Playstation 2 SCPH-10000 used, worth the hassle?

Hi all,

Is it worth the hassle buying an used ps2, model scph 10000(JPN model) for playing original ps2 games and some ps1 jpn games, after all those years? Yeah, it's used and withouth its dvd drivers/bb unit expansion, but it's design is so cool
Btw, no modchip installed but I've read some good stuff about freemcboot. Could it work so I can play US games on it?

 

i would get one with a modchip cause it may cost you 70 to 120 bones and you will be able to play backups and all region games.

 

If you want a PS2, i would suggest these models: 30001, 30001R and 39000. Don't know anything about the slim models, but the ones i suggested are the commom "stronger" fat models.

Early models had DRE problems and all models starting from the 50001 have a very low quality CD/DVD controller chip. Anyway, if you want it for collecting purposes i guess it's ok. Specially if it's in mint condition.

If you want a modchip, go for a DMS3 or DMS4, Matrix Infinity (only if you can find the original) or the ThunderII. But i think modchip are no longer necessary thanks to FMCB.

 

modchips had been never necessary for the SCPH-10000. It is possible to play everything with the swap trick.

 

with the chance of tearing the piss out of the spindel and disc drive.

 

FreeMcBoot can not play original discs from another region though, can it? Only backups with the patch applied.

I think if you can get a mod chip, do it. Less hassle than other methods.

 

No, if you have DVD based originals you need to rip and patch them before they'll play.

As for tearing the piss out of the spindel (sic) and disc drive, pray tell how do you do that when the workings are internal and inaccessible?

 

I think he's thinking of a PS1 and having to yank the disk out midspin. Obviously you don't pull the game out so there's less to damage. presumably the only way you could knackerer the DD (I think he mains laser) Is using crap CD-R's (Cheap pound shop shit not 50 maxells for £6)

 

wait we are not talking about the slim, oh phat ps2 , well anyway i would still use a modchip.

 

btw i believe you can get the same stuff from a modchip by have a certain program on your ps2 memory card

 

Don't get me wrong but i don't consider that a solution. A modchip, like the ones i suggested, just require you to put the disc on the tray and it's ready to go. It's a hassle free solution.

Anyway, anyone's free to decide which option is the best.

 

Nice opinions about it but let me ask, is it still possible to find modchips for this specific model?
What about using/finding that hdd external expansion unit(pcmcia slot)? Only on yahoo.jp auction?
The main use for this ps2 would be playing early ps2 jpn games(included with ps2), two jpn ps1 games(rr type 4 and arc the lad) which I still have and maybe, maybe, US ps2 games if it could be possible.

 

Just get a TEST PS2 from this site. Probably be easier to find than a PS2 with a decent chip these days.

 

What's so special about it being an SCPH-10000?

 

Nothing... except that most homebrew and modern modchips won't work with it. Really, unless you have the PC Card hardware to go along with it already, there's no reason to buy it over a SCPH-3000x or newer model, which would work with all homebrew, modchips and doesn't require such obscure parts. The only reason why I got mine was to do an easy SATA mod, and because I already had the PC Card hardware.

 

The SCPH-10000 weights a TON, is extremely resistant and did cost a LOT to make. That's what's cool with it. It's about quality.

The BIOS problems are a thing of the past so disconsider what Elijah said about homebrewn. Everything homebrewn wise, including ESR (allows you to play burnt DVD discs in it without modchips) work in it now.


Also what Johnny said is not accurate. The models he listed on were favorites mostly for ease of modding.

All PS2 consoles have "poison" on their DVD ROM drive firmware, where it's INTENTIONALLY designed to burn down the optical pickup in case of it being used with recordable media. The 3000xR,3900x series added pads on the DVD drive controller which made extremely easy to install mods but in fact it was "trolling" by SONY as the coil burning feature of the DVD drive was "enhanced" around that time (2002).

The peak of the DRE syndrome was around late 2003 when the 5000x series released. And because of that honest customers had their units damaged too. Even using an burnt DVD movie could destroy the unit.

SONY got sued and then by the time they released the 7500x series (2nd model of slim) they had an circuit that shut down the laser pickup coils in case of a DVD drive CPU crash, reducing the problems drastically.

So honestly if you want to keep yourself out of trouble, pick up an Slim console made after 2006 or an fat console made in or before 2001. :shrug:

Edit: An thing that weights against any FAT PS2 consoles right now is that if they break you won't find spare parts easily. So think well what you will do. And at this point in time install modchip on a PS2 is something pretty moronic/idiotic as the current softmod solution is perfect.

Exception is the SCPH-9000x series which had the memory card boot feature removed from their BIOS. So only way to boot unlicenced stuff on these is swap magic or a modchip.

 

I could never get PGen to work on it, even when launched with the newer uLE versions with the kernel fix... it just freezes.

 

The 10000 does not have LIBSD (Sound Device Library) module on the rom. PGen would work as long you put libsd.irx from a game on the ISO. It's not one of the homebrewn that have issues with the old PS2 kernel.

Things that had issues:

ESR, COGSWAP, HDLOADER, USBLOADER, certain uLE versions, some NA games... Basically stuff that reboots the EE and IOP multiple times to change the memory layout. :thumbsup:

Now a little background on that:

Because I asked SJEEP to make PGEN work on my 10k back in 2002 or 2003 he added a small bit of code that makes PGEN look for libsd.irx on the same folder the pgen elf is in case it can't find it at ROM0:LIBSD. :thumbsup:

And as a piece of trivia, he developed most of the original code for the HDD stuff on the PS2 SDK.

That probably gave him the feeling that he could grab the work of the other PS2 devs and make an commercial product out of it (that being HD Loader, of course...) also he codded the PSF driver in a way it would not open password locked SONY stuff even thought NOP'ing out a small compare branch on the code could make it read everything.

Then the custom PSF driver he used on TOXIC OS could open anything... How nice of him huh ?:lol:

Before HD Loader happened he was pretty popular on the PS2 dev scene.

And that's the history of what I saw back then and what I discovered later.:lol:

 

Besides being the first released ps2 version, nothing at all. ;-)

I feel no love when I see a slim version lol.

No $$ to buy test ps2 even though they are so beautiful. Saw some of them @ assembler' selling topic.

 

that's not necessary if you use a Utility Disc patched version of the Action Replay V2.02

you have to open the PS2 and the CD drive. Boot the PS2 with the utility disc and swap the disc with the patched Action Replay when the drive is spinning up to maximum speed (you will hear it). It may take several tries to find the correct timing.

When the Action Replay is loaded, open the CD tray with the eject button and insert a original DVD game. The DVD starts spinning. This is step is necessary because you cannot swap a CD with a DVD. Select all GTA3 cheatcodes and start the game with the codes. The Action Replay will alert that you have selected too many codes and will stop spinning the disc. Now swap the disc with your backup DVD or your import DVD and select Start Game Without Codes. Game will boot.

If a copy does not boot, your original DVD is too small. The original DVD has to be larger than the copy.

For sure a modchip or any other solution is much more convenient. But the point is that the SCPH-10000 was the first system which was able to play everything before modchips arrived. There was also a chip available which performed the swap trick automatically. The CD drive was opened approx. 10 seconds after power on, you had 3 seconds to insert the new disc and the tray closed automatically. Swap done.

The first real modchip for the SCPH-10000, the Origa chip, was only able to play Imports. You had to combine it with a Neo2 chip to play backups. And the Neo2 still required a boot disk like the Action Replay. This setup was damn expensive at that time.