Matrix Infinity Officially Supports V14 Consoles!

[<G>]

The Matrix Team has officially announced the completion of their own V14 solution for their massively popular Matrix Infinity modchip. Heres a quick quote from their site.

Analysis and development for the V14 model is finally complete.
Due to changes in the V14 hardware the old recovery mode was not compatibe and had to be redesigned.

The new color code for this Infinity will be GREEN, and the V14 firmware will be already on board of the
Actel processor.
The GREEN DOT Infinity are thus fully V1-V14 compatible and 100% stable, and are now being shipped
our resellers.
Installation manual and new firmware upgrade for V1-V14 consoles will be online soon.

They have also updated their install manuals page with diagrams for V14 consoles.

thanks to cmal1492 for the news.

[N£TM£ÇH]

This is why i wish the ps2 mods had a some kind of usb port on the modchip so we could update the chips ourselves.. The gamecube chips and xbox chips do why cant the ps2 chips have that ?

[crans]

I have 2 consoles set up with the nosolder adon's from neo(still hardwired i cut 3 of the magic v boards as customers have wasted ther mony on them) mounted in HD bay conect all and then reprogram then remove works for the matrix v12updat and christal ive had to update for v14/15. The usb programer wuld be nice and save alot of time. mabe thers some other way this can be done. Or even if i culd use my sxbliz but that not posible as its non sx based chips.

[Ruddicz]

All you have to do is figure out what the write pins are for the chip and flash it with a programmer. Might be a bit tedious but you wouldn't even need a PS2 to program the chip, at most it would probably require you to tap on 8 pads. USB ports cost money, the actel chip is pretty big and there's not a lot of room in the PS2 consoles, esp the slims. Most chips are programmed serially, so a LPT/UART/USB programmer could be made, or they could be tediously installed in a PS2 fattie, updated, then uninstalled and reinstalled into the slim model of choice.

http://www.actel.com/documents/APA_M...ocessor_AN.pdf

might be of help for those who want it.

[Dew-It]

Any updates on the HDD enabled Infinity Manager?

[N£TM£ÇH]

All you have to do is figure out what the write pins are for the chip and flash it with a programmer. Might be a bit tedious but you wouldn't even need a PS2 to program the chip, at most it would probably require you to tap on 8 pads. USB ports cost money, the actel chip is pretty big and there's not a lot of room in the PS2 consoles, esp the slims. Most chips are programmed serially, so a LPT/UART/USB programmer could be made, or they could be tediously installed in a PS2 fattie, updated, then uninstalled and reinstalled into the slim model of choice.

http://www.actel.com/documents/APA_M...ocessor_AN.pdf

might be of help for those who want it.

I disagree. Lets say your a chip vendor and you buy 300 matrix infinitys.. sell 100 of them.. then find out nobody wants your version because they dont work on version 14. So your stuck with 200 chips and thousands of dollars invested. Now i have to solder 8 wires to 200 chips to update the chip ?
The Actel proasic plus is actually one of the smaller IC's out there. The dms4 pro is twice the size of the matrix infinity so you cant say theres no room for a usb port or a ribbon cable that connects to a usb port that can run to the ouside of the ps2. Qoob Pro for gamecube is a perfect example. The qoob pro uses actel chips and has a ribbon cable that runs to a usb port. I dont think the actel is actually flashed but a secondary flash could be added. If the qoob can be programmed through usb and via a windows program then threres no reason why the matrix cant or any chip for that matter. The problem is no modchip developer out there wants to publicly release the code for thier chip.. "praise ice team". They can do it.. they just wont release the code in fear of cloners making chips that can be updated.. dunno what do you think?

[Ruddicz]

I disagree. Lets say your a chip vendor and you buy 300 matrix infinitys.. sell 100 of them.. then find out nobody wants your version because they dont work on version 14. So your stuck with 200 chips and thousands of dollars invested. Now i have to solder 8 wires to 200 chips to update the chip ?
The Actel proasic plus is actually one of the smaller IC's out there. The dms4 pro is twice the size of the matrix infinity so you cant say theres no room for a usb port or a ribbon cable that connects to a usb port that can run to the ouside of the ps2. Qoob Pro for gamecube is a perfect example. The qoob pro uses actel chips and has a ribbon cable that runs to a usb port. I dont think the actel is actually flashed but a secondary flash could be added. If the qoob can be programmed through usb and via a windows program then threres no reason why the matrix cant or any chip for that matter. The problem is no modchip developer out there wants to publicly release the code for thier chip.. "praise ice team". They can do it.. they just wont release the code in fear of cloners making chips that can be updated.. dunno what do you think?

That ribbon cable, that USB adapter PCB and that USB cable cost money and time to impliment and take away from the manufacturer/designer's bottom line, or make end users pay even more for a PS2 device. Plus where would such an addon seat outside the PS2? the chip would need to have a divider of sorts where its CMOS and runs off ~3V when programming rather than the standard USB power of 5V (that the qoob runs off of) which also increase the size and price more. Plus at the time of design I don't believe it was considered since this layout is probably pushing several years old and there is plenty of spare PCB boards that are already fab'ed.

The PCB USB part for Qoob pro sits in an expansion slot that isn't used for anything that I know of, most PS2'ers use the only expansion slot on the fatboys for a HDD, the slimline's have no such spot making it hard for an external PCB to stay put on most consoles.

AFAIK, There don't need to be any soldering involved to program or reprogram. when you get sent a chip I am pretty sure its programmed without the pads being soldered on. A device like a J-Tag would be all thats needed. It would sit on top of the chip's PCB and make contact with the correct pins, of course soldering to all the chips would work too. If I were a dealer and I purchased that many chips, I would be hell and all sure I could easily update them for sony's monthly revisions. Personally I think that all modchips should be designed with the ribbon cable design like Qoob implimented. No big solder pads to mess with, and then a programmer could easily be made with a com/DB25 adapter straight from the ribbon.

[Ruddicz]

where is the v14 update anywho?

[cmal1492]

My Qoob's expansion was routed where I wanted it: on the side of the Cube cant think of any other reason why they make the ribbon long enough to go outside the cubes case - or why they also give directions to install it in case you do use that expansion area for something else. 2 sided thin tape + the usb pcb = solid USB connector outside the case.

As for programming the chips outside of the PS2, I have seen testbed methods where push-pin type connectors are used to hold the chip in a frame on top of the PS2 case alllowing you to change the chip out at will nearly instantly (which of course would not work with overly sensitive to wire length chips like DMS).

Still, as far as I know, even with the V14 update already installed on a Infinity before putting it into a V14, the recovery mode may be useless (meaning if you install it in someones V14 PS2 and they messed up the firmware update at some future time, the only recovery would be to put it into an older version PS2 and use the non user upgradeable recovery mode bootup to restore V14 compatible firmware) - so to be safe one would want to use the newer chips on a V14

Of course, given the right hardware and software (including the origional factory upgrade for V14 recovery) you could re-write the ASIC, but I have alot of doubt that Infinity would release that method even to their biggest resellers - although my dealings with them does suggest they may be willing to exchange large amounts of stock if it was necissary (but, I mean, how many V14's are out there at this point - cant be THAT many)

where is the v14 update anywho?

Its out now
http://www.infinitymod.com/cgi-bin/m...e.pl?page=news

Released today V1.68 Firmware for the Infinity Modchip.
You can Download it from HERE.

New Features and additions:

- Full V14 compatibility
- PS2LOGO customization
- Automatic language selection
- Additional memory card boot applications
- Component video related fixes

Notes :
- Full V14 compatibility added to the firmware.

- Installer/final users can now personalize the logo shown when booting ps2 titles.
Please refer to the ilogo.txt file for additional instructions on how to do that.

- Language selection was removed from the config menu. The language and settings
selected on the ps2 browser are automatically used when booting MC/HDD applications.

- As requested from many users, two new buttons are now available to launch application
directly from memory card. Please refer to the "LAUNCHING MEMORY CARD APPLICATIONS"
section in this file for additional information.

- Few small fixes for users using a component video cable.

Caught this one on another forum

[gameplaya376]

(but, I mean, how many V14's are out there at this point - cant be THAT many)

that is the only thing you can buy in stores in my area ..