Started collecting bits for a PS2 Slim project

[MegatronUK]

Well, I just can't figure it out. I'm fairly certain now after going back over all of the wires (with a magnifying glass and also checking resistance) that I've no more mistakes; the system powers on, chip is detected and working and the drive will start to spin with a cd/dvd in place, but it won't get up to speed and hence won't load anything.

I've a feeling the laser block or drive motor is broken - I can only guess that installing either the laser 'fix' or the mod chip has finally pushed it over the edge.

I'll see if I can pick up a cheap replacement laser and drive motor on ebay. It's a bit silly really as I only need the dvd drive to load the proper flash image into the chip, then I can run non-signed code from usb or hard drive instead; the dvd drive will be getting removed at that point!

[MegatronUK]

Replacement laser arrived and resolved the spin up issue (original games playing fine again). However I still could not get it to recognise the update disc with the flash code for the modchip; neither my stock of DVD-R or CDRW discs would work, I eventually managed to track down a couple of unused CDR's left over from a few years ago (I haven't had to use any in ages).. thankfully the update burned to a CDR worked first time, detected the blank mod chip and flashed it. I now see the Toxic OS menu and other options.

Next test, remove the dvd cradle and fit the 2.5" HDD in its place - I'm doing this because:

1. I think the HDD will fit inside the standard PS2 slim case unmodified, with the laser mechanism removed.

2. The portable project is on indefinite hold as my finances are about to take a major dip*









* Yep, I've just commited to buying my first house!

[MegatronUK]

Ok, the HD Connect works perfectly (drives are detected, ToxicOS prompts to format and lets me explore the drive) - however I cannot find anywhere on the PS2 slim motherboard with enough power to actually run any of the laptop drives I've got (probably ~10 or so, from all the way back to a 80mb drive I removed from an Acorn A3020 to the brand new 320gb unit I bought for this); I've tried the USB ports and direct from the 5v regulator - neither will power up a drive.

So unfortunately it looks like I'll have to use the small power brick supplied in the HD Connect kit, as it happens it takes a figure-8 100-240v input, just like the Sony power brick, so it should be easy to rig up a single plug to both of them.

Gonna give the windows program a go that installs from the original game dvd to the PS2 hard drive (its called winhiip)... if I can put all the games on this way then I can still remove the dvd assembly and mount the HDD in its place; though there may have to be an extra power input to the console now.

[MegatronUK]

It's alive!!!!

DVD mechanism removed:
http://targetearth.dyndns.org/www/games ... nodvd1.jpg
http://targetearth.dyndns.org/www/games ... nodvd2.jpg

IDE cable looping back into case:
http://targetearth.dyndns.org/www/games ... cable1.jpg
http://targetearth.dyndns.org/www/games ... cable2.jpg

Laptop drive visible with tray open:
http://targetearth.dyndns.org/www/games ... seopen.jpg

..and with the tray closed:
http://targetearth.dyndns.org/www/games ... closed.jpg

I did have some initial teething touble with a neater cable setup I first used; it seems like it was too long (about 30cm) and causing corruption. The shorter cable in those pictures seems to work flawlessly though.