Question Identifying PSX Modchip

[CMYK]

I got a PSX (5502 PU-18) off eBay and after taking it apart for cleaning, I noticed it comes with an unexpected modchip surprise. I want to remove it.

Has anyone ever seen one of these, and happens to know if it's safe to remove? I tried to find this particular modchip on Google, but came up short. Aside from the modchip and its wires, I cannot see any other alterations done to the board (though I might be wrong, of course).

 

[leftbrainstrain]

I've no idea, but I am a little curious. Would it be possible to get a picture of the reverse side of the modchip, please?

I found a reference to sanded off chip packaging on early modchips on these pages:

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http://www.oldcrows.net/mcc2.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20010416233917/http://chip.aeug.org/why.html​

 

[CMYK]

The reverse side had nothing on it, except for some... goop. This may have been a mistake, but I decided to remove the modchip. Will let you know if functionality is impacted once my replacement RCA cables arrive (it didn't come with these).

 

[leftbrainstrain]

The reverse side had nothing on it, except for some... goop. This may have been a mistake, but I decided to remove the modchip. Will let you know if functionality is impacted once my replacement RCA cables arrive (it didn't come with these).

Would love to hear how it goes. If your modchip matches what's described in the articles I linked, it should just stop accepting burned discs and discs from other regions, but I'm no expert.

 

[CMYK]

Fingers crossed! Will provide an update once I get the RCA cables

 

[Y2K]

I got a PSX (5502 PU-18) off eBay and after taking it apart for cleaning, I noticed it comes with an unexpected modchip surprise. I want to remove it.

Has anyone ever seen one of these, and happens to know if it's safe to remove? I tried to find this particular modchip on Google, but came up short. Aside from the modchip and its wires, I cannot see any other alterations done to the board (though I might be wrong, of course).

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I suspect that this modchip might have been an early attempt at circumventing modchip detection schemes that some games started including at the time. It just screams over-engineered in that regard lol

As for removal, you should be able to without issue, but it's possible that the laser may be on its way out. There's some contention that CD-Rs could possibly strain the laser more than pressed discs, regardless if thats true or not, one could probably safely assume that a modchipped PS1 probably got more usage than a non-chipped system.

 

[CMYK]

My RCA cable arrived. Confirming that thankfully, everything is still working!

Video looks a lot worse than I remembered, so I guess next up is the VGA mod.