c/diy-console-fixes

Ripped a capacitor off my PS4 motherboard by accident

I was trying to replace the HDMI port on my PS4 last night and my iron slipped, knocking off a tiny capacitor near the main chip. The console powers on but no video comes out now. Anyone know if I can just solder a new cap on or is the board toast?

2 comments

wright.drew•1d ago

Almost fried my Xbox board using isopropyl that wasn't high enough proof

I was cleaning thermal paste off an old Xbox One and grabbed 70% isopropyl by mistake. Learned the hard way it leaves residue that can short your board - found a thread on console repair forums saying you need 91% or higher to evaporate clean. Anyone else run into this?

2 comments

sage52•1d ago

Finally got that stuck disc out of my PS4 without breaking anything

Had a disc jammed in my launch PS4 for like 6 months after the auto eject glitch kicked in. Tried the manual screw method from a YouTube video I found and it actually popped out clean after I used a thin plastic shim (cut from a gift card) to guide it. Anyone else had luck with a specific technique for these auto eject issues?

2 comments

shah.olivia•4d ago

Finally decided to stop using compressed air for cleaning after I found out the moisture thing

I was cleaning my PS4 fan with a can of compressed air and noticed some weird residue on the board. Looked it up on a repair forum and found out those cans can shoot out liquid propellant that shorts out components. Bob from uptown electronics showed me a photo of a corroded hdmi port from it. Now I just use a soft brush and a vacuum, anyone else ditch the air cans after a close call?

2 comments

elliotl24•5d ago

That thermal paste trick someone told me actually worked

I was cleaning the old paste off an Xbox 360 GPU and a guy on here told me to use a plastic spudger instead of isopropyl alcohol and a rag. Said the alcohol can seep under the chip and mess things up later. Tried it on my third console and the temps dropped way more than before. Anyone else get better results without using liquid?

2 comments

jade_lane19•6d ago

Found a heat gun trick after a GameCube shell repair went sideways at a con

I was at RetroGameCon in Cleveland last October trying to fix a buddy's yellowed GameCube between panels. My heat gun was too hot and warped the corner of the shell, so I had to improvise with a hair dryer from the hotel front desk on low setting. Anybody else found a specific distance or temp that works best for softening plastic without melting it?

2 comments

the_keith•7d ago

That time someone told me to use isopropyl alcohol on a disc tray without specifying the percentage

A guy in a GameStop line said 70% would work fine, so I soaked a cloth and wiped down my PS4 drive, and now the rubber belt is all dried out and the disc won't eject - has anyone else wrecked a console following bad advice from a random stranger?

2 comments

angela_dixon•23d ago

Overheard a repair guy say heat guns ruin original plastic clips, and now I'm rethinking my whole method

I was at a retro game shop last week and heard the owner tell a customer not to use a heat gun on old SNES shells because it makes the clips brittle over time. I've been blasting heat on every stuck joint forever, but he said go slow with isopropyl and patience instead. Anyone else ditch the heat gun after hearing something like that?

2 comments

ninasanchez•28d ago

My neighbor's thermal paste trick saved my old Xbox's life

My Xbox One kept shutting off after 20 minutes of gaming no matter what I tried. My neighbor Mike said to ditch the cheap paste I bought and use Arctic MX-4 instead. He told me to spread it thin like butter on toast, not just a dot in the middle. After I reapplied it that way, the console ran cool for a full 4 hour session without a crash. Has anyone else found that the way you spread paste matters more than the brand itself?

2 comments

bettymurphy•29d ago

My buddy the electronics tech changed my mind about reflowing solder

I was over at my friend Dave's place last week fixing a dead Xbox One. He's been doing board repairs for 10 years. He told me most of those YouTube reflow tutorials are garbage because they don't address the actual cracked joints. He showed me a $35 hot air station and said to use flux and a microscope instead of a heat gun. That conversation hit different because I've been blaming bad solder for months when it was really poor prep. Has anyone else switched from a heat gun to a hot air station and seen better results?

3 comments

henry101•1mo ago

Opened a PS4 that smelled like weed and cat pee

Picked up a used Pro off FB Marketplace for $80 last week. The outside was clean but when I cracked it open, the fan was caked in dust and smelled like someone hotboxed with a litter box nearby. Took the whole thing apart, scrubbed the heatsink with 91% isopropyl, and replaced the thermal paste with Arctic MX-4. Got it back together and it actually runs quiet now, no overheating. I guess some people really don't take care of their stuff. Anyone else run into a console that was nasty on the inside?

2 comments

christopherwilliams•1mo ago

Hit 100 console repairs this weekend and it hit me weird

I fixed my 100th console last Saturday. It was this beat up Xbox One S someone dropped off that had a busted HDMI port. Counting them up on a scrap of paper while drinking coffee just made me stop for a second. Didnt really think I'd get this far when I started poking at a broken PS3 Slim two years ago. Has anyone else kept a tally without meaning to and surprised themselves with the number?

2 comments

shah.olivia•1mo ago

My local repair shop's Xbox fix was a scam

Dropped my Xbox One at 'Quick Fix Games' in Austin. Charged me $80 for a new power supply. Console still crashed after 2 hours. Opened it up myself last weekend. Found they just resoldered the old connector. Not even a new part. Who else has caught shops lying about parts?

3 comments

christopher385•1mo ago

My PS4 was running like a jet engine until I swapped one thermal pad

I finally got around to opening my launch PS4 last weekend after it kept shutting down mid-game. The thermal paste was totally dried out, but what really got me was the thermal pad on the RAM chips looked like a cracker. I replaced it with a $8 pad from Amazon and cleaned out three years of dust bunnies. Now it runs quiet as a mouse and hasn't crashed once. Has anyone else seen those stock pads turn into dust like that?

2 comments

jade32•1mo ago

Found a cracked fan hub on my Xbox One X after a year of loud noise

I was about to replace the whole cooling assembly when I noticed the fan hub had a tiny crack right near the spindle from wear. A dab of super glue and some careful balancing fixed the rattle completely. Has anyone else tried reinforcing plastic fan parts instead of swapping them out?

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elizabeth_williams•1mo ago

I finally figured out why my PS4 kept overheating after multiple repairs

Kept seeing people online saying to use thermal paste on the CPU and call it done. But I noticed my launch PS4 still crashed after swapping paste three times last month. Turns out a lot of folks forget the thermal pads on the RAM chips. They dry out too and cause the system to run hot. Has anyone else fixed their console only to find it still overheats because of those little pads?

2 comments

simon_wood72•1mo ago

Showerthought: Those white lithium grease tubes we all use are probably making things worse

I was cleaning out my dad's old toolbox last weekend and found a tube of lithium grease from like 1987. It got me thinking about how much the plastics changed in consoles between the NES era and now. I see so many folks on here recommending white lithium grease for everything from disc drive rails to controller triggers. But I've fixed maybe 40 PS4s this year alone and the ones that came in with sticky buttons or drive issues? Almost all of them had that white goop inside. It gets thick and gunky after a year or two, especially if you live somewhere warm like I do in Phoenix. The right stuff for plastic on plastic is a dry lube or silicone based grease, not the automotive style stuff. Anyone else notice this pattern in their repair pile?

2 comments

abby_king22•1mo ago

Stop using compressed air on fan cleaning - learned the hard way last month

I blew out my PS4 Pro fan with compressed air like I've done a dozen times. This time a bearing went bad after 2 days and the fan started grinding at 3000 rpm. Turns out the canned air spins the fan way faster than it's rated for and can burn out the motor. I had to order a replacement fan for $15 on Amazon and spent 45 minutes swapping it. Has anyone else killed a console fan with compressed air or am I just unlucky?

2 comments

clairepark•1mo ago

Pro tip: stop using compressed air upside down on your PS4

I was cleaning my launch PS4 with a can of air and tilted it too far for like 2 seconds to get a dust clump near the fan. A split second later I heard this gross wet hiss and the console just shut off. Took me 3 hours of watching a tutorial and cleaning the board with 91% isopropyl to get it working again. Had no idea the liquid propellant could spray out that fast. Anyone else have a console die on them from this?

2 comments

richard_wells59•1mo ago

My PS4 slim fan started grinding last week, took me 3 tries to fix it

Honestly, I thought my PlayStation was about to die. The fan made this awful grinding noise every time I played Elden Ring. I opened it up and found a piece of plastic stuck in the fan blade. Pulled it out, put it back together, and it still made noise. Second time I realized I didn't seat the fan connector right. Third time, I used compressed air to clean dust off the heat sink and now it's silent. Has anyone else had random stuff get stuck in their console fan?

2 comments

coleman.karen•1mo ago

Switched from isopropyl alcohol to dish soap for cleaning old cartridge contacts

I used to drench everything in 91% isopropyl alcohol thinking it was the only way to clean dirty NES pins. Then about 6 months ago a guy at a retro game store in Denver told me he just uses warm water and a drop of Dawn dish soap for the plastic shells. Tried it on a grimy Game Boy that smelled like a basement from 1995 and it worked way better without fogging up the plastic. Anyone else find alcohol is overkill for the non-circuit parts?

2 comments

gibson.sean•1mo ago

Unpopular take: I stopped using rosin flux on old Sega boards

Last month in Portland I fixed a Genesis model 1 that had bad caps. Everyone swears by rosin flux for vintage stuff but I used that cheap water-soluble flux from Amazon instead. Cleaned it up with distilled water and a toothbrush, no residue at all. Anyone else tried skipping the fancy flux on retro consoles?

2 comments

angelaellis•1mo ago

Debate: Is it worth replacing HDMI ports on old consoles? Found a wild stat that changed my mind

I was looking up HDMI port replacement guides for my Xbox 360 and stumbled on a stat from a repair shop in Austin that said 60% of console HDMI failures are actually just bad solder joints, not broken ports. That surprised me because I always assumed the port itself was toast. Now I'm torn between trying a reflow myself or just buying a used console for $40. Has anyone else here tried just reheating the pins instead of replacing the whole port?

2 comments

reed.eva•1mo ago

Just realized my first soldering job was terrible after watching a video

I fixed a busted Xbox One controller last month and thought I did a great job with the joystick swap. Then I watched a retro repair tutorial on YouTube that showed proper flux techniques and realized my joints looked like cold spaghetti. Has anyone else gone back to look at their early work and noticed how messy it was?

2 comments

joseph_hart•1mo ago

Fixed my PS4 with a penny and a prayer last night

I was getting the blue light of death on my old PS4 after moving it to a different room. Opened it up and saw the thermal paste was totally dried out, like dust. Cleaned it, added new paste, and wedged a penny under the power supply where it was sagging. System booted right up and ran for 3 hours without a hitch. Anyone else had luck with weird ghetto fixes like that?

2 comments