Worklog Super ps2 slim 70004

[Luigid]

hi guys, about a month ago I purchased a small batch of PS2 slims on ebay, in particular:

1. 70004 -->excellent being the first with IDE compatibility
2. 77004
3. 77004
4. 90004-->excellent as it was the last and was missing from the collection

in addition to bringing the old "glory" they all had laser problems, I had some around the house from all the bodies of the 7900x removed over the years and I decided to try my hand at restoring them, but let's focus on the 70004.
first thing was to replace the dead buffer battery (cut the sheath and soldered a new one)

then we moved on to calibrating the laser... it's quite complex given that for example the backup vs original ps1 games obviously have different surfaces (green vs black) so a calibration could work on the backup but not on the original! you have to do a lot of testing until you reach the final conclusion

let's start the most beautiful mod... the ide; the idea of inserting a hdd or another "direct" unit without converters was good but in any case we had to affect the aesthetics and/or remove the player (which I didn't want) given that the project involved a super ps2 capable of working at 360 ° with everything...

in the end I decided to opt for IDE with micro SD with the "invisible" mod found on the web, using the air grill to insert and remove the microSD at will...

the modification seems to be minimally invasive, it was only necessary to trim the case a little in the central part, nothing more

interested pins + old sd slot for testing (without spring I didn't like it lol)
so let's do a recap:

1. PS2 70004
2. OK internal laser for all type of games
3. OK battery cmos
4. OK infinity 2.0 (modbo 4.0?) - (maybe upgrade / try to update? --> directly bot from usb without freemcboot)
5. OK microsd - ide mod for backup game (no usb slow issue - comp ecc)

something would be missing... of course! a console like this cannot fail to have HDMI....
yesterday I did some tests + many changes, as soon as I can I'll add this step even if I'm tempted by a nice retrogem...

 

[RegDogg]

ooo this is awesome! Can't wait for another update!

 

[Luigid]

thanks for the support, I started swapping with modbo 5.0:

I had an old modbo 5.0 probably from the last PS2P (I decided not to use it in the end), but it didn't work, in the end it was the two resistors of 1k and 1.8k ko, the 1.8k one replicated by two 1k in series (1.95k in total approximately) gave no problems and worked! to do a quick test we sacrificed the 90004 since it already has modbo 5.0, we were prepared to swap on the 70004 not already having a compatible pin given that the chip is different + the installation of the SD IDE was quite difficult and long but it worked.

now I have a USB boot so I can free myself from using freemcboot, I will probably modify the ulauncher + openloader to work with exfat
for the vga I'm considering... the problem is the cost of the pixel and also that of the analog2... the board is cheap but 36e shipping for my country is a little excessive, I'll try to invent something

 

[Stitches]

Holy wiring Batman! Nice

 

[Luigid]

hi guys, some updates, or rather I can say that the project is practically finished!
here is the hdmi vga converter (wii from aliexpress) cost... 1.50 euros!
I had problems with other converters I had.... an old PS2 one only worked by forcing screen mode to VGA with modbo chip. another wii converter didn't display red.... (also tested on another ps2, same thing, faulty firmware or only for wii? I don't know...)
I got the new card and it works perfectly the first time... sharp image without noise

hdmi:

Component:

the nice thing is that obviously you don't sacrifice the original port so you can easily use both at the same time without any problem

small addition... the USB C power supply could not be missing! to finish in style... obviously the board didn't fit and as a good rule of thumb it needs to be trimmed...

view from the other plus some data on consumption

even with an external HDD we have about a max of 2.7A, (HDD connected and DVD player running in game) without HDD about 2.5A.
with the hdmi adapter unfortunately the central locking screw was lost but in order not to distort the console too much I would say it is a good compromise... even the microsd slot is practically invisible and can hardly be seen
I only noticed that a small audio pre-amplifier for the HDMI would be needed since the sound is very low even when connected to amplified speakers ...
nothing that can't be done

the central heat sink (black) could also not have been used since the IC was not already dissipated by the factory but I wanted to add it (it turned out to be too high and I had to bend the fins all the way up otherwise the CD would scratch during operation xD)