PS5 overheating shutdowns: liquid metal leak or dried-out TIM
PS5s that run hot, get loud and shut themselves down are usually clogged with dust, or the liquid-metal thermal compound between the APU and heatsink has migrated, hardened or attacked the heatsink plating. Clean the cooling path first. If that doesn't fix it, strip to the board, clean off the old liquid metal and re-apply it inside the original foam barrier.
Written by the CircuitScope research team in our own words, from the sources listed at the end, and checked by our moderators.
PS5s that run hot, get loud and shut themselves down are usually clogged with dust, or the liquid-metal thermal compound between the APU and heatsink has migrated, hardened or attacked the heatsink plating. Clean the cooling path first. If that doesn't fix it, strip to the board, clean off the old liquid metal and re-apply it inside the original foam barrier.
Difficulty: Hard · Time: about 2.5 hours
Also applies to: Sony PlayStation 5 Pro
Symptoms
- Console shuts down suddenly during games
- Fan runs very loud even in light use
- Crashes or freezes that get worse over time
- Problem appears after years of use, in either vertical or horizontal orientation
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