Trouble with PS2 DUo2SE chip
 

Greeting all and thanks in advance for any help that I can get from all of you. I just recently chipped my v4 no gap bios ps2. When I try to play my back up copy of GTA San Anderas I continue to get disc read errors. When I try to play my originals, I get a screen that says I can only play original format PS2/PS1 games. If I use the technique to disable the chip my originals play fine. I have checked the install 3 times now and everything looks good with a multimeter(no bridged connections). It is getting late so I will sleep on it tonight and give it another look in the morning. Can anyone help me out. How are the games suppose to act when you play back ups. Do you see the screen where you can go into the browser / config setting menu, while the game loads or should I be seeing something else. When I use the eject to turn the game on and put the back up in the tray and then use the reset to load the game I do see a sort of red screen flicker that I have not noticed before chipping the console. Do you think it may just be a bad back up of GTA, I used DVD decryptor in ISO Read then ISO write, I have seen some post about using the slowest write speed, does it matter. It seems to have burnt fine in the faster write speed. Sorry for the rambling but I have been up for some time now.

So, is it the original which red screens or the backup?

Check the install again. You got a wire crossed or a solder bridge somewhere. I doubt its the chip.

Depends on what you are calling red screen. The Original disk will cause sort of a red screen stating that only original ps2 or ps1 formats games can be played. If I disable the chip by holding down the reset until the blue clouds appear then it (the original will play fine). I will attempt to give the connections another look this morning. I am just not completely sure how the PS2 should operate when the chip is working. Should I expect the original games to play without having to disable the chip?

Thanks for the responses

Thats what is knows as the Red Screen of Death, Red Screen, or RSOD. ;)





Tyler!

Well I have gone over the connections with a multimeter and even resoldier a few that I thought may have been suspect, but still no joy. Should I be getting a red screen of death when trying to boot my originals without disabling the chip? Should I not be getting the red screen of death when trying to boot my back up as well? I am using a soldering shematic that I found off of modchip.com (V4 no gap bios). From what I am explaining can anyone tell me which connections sound like they may be wrong. It seems like I can disable the chip well enough so the pwr, gnd and rst are probably working. The only ones that I have questions about are the S connection which appears to be made between two componets maybe a capacitor and a resistor, the A connection which appears to be made off of a leg of a resistor. I have been able to track the continuty of the A,B, and I connections back to legs of the big chip that they are made in front of. I am starting to loose hope about getting this to work. Maybe the chip is working fine and I have a bad back up. What would this scenaro look like on a working version of a modded ps2?

Nah mate, you've got something wrong somewhere :(

When the Duo 2 SE is working correctly, the station will perform as it normally would - no RSOD, no disabling to get originals loading etc. The only difference is that backups will load. With originals not working enabled, but working when disabled definately points to something in the install.

Keep going, bud :)

Use this diagram http://www.duomodchip.com/english/in..._v4_no_gap.jpg

Thanks for the information. Going by the information that PS2 Originals should work, I have looked over the install three more times now. Thanks for the link to the directions, it confirmed that the diagram I was going by was correct. I have had my back up of Castlevania Lament of Innocence give me the RSOD, but only twice, the other times I get disk errors. This thing is driving me crasy, I am running out of ideas. May just have to bite the bullet and unsolder everything and start over, but I am 99.9% confidnet in the connection that I have already made.

Disk Errors? Could be a laser or poor media or bad burn issue. What DVD Media are you using for your backups?

He able to load originals with the chip disabled but not enabled so its a install problem not a burn issue.

Dont want to step on toes here, but I have seen the RSOD with an original and a Duo/Apple installed properly on a V4, but with the chip disabled it works. It could very well be a laser issue. Try booting a less laser demanding original with the chip enabled. All GTA games are laser intensive and if it takes to long for your console to boot them the duo/apple will time out its patching and you will get the RSOD. This is why if your laser goes to the browser screen at any point before booting on original it will most likely have trouble reading recordable media or even an original with the chip enabled.

V4 and earlier PS2's are known for laser issues. Didnt you say it booted back-ups before you dropped it? You may have jarred the laser out of adjustment just enough to make it not read back-ups well.

When booting an original with the chip disabled you should never see the browser/system config menu before booting.

You might be able to simply give the laser lens a little cleaning. Some people will recommend the laser cleaning disc's, I for one feel they do more harm then good.

Good luck

Your not stepping on any toes here Sped :) , If the laser was shot to start with and it hanged at the browser a few seconds before a original would load then i could see what your saying, I just never seen or heard of a console that booted originals fine yet refuse to with a mod installed correctly. Then again you do more installs than me :)

Very interesting comments about the laser issue. Now that I think of it, I always see the browser screen before originals load, now that I think about it I do recall earlier on that originals may have bypassed the browser screen while booting, but this was maybe a year or two ago. If this is indeed the problem and cleaning does not help out what are my options, (getting another PS2?) Also the media that I am using to back up games are verbatim DVD -R (for GTA San Andreas) Verbatim DVD+R(for another back up of San andreas) and I have a back up of Castlevania Lamont of Innesence on another verbatim DVD -R. I have been able to get the back up of Castlevania to make it to the RSOD as well as a few Disk Read errors. I have yet to get either of the GTA to make it past the disc read error. I believe the castlevanis was around 2.5 Gb when ripped, (noticed that it barely covered half of the disk). Going alone with this theory I will try to boot less laser intensive disk with the mod chip enabled. The disk I have been using is NCAA Football 2005, since I did not think it would matter, but I will try the castlevania original next. I have just finished reinstalling this chip for the 3rd time, if one thing is for certain, I am becoming very efficent at breaking the PS2 down and also aware of just how much of it is not neccesary to be assemble for testing, my wife thinks I will have the house burnt down by the end of the night. Thanks for the feedback, everyone has been very helpfull.

First of all thanks to everyone, I am currently in tears of joy. Spedmetal I am in debt to you and currently considering naming my second born after you. Turns out it had to be the laser. I tried booting the original castelvania and had a successful boot with the chip enabled. I took the top off of the disk drive and swabbed it down with some alchole on the end of a cue tip, and just like that the back up version of Castelvania booted up. Next up was one of the back up version of my GTA San Andreas, at first it got stuck in a loop with the memory card / play disk screen until I tried a roboot and then it booted as well. I can finally put this one to bed and start fully assembling my PS2. Thanks, everyone was very helpfull and kept my sainity in check while getting this to work.

Glad you got it sorted cobra, does it still go to the browser screen before loading ?? If so you may want to check into getting a new laser. You also may want to consider using Ritek or Taiyo Yuden dvd-r. They are the best for PS2 backups as they create less stress on the laser.

Thanks
No it seems to be skipping the browser screen for most of the part, seems like it may have gone to this screen one or two times since I cleaned the laser. Thanks for the tip on the media, I will purchase a pack of the better disc for my ps2 back ups. Can you give me a web site link to a place where I can order a new laser, I will have to purchasing one if I start seeing problems again.

Just to add a little follow up. I have been going through a lot of the post and stickies on this forum and learning alot from what others have posted in the past, there is a great wealth of knowlege on this forum. In my research one thing that concerns me is that I have been seeing post about the v4 and earlier consoles having crappy lasers, and it was a problem that was causing me headaches with my install. Since I have swabbed the laser down with the alchole soaked que tip (probably not the most recommend way of cleaning a laser but hey I was desparate at the time), I have been able to bypass the browser screen and succesfully boot all of my originalls and backups. I am starting to become concerned that my laser may be a ticking disaster waiting to happen, I have changed to the Taiyo Yuden TYG01 media since it was recommended as a less laser intensive media. My questions is, just how bad are the V4 lasers, should I be worried about mine going out since I had this intial problem of the console going to the browser screen before reading original PS2 games. What are some tell tell signs that a laser is about to go out, -game skipping / freezing / taking progressivly longer to load between levels. Right now I seem to be having no real problems as I am no longer seeing the browser screen during boot ups and I have put my ear to the console while booting orignal games and backups and it does appear to be making any sounds like the laser is having any difficulty booting backups vs originals. My best bet is probably to just keep gaming until I do see problems with my back-up / original not playing. Are lasers hard to replace, I have found a website that sell the laser for about $65 but I think I saw a post where it is easy to blow the new laser if you don't do some type of calibrations before powering up the console but I am not sure if this may have been console specif and maybe not the issue with replacing a V4 laser. Thanks for any insight, and sorry for the long winded post.

You will probably be all right with your laser for some time as long as you use good quality media and keep the laser clean. By the way useing a q-tip and rubbing alcohol is about the best way to clean a laser lens as long as your careful when doing so. Well you already listed the major signs of a laser on its way out and you already know about the browser thing so no need in covering that anymore. If after time goes by it starts acting up on you you might have some adjustment left in your lasers pots to make it last even a little longer if you havent adjusted them already. If worse comes to worse your are in luck with the V4 you can purchase a brand new KHS-400C laser and swap it out for the KHS-400B thats in there and it will work very well. You might consider haveing a pro install it for you if you dont feel up to the task.

sorry to jump on this post but put a nearly new KHS-400C v7 (if i am right)laser in a v4 machine and it uesd to stay on the browser for a min or 2 and then deside to load this happend to all original dvd movies/games put the same laser in a v7 system that i got and worked 100% :confused: have to get a laser for the v4 system do you think spedmetal new KHS-400C or KHS-400B

If you have a v4 with a poor laser dont waste your time with a new KHS-400B. Get a brand new KHS-400C it will work in your v4 very very well.