hi members , i bought a broken PS1 ( not the newer smaller one ) i got it for the top shell part so i'm happy with that. I was wondering though with the broken PS1 which when cold booted with an original disc goes to the CD Player menu instead of booting the game. I can play tracks from the original disc fine , it just won't boot games. no modchip has been installed , lens has been cleaned , rails lubed with White Lithium Grease , height for spindle is good as compared to another PS1 i have that is the same model. Interestingly when i cold boot and have the lid switch pressed down the disc spins but it doesn't go from slow to fast , it goes slow then stops when the CD Player menu pops up on my TV. just curious if it's a Laser issue or Motherboard issue chat soon
Sounds like a laser issue. Have u got another laser to swap in to check? If u have an oscilloscope or jitter meter, u could check if the laser is still ok.
Are there any issues playing back CD audio? Is the console struggling to read some tracks? If no, then your console may have the issue that I see in about 1 out of 30 consoles: The laser is fine but the disk drive seems incapable of going to 2x speed. This could be due to a bad IC, particularly anything to do with the protection.
For a PU-18 series, the small one on the backside where all the modchips attach to. It could be that IC itself, any connections to it, or any other part of the wobble decoding path. The best way to check this is to just directly feed the license symbols into the HC-05 pin 17. You could modify PsNee for that. http://www.psxdev.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1262&start=220#p12848 Isolate HC-05 pin 17 (either cut a trace or lift the pin) and connect 'data' to it. Then change this part in PsNee: Code: else { // PU-18 or lower mode pinMode(data, INPUT); delayMicroseconds(delay_between_bits); } to Code: else { // PU-18 or lower mode pinMode(data, OUTPUT); bitSet(GATEWFCKPORT,DATABIT); // pull data high delayMicroseconds(delay_between_bits); } (Make *sure* you run the Arduino at 3.3v levels!) With this, you completely bypass the wobble decoding. If that was the fault, games will now work again.
Hm, I think it should be fine. I never measured a lifted pin 17 though. It might pull itself high / low and then it would be nicer to idle the Arduino at that level.
the PS1 plays audio tracks fine with no skipping , today i put a Laser from a working PS1 and it had the same behavior. So i got the Laser from the non working PS1 and put it in a working PS1 and it runs fine , so it seems something on the Motherboard is bad. thoughts ?
Motor driver? I've had ones that fail to spin up to 2x, but work in 1x fine (so audio works) Think @TriMesh has had same issue too
Then take the one labeled C 3030 instead ;p I'd like to warn you about lifting pins on it though. The pins are brittle and have almost no flex. Even with very good tools (dentists pick, good soldering iron + tip), it's a risk. Better look for another way first.
I can't get the ISP programming to work yet again. EDIT2: Nevermind, got it working. Entirely my own fault, forgot to use "upload using programmer" rather than just "upload" >_< I should really write down the process of doing this... But at least the USBtinyISP I just ordered off ebay should make this a bit less easier to wire up in the future I'll get the PsNee installed tomorrow
I guess I don't have the same issue after all. I tried rama's suggestion. But after reuploading the altered code to the Arduino and cutting the trace on the motherboard, the PS1 didn't want to read anything. So today I tried installing the PsNee (with unaltered code) on my JAP motherboard. I swapped the BIOS for the PAL one so I don't have to deal with bootdiscs, and the results are the same. The one game that didn't work on the PAL motherboard doesn't work here either. Every other game still does. The game in question is Symphony of the Night, that I just bought on ebay. The seller gave me a full refund, but had it been a hardware issue I would of course have re-refunded the money. The symptoms were so similar to the OP, that I expected this was the case. If anyone has a US copy of SotN in good condition they are willing to part with, please send me a PM. I could live with a disc only version as I already have the cover
I was under the impression that Psnee was the only chip that made the jpn psx able to boot PAL discs, without swapping the bios. Is this not so? If so, bummer, any info on swapping the bios is most welcome.
Sorry, no modchip has that functionality. Japan boot roms can't be tricked / region changed as easily as PAL PM-41 machines. It's best to either swap the rom or use an expansion cart. On that note, no$psx had an update the other day and it now comes with a fantastic kernel replacement rom that can be installed onto an expansion cart! It then replaces the old / buggy kernel routines with more efficient versions for any games that use them, and it comes with a nice UI as well. It's very impressive work. http://www.psxdev.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=1319 Of course it does away with the region lock and it unlocks PAL and NTSC machines via the hidden unlock command (no modchip necessary on those, except for anti-mod protected games.) As a bonus, it has its own full modchip functionality but I haven't tested that yet.
@Bearking I just did a test on a PU-18. I removed the entire wobble processor with a hot air gun. Then I installed a PsNee with just data, SUBQ and SQCK (no WFCK_GATE). The console works just fine this way, from what I tested. Any region game starts, backups work as well. Also, the HC-05 drags its pin 17 high when the wobble processor isn't installed. This makes it super easy to install PsNee, because no modification to the code is needed. ( The wobble processor is the chip marked '723' in this picture: https://imgur.com/Jf6aNGw )
Weird that it didn't work for me then. The connection between pin 17 and the '723' chip was definitely cut. Maybe I messed up when I pasted the extra line into the code. No matter though, as it clearly wasn't a hardware issue here. The disc just don't work. I'm pretty sure it's been resurfaced too.