DMS4 on the PS2 slimline

[lordofduct]

I have done plenty of mod jobs for people in the past. A friend here in the office just asked me if I could mod his new slim line PS2 for him. I checked it out online and they have chips that support the new one without swap method, so I told him yes. (soldering is soldering, if I can mod the clunky on, I can do this.)

BUT, what is this I keep reading about a problem with the DVD rom receiving high surges of electricity during seek and focus. they use the "romeo mod" for the v9 and v10 PS2's?

Is this needed?

It uses a couple diodes for the new slimline. The guy Im doing it for is far from a gamer, far from technically inclined, and I don't want his PS2 crapping out on him down the line (which PS2's are known for, well from what Ive seen with my friends).

 

[ExCyber]

AFAICT from skimming forums, the coil frying problem is very real, and even expert installers have been bitten by it. Also, IIRC the simple resistor/diode fixes only delay the problem rather than solving it. I think someone coded up a PIC12C50x program to monitor it and kill the power if it pops up, which probably works better. You might want to poke around on PS2-Scene a bit and see what the current news is, but don't be surprised if you walk away more confused than when you went in; the PS2 scene is a mess.

edit: you say "during seek and focus", but that's not really the issue. The problem apparently happens when the drive's mechanical controller locks up. This can be caused by bad mod code, design, or install, but I've seen passing references to similar problems happening on unmodded systems going all the way back to the V0, with at least one of these reports coming from a guy who I believe knows what he's talking about. So I don't think this is a mod issue per se, but mods can certainly trigger it.

 

[lordofduct]

hrmmm, so its not exactly the mod that does it. It just raises the chances of it crapping out. Well that is good to know, clears some stuff up for me. So I think for the extremely low cost of the diodes, its a nice bet to just go ahead and do it.

Thanks Cybie.