Ok, This has happened before but only rarely so I didnt think much of it. But now that I have modded my PS2 with a mem card exploit, it lights up and flashs while I run games from the HDD. Its a fat v9 PS2. I have seen it happen as much as 2 years ago but never as much as it does now. Its a bright whiteish flash of light from the bottem left side of the unit. It flashs quite bright and its CLEARLY visable throught the front vents of the unit. Its coming from just about directly under the controller ports. Its running great and I have NEVER had a problem with the console. I bought it brand new and its unopened. What is the light and why does it flash so much more now that I have the HDD running the games??? Any help would be nice. if you guys have never heard of it I would be glad to make a movie file of it in progress for everyone. Also I asked this over at GameFaqs and got a response from a guy saying his does this very briefly when he boots a game from the DVD drive. He dosent use the Exploit so he dosent know if his would do it as well. Thanks!
no lol. This happend for 2 years. I just put the HDD in yesterday. Its always flashed when it starts to read a disc for as long as I have had it. But now when I boot a game from the HDD the thing flashs almost non-stop. Kind of like when you are moving files on a PC and the HDD activity light is blinking. Thats the best I can describe it. It comes from the left side of the console if you are looking at it from the front. Its behind the vent at the bottem under the controller ports. I really dont like it as it makes me worry. I will have to tear it down and have a look. If I can remove it or desolder it I will. However I would like to know what its purpose is.
Thats what I thought but after 3 years it still works good as new lol. And another person at gamefaqs said his did the same thing when booting dvd games. He dosent have the exploit so its hard to say if it would behave in the same manner.
I know you said mem card exploit, but are you sure its not hard modded? I've installed various lights per request before in different spots around the edge of the cage so that they show through the front vents. The location you are referring to is where the power supply resides. A bright white-ish light definatley sounds like something that would be some sort of mod. I'm curious as to what this is. Edit: I've never seen a PS2 power supply with any sort of light emitter. If there was, I wouldn't think it would correlate to drive loading.
Im SURE its not modded. I bought it brand new in 2003 I think from EB Games. I got Vice City with it as it had just came out. I have never modded my PS2 although I have modded others. Its quite bright and flashs ofton. Its almost non stop when playing a game from teh HDD although it dosent interfear with anything. It dosent smell so and its been happening since I had it (although it only does it almost non-stop when playing a game from the HDD) so I dont think its a electrical problem. It has to be some kind of Light. I will tear it apart soon and if I find a light or LED I will get some pics. Then I will most likely try and remove it if I can. It dosent really seem to have a purpose. Maybe it lights up when the HDD is being accessed. The exploit is on my mem card. Which would explain why it starts lighting up when I play game. Then it would be reading from the HDD and not the mem card anymore. I dont know o_0
Well , for all of you to know, there is a surface mounted activity light, right behind the ventilation, that blinks when the HDD is accessed!
Why would it be a.) in the power supply section as opposed to the hard drive bay b.) only on certain consoles (v9's in this case) c.) starting to happen more frequently. I'm going to see I have a v9 laying around and see if theres anything funny about it.
A) The power supply in a v9 is half height, the PSU is on top (where the PS2 logo is), with the motherboard on the botom. B) Its on nearly every PS2, you just did not notice it (many people dont, due to the lack of HDD support in the USA) C) Refer to B.
Heh, thats kinda weird if its true. Not that I dont trust you much CJ, but do you have anything to back this up. I could see it only blinking once when you start a DVD game, it would be checking to see if there was a HDD attached. And JWhazel, it would be happening more because this is the first time I have had a HDD in. It only happens when I run games from the HDD. Since MOST normal games and my exploit are run from the mem card it would never blink. However now on it blinks alot when the HDD is running games because its constantly being accessed. CJ, you know of any way to shut it down without removing it completely? Any pics of it maybe? Thanks guys!
The only light that comes from the vents is the HDD activitiy led. Something like this: Although on my PS2 the light is a bit more yellow and noticeable... Anyway, after you add an HD to the PS2, it blinks whenever the consoles comunicates to it. PS: I'll try to take a better pic asap. EDITED: At the official Sony PlayStation site: -http://www.us.playstation.com/support/ps2/HDD/50000/s_ps2_ac_HR.html - http://www.us.playstation.com/support/ps2/HDD/50000/s_ps2_ac_HO.html#flashinglight
This will be extremly bizzare if true, as I've never noticed a light when the HD is reading. I'm going to dig through and find a network adapter to try this out. I do have a v5/6 board sitting on my desk and there does appear to be some sort of LED on it facing the front next to the controller ribbon. Going to see if I can query a v9 pic to see if and where this LED is. Edit: here is a v9 board: http://www.picsystems.net/imagenes_instalaciones/juan_carlos/juan_carlos_mxl2_V9_chip_aislado.jpg If you look to the bottom right, you see the ribbon for the controller. If you look directly left of it about an inch and down slightly, there is a little yellow square with two traces, it's right above the copper grounding side strip. I assume this is it because its in the same vicinity as the one on the v5/6. This is the only LED I can find on the board. I'm going to play with it tommorrow and see if it lights up. If this is indeed the culprit, then a piece of electrical tape on top of it should solve your problems. The only reference I have right now is a v12 slim with HD and I'm fairly sure theres no LED on the board (no reason for one obviously).
Cool. Thanks for the help guys. Now I can rest easy. If worse comes to worse I will tape over it. Mine is really bright and it kinda looks like arcing when it goes off lol.
There is a hard drive access light under the controller ports. I never noticed it until I added a HD and put a PS2 in my arcade machine, but it is there. Same thing with the PS3. [Edit - A little late to the party...]
