Thread: green light then instantly off and no power...

My friend gave me his PS3 fat.
He said it doesnt work any more and thought i may be able to repair or get up and running again. (i have tinkered with xbox but never ps3)

when i switch it on at the back the red light comes on, touching the power button makes the green light appear for a split second, then nothing, its dead, i left it for an hour or so and saw a thread that someone had the problem and tried it again an hour later and it was fixed - i tried it again and got the same result - gree nthen dead.
it doesnt matter if i remove main and plug back in, nothing until its left alone for some time.

I have heard of the YLOD, but what could be wrong with mine? what needs replacing / repairing? is it a faulty power supply? is there any tests i can do before stripping it down and heat gunning the board? as this may not even be the problem.

any one with help on this?

send it into sony or a place that fixes ps3's

ive heard that can be costly though.
i have tools and can strip down the ps3. if it can be repaired by sending it to someone then i would liek to have a go myself, all i wondered was whether people had come across this problem, and had fixed by replacing the power supply, or by a heat gun method on the chips... i cant tell if there is a problem wit hthe power and that is why it switches off and takes time to reset, or the board, or fan or what