PS3 CECHE01 Shuts down with red blinking light, Repair Advise appreciated.

I recently acquired a Playstation 3 CECHE01 (1st gen 80gb, 1/2 BC, 3.55FW) console. It will stay on for anything from a few minutes to an hour when idle, considerably less when running any kind of software. After a while it will shut down, beep and display a red blinking light that will usually not stop blinking unless the back power switch is switched or the console is unplugged.


Things I have tried: (without any change)

Unplugged Blu-Ray drive, since some people said bad bd-rom drive board could cause this
Removed HDD, As some people said the Hard Drive being bad could cause this too
Redid the thermal paste, tightening the screws on the heatsinks as much as I could, they were semi stripped

I have observed that the fan on the system is very quiet, My CECHA01 launch console is very loud as far as fans go, and the CECHE01 fan is almost quieter then a ps2. Could somehow the fan in this 80gb ps3 be bad causing the system to overheat? Could there be anything else that could cause this problem?

 

I believe the older PS3s suffered from the same problem the launch 360s with the Xenon boards. Bad solder under certain chips that after a while crack requiring a reball.