PlayStation Development Network

After not having to touch the insides of a PS1 for absolutely years , then the kids old playstation finally giving up,I got hold of a newer PSone for them and also a working motherboard only, applied a onechip to the console that was complete, no problem, works great, I then thought I might as well do the motherboard as well , the spare motherboard worked at normal speeds before the chip was applied, now the onechip has been fitted it is in slow motion, when you put in a disk either original or the backup copy , after the normal Playstation start screen it seems to hang for a lot longer than normal, then it boots up normally most times.If no disk is inserted it goes straight to the memory card screen instantly, If you insert a music CDr it also boots instantly with no lag.

Sometimes after the long wait with an original it goes straight to the CD player screen, a backup might go to the "Red" insert playstation disk screen, sometimes I have to reset the console several times then everything original or backup boots and works without a problem except for the extended hang time on the boot up screen.

I have checked all solder points and can't see any bridging, I have done a continuity test on all wires, not actually touching the soldered points, but what they are soldered to, all points pass this test but it probably won't detect a cold solder joint though.

Laser worked fine before the chip install and still does afterwards, using the backup of FFV111 for the long start-up sequence there's not a single hint of laser skip.

The board is a Pal SCPH-102 PM-41 (2) version and I used the install diagrams from on this forum for the install of the chip.

So if anybody could be kind enough to help me out a little, I expect some of you on here used to deal with these daily and could probably strip one down with you eyes shut, but any help as to which points may be causing the problem would be very helpful.

When it works it loads up anything so the chip must be working and wired to the correct point, as to when it's not working I don't really know, I used the full 8 wire install but don't really know which point and wire is used for what purpose, reset,ground ,power ,stealth etc. could just be one simple cold solder jopint that I can't see causing the problem.

A big thanks if someone could shed some light my way

brk1

Remove metal RF shielding from the bottom. It gets bent over time causing shorts.
It happened to me and other users here also. This only applies for PSone not the gray model.

If it still happens take a few pictures of the board and chip install and post it here.

Thank you very much for your help Shendo, I'll get that done as soon as possible and if it doesn't work still I'll get some pics up to see if anybody can see whats wrong, probably is a dry joint somewhere I can't see, getting too old to see those little points now, could do with some new eyes really , 1st time chipped 9002 worked fine , 1st time psone chipped worked fine, then get the second board that nearly works but chipped the same way, could it have anything to do with chip placement? On the 9002 and the first psone the wires were left long and the chip wasn't fixed on the board, but after looking at so many diagrams several people were placing it piggy backed on top of other chips that were safely away from the top heatshield, but I can't see any contact anywhere and a bit of tape covering the chip didn't make any difference so it wasn't shorting on the top shield .

I'll get back with results as soon as possible, do I need a certain number of posts before I can add pics like some forums or just find how to use tinypic , I usually use photo bucket but that posts BIG pics normally

thanks

brk1

Sorry for the long gap between posting again, I finally got to take the PSone apart againI tried removing the bottom heat shield but that didn't solve it, but I eventually found out what it was, I always hated cutting Kynar wire. that little bit of sleeve was always awkward to remove, till I came across the cheap and cheerful method of nail clippers and grip onto a needle to make a little slot in the cutting edge, works pretty well but not everytime, seems that I managed to trim the sheathing off one wire but also nearly severed the wire as well, so hence my continuity test passsed but the signals being sent down the wires weren't always strong enough giving me the spasmodic booting results, so I stripped the whole lot off and started again , then used the solder iron tip to remove the sheathing on the very short wire lengths, result, one fully functioning PSone with onechip installed.So thanks for the help given

brk109

I use very blunt scissors that have been pried apart ever so slightly to remove the coating off of Kynar wire.
It literally just strips the plastic sheath away perfectly as you cut near the tip of the scissors as they 'twist'.
Another alternative is using your teeth

I changed my way of chipping after watching a real pro at work , I was trying different methods all the time,tin then place the chip in desired position then try and cut the wires to the correct length as near as possible, then strip and tin and solder in place, small amount of solder applied to all the points first . Still the wires came out too long and untidy, so trying to trim them in place probably caused my problems of the nearly severed wire and spasmodic chip operation. Couldn't of used the scissor method and no way would your teeth work that close to the mobo , I managed to get some of my wires down to about 1" in length or 25mm if your a metric user.

I won't post any links in case I breech any rules but do a little google search and see this guy in action, I know the video has been speeded up to cut the viewing time on youtube, some of his youtubes might not even be available in your country, I was browsing another of his vids only to be informed viewing was not possible in my country, even though his soldering skill video is.

So search for Shorty-wTF@2010 with the youtube title of Univerzální čip ModBo 4.0 pro PS2 , he makes chipping that PS 2 slim with a modbo 4.0 chip look easier than a walk in the park, anybody who thought a PSone was a small soldering job, stand back and be amazed, that method of tinned and fluxed wire soldered to the really fine points,then cut to length as short as possible, then a quick circle on the end of your wire with your soldering iron to remove the cable outer and a quick dab to the modchip does work wonders and actually simplifies the whole process of getting your wires neat and tidy, If only I had eyes as good as that camera used I'd be a very happy man