Open PS2 Loader Project - v0.9

My drive is set with the jumper in the correct setting.
And thank you for your thorough explanation, now it gives me a much better idea of how things work out (even though I'm an electrical engineer, I never really got to study the innards of the PS2).

What happens is my drive makes this very distinguishable sound when starting spinning. It's a humming noise followed by a click. When I launch uLaunchELF (version 4.42b is the one I use), choose hdd0:/ inside the FileExplorer, the drive will make this sound immediately and after the click the folders/partitions appear. Then with the drive "warmed-up", for the lack a better term (excuse my English, I'm brazilian), I'm able to do whatever it is I want to do with it.

If I try to launch any loader before doing this, the loader splash screen comes up, in about 3 to 5 secs I will hear my drive trying to spin up, but nothing happens and it sits there.

If the ATAD drivers in uLaunchELF are different than OPL's, that might be worth checking indeed. However, even with uLaunchELF it may hang sometimes (I tried about 20 times to follow this for repeatibility sakes, and only failed to mount my hdd twice) so it all might be just an incredibly unlikely coincidence. I will try to get my hands on another NA to see if mine is going down the same path as my laser...

Thanks!

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Originally Posted by wprpalmeida

What happens is my drive makes this very distinguishable sound when starting spinning. It's a humming noise followed by a click. When I launch uLaunchELF (version 4.42b is the one I use), choose hdd0:/ inside the FileExplorer, the drive will make this sound immediately and after the click the folders/partitions appear. Then with the drive "warmed-up", for the lack a better term (excuse my English, I'm brazilian), I'm able to do whatever it is I want to do with it.

If I try to launch any loader before doing this, the loader splash screen comes up, in about 3 to 5 secs I will hear my drive trying to spin up, but nothing happens and it sits there.

If the ATAD drivers in uLaunchELF are different than OPL's, that might be worth checking indeed. However, even with uLaunchELF it may hang sometimes (I tried about 20 times to follow this for repeatibility sakes, and only failed to mount my hdd twice) so it all might be just an incredibly unlikely coincidence. I will try to get my hands on another NA to see if mine is going down the same path as my laser...

Thanks!

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If that clicking sound your HDD makes doesn't sound like the sound a HDD would make when it's spinning up... you may want to rule damage to your HDD as another potential reason. HDDs may make odd sounds when accessing damaged areas, and sometimes it can even be intermittent.

HDDs can go bad, especially one as old as yours. Mine was probably released around the time yours was since the specifications are about the same. I returned my original unit because the PCB went (It blew white smoke and the drive stopped working).

Maxtors.. seem to have a problem with dying because the firmware (Like on most modern disks) is stored in the drive overlay area (Which is a reserved area on the platters). When that area takes a hit, good game (It's brain-dead).

Please don't take that click sound your disk makes when spinning up as a sign that it's damaged, unless you don't remember that it used to make that noise. Disks will generally make some sounds as their stepper motors spin up and their heads move into position.

You have to start being careful with the disk when it starts making sounds that it shouldn't.

Running a test with the Seagate/Maxtor tools on your drive is a way to determine whether the drive is still of good integrity. Some of those tools don't seem to be able to detect the firmware issue on my Maxtor disk though. :/

The Seagate tool just reports that the drive's SMART functionality is disabled (Since it's disabled in my BIOS after the BIOS reported that the SMART ENABLE command failed).
Some of the Maxtor tools report that the SMART functionality is "not supported", while others say that it's a hardware issue with the drive.

Sometime around 2002 SONY in their infinite wisdom decided to change the design of the CXD9611 chip.

The European users probably remember this, when brand new network adapters had all sort of odd issues with the Ethernet port which prevented them from working for online gaming. SONY fixed the issue developing a new SPEED chip (the chip inside the network adapter) which has a fix for the problem.

Check the sticker on the network adapter and you should find the letters "SKD" or "FXN" which specify on which factory it was made. If it has "SKD" written on the sticker it was made in Japan, at SONY Kisaragi plant in 2003. If it has "FXN" it was made at Foxconn plant in Shenzen, China. The China made network adapter will have the newer chip for sure.

So it might be a matter of testing until you find a network adapter that works for your console.

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Originally Posted by l_oliveira

Sometime around 2002 SONY in their infinite wisdom decided to change the design of the CXD9611 chip.

The European users probably remember this, when brand new network adapters had all sort of odd issues with the Ethernet port which prevented them from working for online gaming. SONY fixed the issue developing a new SPEED chip (the chip inside the network adapter) which has a fix for the problem.

Check the sticker on the network adapter and you should find the letters "SKD" or "FXN" which specify on which factory it was made. If it has "SKD" written on the sticker it was made in Japan, at SONY Kisaragi plant in 2003. If it has "FXN" it was made at Foxconn plant in Shenzen, China. The China made network adapter will have the newer chip for sure.

So it might be a matter of testing until you find a network adapter that works for your console.

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LOL! :lol: :D

Is this related to that incident where DNAS error -801 or -800 occurs when the user attempts to connect to the Sony servers?

Hey guys. I tried to use a Western Digital WD800 80 gb hdd in my fat ps2. I made the mod to the NA. But cant get my ps2 to find it in HDLoader. I also tried a Maxtor Model 91741U4. I had checked a web site for hdd on the ps2. It says the WD dont work. But the claim it will. And that the Maxtor does. But I cant get it to work. Any ideas why? I know it all works. The PS2 SCPH-39001 I have a 4gb Seagate in it. It works. lol but is 4gb. The other two drives sound like they spin up. But nothing else happens. Just hardware error. I forgot. Both drives work fine in my windows xp computer. Thanks for any help you may give

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Originally Posted by JoshMatt79

Hey guys. I tried to use a Western Digital WD800 80 gb hdd in my fat ps2. I made the mod to the NA. But cant get my ps2 to find it in HDLoader. I also tried a Maxtor Model 91741U4. I had checked a web site for hdd on the ps2. It says the WD dont work. But the claim it will. And that the Maxtor does. But I cant get it to work. Any ideas why? I know it all works. The PS2 SCPH-39001 I have a 4gb Seagate in it. It works. lol but is 4gb. The other two drives sound like they spin up. But nothing else happens. Just hardware error. I forgot. Both drives work fine in my windows xp computer. Thanks for any help you may give

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Have you tried accessing those two disks with some other software like uLaunchELF instead? What happens?

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Originally Posted by SP193

Have you tried accessing those two disks with some other software like uLaunchELF instead? What happens?

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Yes i have, all i hear is the drive come on and spin up. But then nothing. HDLoader always says hardware error

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Originally Posted by JoshMatt79

Yes i have, all i hear is the drive come on and spin up. But then nothing. HDLoader always says hardware error

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are you able to use it on the PC with WinHIIP? did you try using fileexplorer and exploring the HDD0:/ device before launching the loaders?

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Originally Posted by wprpalmeida

are you able to use it on the PC with WinHIIP? did you try using fileexplorer and exploring the HDD0:/ device before launching the loaders?

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WinHIP says it doesnt have a PS2 boot record. And yes I used ulaunchelf and nothing shows in HDD0:/ the hdd sounds like it powers on. but nothing happens. it wont let me make files, or copy to it.

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Originally Posted by JoshMatt79

WinHIP says it doesnt have a PS2 boot record. And yes I used ulaunchelf and nothing shows in HDD0:/ the hdd sounds like it powers on. but nothing happens. it wont let me make files, or copy to it.

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Have you tried formatting the disk with WinHIIP? If it cannot complete the format (And/or does not remain PS2-formatted), your disk is faulty.

Dead or partially dead disks can still power on, but it doesn't mean that they can retain data well enough.