Romeo mod? Do I need it?

[admiraldennis]

I have a v9/v10 PS2, no modchips.

What's the deal with the 'romeo' mod? Should I do it? Is there's anything that explains it more than this (which just tells me how to do it, now what it's doing or why I would need to).

My PS2 reads all discs perfectly right now and I'd like to prevent the laser from melting.

[pstwo4u]

With the use of DVD recordables and very scratched media, the la6508 chip can send to much current to the laser coils, which can eventually melt the isolation from the coils. As a result of that the resistence on the coils will be less, and the la6508 has to send more current to the coils to move them.
Then more isolation will melt from the coils, and the la6508 chip will overheat.
The final result is unusable laser coils in the laserunit, and a burned la6508 chip.
Total costs: A new la6508 chip + new laser unit.

So always install it, when using swap magic or a modchip to play backups.
If you install a modchip or use swap magic, the problems will occur after let's says somewhere between 1-9 months, depending on the use of course.

[kl1k]

i agree with pstwo4u - I always do it and haven't had a problem yet. If you dont do it on v9 and 10's you risk blowing the la and laser.

[admiraldennis]

I could pronbably just cut the trace leading to pin 17 instead of trying to lift it, right?

Does anyone have a more verbose guide?

[Toma]

Yea you can just cut it, but be sure they won't touch each other ever again.

[admiraldennis]

...now to find my solder iron, haha

thanks for the help

[kl1k]

I prefer lifting the leg - if you cut the track be sure not to cut too deep, otherwise you might end up cutting a track in the 2nd or 3rd layer

[aykfc]

is this hard too do? Do you have a guide for this? I am getting a ps2 and probably going too use swap magic and dont want too get a new dvd drive.

[AfterTheInsane]

Here, I found this after digging through my "archive"

[kl1k]

not hard to do, but you need a little patience. i normally use a small pin. heat the leg up and push the pin under the leg and list if slightly. dont lift if too much otherwise you could snap off ther leg. also dont overheat the LA too much.

when its all done and soldered to the 5V use a multimeter to check that its still not making contact to the 12V - that will ruin your ps2 otherwise also check that the leg is not shorted to the pins either side of it.