PSOne Screen Problem - Revisited

If you're making a portable you probably need something to watch it on. (Unless you want to guess what's happening in the game, but I wouldn't advise that) Anyway, this forum is your "Hacking a pocket TV/screen" one-stop solution. Share your experiences and knowledge here.

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rpetrello
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PSOne Screen Problem - Revisited

Post by rpetrello »

Had a problem with my last hacked screen which went unsolved. I took the LCD for cracked (as it did seem to have a hairline crack in it) and tossed it to buy another. I've just hooked up and am having similar problems with this one. Here's the situation. If ANYBODY has ANY CLUE as to why this is happening, please fill me in:

I've done the LED mod as shown in Ben's book. Three LED's, positive ends connected to the resistor, in turn connected to the 5V on the regulator. The negative ends are all connected to the system's ground spot. The LED lights power up and work fine - they're definitely working. And usually I can even adjust the volume and brightness settings and it works great. The problem is this - if I even slightly shift around the case that holds the LCD screen, if goes crazy and flickers. Sometimes it turns crazy shades of blue and green. It just randomly changes colors and makes odd frequency lines across the screen randomly. If I apply pressure to certain spots, it sometimes stops. It sometimes doesn't do this for a few minutes. Then if I press somewhere else, it'll start again, completely random. I've done this mod twice now, and keep coming along the same problem. The ribbon cable is firmly attached, no LED leads are ouching at all, nothing is shorting out on the case - it's just plain WEIRD and I have no clue as to why this is happening. I'm also losing money fast and would like to unsolve this mystery. Thanks in advance.
nos_slived
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Post by nos_slived »

If you move the LCD's cable around, do you have the same problem?
Last edited by nos_slived on Thu Jun 30, 2005 11:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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rpetrello
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Hrm

Post by rpetrello »

It doesn't seem to be the cables - remember that the LED's stay on at ALL TIMES. I think it has something to do with the ribbon cable, but it's secured well in its thing - I've even unplugged and replugged it back in. The weird thing is if I put pressure on portions of the metal casing (i.e. just push down on them) it wigs out a bunch, and admist the chaos, it every so often goes to normal (where I can use the volume buttons). But usually, it just picks a color and gives me frequency lines. I've no idea what could be causing this in the ribbon cable - it's just plain weird.
nos_slived
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Post by nos_slived »

I'm talking about the LCD's cable. It sounds like it may have a small crack.
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rpetrello
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*Sigh

Post by rpetrello »

It seems to fix itself when you move around the LCD's cable, but then it might also be a combination of pressure on the case - it's very hard to tell EXACTLY what fixes it, as it's very sporadic and it only actually works for a split second. I surely hope there's not a crack in the cable - if that's it, then I guess I somehow managed to do it twice in a row -_-.
Kai
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Post by Kai »

pehaps the cable is broken so exchange it.
rpetrello
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Er...

Post by rpetrello »

It's particularly hard to exchange a screen that you've since cracked open, especially one you bought off of Ebay. Not to mention, the screen worked fine before I did the mod, and now it doesn't. Something still tells me it's not the ribbon cable though - I've taken the LCD off and inspected the whole thing and see nothing torn anywhere, and I refuse to believe I accidentally tore it twice in a row, as I've been extremely careful both times around.
Gamelver
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Post by Gamelver »

you may have a bit of solder near the chip where you do the brightness mod.....if some of the pins on there are shorted, then it'll change color...the chip I'm talking about it the one pictured here on the left:


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Without games my life would have no meaning.
Well, I guess it would, but it would be a lot less fun!!!!!!!

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HK-47
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Post by HK-47 »

Check for tiny pieces of solder or other conductive things around all the pins in the ic's, I know for fact, jumping some of these will result in crazy behaviour.
Gamelver
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Post by Gamelver »

heh, we had the same idea, HK :P...
Without games my life would have no meaning.
Well, I guess it would, but it would be a lot less fun!!!!!!!

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HK-47
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Post by HK-47 »

You know what? I tried to jump the thingy, but I ended up ripping up the trace, and in the process of fixing the screen, I must have jumped every connector on that screen, with little pieces of solder, and other things... Though luckily, my screen works now. :)
Gamelver
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Post by Gamelver »

I hate it when traces rip off :(.....especially on those damn GC controllers!!!!! :P
Without games my life would have no meaning.
Well, I guess it would, but it would be a lot less fun!!!!!!!

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rpetrello
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Post by rpetrello »

Weird things is - I haven't done the brightness mod yet, and to the best of my knowledge have gone nowhere near there with solder. The only places I've soldered (other than the LED connections) are the 5v on the regulator and the ends of the resistors.
rpetrello
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Post by rpetrello »

At this point I'm just sort of confused. To be honest, I've been giving it pressure and reattaching the ribbon cable firmly and I haven't been able to get it correct itself for awhile. This exact thing happened to my last one - it just got progressively worse, and I have no clue as to why this happens.
Gamelver
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Post by Gamelver »

hmmm....you're inputting at least 7.2V into the screen, right?
Without games my life would have no meaning.
Well, I guess it would, but it would be a lot less fun!!!!!!!

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