PS1 fat casemod

Don't know if this thread fits in this section,but thought I'd share my PS1 casemod.I forgot when I made this casemod,but I don't think that matters so much.This system has a simple 4 chip inside it,and a SCPH-5552 CD-ROM.
Here's a pic of it:
View attachment 8762

 

looks cool

but I'd say change the chip for a stealth 8 wire

 

Sadly I don't have any programmer or chip.For copy protected games,I use PPF patches,they're easier and you don't take the risk of breaking anything.

 

the chip isn't hard to install trust me and bad_sd84 in UK and I think APE in USA sell the chips

 

I am in Romania.Oh well,PPF patching still saves me trouble,as I am a little shaky with the soldering iron.

 

i suppose patching would be easyer if your not good with soldering, ive had issues where i get nervouse and my hand gets really shaky usually just need to take a chill pill, i like the console man

 

vinyl wrap or paint? Looks pretty good, matches the rug accordantly.

 

Well.....green permanent marker.I had this idea after a Youtube user painted his DC with permanent marker to make Sonic on it.

 

Update on this console:Had to swap the motherboard on it,as I had accidentally broke 2 pins of a chip on the mobo and the video went haywire.The motherboard it has now is a strange 5 wire chipped PU-22 board.(old one was PU-23)

 

Sorry to hear that you broke it. How did it happen?

Btw: 5 wire? Can you provide pictures?

 

Well,on the old PU-23 board pins 156 and 157 of CPU broke and caused the screen to roll while it had funky colors over it.I accientally broke the pins while trying to lift pin 157 for a colour mod I found,which makes NTSC games run with correct colours.

Now,on the 5 wire modchip:I find it weird because the only points it had soldered were in this order:1,4,6,7,8.Runs both original and copies(just tested a copy of Tank Racer and it works)so far.Didn't test any copy protected game,and the only copy of Dino Crisis I have is dubbed in russian and is already patched sadly.I'll take a picture of the chip later.

 

Okay....I think I found several installation diagrams that match the way my chip is installed,but now I want to do the colormod and can't choose between which one:
1.Lift pin 157 and solder 2 components (shown in pic)
View attachment 8885
2.Solder a wire to the 2 points shown in the picture,without lifting pin 157.
View attachment 8886

And here's the installation diagram I found that matches the way my chip is installed(I remember clearly the where the wires are soldered,and this diagram matches the points)
View attachment 8887
If anybody knows what code it uses,I am here to listen.It's not the Classic HEX or Old Crow though.

 

Those two fixes are actually doing the same thing (connecting ground to trace under pin 157). I recommend that you lift the pin if you really must do the color mod.
If you have problems lifting it maybe a better solution would be to push the pin under after you heated it up. That way you won't risk damaging surrounding pins.

As for the chip it's a classic Old Crow modchip, here is the quote from the source.

 

Well,at least it's Old Crow,just my chip is PIC12C509.
For the color mod,should I lift pin 157 like in pic 1 and solder the wire in pic 2?

 

Code is 12C509 compatible. I think a single line needs to be uncommented before compiling.
For the color mod follow the info from your first image.

 

But....doesn't the wire in the 2nd picture do the same thing?It would be safer,and so I don't break other pins surrounding pin 157.

 

As I said, those two fixes are actually doing the exact same thing (connecting ground to trace under pin 157) but the first image also has the pin lifted.
If you want, connect it without lifting pin and see if it works for you. If not, then lift the pin.

I'm assuming pin lifting is a "safe way" because when NTSC mode is activated pin 157 pulls the line high
and if it's already grounded it could send it in unpredictable state and thus defeat the purpose or worse, fry something.

P.S. Why don't you use RGB SCART cable instead? You don't need to mod anything then.

 

I can't get any RGB SCART cable.Also,will the colour mod still work if I lift pin 157 and leave the wire?
Also,IIRC PAL PS1s,from 700x up to 900x,switch the video mode to PAL60 if a NTSC game is detected.

EDIT:Well,soldered the wire,installed the shield and cables back,and tested.I get correct colors now!It seems it's not required to lift pin 157 to do this.I'll post a pic when I can,along with the chip,but they may be a little blurry because I use a tablet.I can take a screenshot for you to see that the colormod works,though.Back before I did this color mod,all the colors were scrambled both on my TV and on my TV Tuner card.Was a pretty tedious job as I use a 40w soldering iron,that looks like a big pencil,and was scared to break things up.

 

The reason you should lift that pin is that when the console is running in NTSC mode it outputs a high level - so if you just ground the trace without lifting the pin you end up with a signal that's trying to pull high, but can't because it's shorted to ground. This is not a good thing to do - at the least, it will heat the chip up and given enough time might damage it.

 

It's a PAL 60 signal,not NTSC signal.PAL60 uses 625 lines (like NTSC)but uses PAL color carrier,so it may not output a high level.Also,it takes time until it will heat.I just left it now about 30 minutes and nothing went wrong.