Monthly Archives: September 2009

Sep
23
2009

TomTom? More like LOST TOM!

On two recent trips I decided to use TomTom for iPhone instead of my standard TomTom and very stupidly I left my my standard unit at home.

Driving around Edinburgh it was losing GPS signal, putting me on roads no where near I was and lagging so badly behind that it was really difficult to take the right turnings when they were really close together. We resorted to using Google Maps to route ourselves to our destination.

Obviously the limitation is with the iPhone rather than with TomTom hence them saying you need to have the car kit WHICH YOU CANNOT BUY YET!

Really wish I had not bought this, I feel ripped off and will be firing off an email to them as they simply should not have released this without the car kit.

Sep
06
2009

My PS3 and YLOD

A few days ago my PS3 turned off whilst playing COD:WaW. It simply froze, turned off with a flashing red led. So I waited a few minutes, turned it back on and all was ok.

Or so I thought

The next day my son was playing Ratchet and Clank when it did the same thing, except this time it would not come back on. When I turned it on several hours later I noticed Green Led -> Yellow Led -> Flashing Red Led. Checking the internet shows this was a YLOD which basically means it has a hardware issue and requires to be sent to be repaired. Sony want £150 for a refurbished unit and after a scan of repair companies I found a company called Console Doctor, and the good news about that is they are a local company and it would cost £69.99 to repair.

At this point I decided to do a bit of research into the error to see what it most likely is. There are many many reports of this problem and the diagnosis is that the chips on the motherboard are likely not to be seated correctly due to movement when overheated during use.

A possible solution :

If, like me, you are confident in taking things apart then there is something you can try.

Tools Required :

  • Phillips Screwdriver
  • Small flatblade screwdriver (or Torx security screwdriver)
  • Faulty PS3
  • Heat Gun (yes that’s right a heat gun).

Then follow what this guy does here

I followed this and lo and behold my PS3 is now functional, not sure for how long but for now it works! WOOHOO