Baaad timing

[OBH]

youd have a fork sticking out your neck

cheers for the help amorbis, i hate telephone customer service, but need to do it!

[Amorbis]

You're welcome Haydn. Don't worry about the customer service, they were helpful enough when I got my SIXAXIS replaced under warranty. Be prepared to go through a lot of different departments, though .

[blackwiggle]

I find that video of the "FIX" disturbing, but equally enlightening one on what has probably gone wrong with your console

If the CPU or Graphic chip have lost contact with the motherboard it would infer that heat that that PS3 was creating internally [with probable ambient surrounding temp] was enough to softened the joins, and that the vibration of the Fan,HD and disc reader were enough to break the contacts over time.

Seeing that the MB is situated at the bottom of the unit,and reading that you had the PS3 sitting on a thick rug [trapping heat beneath the console],with other electronics [more heat],would suggest that your console has suffered the same CPU/GC connection problem.
Cold comfort I know.

But no way would I go "Tool Time" with a heat gun on a MB as shown in that video,how many other components are going to suffer failure after that treatment,plus the guy said it was the second time he had done this to the same unit.
I bet it ended up on EBAY after that video was shot,I pity the poor sod who bought it if it did.

I have all my equipment sitting on Vibrapods http://www.vibrapod.com/ in a open rack with heaps of air around them,even then some hot summer days I will turn the PS3 off if I can hear the fan working harder than usual.
I just don't want to risk having to go without it .

Hope you can get it fixed quickly,by a authorized repairer [Sony sub contracts everywhere,some are better than others]

[Darkdrium777]

Actually no, Whetzel fixed his PS3 like this. He hasn't sold it AFAIK.

[Avenger2197]

Damn, I feel for you Haydn, I really do. I'm just going through the same thing. All these PS3's going at the exact same time. Makes you wonder.