"Wtf is this your garage?" it's my basement workshop/solder bench, hence the chaos all over it

tested it out again with lollipop chainsaw. when I'd tested it originally it sounded like my PS3 was going to take flight and zip around the room with how LOUD the fans are. now it's properly cooling, and the fans didn't even kick into high gear.

I did it. I didn't destroy my PS3 😭

buttoned it back up, gave it a good wipe down and...

she's gorgeous.

so I put on rubber gloves to prevent shock (???) and ripped open the console as quickly as I could. placed the screws as needed and now it's not missing any screws. (:

was too nervous to take photos here as you may have noticed. I put it back together and it looked pretty good... until I realized after putting the top cover and testing the that I left the motherboard screws and Blu-ray stability screw on the table next to me

I managed to clean off the CPU and GPU (left) and heatsink (right) using isopropyl alcohol. I figured I'd practice applying thermal paste, but kept screwing it up on the paper towel I tried it on, so I threw caution to the wind and just did it for real... and it came out ok. WEW

managed to wedge the thing free and uhh,
umm,
where's the thermal paste LOL it's like plaster of Paris and super thin here. to its credit, it's still a little goopy. just a little. it's like playdoh

Sorry. I fell off the face of the earth. but luckily I took pix.

at this point, things got real. I took a break to dust off all the components outside and accidentally dropped one of the fan screws. it took 5 minutes to find but I got it. we good. onto the final boss

was fighting with the housing a bit, unsure of why it's not opening. it's stuck around the right side of the console. yes, the warranty sticker is removed as is the screw underneath.

turns out I forgot one of the tall screws. thanks ifixit for overlooking that one. the thing separated nicely

genuinely curious if i could even use pix (the br venmo not the photos)

hello my friend!!! thank you for your kindness as that's very true. but i also am a terrible procrastinator at social media. i wanna give it another try (':

pretty much know the culprit here. i gotta repaste the PS3 CPU and GPU no two questions about it. but im not.... very excited about having to tear it down to the mobo.

y'all want pix??