Just got my first Playstation. Doesn't work. Any ideas?

[Cryomancer]

So I've been given a free PSX. Far as I know, it's just been sitting up in this guy's room for x number of years not in use. Supposedly it's been modded, but when i opened it up for a basic clean job i didn't see any foreign-looking wires or chips or anything. I didn't dissasemble any further than the outer shell though, either.

It's powering up fine, controller ports and memcard slots work, but it doesn't seem to like discs. It will not load either legit or burned games, however it did play a music CD. When you select CD player from the menu it also takes a longass time to go to the CD player screen (is this normal? never owned a psx before this). When i tried playing a legal game in the CD player it showed up as one track that seemed to be silent.

So, is there a checklist of problems to look for or some sort of procedure for fixing this? Common problem? Is there a type of chip that requires extra hardware or a button combonation or something that could cause this? It's a 550x model, big grey box, by the way.

[almostgotthemall]

Could be a weak lens, or a bad mod chip.

First, to test the lens, put a game in the tray, turn it on and flip the whole system upside down.
If it boots with the system upside down (try a few times),then your lens is weak or out of focus.

If it still doesnt boot, then the mod chip may be bad. Simply desolder it from the board and try booting a game.

If this fails as well, perhaps someone on the board could show you a picture of the screw to adjust power to the lens.



EDIT: here is a pic of a typical mod chip (with the wires)

[Enixis]

Maybe its a system from a different region?

[InsaneDavid]

If this fails as well, perhaps someone on the board could show you a picture of the screw to adjust power to the lens.

Take the information on the following site with a grain of salt, but it does have a decent overview of the laser power adjustment pot...

http://www.psxtune.com/adjust.html

Also check out the UNDERSIDE of the board to see if there's a modchip there, on the older units (which I used to mod in high school) that's where it would be installed.

Clean the laser eye with a dab of alcohol on a cotton swab, the usual laser cleaning stuff. Try to boot a game with the system turned upside down or at different angles. If you do get it to boot then play around a little with the adjustment pot to attempt to tune it in.

Often the laser doesn't go bad, the laser assembly carriage simply begins to side downward from wear and use. I've fixed "bad" lasers by affixing multiple layers (depends on which model PlayStation since the clearances changed) of flat smooth foam (like what motherboards come wrapped in) beneath the assembly to give it a smooth base to slide against to bring it back up to the proper level. Not a great fix but it'll get the system running. Was the quick and dirty fix back in high school.

[Cryomancer]

I did try upside down and sideways, but that was before I did a swab clean. Maybe I should try it again... I was thinking the pot adjustment might do it since that seemed to help the ps2s. The laser looks like it's level enough too. Will try some of your suggestions and edit this post aferwords, thanks gang.

edit: I further dissasembled and found the chip, it was under the board, the wires seem to be connected...it's installation was fairly ghetto as it seemed to be a peice of electrical tape with wires coming out of it, and the wires taped down with clear tape. But I'm no expert here obviously. Adjusting the pot screw seems to not help much, i did several small increments of testing with little change, other than it eventualyl not even reading the music CD.

so i guess i have to consider the chip could be bad...would i actually have to desolder the points or could i just cut the wires leading off from them? unfortunetly i've not gotten around to reteaching myself soldering so i'd prefer to not have to try...obviously i would have prefered the chip to work but if the thing's just a big grey cd player with it in there...yeah.

[almostgotthemall]

so i guess i have to consider the chip could be bad...would i actually have to desolder the points or could i just cut the wires leading off from them? unfortunetly i've not gotten around to reteaching myself soldering so i'd prefer to not have to try...obviously i would have prefered the chip to work but if the thing's just a big grey cd player with it in there...yeah.

Yeah, I dont think cutting them would hurt. Does the same job.

[gcl1984]

why are you blaming the chip?

[almostgotthemall]

why are you blaming the chip?

I had one bad chip. Removed it and everything went back to normal. Just couldnt boot cd-r's anymore.

[Cryomancer]

Well, took the chip out (7 wires), and it's still doing the same thing...tried a few more games and I got ONE to go to the black psx logo then freeze. Arg.

[InsaneDavid]

Yeah, those damn 7 wire mod chips, things were so much simpler back when the PlayStation was first released...



I didn't install that one though, I found it on a PlayStation that I found in a trash pile at a local flea market. Worked fine after a little tweaking.

Rarely do the chips go bad and if they do it's usually from applying too much heat when installing it. Poor soldering causing a short is what usually kills a modchip if it worked at one point. The only other advice I can give you is to disconnect and reseat all the plugs inside and to take the laser assembly and clean the worm gear, etc. on it's underside. There's always a chance it could be the laser carriage getting hung up at some point.