Hair Dryer FTW

If blowing a hot hair dryer into the back of an expensive piece of broken consumer electronics sounds like a bad idea, that’s because it is. But hey, it works. 

I followed the instructions of this well spoken gentleman - an unlikely find on the internet. He set out to test the validity of the hair dryer repair method. Still, I couldn't believe that it would work for me. I had other plans waiting in the wings.

I made sure to remove the hard drive before I started. I went for 20 minutes of hot air, followed by 20 minutes of cold. Then I let it stand for an hour before turning it on. And... success.

The whole thing cost €15. Three months PlayStation Plus let me back-up my saves to the cloud. It also netted me a free copy of Shank 2 to add to the ever expanding list. The Mass Effect 3 disc survived the process unscathed so I'm back in business this weekend.

Wohoo!

Options

There are a couple of possibilities for rescuing my data. All but one require that I spend yet more money. The internet tells me that the most likely reason for the failure of a system as old as mine is due to over-heating - the solder points on the CPU are no longer connecting to the motherboard. Another reason for the Yellow Light of Death, as it’s known, is a faulty power supply. So here are my options:


1. The hair dryer home repair method - Blow into the rear vent on the PS3 with a hot hair dryer for 15 minutes in the hopes that the solder will re-flow, connection will be reestablished and the unit will operate long enough to back up one’s saves.

        Pros:  Cheap.

        Cons:  It’s ridiculous!

                  I’ll have to pay for PS+ to do a quick backup.

2. The tear-down/heat gun home repair method - Void the warranty, open the sucker up and go at the motherboard with a heat gun available from hardware stores. This repair is said to last for weeks, it should easily allow me time to do a full hard drive content transfer via ethernet cable.
        Pros:  I get to buy a heat gun.
        Cons:  Costs a lot: heat gun, screw drivers, thermal paste, etc.

                  Not guaranteed to work.

3. If both of the above fail, it’s still possible that I have a faulty power supply. I could buy a used, broken PS3 on adverts.ie and switch one power supply unit out for the other.            
        Pros:   I get to dig around inside.
        Cons:  No guarantee new power supply works
                  Sony could have repaired the power supply for €160

I’ll report on each of these in turn over the coming weeks. The hair dryer test is happening today. In reality I’m unlikely to get past stage 2. How much does thermal gel cost?

An Embarrassment of Riches

Progress. I’ve gotten my hands on a new console, and this weekend I’ll try rescuing the old one. I’ve also had a look at my shelves to see where I should begin working through the backlog.

Here’s a list of the titles I’ll be digging into over the next few months. I've at least started the vast majority but a few have never been touched. Some, I invested quite some time into before getting bored or distracted. I abandoned others because they were too difficult. It’s been 17 years and I still haven’t finished The Revenge of Shinobi. A few simply outstayed their welcome - good ideas strained through repetition.

Some of the games on this list are a source of embarrassment. I haven’t finished Super Mario Brothers, for example. I’ve never played Super Metriod or Deus Ex or Psychonauts. I consider myself a well rounded gamer and these are blatant gaps in my knowledge that I look forward to filling.

But they’re not all gems. There are games on this list that I don’t want to go back to. Final Fantasy XII and Prince of Persia (2008) were both unique takes on their respective series’ but were largely largely uninspired. I sunk hours into both in good faith but they just never clicked.

Any suggestions? There are over 40 games listed below. Even if they aren’t all classics, I certainly won’t run out of things to do:

Super Mario Brothers (1985) NES

Legend of Zelda (1986) NES