Advice against DIY mod-chip installs

[johnsant]

Background: Did some soldering back in high-school... chipped original playstation... no problem

2 weeks ago: Bought a PS2 mod-chip (16-18 wire) with the idea of installing myself

Last week: Spent 3 days hunting down all the stuff I would need to do the job (all old soldering tools are carefully (i.e. impossible to find) packed away in the garage.

Cost: ~ $25 (just for supplies - chip already purchased)

Yesterday: Started install at around 8pm. By 11pm my eyes were blurry, my body was sore and I was extremely frustrated. By 2am I just had to stop and go to sleep.

Today: 3 more connections to solder. (Easy ones, Thank <insert your diety here>!)

Bottom line: Unless you do a lot of soldering and have all the equipment, DON'T BOTHER!

Spend the effort finding someone in your area to do the install rather than hunting down supplies. I wish I had. It cost me $25 bucks to buy the various parts (soldering iron, solder, flux, wire, etc., etc.) If I could turn back time I would have GLADLY payed someone $50 bucks to do this.

Seriously, my eyes are still sore. This is a VERY delicate job compared to chipping PS1 or Xbox. I'm still concerned about whether my PS2 will even boot tonight.

I'm not trying to drum up business for installers, believe me. I just want to provide another side to things. I've been reading this Forum for months know, and it's easy to believe, after reading all these tales and seeing all these photos, that doing an install is a simple do-it-yourself job.

IT'S NOT.

p.s. The photos are NOT life-size. They are blown-up. The actual parts are TINY. From looking at the photos, I thought it would be a cinch. Surprise on me. I should have put the case back together as soon as I saw how tiny everything was. Hindsight is 20-20.

I'm not saying the job is impossible, but I would scale it on the "very" side of "difficult" UNLESS you do this stuff all the time.

Anyways... As I said. Just wanted to save a few people out there some major frustration and a few potential ruined PS2s.

Anyhow, feel free to laugh at me. I'm laughing at myself. For the small percentage of people on the fence about this, get someone else to do it. That's my advice. Feel free to ignore it.

Cheers (and happy chipping),
John

P.S. I'll keep you posted on my adventures if you care. I'm sure some of you are interested in whether I'll get the machine to boot. I'm not betting on it, you shouldn't either.

[Bgnome]

congrats on getting a working 1st install.
i remember when i did a 40+ wire neo4 install on a v3.. soldered a bunch of vias and even had to cut a track and remove a component.. and it didnt even boot dvdrs!

you will get better with practice, but i have only done a few installs and already fried a mobo. and rarely do i ever get the job done without having to troubleshoot multiple times..

if time is a factor for you, i would definitely recommend sending it off to a pro, (LOD, Loy, Netmech, to name a few). if you have the tools already or are willing to shell out a few bucks for em and dont mind killing a couple ps2s in the process, then by all means go for it. i, for one, enjoy being able to call it a hobby..

[jung_rob]

what ver ps2 and what mod?

[silentlight]

Yes johnsant, I felt the exact same way when I first modded my PS2. But it's not all bad, there's nothing like modding your own PS2 and having it boot too.

[LanEvoVII]

hey man i'm in vancouver as well
i could have done it for you as i do lots

[johnsant]

I've got the dreaded v3 PS2 and I'm installing the MXL2-USA.

I've since looked at the v5 pics. Geez! That would have been 100 times easier. (But still not a no-brainer for an average human) The pins on the CPU? are what killed me. The BIOS was easy by comparison.

LanEvoVII - You may hear from me yet.

I've got one last wire to hook up, but I can't seem to find the damn SCEX spot! Nothing I can see on my mobo matches the picture. Agh! Mind, you... I am going blind from all the close-quarters work. If I ever torture myself like this again I will definitely get one of those fold-down magnifiers.

John

[johnsant]

Just great.

The SCEX spot is on the back-side of the mobo.

Nice. Now I have to figure out how to disconnect all these strange cables without breaking them so I can flip the mobo over.

La-dee-da. Can't buy a break.

Let this be a lesson to all you newbies.

Cheers

[BongMasterP]

From one point of view i agree, from the other point i don't. With that attitude "impossible/too difficult" Noone will get far, I had never ever soldered, and by reading all different posts on boards i chipped my xbox with the first messiah, since then i chipped around 50 xboxes and recently started chipping ps2's. I finished mine and 2 from friends,(V6 V8 V9). So i chipped 3 ps2's and they where relatively easy(1x messiah 2x mxl2).

And most important, i soldered in my xbox using a 1.0 mm tip(@first), so i screwed open my ps2 and then started crying cos everything was so small. But after ordering 0.1/0.2/0.4 mm tips everything went fine(didnt even practise, just using my ps2, the pressure allone is enough for me to not FAIL)

So to make your story short, If everybody thought the same way as you we would still be riding ****ing hordes littelery

[jung_rob]

a v3 for your first attempt is a bit rough, but you had to start somewhere and a v3 was what you had i guess.

the one that leads to the expansion bay pulls straight up.
the dvd drive pulls straight out.
the other 2 have a little tab that holds it in, just pull the wire up and towards the connector, you'll know what i mean.

the mobo you have to pull straight up 3 or 4 inches cause of the power pins.
im in van as well.

EVOVII, ive seen you on RS.net

check out this thread i made bout v3's.
http://www.ps2newz.net/forums/showth...threadid=21068

[oliveshagger]

Cost: ~ $25 (just for supplies - chip already purchased)?!?!?

shouldn't cost that much.

Good warning to new installers!!

BUT there is the added satisfaction of modding your own ps2 AND seeing it work