Hardware Building some PSVSD's

[Insomniac8]

Figured it would be more fun to build my own PSVSD rather than buy and ship one from the US (I'm in the UK).

As the minimum order for PCBs is 5, and you can get 10 for the same price I now have 10 boards.

Assuming they work one all soldered up I guess I will stick the remaining 9 (or maybe 8... best to keep a spare?) on eBay for anyone wanting to avoid US shipping.
Will post an update either way!

 

[Insomniac8]

Ok, the last of the parts has finally arrived! Now just need to find some time to put them all together!

 

[paulustenney]

Hi
Am new to hacking the Vita and am liking the possibilities of PSVSD memory. But am having no luck finding a PSVSD to buy anywhere. Not got the skills or time to build my own.

So kudos to you for deciding to build up some more adapters. Hope it works out well - I'd be interested (I guess quite a few others too)

 

[InTheSpaghetti]

I would like 1. I ordered one from modchipcentral but even after the ground solder fix I could not get it to work. Keep us updated on the status!

 

[driverdis]

I would like 1. I ordered one from modchipcentral but even after the ground solder fix I could not get it to work. Keep us updated on the status!

I am pretty sure all of the PSVSDs from modchipcentral don’t work. I tested the ground points on mine and it is in fact grounded without needing the grounding fix so it is something else.

My sample size is small (one arrived and hangs on boot and I have 5 more in the mail) but this will be enough to tell me with high certainty that all of their PSVSDs don’t work at all if they all hang on boot.

 

[Insomniac8]

I have just got them up on ebay, there are only 8 in total.
http://ebay.us/FKOk7J?cmpnId=5338273189

 

[driverdis]

I have just got them up on ebay, there are only 8 in total.
http://ebay.us/FKOk7J?cmpnId=5338273189

I snagged two of them using a shipping forwarder I had as I can’t find any good ones in the U.S.

Good thing I did. Out of the 6, yes SIX ones I ordered from modchipcentral in Canada only ONE actually worked and did not freeze on the Enzo logo.

my guess is it won’t last long so having spares will be great

 

[Insomniac8]

Thanks! I thought those were you Let me know how they go, I have at least tested all mine when they were first made!

Weird, was it the original Molecule ones they sent as in the picture? I do remember reading that those were not tested when built as there were so many to do. If so it may just be that the chips have some solder bridges?

 

[driverdis]

Thanks! I thought those were you Let me know how they go, I have at least tested all mine when they were first made!

Weird, was it the original Molecule ones they sent as in the picture? I do remember reading that those were not tested when built as there were so many to do. If so it may just be that the chips have some solder bridges?

i finally got the PSVSDs in the mail today. I marked on the eBay listing that I got them on or before the estimated arrival date since it technically arrived at the shipping forwarder before being sent to me.

I am only using one of them since I got the other as a spare and so far it works great and boots every time which is way more then I can say for the 6 ones I got from Modchipcentral which were all bad, with only one partially working.

 

[Insomniac8]

i finally got the PSVSDs in the mail today. I marked on the eBay listing that I got them on or before the estimated arrival date since it technically arrived at the shipping forwarder before being sent to me.

I am only using one of them since I got the other as a spare and so far it works great and boots every time which is way more then I can say for the 6 ones I got from Modchipcentral which were all bad, with only one partially working.

Awesome news!

 

[zephiryon]

Oof, wish I saw this before ordering from MCC. The three that I ordered end up hanging at boot. Don't know if I should pay the return shipping for an exchange with no guarantee that they'll work or just cut my losses.

 

[Insomniac8]

I can't help but feel that all these faulty boards must be fixable, there really isn't too much complicated about them. I would guess that either they are failing to solder them without making bridges, or the chips they are using are bad.

 

[driverdis]

I can't help but feel that all these faulty boards must be fixable, there really isn't too much complicated about them. I would guess that either they are failing to solder them without making bridges, or the chips they are using are bad.

NOTE: I am not criticizing your soldering work, SMD soldering by hand takes skill and I would not expect machine like results for part alignment and solder used on each part when done by hand.

The soldering work on the ones from Modchipcentral appears to be done by machine so every component is exactly straight and soldered with just the right amount of solder to look professional, unlike your board where each part is attached to the proper solder pads but each part was hand placed with varying amounts of solder on each part.

This right here tells me that it is most likely bad parts and not an issue with soldering as your hand soldered board works great unlike my six dud boards from modchipcentral.

 

[Insomniac8]

NOTE: I am not criticizing your soldering work, SMD soldering by hand takes skill and I would not expect machine like results for part alignment and solder used on each part when done by hand.

The soldering work on the ones from Modchipcentral appears to be done by machine so every component is exactly straight and soldered with just the right amount of solder to look professional, unlike your board where each part is attached to the proper solder pads but each part was hand placed with varying amounts of solder on each part.

This right here tells me that it is most likely bad parts and not an issue with soldering as your hand soldered board works great unlike my six dud boards from modchipcentral.

Yes, you would like think so.. so I guess that leave two options. The boards themselves have a printing error somewhere (though I wouldn't expect you to have one that works then), or the chips they used just don't play nice with the vita - in which case I guess I was lucky with what I was sent! Presumably if its the main chip, you could buy some working ones, swap them out and then sell them all on once working, though swapping those out would obviously be a pain to do.

 

[FiveFive55]

Another Victim of ModChipCentral here, exact same symptoms, stuck on boot logo when the sd card was inserted. Definitely feel like they're just selling garbage considering how many don't work.

 

[driverdis]

Another Victim of ModChipCentral here, exact same symptoms, stuck on boot logo when the sd card was inserted. Definitely feel like they're just selling garbage considering how many don't work.

i honestly think none of them work. Getting 6 cards from two desperate orders should result in getting a working one but it does not.

 

[zephiryon]

I contacted them about their "manufacturer warranty" and they said their "engineer were looking into it". They said the ones people had returned to them supposedly worked when they tested them.

 

[driverdis]

I contacted them about their "manufacturer warranty" and they said their "engineer were looking into it". They said the ones people had returned to them supposedly worked when they tested them.

they tried telling me to use some Chinese vitatoolbox they sent me for the PSVSD driver but it was the same PSVSD driver yifan made. I have not bothered to contact them for the rest since their “engineer” waves a magic wand that makes the card work for them.

Easy way to catch a lie like that would be to remove a bga chip and improperly solder it back on with only the outer balls . This would make sure it does not work at all and if it works for them they are lying since it can’t work period.

 

[FiveFive55]

I just received an email from ModchipCentral about my psvsd. I didn't reach out to them about it, just figured it was a lost cause. It looks like they're sending out replacement boards to everyone who ordered them, and they identified the cause as a faulty power chip. We'll see if it works when I get it, but good on them for reaching out to everyone to send replacements.

 

[driverdis]

I just received an email from ModchipCentral about my psvsd. I didn't reach out to them about it, just figured it was a lost cause. It looks like they're sending out replacement boards to everyone who ordered them, and they identified the cause as a faulty power chip. We'll see if it works when I get it, but good on them for reaching out to everyone to send replacements.

I got a similar email back, it will be interesting to see if they ship me all 6 boards I ordered that were defective or just one. They were split between an order of one and an order of five.