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PlayStation 2
July 1, 2023
PS2 Modchip Misadventures: Unleashing the Kraken!
I decided that it was time to take a break from Microsoft consoles and switch over to the world of Sony. I had a number of PlayStation 2 fat systems that needed to be tested, serviced and cleaned. What follows is the long and winding road that took me fairly deep into the PlayStation 2 internals.
As I worked through the pile I came across a Taiwanese model SCPH-30007R. The system powered up but it was Japanese region locked which was going to limit it's usefulness for North America.
Inside the system I found evidence that it had been opened before, and in fact there were a number of places on the board where there were soldered wire tips that had been cut off.
I spent some time to clean away all of the wire tips that I could find, and based upon the locations of them it seemed likely that a modchip had previously been installed in the system and since removed. Installing a modchip to enable North American content would breathe some more life into the system so I began to look into options.
There are some Matrix Infinity clones called the Modbo which are readily available on Amazon. Being new to the PS2 I had never installed a modchip in the system before so I did some searching to see what resources I could find to get me started. William Quade has a treasure trove of excellent information about Modbo chips including some very good installation walkthroughs.
Once I had a chip to install I worked through soldering the points according to William's guidance. I did my best to make the wiring neat, and I felt the result was acceptable, but if you want to see beautiful work check out Retro Gaming Arts on YouTube. Their installs are mind-blowing.
I felt pretty good that I was able to get the chip installed as it's not trivial, there are 22 points that need to be connected, and some of the pin pitch and pad clearances are quite tight. I cleaned all of the solder points, double checked connections and then powered up the board to be greeted with...a black screen.
The system would power on, the eject button worked, but there was no display. I reset the system a few times, checked cables but nothing. I stripped off the power supply and shielding and reviewed all of my solder points again. Everything looked pretty good, but I touched up a few points and tried again, but still no result.
So it would seem that the many tentacled Kraken that is the PS2 modchip install had beat me. I had seen some reviews for the modchips that occasionally a customer received a bad one, so I disconnected the power and ground connections from the chip and then powered up the system to confirm it was still working.
The system still had no image.
Follow along with me in Part 2 as I try to unravel the mystery.
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