PS2 Network Adapter with ethernet not working

Hi, I have an original (so not a chinese clone) Sony Network Adapter for PS2 with ethernet functionality not working at all (no light from the leds above the RJ45 socket, a message using the network configuration disc that the ethernet adapter that could not be found etc.). However, the ATA side of the adapter work without any problem: the HDD is being recognised, I can format it and so on.

Searching the internet I found some with the same issue, however they all ended up buying a new one. Since this adapter is pretty rare ultimately (or it can be found for a very expensive price) I want to try to fix it. Has anyone had the same issue and found a solution?

The first thing to do in these cases would be trying the adapter in a different ps2 or try another adapter in my ps2, just to know if the problem is in the console on in the adapter itself. Unfortunately, I don't have neither of them. So the first question, due to my lack of experience with ps2 hardware: is there any fuses on the ps2 mainboard that if blown would prevent the ethernet functionality from working? I know there are two fuses on the 5V and 12V line that goes to the expansion bay socket, but them if blown would prevent the entire adapter from working (so the HDD side too) and not only a part of it (could you confirm?).

Doing some tests with the multimeter on network adapter board I've found something strange that could explain the issue. On my board there is a DP83846A chip as the ethernet bridge between the SPEED chip and the RJ45 socket, so I've searched the datasheet online and found the pinout. I tested if there was a short between ground and VDD, but there isn't. However, I found that when the ps2 is on and the adapter is connected, there is no voltage in the VDD pins. So it seem that the ethernet chip is not powered at all (bad power supply regulator/transistor?). I've tracked the voltage line but it goes straight to a pad under the SPEED chip and from it I could not manage to move on. Could be the SPEED chip faulty? But in this case don't you found strange that on the ATA side is fully working?

Do you have some other advises/test to do? (I've already tried to clean the pins on the expansion bay socket and connector).

Thank you

 

What was the state of the console when you did these tests? From what I can remember, the PHY is only powered up after the HDD modules have been loaded, so if you just power the console up into the default OSD you wouldn't expect any power on that chip.

I just had a look at my network adapter, and it seems to be a different version (with an ST PHY chip rather than the DP83846A), so although I can do some tests it's uncertain how applicable they will be to your board.

It might also be worth asking @sp193, since he has done some very detailed work on those adapters and probably understands them better than anyone else outside Sony.

 

Rare? They go for like $10 - $20 on ebay ya know :/

 

hi Dif , i bought a PS2 Network Adapter ages ago and it wouldn't work. So i inspected it and one of the plastic tabs on the sides of the connector had snapped off. Check to see if yours are still there and ok , also give the pins a clean in the connector i use Deoxit myself.

with my Network Adapter i let the issue go as the seller had a death in the family so i didn't want to worry him any further.

 

I don't see how any software can detect "only" the "HDD side", when the Ethernet side does not work. The whole device should get detected as one because both interfaces are presented as part of the SPEED....

As @TriMesh wrote: the network adaptor is only functional if software uses it. I think it is safer to assume that the network part will only work, if the software loads SMAP.IRX (rather than just DEV9 and ATAD.IRX). Newer network-enabled Sony software have a DEV9 module that also does some initialization for SMAP, so you may see the link LED activate when DEV9 is loaded.

I doubt it. If either are not functional, you cannot use a 3.5" HDD.

Did you try using the network setup disc again? How about network-enable homebrew software, like LaunchELF (need to select "PS2NET" from "MISC")?

Have you checked the expansion connector on the adaptor for broken/bent/missing pins? I was told that they can be broken and did not believe it... but people have showed me photographs of their damaged adaptors, so it is possible.

I think his adaptor may be quite old. It seems to me that early revisions had a DP83846A, the DP83847, and then the STE100S... and then finally they moved onto Broadcom PHYs for the late slim PS2s.

Thank you. But well, I only disassembled the SMAP module and so my knowledge is more on the software implementation than hardware though.

If you live in Japan, US or Europe, it may not be rare because it was released in these territories. If you live in other regions, then you have to factor in shipping costs and the exchange rate.

 

Hi, thank you for your answers. I think I've found the solution (and so the problem that cause the issue). During my test I noticed that something was not going well also on the HDD functionality, for example there were some problem with FHDB (i.e. freeze on boot with HDD activity led that blinks for 1-2 second, then stay on for a long time, then turn off repeating this process). I've excluded issues with hard drive or ps2 because using a clone Gamestar adapter (the one recently released that solved many problem associated with the old chinese clone) I had not any problem. So it seems that the misbehaviour was the IDE to SATA converter I was using (the one that fit inside the case in place of Sony's original IDE connector often known as "sata upgrade kit"). It's hovever strange because:
1) the same adapter used in the gamestar's clone works without any problem
2) during my test with multimeter, the network adapter board was connetted to the expansion bay socket without the ide-to-sata adapter that seemed responsible (for practical reason it was only the mainboard without even the original ide and molex connector) and yet with the original sony network configuration disk it was impossible to initialize ethernet connection (the software says that it couldn't find any adatper connected).
Whichever the reasons, I've reassembled the adaptor back with the original IDE and molex connector and works without any problem on the HDD side and with network connection. This led me to think that not only the sata upgrade kit I have works speficically with the clone adapter (that in the last revision had an hardware design similar to the original sony adapter with a mainboard and a daughterboard as shown here: https://imgur.com/a/pCqWs) even if it seems the same as the one sold by maxdiypower (it's strange, it shoudln't be only a sata-ide adapter?), but it mess in some ways with the SPEED chip altering its initialization. I don't understand, however, why the issue was present even without any doughterboard connected to the board of the adaptor. Maybe the molex/ide connector are not just connectors but send some signal to the SPEED chips that let it initialize correctly?
Otherwise I don't know what to think, maybe I've done something I don't know that triggered in some way the correct functionality of the NA?

 

This is beyond my knowledge as well, so perhaps those who know about how ATA works can explain this strange behaviour. When you wrote that this happens when the ATA connector board is not connected, did you also disconnect the flat cable? If the flat cable touches anything metallic, there may be a short-circult.

Anyway, glad to hear that you solved it!

 

I guess my trouble almost same.
My original network adapter cant read hdd.
But the clone could read hdd with no trouble.
I wonder, anyone here could help me.... Pls