I was using a HDDOSD install with no issues until I installed the Modbo, but they don't appear to coexist peacefully no hdd: ps2 boots all originals/imports/backups regardless of media type 100% no issue with hdd (with hddosd) installed: ps2 will not boot ANY optical media, even properly regioned originals. all HDD installed apps and games still work though with hdd and modchip disabled: full function of original NTSC-U media of all types, and HDD apps all good only way to get optical media to boot with the HDD installed and chip enabled is to hold select at boot with a ps2 game in the drive (for "fast boot") or alternatively hold circle with a ps1 game in the drive ("force psx mode") when I say "will not boot any optical media" what it's doing exactly is: 1) disc is recognized in browser 2) click disc and it attempts to load game 3) black screen, flickers a couple times, can hear HDD seeking in the background 4) returns to browser various threads on the subject I found in search were inconclusive, people suggested disabling "atad patching" which was already turned off as well as other "hdd related options" (what those are is unclear) I disabled every option in the menu to no effect, I attached a picture of my current settings (defaults) any thoughts? if they will not coexist I can remove hddosd and just launch opl/apps with the shoulder buttons, but hddosd is just so cool. please don't say stop using modchips thanks!
Fixed!!!!!!! formatted the HDD using wLE and loaded HDDOSD from SUDC4 - and now everything works funny how that premade HDD image I was using before "worked perfectly" pre-chip... moral of the story INSTALL IT YOURSELF
It is possible that the browser was just made so differently that the modchip's code gets confused. There were at least three versions of the HDD browser. Since there was not much use for the patched HDD Browser until 2013, it is possible that some modchips do not support it well. Or at least, not all are compatible with FHDB. I feel that it got worse recently, after the DVD Player support was made to work like the browser's.
The working version of HDDOSD I installed from the disc was US 1.10 - I suppose it's possible that the pre-made image was using 1.00 beta or a JP version. I never tried FHDB with the chip. Curiously, using the exit to browser function of GSM Selector still causes the same optical disc issues described in the OP. However, exiting all other homebrew back to the browser presents no issues, all discs will still load fine. Must be something odd about the way GSM invokes the browser because I can exit GSM to mc0:/boot/boot.elf (which is wLE in my setup) and then run a disc (backup or original) just fine.
