Manchester Tool Ten

We also posted a quick note in the eBay section re Bury PS2 Tool auctions and the sellers name so that if anyone is interested in any of the units they might be wise to call the seller in advance. I do have the feeling that Barc0de's dead unit will be wheeled out for eBay auction soon. I doubt whether the seller will change his listing, but you never know.

 

Ahhhh you said in your other post that you had been refunded!

Does this mean you have sent it back before being refunded, or is it a play on words / a mere technicality ?

...Just curious as I'm guessing sending it back must be expensive?

 

Well I've tried contact him to see if he had anymore units.. but he just keeps saying that he has none left.. even before the last one shoved up o_Ô
So I'm guessint the last one he sold must been a refunded damaged one too.

 

I do, indeed - but it's an external SCSI unit that mostly gets used on my NeXT cube. What you can see in the pic is actually an old Colorado Tape drive - sadly win2k can't see it & since I rarely boot up win98 anymore, it's really only there in case I need to restore some ancient tape backup. HDDs have become so cheap now, I mostly backup to other HDDs...

Talking of which, is there any recommended way to perform a disc image of the TOOL HDDs, without having to remove them from the machine? That's what I would normally do first with any system that I'm about to tinker with that I'm not familiar with, but I don't want to open her up... not just yet, anyway...

Ok - if/when I make more progress (or find new problems) - I'll post there.

Oddly enough, that is exactly what my girlfriend called me after I informed her what the 17Kg lump that had just been delivered was! Now she keeps wandering past exclaiming how HUGE it is, as I tinker. ;-)

Cheers, Limey (proud to be a TOOL-noob! )

 

sadly i have to admit that i had a weird funky dream about walking along the street and seeing a Guy with a sign Saying PS2 Tools for sale! after rummaging throught the pile they were only STD PS2's but there was a brand new TOOL Usb/Firewire panel in there.. (how on earth i supposedly recognised this i dont know!)....


This thread has a lot to answer for...

Oh and i am hassling my wife to get a TOOL now also...

 

Without opening the Tool, maybe, if you can boot from the network.
You only be able to dump the boot hdd this way, as the second one, if you have it, is not connected to the pc board...
During the POST, press pause, the pc board model should be displayed and you'll have plenty of time for reading it.

By the way, I have the exact manual for the pci-586hve-s revision used in the pentium233mhz Tools, if anyone wants it.

 

Fuck fuck fuck

Just been having a fiddle with my tool and fucked the head of 2 screws up. Was tryin to get the HD caddy out - they seems to be 4 screw holding them in with the 2 on the front side being close to each other. well both of them are so sodding tight ive mashed them.

 

It should be noted that the screws used in the PS2 Tool are really shite. They literally chew up when you apply too much pressure or use the wrong size of driver. They do also seem to weld themselves in tightly. If it's the two down the side, then they are harder to take out. On the top, then you can probably drill them out. You'll have to be careful to ensure none of the shavings get lodged in the machine, so do it upside down letting the shavings fall directly downwards.

I've had to do the same on 1 screw on the facade. Pain in the... as you noticed.

 

Also on closer inspection one of the usb ports is broken - no plastic in it

 

Or use a hover while drilling hehe its good enough for A****S

Also on a side note the drives are IDE? so there nothing stopping me putting them into a ide to usb caddy and copying them over?

 

That's exactly the same damage as was on mine. Rather looked like somebody had accidently kicked some USB device whilst it was sticking out of the port & broke off the plastic key that has the metal connectors on it. Do you know if the other USB port works?

For the screw heads - you might be able twist it out, using some needle nose pliers - that worked for me when I stripped a screwhead (also on some Sony kit). The screwheads won't look pretty afterwards, but they probably don't look so great now, either...

 

I haven't tried it yet im more interested in searching the 2 hard disks

 

My approach is rather extreme - it's the inner dentist in me :evil:

 

I opened the other Tool, the one that looks like less damaged from the outside.
The inside was a mess, the power cable disconnected from the pc board, the dvd drive cable in bad condition (I will test it later), and the radiator from the p233 was lying around...so the p233 was free to heat...

I have a similar problem with the 2 screws on the hdd caddy, the closest to the dvd drive...

And by the way, I know now from what company my damaged Tools came.
hint: they brought a game series fom a very well-known US developer to the famicom, it should be easy to find out.

 

Ouch...h:

Not sounding to good UJ..... Is this the one that you planned to keep 'whole'?

 

Yes, it's the one I was planning to sell...

 

From these two damaged units do you have enough parts in good condition to make 1 whole unit UJ?

The sad things with these Tools is that I think when something goes wrong with them they are generally so complicated that people go in, have a go, can't manage it, have a tinker anyway and leave it in a state. As they are rare they stick them on auction and off they go.

I truly hope that something is worth the effort here UJ!

 

One of the units has its front and up shell broken, I will sell it as spare parts, once I have tested it.
The other one works, just a few cables to reconnect and the radiator to put back in place.

 

just a shame that they still comandeer a high price...

i would love to get one but at the moment the cost is still prohibitive for my needs at present...

But agreed... the amount of regular PS2's i have picked up cheap after someone else has beaten me too it inside!

 

That little MMX Processor of yours must be capable of taking a bit of punishment if you attempted running it without the heat sink or fan on it. Mine died because the last owner left the heat sink raised at one end.

That's one thing I think should be mentioned to ANY prospective Tool owners. Prior to running it, I'd recommend opening up the case to ensure the previous owner had actually left it in reasonable condition. A few of them are turning up with their internals pretty trashed.

But hey, I know the temptation is to plug it in straight away!