will have it back to you 48hrs after receiving it. He includes a 1-year guarantee on his solder. It's likely to last many years.

So you're looking at 125$USD + likely future repairs. This would meet both your goals.

Buying a PS2 and Transferring your Saves

Another option is to spend 100$USD or less on a new PS2 to play your old games.

Then sync your trophy data with the PSN server, and use a external HD or Thumbdrive to transfer all game saves and small data to your wife's PS3. Most saves are not copy-protected. You will be able to see this my inserting a formatted thumb drive into the PS3 and looking for a copy operation. I believe Skyrim saves can be copied, I am not sure about Disgaea 3.

Additionally, if you have PS+, your can sync your saves to the cloud, then pull them to your wifes PS3. Please take note that Sony holds your saves in the cloud for 24 hours before you can pull them to a new machine.

This solution would achieve both your goals and cost less, but you'll have another piece of hardware. Personally I believe this is a better long term solution.

Edit: Here is a topic attempting to list all save-protected games: http://www.ps3trophies.org/forum/general-ps3-discussion/62819-ps3ts-official-locked-saved-games-thread.html

Answer 2

The quality of a PS3 repair can vary greatly. Don't rely on it as a long term solution.

When my 60Gb died, I paid a 3rd party technician to fix it (though I believe he reflowed, not reballed). It only lasted 3 months, but that was enough time to sign up to PSN+ and copy my PS3 saved games to the cloud service (and my PS2 saves to a PS2 memory card). When it died a second time, I just bought a new PS3.

If you don't want to sign up to PSN+, you could, after your current PS3 is fixed, buy a new one and transfer the data over using the Data Transfer Utility. This method copies all data, including copy-protected material.

Answer 3

Reflow will buy you some time, but reballing with the lead solder using a BGA repair station will fix the problem. Sony used cheap solder material and cheap thermal paste a good tech should correct these problems, and when you consider the price of a new console $ 150.00 is a deal on such repair .