About 2 years ago I brought a GameStar IDE HDD adapter for my PS2. I installed a 160gb HDD and it was working completely fine. I used an OLD PC that still had IDE connectors and WinHIIP to load the HDD with a bunch of games and used OPL to boot them. (You could always tell the HDD was working with the PS2 because you could see a yellow light indicator through the vents of the console). Everything was working fine, absolutely no issues.
Fast forward to last week and I decided that I wanted to install some new games on the HDD. But I now no longer had the OLD PC with the IDE connectors. So I went on Amazon and purchased one of those IDE/USB dongles. I took the HDD out of my PS2 and plugged it into the USB dongle but I stupidly plugged the power connected of the dongle into the HDD the wrong way around and it completely blew the HDD. It would no longer read attached to the PC via dongle and I tried plugging it back into the PS2, but nothing. You could physically hear the HDD failing to spin up.
I didn't think it would be a problem because I have another 3 IDE HDDs laying around the house. I whip out a Samsung 250GB IDE HDD and plug it into the dongle (This time I make sure I plug the power connector in the CORRECT way). I format the HDD using WinHIIP, take it out the dongle and put it into the PS2... Nothing... The PS2 is not even detecting it. There is no yellow light indicator visible through the console vents, just nothing. So I tried a second Western Digital IDE HDD, same thing.. PS2 was NOT detecting ANYTHING. I even tried to use UELF so I could try formatting via the HDDFORMAT tool, but that idea failed because the PS2 wasn't detecting anything plugged in. So I tried the third Seagate IDE HDD. This one was only 40gb but I thought it was worth a try just to test it. This time I plugged it into the PS2 and the yellow light came on BUT it wasn't flickering to indicate it was reading the HDD. It was just a solid yellow light. Still though, the PS2 would not detect any HDD connected. --
I remembered that there was an 80GB IDE HDD inside my old original Xbox. So I unscrewed my Xbox, took out the HDD and plugged it into the PS2, just to try it. Still the same thing.. No yellow light indicator and PS2 detecting no HDD.
At this point I'm completely lost. So I decided to order a SATA adapter for my PS2 and ditch the idea of IDE. The SATA adapter arrived today. I hooked up a 300gb Hitachi HDD to the PS2, same thing. No yellow light, PS2 not detecting it.
LASTLY. I think it's worth mentioning that whenever I have a HDD plugged into my PS2 and turn it on, the PS2 boot screen takes FOREVER to load. - Like, you know the screen that says "Sony Computer Entertainment" and it has the cubes and space look? That screen completely hangs. I recorded a video so you can see what I mean. - https://streamable.com/i9e3i5 - Take the HDD out and the PS2 boots at normal pace.
ADDITIONAL NOTES...
I just want to point out that every HDD I tested in the PS2 works perfectly on my PC. I can format it, install games via WinHIIP.. No problems.
It might also be worth mentioning that my PS2 has a Matrix Infinity Modchip installed. Not that I think that's the cause of the issue.
Please help! I am completely out of ideas. Something that has been working perfectly for 2-years and now nothing. It can't be a coincidence that all 5 HDDs I tested in the PS2 have compatibility issues.
Fast forward to last week and I decided that I wanted to install some new games on the HDD. But I now no longer had the OLD PC with the IDE connectors. So I went on Amazon and purchased one of those IDE/USB dongles. I took the HDD out of my PS2 and plugged it into the USB dongle but I stupidly plugged the power connected of the dongle into the HDD the wrong way around and it completely blew the HDD. It would no longer read attached to the PC via dongle and I tried plugging it back into the PS2, but nothing. You could physically hear the HDD failing to spin up.
I didn't think it would be a problem because I have another 3 IDE HDDs laying around the house. I whip out a Samsung 250GB IDE HDD and plug it into the dongle (This time I make sure I plug the power connector in the CORRECT way). I format the HDD using WinHIIP, take it out the dongle and put it into the PS2... Nothing... The PS2 is not even detecting it. There is no yellow light indicator visible through the console vents, just nothing. So I tried a second Western Digital IDE HDD, same thing.. PS2 was NOT detecting ANYTHING. I even tried to use UELF so I could try formatting via the HDDFORMAT tool, but that idea failed because the PS2 wasn't detecting anything plugged in. So I tried the third Seagate IDE HDD. This one was only 40gb but I thought it was worth a try just to test it. This time I plugged it into the PS2 and the yellow light came on BUT it wasn't flickering to indicate it was reading the HDD. It was just a solid yellow light. Still though, the PS2 would not detect any HDD connected. --
I remembered that there was an 80GB IDE HDD inside my old original Xbox. So I unscrewed my Xbox, took out the HDD and plugged it into the PS2, just to try it. Still the same thing.. No yellow light indicator and PS2 detecting no HDD.
At this point I'm completely lost. So I decided to order a SATA adapter for my PS2 and ditch the idea of IDE. The SATA adapter arrived today. I hooked up a 300gb Hitachi HDD to the PS2, same thing. No yellow light, PS2 not detecting it.
LASTLY. I think it's worth mentioning that whenever I have a HDD plugged into my PS2 and turn it on, the PS2 boot screen takes FOREVER to load. - Like, you know the screen that says "Sony Computer Entertainment" and it has the cubes and space look? That screen completely hangs. I recorded a video so you can see what I mean. - https://streamable.com/i9e3i5 - Take the HDD out and the PS2 boots at normal pace.
ADDITIONAL NOTES...
I just want to point out that every HDD I tested in the PS2 works perfectly on my PC. I can format it, install games via WinHIIP.. No problems.
It might also be worth mentioning that my PS2 has a Matrix Infinity Modchip installed. Not that I think that's the cause of the issue.
Please help! I am completely out of ideas. Something that has been working perfectly for 2-years and now nothing. It can't be a coincidence that all 5 HDDs I tested in the PS2 have compatibility issues.