Modding a PS2 with minimal budget?

I was wondering if there was a way to mod a PS2 for those with minimal budgets (such as myself due to college)

I heard about the Independance exploit but most of the tutorials either require Swapmagic or Action Replay/Gameshark/Codebreaker for the USB which I dont have the money for at the moment.

Things that I have:
- Fat PS2 [Model SCPH-50001]
- PS1 game - Grand Theft Auto [SLUS-00106GH]
- PS2 Memory Card [8GB]
- PS2 40GB HDD (doesnt seem to get picked up by PC or PS2. Possibly unformatted or damaged)
- PS2 Network Adaptor
- CD-Rs
- DVD-Rs

Note: I dont have any PS2 games since I lost many of the games that I had when my storage unit got robbed along with a bunch of my other consoles a while back... I bought this PS2 recently and it only came with 2 controllers and a memory card along with the cords.

 

You should try to find someone to install FreeMCBoot and ESR on your Memory Card. With it you can run homebrew as well as patched DVD-R burns. That would give you the option to use HDLoader and ESR. If you use HDLoader, finding a good and large IDE hard drive would be a good idea.

 

yea I know about those. they have been suggested to me before on TIZ.

but there should be a way to mod the PS2 with what i have. either through running a PS1 memory card management homebrew where you can transfer freemcboot thats saved on the burnt iso that the homebrew is on to the PS2 memory card after doing the PS1 disc swapping method (I dont know of any such program but that would be a good way to do it). or any other possible means

 

Yeah either look in the thread where people offer their services (i think someone was offering free FreeMcBoot installs there) or buy this game and install the exploit yourself http://m.ebay.com/itm/FROM-RUSSIA-W...-w-Original-Box-2005-/371458092506?nav=SEARCH
$11 with shipping is pretty cheap if you ask me

Here's the guide I followed to do this myself http://bootleg.sksapps.com/tutorials/fmcb/swap.php

 

but thats the wrong game. site says your supposed to use Agent under fire.

also, this is how grim my financial situation currently is due to groceries and such


atm im probably going to sell my 2DS to my cousin for $80 or $90 but until then im broke next payday cus rent.

 

If you'd read the whole guide you'd know that there are lots of games that can be used. And "from russia with love" is mentioned further down in that guide. I chose it as an example as it's a shit game that should be dirt cheap wherever you buy it. I completely understand your situation and actually I was in the same exact spot when I wanted to mod my ps2 back in 2012. After reading all of psx-scene (all at once at that ) I came to the conclusion that there was no other way but to wait until I had the needed $10 so I could invest them in a shit game to softmod my ps2.

 

You can install FHDB with PS2HDDFileInstaller: http://psx-scene.com/forums/f153/un...e-package-obt-119562/index13.html#post1141776
However, once you can boot homebrew software with it, you should install FHDB again with the normal FMCB installer because this method does not activate HDD support on your console. Out of the box, the PlayStation 2 console might have HDD support disabled, which will cause the HDD unit to be switched off (by the OSD)... and then back on (by the MBR program)... during every boot.

 

What you just said is super confusing. Maybe it's because I should go to bed now..
But if your method doesn't require anything more than a lan adapter and an hdd then that's the best way to go, imo.

 

issue is that Im not sure if the PS2 HDD works or not, I tried multiple different jumper combinations to get it to read on the PC and I have found success with one but it says Disk 0 error or something

 

The HDD itself should be detected by the PC, but it will not contain a mountable filesystem because the partitioning scheme used for the PS2 is not used anywhere else.

If your HDD unit is busted, then you could consider getting a generic disk to replace it. Unless you want to use SONY software, there's no need to use a SONY HDD. Playing games off the HDD unit with OPL will give an unparalleled gaming experience.

Or if you know that the console is chipped, you can burn a copy of uLaunchELF to a disc (using the right image) and use uLaunchELF to install FMCB.

 

He might be expecting it to pop up in Windows like a normal drive would - it won't and it won't show up under My Computer.

Plug in the drive and go to Disk Management.
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/ht/disk-management-windows-7.htm
It might be slightly different on other versions of Windows.

You should see the drive listed in there... it'll be roughly about 37gb.

If it's being detected and you still have concerns, you can do an Error Scan using a program such as HD Tune.

 

its not chipped, Im not really that good with a soldering iron to be honest. so I avoid modchips

1. Using windows XP
2. Im not expecting it to pop up on windows.







as you can see. even the bios doesnt detect the HDD when booted into post (pics are from me testing out different jumper positions since I didnt know the default position as it came with no jumpers.) not much documentation for PS2 HDD Jumper positions. people arent sure what the slave position is. tried with no jumpers also and it didnt work.

also. I even tried using my copy of Partition commander 10 which boots in its own little enviroment and it only detected my 2 sata drives...

(I repair PCs btw. I should have mentioned that in my first post)

anyway the point of this topic was to find out any alternatives to having to buy things like Swap Magic/Extra Games/FreeMCBoot Memory Card/Mod Chips/Cheat Devices/etc

just seeing if there was some kind of alternative way to do it with just a PS1 game and a bunch of $2 blank discs. but it seems like things got off track

 

Seems like you know what you're doing... if it's not being read by either PC or PS2 and you have the jumpers correctly, it's probably dead as you suspect. Can you hear it spinning up at least? Any other PCs to test it in as a last resort?

If you're not good at soldering, then avoid the PS2. It's not nearly as easy as say, a PS1 or Gamecube modchip.

Without additional games and the hard drive there likely isn't much you can do.

As suggested, easiest would be to get somebody to send you memory card with FMCB on it. Doing those swap tricks can put a lot of strain on your system anyways (depending on game + console + method used).

This may be of use though if you still want a list of games that could work:
http://psx-scene.com/forums/f153/ps2-game-swap-trick-list-submissions-62295/

 

The swaptrick doesn't do any additional strain. That is absolute nonsense.

The way it looks now, if your ps2 hdd really is dead, you have two options:
1 get another hdd (any ide hdd) and use FHDB
2 buy an exploitable game

 

I finally got it to be recognized in the bios by trying out a maxtor 9 pin cable select and removing the SATA drives and indeed this HDD is a maxtor apparently. but when I go to boot from the CD I get an error about the HDD that says Drive 0 Failure and partition manager doesnt detect it either






any ideas?

 

It's something about your setup. You're doing something wrong. As shown on your screenshots the ps2 drive is drive 2. And it's the sata drives 0-1 that fail.
Check the boot order in bios, try removing the sata drives from the bootorder

 

disabled them in bios so the error is gone. Yet the HDD still shows up only in Bios and not the Partition commander

 

Weird. Have you tried running FHDB yet? Try that.

 

well the HDD isnt detected by the PS2 so I assume it hasnt been formatted for the PS2 yet. plus theres the issue of it not showing up on the PC (Im pretty sure you need to use a command prompt to install FHDB)

 

Yes, it absolutely can - depending on factors which I've highlighted above. If you do the triple swap trick (done while the disc is spinning), it can definitely cause strain.

I forgot about using just any IDE hard drive in it to replace it. Silly me.

Here's a link of tools I used in the past to set up a hard drive for the PS2:
http://theisozone.com/downloads/playstation/tools/ps2-hacked-hdd-ule-opl-esr-gsm-bb3-or-free-hdboot/

Using a 2.5" Sata hard drive + Sata>IDE adapter is also an option. 3.5" won't fit with the adapter. Not all adapters will work, though.