PS1/2 Chipped PS2 - PS1 games reading as Audio CDs

Codename PUMA

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I bought a PS2 fat (PAL, SPCH- 390002) with a modchip from a guy yesterday. When originally asking him about it he said he had no idea if it played backup PS1 games or what kind of modchip was in it, but I was cool with that. Got it home and the backup PS2 games work fine. Tried TimeSplitters, God Hand, Psychonauts, Devil May Cry, Okami...they've all run (all on DVD-Rs other than TimeSplitters, on CD-R). Tried non-backup GTA III, ICO, and Shadow of the Colossus and they all worked as well. PS1 games don't, though. Well, they kind of do, but not as PS1 games.

Like I said the guy didn't know whether or not it ran backup PS1, but I figure I'll try it anyway. I tried it with backup Symphony of the Night and it runs as an audio CD. I get that easter egg message that happens when you put SOTN in a CD player (www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBF2IZHjrAs), so I'm guessing the burn is fine. It can't be the disc type because TimeSplitters is on the same type of CD-R and runs. I've tried legit, non-backup, official PS1 games (MGS and RE2) and they don't run either. The PS2 still sees them as audio CDs. Tried backup Mega Man X4 and the PS2 either sees it as a PS2 game that doesn't work (I click ''play game'' and it goes to black screen before returning me to the memory card/disc screen), or, I get that red screen that says "please insert a a playstation or playstation 2 format disc''.

There was a sticker where the warranty label used to be and it said "MARS II 19/11/03" (yeah, it's old as hell). I did google searching and found out "Mars II" was indeed the name of the chip. So I did more googling to find out there are PS1-modes and boots and stuff, and I've done I think all of them I've found. Double reset, open close/tray then double reset, hold reset, hold circle, hold square, etc. (these seem to affect how the PS1 game is misread). I've opened the PS2 up and cleaned the lens more than once.

I won't be heartbroken if it never plays PS1 games because I have other ways (or I could probably turn the chip if I have to use this console), and worse case scenario is that I buy a chipped PS1, but it's reading the discs as audio CDs so it feels like I'm kind of close to being able to play PS1 backups. Am I not booting PSX for Mars II correctly? Is a wire not connected right wherever the chip is? Can it just not run PS1 games at all? Is the lens STILL dirty?
 

cracker

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Found this on a different forum:

Press the power button until the light in the eject button appears, then reset the Ps2 two times in a row. It must not be done quickly but not slowy either, there is a timing.
 

Codename PUMA

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Yeah, I've seen and tried that. Done it with a few different timings between the two resets, but I'll try again a few more times, can't hurt.
 

mastas

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I bought a PS2 fat (PAL, SPCH- 390002) with a modchip from a guy yesterday. When originally asking him about it he said he had no idea if it played backup PS1 games or what kind of modchip was in it, but I was cool with that. Got it home and the backup PS2 games work fine. Tried TimeSplitters, God Hand, Psychonauts, Devil May Cry, Okami...they've all run (all on DVD-Rs other than TimeSplitters, on CD-R). Tried non-backup GTA III, ICO, and Shadow of the Colossus and they all worked as well. PS1 games don't, though. Well, they kind of do, but not as PS1 games.

Like I said the guy didn't know whether or not it ran backup PS1, but I figure I'll try it anyway. I tried it with backup Symphony of the Night and it runs as an audio CD. I get that easter egg message that happens when you put SOTN in a CD player (www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBF2IZHjrAs), so I'm guessing the burn is fine. It can't be the disc type because TimeSplitters is on the same type of CD-R and runs. I've tried legit, non-backup, official PS1 games (MGS and RE2) and they don't run either. The PS2 still sees them as audio CDs. Tried backup Mega Man X4 and the PS2 either sees it as a PS2 game that doesn't work (I click ''play game'' and it goes to black screen before returning me to the memory card/disc screen), or, I get that red screen that says "please insert a a playstation or playstation 2 format disc''.

There was a sticker where the warranty label used to be and it said "MARS II 19/11/03" (yeah, it's old as hell). I did google searching and found out "Mars II" was indeed the name of the chip. So I did more googling to find out there are PS1-modes and boots and stuff, and I've done I think all of them I've found. Double reset, open close/tray then double reset, hold reset, hold circle, hold square, etc. (these seem to affect how the PS1 game is misread). I've opened the PS2 up and cleaned the lens more than once.

I won't be heartbroken if it never plays PS1 games because I have other ways (or I could probably turn the chip if I have to use this console), and worse case scenario is that I buy a chipped PS1, but it's reading the discs as audio CDs so it feels like I'm kind of close to being able to play PS1 backups. Am I not booting PSX for Mars II correctly? Is a wire not connected right wherever the chip is? Can it just not run PS1 games at all? Is the lens STILL dirty?

try an ps1 action replay cd then boot a backup from it.
 

Codename PUMA

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try an ps1 action replay cd then boot a backup from it.

Are there any that don't require some kind of slide tool or disc swapping when the thing is still spinning? Looked around and tried burning an AR Max, but it freezes after trying to read the disc. I'm assuming it's because of me hitting 'eject' to put the non-AR disc in. I've never really done any kind of action replay/gameshark stuff before.




Saw this post earlier, and I think I've tried all of those since. This one looked promising to me because it mentioned PS1 games reading as audio CDs -


Playstation 1 games

•Press EJECT button to switch on the machine.
•Insert PSX game in tray, then press and hold RESET button to switch off machine.
•Now hold the RESET button to start up your machine. Only release the RESET button once you see the first power on screen on your TV. ie hold RESET button for like 4-5 seconds
•Your PSX game should now boot. (If it shows the PSX game as an audio cd. This means that you didn't hold the RESET button long enough.)

- but I held the reset button for a few different lengths and none worked.
------
Thanks for the responses/suggestions, by the way. :)
 

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The way to boot PS1 depends on your modchip.

First modchips required a dual-reset.
For Mars II, it seems it's dual-reset too.

Holding reset disable the modchip (Stealth mode).
http://www.neoasic.com/mars2v501-test.htm

I've read on PSX-scene that Modchip Wire 3 is the one responsible for PSX playback.
Check if all your wires are correctly soldered.


There are different Mars Mod-chips, do you know the version you have?
on neoasic website, the 80x series says it "Plays PS1 and Audio disc". Maybe it's setting the console in audio mode.
Your PS1 games are correctly burned?
If it's really MarsII, it should be version 501.
 

Codename PUMA

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I'm pretty sure the games are burnt correctly. I didn't burn them any differently than the PS2 games (other than write speed, and CD instead of DVD), and the PS2 games have all worked. SOTN plays the CD easter egg, as well. I'm guessing it wouldn't do that if the burn was wrong. Plus the same thing that's happening with the discs is happening with the legit games.

The dual reset for Mega Man X4 takes me to the red ''please insert PS1/PS2 format screen'', for SOTN it goes straight to reading it as an audio CD instead of me having to click it. Without the double reset MMX4 just comes up as "PlayStation 2 disc" next to the memory card and then a black screen happens for two seconds when I lcik on it. Fr SOTN it has the same thing, but with the option to press triangle for "CD playback". Sounds like the double reset is probably how to get PS1 games to work, at least.

I tried looking for the chip the other day but being a total novice I wasn't even sure how to get to the right area. I was afraid I would destroy something. I wouldn't even know where to begin if one of the wires isn't soldered.

I think I'll try disabling the chip for a sec to see if the legit PS1 games work. No reason it shouldn't, but IDK worth a look.

EDIT - Just tried it with MGS disc 1; working fine. Used this:

Disable mod-chip function. ( Sleep mode )

- Put the PS2 to Standby mode. ( Red Light )
- Press and hold Reset for at least 2 second until Eject blue light lit.
- Insert the game or DVD movie into the disc tray and press Eject to close the tray.
 

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Legit games should work regardless except for a small handful that were later in the PS1's life that were programmed to detect a chip. You can use this to your advantage to test if the chip is sending the signal for PS1 mode. Here is a list of games with modchip protection:
-----US-----
Breath Of Fire 4*
Cool Boarders 2001
Crash Bash*
Dino Crisis
Emperor's New Groove
Grind Session
Legend of Dragoon
MediEvil 2
Mo-Ho Lost World
NBA Shootout 2001 US/NTSC
NCAA Gamebreaker 2001
NCCA Final 4 2001 NFL Gameday 2001
NHL Faceoff 2001
Resident Evil 3*
Resident Evil: Nemesis
Resident Evil: Survivor
Spyro 3 - Year Of The Dragon
Strider 2
The Grinch
Tomba 2
Toy Story 2*
Vandal Hearts 2
Wild Arms 2

-----Jap-----
Ape Escape
Beat Mania-Gottamix
Biohazard 3
Breath Of Fire 4
Bust a move 2
Bust a Move 2 Dance Heaven Mix
Chase the Express
Chocobo Racing
Clash of the Superheroes EX Edition
Dance Dance Revolution
Dancing blade Katte ni Momotenshi II
Exceed My Corpse
Final Fantasy VIII
Global Force
Guitar Freaks
Gungage
Justice Academy 2
Konami 80's Arcade Gallery
Legend of Dragoon
Legend of Mana
Lord of Monsters Magical Tetris Charange featuring Mickey
Marvel vs. Capcom
Metal Gear Solid Integral
Omega Boost
Parappa 2 (Um Jamma Lammy)
Pop n Music Animation Melody
Poprogue
Robbit Mon Dieu
Saga Frontier 2
Sarugecchu
Silent Hill
Spyro the Dragon
Street Fighter EX 2
Street Fighter EX 2 Plus
Tabidachi
Tabidachi no uta
Tears of Eden
Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series Vol.3
UmJammer Lammy
Wild Arms 2
Winning Eleven 2000
 

Codename PUMA

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The legit games only work if I disable the mod chip, which is the weird thing about it. They don't work any other way. I don't have any of the games on that list (+ I'm in a PAL country). Thanks for posting it, though, I'll keep it in mind if I ever want to know.
 

cracker

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Since it does that, it probably means that it is sending a signal but a bad one. It might be a weak contact on that wire/point. If you don't feel comfortable trying to fix it then you should probably get a PS1 with a Game Shark CD to do a swap method. Or just use a PC emulator or PSP.
 

VashTS

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install free mcboot, would be easy to make the modded ISO of one of the games needed. I'm not sure if it can run PS1 games but I'd bet there is a way. Just an alternative solution, PS2 hard mods always seemed scary to me.
 

Foxi4

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install free mcboot, would be easy to make the modded ISO of one of the games needed. I'm not sure if it can run PS1 games but I'd bet there is a way. Just an alternative solution, PS2 hard mods always seemed scary to me.
On FreeMCBoot there is the option to use PSXLoader, however that program works only on v9 and newer motherboards - the OP has a v7. I was about to suggest FreeMCBoot myself, but I'd have to read up on how things are on his motherboard before really recommending anything.
 

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I would assume PSX Loader stops the drive from spinning so it won't cause damage while doing the swap while at the browser would be while still spinning.
 

Codename PUMA

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Since it does that, it probably means that it is sending a signal but a bad one. It might be a weak contact on that wire/point. If you don't feel comfortable trying to fix it then you should probably get a PS1 with a Game Shark CD to do a swap method. Or just use a PC emulator or PSP.

I wouldn't mind opening it up if I knew exactly where it was, but I wouldn't know what to do if a wire wasn't connected/soldered properly. I'd be willing to try to fix it depending on worst case scenario.


I would assume PSX Loader stops the drive from spinning so it won't cause damage while doing the swap while at the browser would be while still spinning.


I wouldn't really mind that. I'd rather not do any kind of disc swap while things are still spinning, especially since I have a PS2 fat with the sliding tray.
 

driverdis

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On FreeMCBoot there is the option to use PSXLoader, however that program works only on v9 and newer motherboards - the OP has a v7. I was about to suggest FreeMCBoot myself, but I'd have to read up on how things are on his motherboard before really recommending anything.

fixed that for you.
 
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Codename PUMA

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I just bought a chipped PS1 to stop this problem. Only no there's a new friggin' problem - it isn't really playing the burnt games properly. The console came with an NTSC game (a legit one) and that seemed to run perfectly so it's nice and region free (I know it's a PAL console), but every burnt game has either stuttered, froze, stopped audio, not responded to me pressing ''start'', had fuzzy textures, or pretty much crashed. Is it the burn and/or discs I'm using? I'm using these http://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/tdk-52x-cd-r-gold-spindle-pk-50-tdcdrg50s

I use Imgburn, I burn at 10x speed (the lowest supported speed w/ the game on imgburn), and I've used .cue files. EDIT - just tried one at 4x speed, still had same result.
 

Codename PUMA

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Played a bit of Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil 2 (both official games) and they had no problems. So it probably isn't the console's disc reading abilities in general.

Opened the console up, and saw this stuff. I truly have no idea what I'm looking at:

http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/TOOCOLDSCORPIO/media/Photo-0005_zps2e00b44b.jpg.html
http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/TOOCOLDSCORPIO/media/Photo-0006_zps2e00694e.jpg.html
http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/TOOCOLDSCORPIO/media/Photo-0007_zps8ffb20ae.jpg.html
http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/TOOCOLDSCORPIO/media/Photo-0008_zps8c376a94.jpg.html


Is that thing in the second and third pic the modchip? I don't recognize that giant metal board from any of the PS1 PCB's I've looked up, either. It's soldered on.

----

btw if I should make a different thread for the PS1 let me know.
 

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