Broken Audiophile PS1

I picked up a rare launch release Audiophile PS1 the other day for £5 but it is broken. It powers on but then nothing else happens. Does anyone know of any common problems that these consoles have? I want to try and fix it but I don't really know whats wrong with it. I think I have read before that its common for the lazers to break on these things maybe I could try get a new lazer?

 

they arent rare, I have piles of them you can have for the same money.

If you get no picture, its not the laser causing it (well, unless its shorting something out - but not from the usual laser breaking issues you have read about).

 

yep the lasers on the older playstation consoles have had their day and will most likely need replacement (i mean they must be nearly 20 years old), however that would not account for you getting nothing on screen so the problem lies elsewhere i would think, has someone opened the unit before and attempted to install a modchip and maybe did a bodge job?

 

I cant see any signs of anyone trying to install a mod chip. Is there any other way I can diagnose what the problem is at all?

 

have you checked for leaky capacitors?

 

No, but whats a capacitor?

 

I took the top off the Ps1. When I put the power cable in and turn it on it makes a buzzing sound. I then unplugged the power board from the mother board and the buzzing stopped. I don't know if this would help identify whats wrong with it?

 

Audiophile? ah that stupid name invented by the audiophiles for the SCPH100X.
It's nothing rare, nothing special about audio, specially nowdays. Only a day one console with a lot of defect and HW bug.
By the Way you can check first all the fuses. It's very hard to see a psx with bad capacitors, Sony have used a very good quality nichicon caps at the time..
Th buzzing sounds came fro the power board?

 

The buzzing seems to be coming from the big black and yellow thing in the middle of the power board:

 

transformer

 

Do you think it might be a faulty transformer? Maybe if I change it that may fix it? Or is it unlikely that this would be the problem?

 

tried replacing the psu board ?

 

No, but I don't have another one to replace it with that will fit. I have one from a later model PS1 but the cables don't fit.

 

check the capacitors and if they have a bad solder joint.
If you hear a whistle, maybe there's a short on the mobo.

 

I'm am a bit of a noob, what are capacitors? And what's the mobo?

 

no offense but if you dont know that then you probably shouldnt be attempting to fix it

 

I was much more of a noob before I started console modding, everything I have learnt has been from practice, trial and error and people helping me on forums, I have learnt ALOT since I started a few months ago and I learn pretty fast. I have managed to make a wireless, rechargeable PS1 controller that works very well, and that was all just from trial and error and a bit of help from people on this forum. So I think I'm cable of fixing this I just need a bit of help from you kind people again and hopefully I'll learn a lot more as I go

 

And know that I think about it, "mobo" probably means motherboard? And I'm assuming that capacitors are one of the things that stick out of the power board?

 

You really do want to learn a bit more about electronics before you proceed. Working on a power supply without any knowledge could get yourself killed.

I would highly recommend a good beginner's electronics book - you'll learn a lot from it. Several books, in fact. Once you know what components such as capacitors, resistors, diodes and transistors are and what they do, and other basics, you'll be in a much better position to think about repairs. A book on computer circuit theory would be handy, too.

Something like Electronics for Dummies should be a good starting point. As you're in the UK, Babani Books do some good stuff, too - although they're slightly more advanced.

As for the repair, just replace the PSU, if you can find a replacement.

*EDIT* By the way, this belongs in the repairs section. I'll request a move for you

 

I'll advice against touching switching PSUs until you can build at least a simple electronic clock or something like that, and it will take year or two to learn all that stuff. So yeah, it will be better just to replace or find someone who will repair it for you - these things are dangerous, i'm quite skilled in electronics (built a satellite receiver when i was 11 years old) but still managed to kill my TV because i missed a tiny drop of solder on PS1 PSU. Console wasn't damaged but TV was fried, except for FBT i had to replace almost all active components on PCB.