PlayStation Development Network

Hi everyone,

I've been lurking on these forums for a while now... I've been mainly looking at decompiling PS1 games from MIPS to C, and generally learning the whole PSYQ SDK as I go along. This forum has been a massive help with its resources and discussions. However... I was hoping some of you could help me further..

I recently bought a DTL-H1101 from eBay. Problem is.. It's making some pretty loud noises when the laser is moving along the track, as well as a clicking when the disc spins. I know next to nothing about repairing electronics, let alone a Playstation! Here are a couple of short videos showing the problem...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WpJRoQxLtc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YszXKoe-mF8

The obvious solution to me, is buy a replacement CD drive. However I wanted to be certain whether this is an appropriate fix for this issue...? Are there ways of fixing this without buying a whole new drive? I'd like to keep this with the original components as much as possible...

Hopefully some of you guys who are experts could give a little guidance here?


Thanks,
- Jamie

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EDIT: So I opened the case... The component has the code KSM-440ACM. If I need to replace it the whole thing, what's my best bet? Buying from China, or strip one out of another model that has the same motherboard?

At this point, unfortunately most of the CD drive mechanisms available on places like eBay are basically junk. The production stopped a long time ago and anything that gets put together now is most likely going to be using parts that are either recycled or were rejected back in the day for some reason.

Your best bet is to find a lightly-used PSone (the little white version of the PlayStation) and use the optical pickup assembly from that - it's marked "KSM-440BAM", but the ribbon cable is compatible with the -AAM and -ACM. You will need to swap over the top cover since the one on the BAM is both a different color and a slightly different shape.