well like I said, mines having a seperate power wire run to it , since my dvd laser has been known to make loud clicks while accessing dvd-r's and rips, I'm told this means that there is a drop in power going to the dvd-laser.
now i'm not a electronics whizz this is simply what i'm told by the repair centre i send that ps2 to.
www.blade.cc
but that chip regardless would definatly require power to run, and if its plugged into the side of the dvd-drive during installation... "Where else would it get its power from ???????"
they have had heaps of ps2 with the same problem due to the first release no-solder chips, and this is their working fix. mine ships back Fixed and and with warrenty , in a couple of days.
I'll let u guys know if the extra wire fix's the problem.
till the i'm playing my other ps2 with neo2.2.
NO SOLDERS SUCK!
elkay