A few months ago I purchased a fat used PS2 from GameStop.com. What I received was a "frankenstein" PS2: a SCPH-5xxxx board placed in a SCPH-3xxxx case with a really crappy laser (KHS-400B) and a loose eject button that barely worked. It could only play PS2 CD-ROMs if you inserted a PS1 CD-ROM, quickly ejected the tray, and swaped in a PS2 CD-ROM. It struggled to read DVD-ROMs and DVD-Rs were out of the question. Only a few days after the 30 day warranty expired, the laser fried while I was playing a game. You get what you pay for, at only $30 (price has since increased) A few weeks later I purchased my fourth PS2 from craigslist. Let's just say I shouldn't try to replace lasers or touch flat cables haha.
A few months ago I bought a total of 5 PS2s (SCPH-39001 and SCPH-50001s) from two/three different stores. 3 of them worked fine and the other two wouldn't read PS1 discs. One I was able to get to read them by turning up the laser power well beyond what was safe. Needless to say I returned them both. One store was very apologetic (they weren't the same store that sold any of them to me) and said that part of the reason may be the fact that they don't carry PS1 games anymore and can't test the PS1 side of things. Not really a good excuse as they're not fully testing products they claim are 100% functional. That price increase from $29.99 to $39.99 really chaps my ass too. Some come with network adapters but most don't leading you to unequal values for the same purchase. Not a bad buy if it is a 50001 but I wouldn't bother if it was a 30001.
Any PS2 technician who know what are he doing know that one cannot fit a KHS-400B on anything newer than a "D-Chassis" (GH-010/013/014/016) because the tray will fail to open properly due to the laser pickup having metal edges that will force against the top of the motherboard assembly when the pickup assembly is pushed down for the tray to open. Seriously that's a hell of a Frankenstein PS2... >_< Also, the laser fried because it was of a wrong electronic type for the board in the console... There's two kinds of laser diodes on these lasers and 50K is supposed to only use the new kind of laser(yellow lens ring). While the old type of laser(white lens ring) do work on it, it works out of spec.
Anyone with half a brain will figure it out when they try to install it. Clearly a lobotomy was involved here.
Those places never test their consoles, or games, EB do the same thing here... They never inspect the system before they're on the shelf. It's up to the customer which isn't right. I probably would of demanded my money back...
Sorry of the OT, but would a 400C laser be good for a v9 pal ps2? I am asking because some years back I bought this new laser plus a couple or arms for my v9 ps2 in case something needs replacing in the future (had this v9 since it was new, never ever failed me)
Those used 400C units or HD7 units depending on Sony's whim. Unless there is a homebrew software check, you need to use a screwdriver to know. My experience is that newer date code systems of v7-11 are less likely to use a 400C and more likely to use a 400R (usually v7/8) or HD7 (usually v9-11)
I don't think "400R" (I am talking about the "400R" name) laser exists. It's just a Sanyo HD7 with the old style laser diode chip. Because the prism and collimation lens are different for the old laser type, the photodiode/laser chip has to be assembled upside down. I like these lasers so much, I dismantle them and put their laser diodes on SONY type pickups such as 400A or 400B with white lens ring (lol). Actually because their objective lens assembly is heavier than that of the SONY lasers, it need a different setup on the mechacon eeprom. Having heavier lens make it fail faster when the coils fry. So the chance the laser completely stops working before wearing out the laser diode is higher on these units. Making burnt Sanyo lasers an excellent source for working photodiode/laser chips. lol PS2 repairs are no longer profitable enough so I have no reason to keep my secrets to myself...
