Modchip recommendations for a Japanese SCPH-3000 PS2?

Modchip recommendations for a Japanese PS2?

Hey guys! Does anyone have any modchip recommendations for a Japanese model SCPH-30000 PS2? I seem to have a number of choices here! Basically, I want to play import games and I want the system to look stock, so no chips that do stuff like add logos to the boot screens! I've heard good things about the Matrix chips and they're also one of the only chips I've been able to find Japan-version specific install guides for One of them maybe?

*EDIT* It doesn't have to be just for the SCPH-30000, the reason I chose that model was they're suppose to be the easiest to install modchips in. But I've since found out that this model has a V4 board, which is just as hard as the others and any model between the SCPH-30000 and SCPH-3900 seems to be rather uncommon. So yeah, basically, what modchip would be best for a Japanese PS2 really

 

Why not just get a network adaptor and play your games with OPL? Or if you fancy the SONY feel, get a cracked copy of the HDD OSD and use HDLGameInstaller to install your games; your games will be bootable from the HDD OSD, as if they were PSBBN DLCs.

 

'Cuz I want the experience of putting the disc in the console and playing from that

 

Matrix Infinity?

I'm quite tempted to get a retail machine again soon just to use the method sp193 described. My SCPH-10000 doesn't work with my Network Adaptor + HDD combo (no PCMCIA one on hand either) and my debug doesn't appear to like the HDD OSD install.

 

Only debugs with Magic Gate active (DTL-Hx010x) work with the HDD Utility disc. (Edit: Oh and the DTL-H5000x where they gave up on that silly restriction of releasing debugs with MG disabled...)

 

Hmm, I have a DTL-H30101 E. I'm installing HDD OSD via HD imaging but it doesn't seem to like it. Is it an alternative method for the debug machines?

 

You need a SONY harddrive and a legit disc, or a SONY harddrive and a copy of a legit disc patched as master disc. I am not sure if hacks released by "the community" (stuff from theisozone or similar sites) will work on a Debugging station.

 

Ah, no Sony HDD I'm afraid. Good to know at least.

 

To use a non SONY HDD you need patched files and those I am not sure if they work on the DTL, as I said before ... I could try your image if you let me know where you got it.

 

If that is a downloaded HDD image, I'd bet it's already ATAD patched... The boot problem might be due to the KELF APP_TYPE :
Some hacked HDD images (like the "48bit" one) contain a DVDELF. DVDELF decryption is denied on DTL-Hs.
A properly patched hosdsys.elf should work.

 

Oh yeah, if they are DVD player app type they will be denied decryption by the DTL unit mechacon. Fun stuff.

 

I've repacked the HDD Utility disc 1.10 just now. The download link is in the Pastie 9690767.
It's ATAD patched, region free patched and master disc (USA) patched.
I have not tested it, because I've destroyed my poor CDVD writer trying to dump these recently acquired PS2 PAR2 discs...

 

From what I've read, that chip inserts two of it's logos, a big one before the main menu loads and a small one on the "Playstation 2" screen before the game starts. I've seen there's an option to turn off the Matrix logo at startup, but does this also include the small logo too? A saw a guy who had installed a Mars Pro and it didn't add any logos but from what I've read, PS2s with a Mars Pro need you to fiddle with the reset button when you want to boot a game. Again, I'm looking for something that behaves like a stock PS2. I should be able to put the disc in and away it goes.

I've heard that the Ghost 2 is a new, really good chip. Does it add any logos to the system? I've heard it's also compatible with Japanese SCPH-10000 models, which would be pretty cool if true!

 

You can only turn off the BIG logo which shows on power up. The small one cannot be disabled, but you can flash a blank one and that effectively make it transparent.

 

The Matrix chip right? Would that also effect the Playstation 2 logo as well? Does the Matrix chip require you to select media type by pressing the reset button or does this happen automatically? I read online that you need to manually select the media type.

Also, do you have much experience with the Ghost 2 chip? I've been reading up on it, and it seems like it's a really solid chip. It mentioned something about it being resistant to issues caused by less-than-perfect installation (i.e wires that are too long) so it sounds like it would be good for someone like me. It's also compatible with the SCPH-10000, which sounds interesting as I figure this model is old enough to be well-built and came out before the self-destructing laser of the middle models. I can't find too much information about it though, so I have no idea if it adds logos or not. The best I can find is it mentions that the chip properly centers the PSX logo, so it sounds like it might respect the original look.

 

Matrix detects automatically if correctly fit. Anyway, it's better to softmod ... lol

Ghost2 ? Don't waste your time with that. Trust me.

 

According to l_Oliveira, this model has legit bugs in its MECHACON firmware too. Hence not really more reliable than the later models.
Plus you are doomed to be forever stuck with a KHS-400A laser, as KHS-400Cs are not mechanically compatible. Newer lasers with the non-SONY photodiode are not compatible. Basically, replacements will be hard to come by because most fat PS2s use different parts from these early consoles.

Besides, please try not to mod any of these rare consoles.
I already kinda feel sorry for them, since they are disappearing slowly. T_T

Also because we've discovered that they seem to have a problem with their clock generator circuits failing.
It might have a problem with thermal shock, since they've even tweaked the factory-repaired units to have a higher fan speed. Personally, I'm inclined to think that this is a possibility because my two SCPH-10000 units weren't as malfunctioning as badly when I first got them (In fact, the KISARAZU one was working perfectly).

Every SCPH-10000 unit that gets sent back to SONY will have a few workarounds implemented in its MECHACON settings:
1. Its tray will move faster when ejecting or retacting, to prevent it from seizing up.
2. Its fan will spin faster, to keep its running temperature from running too high. Yea, it doesn't ever get high enough to melt the solder, but maybe the constant expansion and contraction of the solder joints causes thermal shock... so they did that.

They are interesting consoles to collect, however. SONY was basically redesigning and trying to fix the problems in their consoles, between the SCPH-10000, SCPH-15000 and SCPH-18000.

If you want to talk about reliability, maybe the SCPH-30000 series would be best because they got the early design issues sorted out. Or the SCPH-39000, right before they redesigned the whole console to be really rigged to blow upon modding.

Or if you really want to use only discs, get a slimline (SCPH-75000 and later). They were redesigned to not have any of that laser crap, and are newer (and hence have less wear).

OR... if you can, get a debugstation. They can boot discs from all regions, without modding.

 

FYI, if you feel like getting a *reliable* PCMCIA console, I suggest you look for a SCPH-18000 with GH-008 motherboard. (AB-Chassis)

 

Really? Well, if I can remove the logos from the boot screens on the Matrix, that's fine. Is this how you do it?

I'm not familiar with the flashing process for PS2 modchips, but I assume it involves burning the firmware to a CD-R and popping it into the PS2? So the process for removing the logo would be something like:
1) Get firmware
2) Create custom icon (128x32 bitmap consisting of nothing but pure white)
3) Put custom icon into firmware (is it a folder or something?)
4) Flash modchip
5) ???
6) PROFIT!

If there was a softmod that allowed me to use original pressed discs, I probably would go that option

Damn, that would end up being an issue.

Are they? I see them all the time on Yahoo! Auctions.

SCPH-30000 and SCPH-39000 seem to be the most common out of those, which would be best? From what I can see, installing a Matrix chip on the V4 and V7 doesn't require you to solder anything to the tiny legs of the DVD drive chip thingy, which would be nice, The V3 does though and it looks like when it comes to the SCPH-30000, you will get either a V3 or V4. So would the 39000 be the safest bet when it comes to ease of install? Would there be something from the 30000 that might make it worth getting instead?

I don't particularity need PCMCIA functionality, I just figured one of these models would be best for the reasons I listed above which turned out not the be true

 

Think about it in this way: The SCPH-10000 was originally released in Japan in early 2000, before any other country got the PlayStation 2. That model was also the only one to support the DVD Player v1.00 (without haxx), have the Protokernel (and all its glorious flaws), the buggy EE chip and a PC CARD slot. After year 2001, it was never produced anywhere.

A few months later (ROM 2000/02/17 vs 2000/01/17) after launch, the v1.01 consoles started popping up. Maybe some SCPH-10000 units were retrofitted and sold, but the original SCPH-10000 was probably no longer in production after that point.

The SCPH-15000 came out eventually, being the first to blacklist the DVD player v1.00. It also had a newer MECHACON.
The SCPH-18000 came out around the time when the SCPH-30000 came out, as a filler. It was so obviously designed to empty out SONY's store of obsolete console parts. There are currently two known versions of them (A-chassis+ and AB-chassis).

So... after year 2001, none of these consoles were produced and are hence now dwindling in numbers. No other country had seen these models, and hence why they were "discovered" much later on and generally classified by hackers as "v0" consoles.

You might be finding them everywhere because people are throwing them out, but are they as common as those expansion-bay sets? I think that the expansion-bay and slimline sets do outnumber them by quite a lot.

Sorry, but I am not a modder. :/
The general advice would be to just mod it properly, regardless of which model it is. Even if you got the best console for modding, it would get totalled if the modding wasn't done properly.

But... they feel great though. Something about the plastic feeling less cheap than my SCPH-39006.
Probably also because unlike the newer sets, they have this wire mesh to keep out dust and bugs. Kinda neat feature, although it's quite obvious what that would eventually lead to!