Blu-Ray swappable between PS3 Fat & PS3 Slim?

I've got a fat PS3 CECHC04 that's been temporarily (I guess) revived with a hair dryer from YLOD and a slim PS3 that's got a dying Blu-Ray drive.
My question is, can I replace the faulty drive in the slim with the working drive from the fat?
If not, are at least the laser pickups swappable?

 

Unfortunately not, they are using different versions. While your phat is still using a Pata connection on the blu ray drive, and the slim is using a sata. And the second thing, you phat laser has 1 eye(for reading blur-ray, and dvd/cd, while the slim is using 2 eyes. for reading the blu-ray and dvd/cd.

Although replacement lasers aren't that expensive anymore.
But I can recommend too open up the slim first, and check which laser is in it.

 

I see, thank you for the comprehensive response.

On a sidenote, what's a more permanent solution to the YLOD? Is removing the gpu&cpu chip caps and replacing the thermal paste underneath those the only viable option?

 

A reflow done by a professional, or even better a reball(of the solderballs underneath the cpu/gpu)

 

Isn't that expensive though?

I think the internal chip thermal paste definitely plays a role in it, in combination with the solderballs, of course.

 

The prices vary alot. I really have no clue what the prices are in your region(usa?)

And that's true, combination of the thermal paste, on top of the IHS(the metal looking piece on top of your cpu/gpu), and underneath it

 

My region's Sweden. We don't have many places here that will do that kind of work for a ps3.

One last question, will replacing the thermal paste only on top of the IHS do anything at all? Or do I have to peel it off of the chips and replace the paste under it also?

 

You could check PS3hax to see if there's someone near you who does that kind of stuff. A good reflow would be enough and much cheaper than a reball, I pretty much exclusively reflow and I've never had any problems with it. The only times where that hasn't worked has been because there were other problems on top of that.

I would suggest just replacing the thermal paste on top of the IHS. Depending on your methods it can be really easy to just break your PS3 trying to remove the IHS (I've been there). The anecdotal evidence I've seen on the internette on replacing the paste under the IHS does suggest somewhere around a 5-10C drop in temps. The problem with that is I haven't seen someone test the temperature difference between just new thermal paste on top the IHS vs new thermal paste on top and bottom of the IHS. The test is always old thermal paste vs new thermal paste on top and bottom of IHS. So you could risk breaking your PS3 and not actually see any improvement, but I could be wrong. Maybe I can test that out sometime, I have a phat PS3 right next to me that I need to reflow that I could test it on lol.

Also in replacing PS3 blu-ray drives they are married to the console. So if you get a replacement drive you have to take the circuit board off your old PS3 drive and put it on the new one.

I can't remember what PSU is in that off the top of my head, but supposedly there is a revision of the PSU that doesn't get as hot as some of the others. Again I haven't thoroughly tested that claim, but it could be something you could do to reduce the temps in your system. There's also PWM fan controllers so you can manually control the fan speed, and using a 19 blade fan if you don't have one already. Replacing some of the thermal pads if they've turned to dust. So many different things you can do to try and prevent YLOD.

 

That's a good idea, I'll check on that site. Thanks for the tip!

I was looking the way this guy goes about removing the IHS, and I think that's the way to go *if* you're going to do it.

Spoiler: Youtube Video

It seems logical that it would indeed make a big difference (even 5-10c is a lot).

As for fans and PSUs, that's not something I'm immediately willing to explore. Same goes for removing the IHS, really. I'm not a tech of any kind, I'm just "the handy guy" on my block.
Maybe I'll look into this later on as it is a sought after backwards compatible console, after all.

 

YLOD HAS SHIT ALL TO DO WITH THE BGA
IT IS THE INTERCONNECT BETWEEN THE PROCESSOR DIE AND THE PCB SUBSTRATE!