Tutorial: Detailed slim PS2 sensor modding for swap trick (disassembly)

[ploder]

This is a tutorial I initially wrote for my blog. It is the procedure I used to get my slim PS2 ready for the Agent Under Fire swap trick. My slim PS2 still runs flawlessly after following this guide. I am not responsible for any damage or harm caused as a result of following this guide whatsoever.

Introduction

This is a detailed guide written specifically for a SCPH-77003 PAL slim PS2.

Two of the sensors on my slim were easy enough to block but the entry to the third sensor in the top left hand corner had a piece of metal guarding it which few guides mentioned or dealt with properly. No matter how much I fiddled with the straw method I couldn't get a straw to stay in the right position. Everything looked so messy with straws and tape over the PS2 casing, so I decided to modify the method a little to make it neater and more reliable.

Yes, this method involves opening up the PS2, but it is likely that your warranty will have expired already considering the age of the PS2s this exploit works with.

What you will need

1. A slim PS2 preferably manufactured before 2008 (some PS2s made during this period are not compatible with the Free Mcboot installer because Sony patched the bios) Those made in 2009 and beyond are definitely not compatible. The most recent slim this will work for should be a v18 slim with a bios of 220 or below. Anything after this and it's a no go. The slim PS2 I use in this guide is a SCPH-77003 PAL Manufacture code: 6D (bought in 2006 and now past its warranty) which I believe is a v15.

2. Phillips head & perhaps some precision screwdrivers

3. Electrical tape or any kind of very strong tape

4. Pair of scissors

5. Two fine headed tweezers

6. Blue tack (optional)

7. An RCA cable (the one that comes with the PS2, just take off the SCART adaptor block)

Turn your slim PS2 upside down and make sure the information panel is on your left. You will notice a lot of little feet, some of which are protecting the screws. Notice some of them are made of rubber and others are plastic (this is important because the rubber ones won’t fit in the position of the plastic ones) Begin to prise up the feet using the tweezers or any tool that works for you. Keep the feet and screws together in the pattern of how they were inserted into the PS2 and put them somewhere safe. There is no way around it but in order to open up the PS2 you will have to remove the warranty sticker since it is covering one of the feet located near the ethernet port, so if you care about stuff like that make sure your console is at least 1 year old. No, unfortunately there is no way of taking off the sticker and putting it on again. As soon as you take it off the word ‘void’ appears all over it (clever eh?)

Holding the console firmly with both hands turn it the right way up and have it facing you so that the power button is on your right hand side. Keeping your elbows against your torso (this will help you from using excessive force) begin to prise off the lid. Your goal is to get it open using the least amount of force possible. It will be making snapping/popping noises as you do this and the right hand side will come off with a particularly loud snap. This nothing to worry about and nothing will break inside. The only thing that can go wrong at this stage, if you are not careful, is dislodging the power PCB attached to the power button on the bottom right hand side (hence my tip regarding your elbows) so watch out for that.


Now that you have the lid open there are two switches that you will need to block. The first one is in the bottom right hand corner so using some electrical tape (or some other very strong and sticky tape) and some blue tack (optional) stick it down so that it will be depressed all of the time. This will be easier to do if you use two pairs of fine headed tweezers as the slim PS2 is small and fiddly. I have found that sticking the switch down with blue tack first and then applying electrical tape works best, although the blue tack will be more of a hassle to remove later. Alternatively you could just press a small piece of rolled up tissue paper down on this switch from outside of the casing, holding it in place with some tape. Whatever method you choose make sure that the switch is fully depressed.

[ploder]

The second internal switch is found in the top left hand corner of the PS2's disc area. This one is best dealt with by opening up the PS2 because there is a metal plate attached to the lid casing which makes inserting straws (ie straw mod) quite tricky. You will notice that down on the PCB is a very small black switch which is fiddly to keep depressed. I pressed a small piece of blue tack onto this and then covered it with two small pieces of electrical tape to make the shape of a cross. You can either use blue tack and electrical tape or just the tape on its own (see my earlier comment regarding the blue tack) That is it regarding the internal switches.

The metal plate on the lid casing of the slim PS2 is a pain, but luckily there is a solution which could make it easier to use the straw mod method in the future. As I mentioned earlier the metal plate is located on the top left part of the lid tray casing. I found that it was screwed down very firmly and required considerable force from a flat headed 1.4mm precision screwdriver to get it off (none of my Phillips head screwdrivers seemed to get a grip on this screw) So you can simply take this metal piece off if you like and there will be no degradation in the performance of the PS2. It will just leave a hole where it used to be so remove it if you like.

That's it for the inside of the PS2. You can now place the lid back on top and press around the outside of the casing all the way along the edges to secure it in place. You will hear some popping/snapping noises and it might be best to open the lid while doing this so you don't damage it. Once the casing is on firmly, turn the console upside down holding it securely with both hands. Orientate it as before with the information label on the left and begin to put the screws and feet back in (this will be easier if you followed my advice about keeping the screws and feet together in the pattern of how they were inserted into the PS2) If you now open the tray you should see electrical tape covering the first switch through the hole.

[ploder]

The final stage is to deal with the disc brake in the top right corner of the disc tray. I have found that the simplest method of doing this is to insert a plug from an RCA cable into the gap above the disc brake. If you do this correctly you will see the disc brake move all the way to the right and stay there. You can then lean the plug towards the lid and it will remain in this position for as long as you like. Just make sure that there is no obstruction to the disc spinning. If you have the console on at this stage you will also witness the PS2 laser moving to the middle. Don't be alarmed, this is what is supposed to happen if you have modded the console correctly (the PS2 will think that the lid is closed and try to read the disc)

Now you can test whether the switches are depressed correctly. Put in some retail PS2 compatible software, press the on switch and see whether the disc will stay spinning with the lid open. If it does congratulations, you have now successfully sensor modded your slim PS2! If it doesn’t then you will have to check each of the switches again, especially the second one. You can keep your PS2 in this state permanently if you wish, or just until you perform the disc swap trick to install Free Mcboot. Do bear in mind though that the blue tack/electrical tape will lose their adhesiveness over time.

I hope you have found this guide informative and I wish you good luck with your future modding projects.

[msh]

Good job, but I have a question.

Two of the sensors on my slim were easy enough to block but the entry to the third sensor in the top left hand corner had a piece of metal guarding it which few guides mentioned or dealt with properly.

In your text I can count only two switches I did it this way by blocking two switches:

[because why place back cover if u have to remove it again anyway? ], it was able to read discs but disc swap resulted in RSOD. So is there three switches or two?

[goodma]

This is very good tutorial but it needs to add video for noob who still don't get a picture. Btw: That's fantastic tutorial and what about the fat version?

@ Msh and ploder. Keep it up a good job. Post more Please.

[msh]

If there isn't any such stuff already available, I can open my fat PS2 again in next 24 hours and take some low quality [] pics...

[ploder]

Good job, but I have a question.
In your text I can count only two switches I did it this way by blocking two switches:
[because why place back cover if u have to remove it again anyway? ], it was able to read discs but disc swap resulted in RSOD. So is there three switches or two?

I was thinking about this while writing the guide. When is something a switch and when is it a sensor? There are definitely two rocker switches inside my slim PS2 (as you can see in the pictures) One near the power switch on the bottom right and the other towards the top left of the disc tray area inside the PS2. Now, whether there are three switches depends on whether you count the disc brake as a switch. It seems to me that the disc brake lid 'sensor' is purely mechanical and therefore cannot be described as a switch (correct me if I am wrong because I do not know much about electronics) Therefore I just used the term 'sensor' in my guide to cover everything that needs to be done to run the AUF swap trick.

I have never experienced an RSOD with my PS2. Perhaps other versions of slim PS2 have more switches? (I doubt this though) Are you saying that you're using the same model of PS2 in my guide and you get RSOD? If so does the disc start spinning after you make the swap? If it isn't then I suspect the switch in the top left since that is not easy to keep depressed with just electrical tape I find. There could be other things going wrong such as the timing of your swap, the media you are using, the way it is burned, the state of your laser etc etc. From your picture it looks like you are trying to do swap trick on top of a TV? I wouldn't recommend that. Do swap trick on a hard flat surface such as a table.

The reason I put back the cover is:

1) To stop dirt getting inside my PS2
2) To show people how the lid tray sensor in the bottom right hand corner would look like with electrical tape showing through the hole.
3) To stop any damage occurring to the parts of the PS2

Once I had FMCB installed apps to mem card I took the PS2 apart again and removed the tape and blue tack.

This is very good tutorial but it needs to add video for noob who still don't get a picture. Btw: That's fantastic tutorial and what about the fat version?

@ Msh and ploder. Keep it up a good job. Post more Please.

I was going to make a video, but I found that it didn't work too well. Amongst other things I couldn't get the correct lighting. There are loads of videos on Youtube already about that. My guide was intended to be something a little different than what was already out there.

As I don't own a fat PS2 I have no way of making such a detailed guide. I like to test everything myself therefore I won't be making one for fat PS2. Msh may be able to help you there.

Regards

[msh]

I have never experienced an RSOD with my PS2. Perhaps other versions of slim PS2 have more switches? (I doubt this though) Are you saying that you're using the same model of PS2 in my guide and you get RSOD? If so does the disc start spinning after you make the swap? If it isn't then I suspect the switch in the top left since that is not easy to keep depressed with just electrical tape I find. There could be other things going wrong such as the timing of your swap, the media you are using, the way it is burned, the state of your laser etc etc. From your picture it looks like you are trying to do swap trick on top of a TV? I wouldn't recommend that. Do swap trick on a hard flat surface such as a table.

As u can notice in my signature, I have SCPH-70003 slim. Yes, it booted both DVD games. DVD's was poor quality, but that didn't stoped my SCPH-35003 fat from lauching uLaunchELF. I also don't think the table on which fat stood was reason for success

P.S. I'll later take apart my fat PS2 for photographic purposes and I'll also play with "timing of swap". Maybe I'll repeat it with my slim too.

[goodma]

I was going to make a video, but I found that it didn't work too well. Amongst other things I couldn't get the correct lighting. There are loads of videos on Youtube already about that. My guide was intended to be something a little different than what was already out there.
Regards

Yeah, I have digtal camera and Ipod with a camera as well. I will making a video for fat and slim ps2 at the weekend. Mind you, I havn't got time to do this week because I got some study to finish off by at the end of this week. Hopefully, we will find some a good youtue videos to show noobs so they can see it what are they doing and know how to do it. Before post some video on here, I will check the video if it is good enough to show noobs and I would probably skip the first step-by-step (e.g. unscrew the bolts because it would be pain-in-the-ass ).

[ploder]

As u can notice in my signature, I have SCPH-70003 slim. Yes, it booted both DVD games. DVD's was poor quality, but that didn't stoped my SCPH-35003 fat from lauching uLaunchELF. I also don't think the table on which fat stood was reason for success

P.S. I'll later take apart my fat PS2 for photographic purposes and I'll also play with "timing of swap". Maybe I'll repeat it with my slim too.

Oh okay, it looks like you have a v12 slim and I have a v15. The one I use in my guide is an 77003 and not an 70003 (it may make a difference with media I don't know) I must have turned signatures off in the control panel that's why I couldn't see yours. The fact that your fat PS2 has no problem reading the disc doesn't necessarily mean that the slim will. Some PS2s are just annoying like that. My friend also has a slightly older slim than mine and it has problems with media that works fine on my slim PS2. I don't know whether it is down to the lasers being better or worse or whether his has more use than mine. It is something difficult to pin down unfortunately and without side by side comparison with brand new boxed units we may never know. Tbh if you can't get swap trick to work with a couple of attempts I wouldn't risk the damage it can do to your console and just use the free installation service on this site. Imo the swap trick is just a last ditch attempt for people that don't have anything else they can try.

@goodma & @msh I hope you have luck with your experiments. The more info we can gather the easier it will be for other people to install FMCB apps