v12 Stutters & Restarts

It has a Duo3 installed, and I dont have a programmer to rewrite any code. It will get past the PS2 screen (sometimes) and load the intro to FFX (the game Im testing with, tried others, does the same thing) and then it will restart, but like its stuttering. ie. on off on off on off on, in time with the laser moving. Anything specific I should be looking for when I open 'er up? I can get a video of the stuttering if it will help. Also, as a sidenote, Ive had a few chips come with what looks to be a diode fix (believe there's four diodes on a little tiny pcb), anyone have an install diagram for them? Ive been tossing them aside and ordering/installing Xii fixes.

Sounds like a laser problem. Did you have a laser fix installed?

No, not in that particular one. The customer was anxious to have it back so I have on on order for him. Could the laser be dead already? Whats a new one worth?

Most likely. Slim lasers cost like $20-30. Cheap on ebay.

Bad news, but thanks. Also, congrats on 3k posts.

I just recently ran into the stuttering & freezing problem on a v14 with a Duo3 chip and FFXII. The customer had brought me his own copy of FFXII and it ended up being the root of my problems.

I dunno if it was a PAL version that he had, or if it had gotten a hold of one of the beta versions of FFXII (which I guess was known to stutter & freeze), but I grabbed a NTSC copy and burnt it at 1x speed and it worked perfectly. But I would suspect that something may be a little more funky with your machine - as it's rebooting the machine. Maybe try putting a 1k resistor between the +5v and GND on the modchip.

hmm... just saw another thread with someone having this problem as well...

http://www.psx-scene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49891

Well I already ordered the laser, so we'll see if that solves my problems. Also, Ive used this copy (my copy) of FFX on other consoles with no problems at all. I tried three or four different games and they all did it, so I know its not the media.