A friend of mine bought a PSX DVR system (7100) and it freezes up on this screen. Would this be signs of dying HDD or something else?
I guess this happens after powering on the unit since the TV menu (テレビ) is selected by default upon starting the device. The blue circle in the upper right corner usually keeps blinking for up to 20 seconds during which the XMB cannot be used and the remote control is unresponsive. Judging from the screenshot, channel 5 is pre-selected and therefore you should either see TV static or the actual TV programme (in case the device is connected to UHF/VHF or BS) after a successfully starting the device. If that is not the case and that blue circle also froze, my assumption is a faulty boot procedure. The more tech-savvy can probably elaborate on the boot procedure details to narrow down failing components. Edit: According to the manual (p. 130) you can also try the following troubleshooting advice: - turn off the device (i.e. stand-by mode, red LED) - press and hold the power button for 10 seconds - press the power button again to power on the unit
@lwizardl: The the above-mentioned procedure did not yield any results? I can only speak for Japan but a lot of times PSX units priced < $100 US are indeed working although Japanese sellers will list them as "untested" or "junk". Even right now there's a handful decent looking units on Yahoo! auctions... if your buddy is still in for a PSX he should give it a try. Nevertheless the HDD or other components may die at any time. Oftentimes however, people manage to brick their PSX by not following best practise outlined in the manual, or because they mess with software/hardware they don't fully understand.
HDD is not paired to the unit SN or whatever, it's up to XMB version. I know that for sure cause I were able to swap two of my 1.31 and they worked without issue. Even 1.06 will work for some time before it's freeze.
Your right. Ive heard you can swap it with other ofical hdds. I just wish there was more interest in cracking the protection on it.
There was a thread about installing modchips into DESR's. The second trick that I managed to perform is that some faulty unit (probably 5500, don't remember for sure) can be turn on even without HDD with FMCB mcard alone. Most of them will freeze there or end up with black screen. I think that 5500 has more slow (or more long) selftest period so right after powering up it's psu and pressing on power button as fast as you can you might get the trick. The third thing as I were able to get 40gb sony psbbn hdd to have xmb, but it's freeze. Cause of hidden partition for sure.
Yeah there's this strange Fujitsu mcu locking drives that nobody is interested in. Man if it where cracked i bet you could fit a nice sata adapter in there.
The PSX will not decrypt KELFs for the PlayStation 2, so I doubt the PSBBN can be booted. The only exception to this rule is FFXI, which was a PSBBN downloadable game. They whitelisted that KELF.
No, I ment that I used 40GB HDD (from PSBBN), but it were formated with injected mbr.kelf (xosdmain.elf) or it were written with working 1.31 dump from 160gb drive but I doubt about that now cause I did the same trick (I use hddrawcopy to made a 250gb maxtor with a working 2.11 fw on it and write it full to a former 1.31 and 1.06fw 250gb Maxtor drives... So, they both now can't be recognized as connected like any non Sony drive. Well, thats the result, seems like any PSX HDD has it' unique PCB FW & Security Area mark combination. I messed up here ).
If you did a raw copy, it might be failing because the encryption seems to be unique per HDD. If you tried swapping the whole disks, I think it does work (because somebody mentioned that before). BTW even if you successfully bring over any PlayStation 2 browser of any sort, there are also other implications: there will be 64MB memory, the QUIT GAME button will not work, and the CD/DVD drive would be left in Rainbow mode. If the CD/DVD drive is left in Rainbow mode, it will be always not ready to normal PlayStation 2 software.
Seems like that. What should I try to bring PS2 Browser or any app like OPL to be HDD bootable? Is there something unique encryption apllyed to any PS2 app for it to become DESR's standard MBR.KELF? Or we can't made any FHDB like app on DESR at all? And one more - maybe I should try to remove it's 8mb ROM and swap it to a normal Memory Card IC? Maybe it might be a way to get PSBBN or any other app working as default OSD (without FMCB card inserted). Yes, we loose any DVR and XMB goods but that would be great as is. What is Rainbow? I don't get it what the heck is that mode...
There is a byte that determines the system type. For the PlayStation 2, it is 0x00, while it is 0x01 for the PSX. That was determined, by comparing a lot of PS2 KELFs against the PSX KELFs. The alternative, is to have the same file header as the FFXI KELF, which is a whitelisted PS2 KELF that can be decrypted by the PSX. Unfortunately, you cannot just edit any PS2 KELF to make it work because the header is signed. Meanwhile, we have FMCB for booting unsigned programs. The boot ROM is 4MB, as with the PlayStation 2. There is a 8MB NAND device installed alongside that one, which works like the memory card's NAND and is a supported boot device by the boot ROM. It is unprotected and you can access its content via xfrom0, by loading XFLASH and XFROMMAN. You can, but the KELF must be one for the PSX. Saving of games will still require a memory card, so you cannot really go without one. The CD/DVD drive for the PSX has two operating modes: Rainbow (sometimes mentioned as "Wri") and PS2 mode, as it is a 2-in-1 drive. Upon power-on, the drive is in Rainbow mode. The XMB likely operates the drive in Rainbow mode too, as the writer OP-block is used to first detect the disc, before there is a switch to the PS2-side OP-block. Switching of the CD/DVD drive mode is done with sceCdChgSys(), which is only available as part of the PSX's CDVDMAN modules. The writer has a register interface that is not compatible with the PS2's normal DEV5 device. When in Rainbow mode, the drive status register lines up with a register that has 0x6 as its value. I don't know if it is a coincidence or a deliberate move for compatibility... but 0x6 means "not ready". As for the PSX's EE kernel memory size, it is configured with syscall 0x85, which will update MachineType(). Upon invoking ExecPS2(), the TLB will be reconfigured based on that setting. The remocon (includes the "Quit Game" button) is controlled with sceCdRcBypassCtl(), as with the SCPH-50000 series.
