The Blu-Ray drive on my Playstation 4 Pro, under the stress of the last eight months of pandemic induced heavy usage, started showing signs of failing. Namely I had to hit the top of my PS4 multiple times after putting in a disk in before it would “catch” and start spinning up.
Thanks to the magic of parts on Amazon (always check your model this one only for PS4 Pro) and the great guides at iFixIt, I was able to swap out the drive with minimal fuss. As a precautionary measure, I set up my “Generic Extreme Sports Action Camera” over it and set to take pictures every 5 seconds in case I wound up with any extra parts.
Conveniently this made a great time-lapse video after stitching it together. I have been messing with Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve as my editor which provides a ridiculous amount of value in it’s free package. I am a big fan.
Anyway here is that time-lapse.
During re-assembly, you have to apply thermal paste again to the APU. The original paste that Sony puts on is sloppy as hell and I wonder if it had anything to do with my Pro sounding like a jet engine during later titles like God of War, Days Gone, and The Last of Us Part 2. I put on my trusty Arctic Silver 5 and right now I am playing through Ghost of Tsushima (great game) and have not heard any fan revving.
But on the other hand I have only played Ghost of Tsushima and Fall Guys (another great game) since putting everything back together. I’ll give it a stress test when I have a chance. But for now all is right with the world. If the world was just this drive problem with my Playstation.