If it really is a V1.x Gameshark then it has the old style Datel communications port - these were not compatible with parallel ports and connected only to a special "comms link card". These are (somewhat amazingly) still available from certain sources (like EMS in Hong Kong), but you most likely don...

The check was probably always intended. It appeared in the Japanese boot code almost immediately after the initial batch of consoles. EU and NTSC-U consoles probably have the code for it, but disabled. I don't know this though, it's just speculation. The check was always in the Japanese consoles, i...

You may also want to remove the modchip connection for dumping. It may interfere. I have no modchip in my net yaroze. I will dig out my Arduino and see if I can find out what the problem is - my guess is that serial.print() is blocking long enough to miss the start bits coming out of the PSX and th...

I will dig out my Arduino and see if I can find out what the problem is - my guess is that serial.print() is blocking long enough to miss the start bits coming out of the PSX and the code needs some buffers.

Apropos. Any news on dumping more retail psx cdrom firmwares? I had hoped that dozens of people would their firmwares... like people implementing it as "my first serial data transfer project" using an arduino or the like... but now it's more than three years and only 3-4 people managed to dump some...

I have disable the ntsc fix, and now the psone works fine. So in my case i don't need the A18 and D2 point on the bios chip? I like my installs to be as clean as possible, i can make this on all psx version and post it, at least on pall versions. You will only need those points connected if you wan...

Hello from Portugal I have installed a arduino pro mini 8Mhz on a PU-18 if the last version of PSNee, and everything works ok tank you rama3 for the code. But on a PSONE i did not have any luck, again if a arduino pro mini 8Mhz, when the psone is loading the screen appears like is out off sync, scr...

Yeah, that's a serious limitation. Definitely rules out using a hacked original software this way. Do you think the RAM is enough to establish 2 way communication with an external MCU? It would also have to read and control each of the used I/O. Maybe, but you would need some pretty fast IO to be a...

"Mode2: Upload 200h bytes to RAM & jump to 0040h (allows fast/custom dumping)" I wonder, is the chip fully functional in this self test mode? If it is, it'd be very interesting if instead of uploading just a small routine, we could upload a full replacement software. That software would then have t...

1) Looks plausible - you don't have to do anything special because a PSX CD is entirely standards compliant (which I guess is something you would expect from one of the companies that originated the CD standard in the first place). One thing you do need to watch is that CD-ROM directories are a litt...

One other thing to watch is that since this is using the original transformer that was designed for 120V the peak current through the primary is going to be about twice the original value when running on 230V - the output voltage remains the same because the regulator adjusts down the duty cycle to ...

Other than the directory sectors I would never patch the system area, so it doesn't matter until I move files around and change file sizes. How does the EDC/ECC bug work, and does it matter? Is it used for anti-piracy protections in any games or the system itself? Can I patch the affected sectors w...

Glad to hear you got your code working - but if you find incorrect EDC/ECC in the system area of a PSX disc then it's quite possible it's just corrupt so you were right not to immediately jump to blaming your code

Try checking sector 16 or higher - a lot of PSX CDs genuinely do have broken ECC/EDC in the system area of the disc due to a bug in Sony's mastering tool.

Thank you very much Apsley, I see a very small difference in the gray plastic part, the mold "circles" appear fainter. So does the printing on the blue sticker, hmm.. I wonder what the experts TriMesh and Shadow think about those close up shots 8-) rama3, that's what the site claims but how can you...

Damn, I wasted $50 on a Japanese playstation with accessories. I bought it because I thought it was in better condition compared to the other US models that were listed thinking I was going to be able to use Unirom with it regardless. The swap method should still work as long as you have at least o...

OK, I just had a look at the code, and noticed a few things to do with the region detection. 1) You are reading 0xBFC7FF52 and comparing it with 'A' and selecting NTSC mode if so - this results in the code switching to PAL mode on consoles with a Japanese ROM, which is the wrong thing to do (tm). I ...

Hopefully it will be compatible in the future, because damn, I was going to use it to play backups and japanese games on this ntsc-j model. Please elaborate a little more on the swap issue. Thanks. The "nocash unlock" bit is never going to be compatible with any console with a Japanese CD controlle...

I can't even boot up japanese region backups with this method. I'm not sure if it's a cart, model, or hardware issue. Which region is your console? If it's Japanese (SCPH-xxx0) or Asia (SCPH-xxx3) then the nocash unlock won't work because it's not supported by the code in the CD ROM controller chip...

I haven't bought one, but I'm extremely dubious about that claim. Partly because it's an item that's been out of production for so long and partly because the official Sony service part came with the rubber shock isolators and that one apparently doesn't. From the photo it looks decent quality though.