Driving us Crazy
26/02/11 07:15
Dude. Who knew. Evan got the YLOD on the PS3 a couple of weeks back and it was not pretty. You know, the light flashes on and off three or four times and then just dies. I found a tutorial on YouTube, borrowed a heat gun, finally found a torx wrench, and I was off to the races. I had to rip that mother apart right down to the motherboard, reflow the circuitry with the heat gun running at 350 degrees celsius, and then apply a new coating of thermal compound (Arctic Silver) on the heat sinks. I worried that the isopropyl alcohol I was using was not of sufficient strength to get the job done but not to worry. My biggest problem was that the video I was following didn't resemble the machine I was working on when I finally got inside the machine. Ribbons were different, fans didn't come off quite as described in the video, and it required a bit of jiggering as I went along. Anyway, I had a few screws on hand after it was reassembled which doesn't surprise me at all. When I plugged her in for the test ride, she lit right up and didn't blink away into oblivion as she did before she died on us. Mission accomplished.
I had hoped to have Ev lend a helping hand and even take the lead at the outset. We got started one day but came to a screeching halt when we couldn't get the first screw out. From there, we just never got it together to get it done and I decided that it was better not to wait for him and just do it myself. For one, I wanted to get the heat gun back to its owner and for two, I have some experience dealing with electronics and thought that rather then tell Evan I thought I'd better take the lead and maybe take the chance of letting him down that I was better of just doing it rather than walking him through the process. It took me two hours so not sure what it might have taken us had we turned it onto a two man job. Nonetheless, I waited until Thursday of his school vacation week so I didn't have to hear his mother screeching endlessly about his sitting in front of the TV playing his games the entire week. It is, after all, my machine so I thought it best to just get the job done. And that is what I did. I guess we'll have to see how long the fix lasts.
Did I tell you Ev got in an accident with the car last night? He told his mother that it happened in Katie O'Brien's driveway and that he slid into a snowbank. Apparently, he damaged one of the fog lights. I haven't seen it for myself but plan to do that this morning. We told him to just stay where he was and have fun and that we were good with the fact that he was not hurt. How much of his story is true we may never know. I'm just hoping not to read any stories in the local rags about a hit and run or anything like that. He may have even learned a valuable lesson last night as there is no greater lesson that that which is learned through your own experiences. It may have been more painful to call us up and give us the news than anything else. I guess we'll see how it plays out this morning.
I would just comment on one or two other things before I sign off this morning. This has been a wicked winter and with March approaching it is one welcome sight. We've had so much snow that you can't even imagine. We had to borrow our neighbors snow blower since our little Toro, god bless her little two cycle heart, just wasn't up to the task especially at the end of our driveway as a result of storms that dumped nearly a foot of snow a week on us. We had all we could do to keep the roof somewhat clear, the driveway from going down to one car width at the base, and the wood stove going strong enough to keep our home warm in sub freezing temperatures. Yes, it's been a damn cold winter too. My heart goes out to those people unable to afford the price of oil to heat their homes and I'm thankful we got a good load of seasoned wood as late in the season as we did. The price of gas at the pump is $3.20 so you can imagine what heating oil costs. With the Middle East in an upheaval I guess we'll see where the price of oil goes but it probably will not be down anytime soon.
I had hoped to have Ev lend a helping hand and even take the lead at the outset. We got started one day but came to a screeching halt when we couldn't get the first screw out. From there, we just never got it together to get it done and I decided that it was better not to wait for him and just do it myself. For one, I wanted to get the heat gun back to its owner and for two, I have some experience dealing with electronics and thought that rather then tell Evan I thought I'd better take the lead and maybe take the chance of letting him down that I was better of just doing it rather than walking him through the process. It took me two hours so not sure what it might have taken us had we turned it onto a two man job. Nonetheless, I waited until Thursday of his school vacation week so I didn't have to hear his mother screeching endlessly about his sitting in front of the TV playing his games the entire week. It is, after all, my machine so I thought it best to just get the job done. And that is what I did. I guess we'll have to see how long the fix lasts.
Did I tell you Ev got in an accident with the car last night? He told his mother that it happened in Katie O'Brien's driveway and that he slid into a snowbank. Apparently, he damaged one of the fog lights. I haven't seen it for myself but plan to do that this morning. We told him to just stay where he was and have fun and that we were good with the fact that he was not hurt. How much of his story is true we may never know. I'm just hoping not to read any stories in the local rags about a hit and run or anything like that. He may have even learned a valuable lesson last night as there is no greater lesson that that which is learned through your own experiences. It may have been more painful to call us up and give us the news than anything else. I guess we'll see how it plays out this morning.
I would just comment on one or two other things before I sign off this morning. This has been a wicked winter and with March approaching it is one welcome sight. We've had so much snow that you can't even imagine. We had to borrow our neighbors snow blower since our little Toro, god bless her little two cycle heart, just wasn't up to the task especially at the end of our driveway as a result of storms that dumped nearly a foot of snow a week on us. We had all we could do to keep the roof somewhat clear, the driveway from going down to one car width at the base, and the wood stove going strong enough to keep our home warm in sub freezing temperatures. Yes, it's been a damn cold winter too. My heart goes out to those people unable to afford the price of oil to heat their homes and I'm thankful we got a good load of seasoned wood as late in the season as we did. The price of gas at the pump is $3.20 so you can imagine what heating oil costs. With the Middle East in an upheaval I guess we'll see where the price of oil goes but it probably will not be down anytime soon.