So I've recently got a SCPH-39003 from a friend after trading a 320GB SATA drive. He told me the NA interface doesn't work (machine boots but simply won't detect the NA) but that isn't really much of a issue for me (I have a 35004 w/ 400c laser, and two 50003s - one with original 400c and the other with a HD7 from a defunct 30004R (F - chassis) I have looked a bit on the labels and determined the defunct 30004R was a F chassis and this one is a G chassis. However, I noticed there is an additional R right after the chassis letter. Does this mean that R variants were shipped with HD7s and non-R variants had 400C lasers?
There may be some pattern, but I doubt it is an indicator of the optical block. My SCPH-39006 has a SF-HD7 installed and it is just a "G" chassis. The F-chassis and later can be freely reconfigured (in software) to support either the Sony KHS-400C or the Sanyo SF-HD7, so it would probably limit this function if they physically indicated the optical block type on the sticker. For those wondering, the OP probably found a "GR" chassis. I have seen a "DR" chassis too. I may have also seen a "FR" chassis around. Also because the first model to support the SF-HD7 was the F-chassis, I doubt the "R" indicates support for the SF-HD7... The service tools do not seem to differentiate between a D or DR chassis, for example.
It's a GR-chassis indeed, and I did have both a FR and DR chassis. Except the DR chassis (which may be the so called v4R) that uses the 400B (it's the same as a SCPH-35000 internally, I owned one), all the FR/GR chassis machines I had came with SF-HD7 lasers, although I don't think Sony would "lock" the machine to only use HD7 lasers.
