I have a PS2, v.7, with a DMS 4 Pro modchip. I had the latest Toxic bios and latest Toxic OS installed. I also had a IDE 120 GB Maxtor hdd. I had about 25 games installed in it and they worked fine for years. I just recently took the drive out and tried installing OPL. My PS2 would not recognize it. So I tried putting Toxic back on and it still don't recognize it. I use winhiip and format and install games just fine. But when I put it in my PS2 it doesn't recognize it. What can be wrong? The drive worked fine this morning in my PS2. And it works fine in my pc.
Plug the drive directly into a PC and run HD Tune's Error Scan. I love that program. Any red blocks = bad. Just because your PC recognizes it doesn't necessarily mean it isn't bad. Also possible the drive got corrupt?
How did you "install" OPL? There aren't any good PC-based tools for copying files onto the HDD, so I'm not sure what you really did. Why do you need to "put Toxic back on it"? Does this mean that you deleted it? How have you been putting these pieces of software on the HDD? What software on the PS2 would not recognize the games? If you previously used ToxicOS, the HDD might have been formatted with the proprietary ToxicOS format. The ToxicOS format is incompatible with nearly all homebrew software. We took the route of extending ATAD and APA to support up to 2TB of space, but the DMS4 team did the opposite by using their own format after the 137GB mark. Using such a disk with most modern homebrew software could possibly destroy the games on it, if you create a partition beyond the 137GB mark. Also because of this difference, HDLoader & OPL will not support games installed in the ToxicOS format. So for us to be on the same page, you need to clarify: What exactly did you do? Did you format the HDD with WinHIIP? If so, what what format is it in now? If you did not format the HDD, do you know what format it is currently using? If you are unsure of what format you are using now, you can boot LaunchELF and check the list of partitions under MISC/HDDManager. If you see no partitions that look like games there (despite having installed games), then you are probably using the ToxicOS format. Note: formatting the HDD will erase all data on it.[/QUOTE]
I followed this video. at the 10 minute mark he puts hdd in the PS2 and gets it to boot into FreeHDBoot. I got nothing when I put hdd in, just the memory card screen. Because FreeHDBoot didn't work. Yes I deleted it. I have been using WinHiip to format the hdd and install games. I tried HDLoader and Toxic two separate times on this hdd and neither worked. I think that hard drive is getting old, so I am trying a different drive. Getting better results with this other drive. However when I launch OPL, 1 out of 4 times it will load my games. Maybe this second drive isn't very compatible with my PS2? Is there a current list of what hard drives work with OPL?
If you apply somebody's disk image, you will sever the partition links on the HDD. You need to run WinHIIP's scan & repair function after doing that. But you seem to have some way to boot homebrew software right now, don't you? If so, you could have actually installed FHDB the proper way with FMCBInstaller. When you attempt to access the HDD unit on the PS2, does it spin up? Check that you have the jumper set to single drive mode (Or Master, if there is no such option). Cable Select (CS) doesn't seem to always work here. Check that the 110-pin connector on the network adaptor does not have any bent/broken pins. Some people have ruined theirs, by just removing and inserting it. Finally, check that you have seated both connectors on the HDD and the network adapter properly. I don't think it's really a compatibility issue with OPL, but with the hardware. If you Google, you can find some lists. They'll be likely for HDLoader, but it should be applicable to other homebrew software as well.
