Suspect Messiah 2.

[ottoman]

Can U test a suspect messiah 2 chip in the same way as the messiah one chip.

i.e disconnect all wires except 3.5v/ground/reset/scex and clock and then see if ur PS2 will boot PS1 cdr's??

This was a well known functional test for a suspect messiah chip. Does it work on messiah 2??

[charlie_ps2]

Sorry no. What are the symprtoms and what is written on the ACTEL chip? And what version M2 is it etc. etc.

[ottoman]

messiah 2 is version 1.22.

Actel A54SX32A -F
TQ100 0306

Symptoms are when installed originals get a black screen,Backups get red screen of death.

Thanx in advance for help!!

[ottoman]

Any ideas??

[dust2dust]

i take it u checked and double checked everything

check the actel chip legs for bridges

[ottoman]

yeah, everything looks sound. Have removed it and Ps2 still working fine so will try a re-install 2nite.

Thanx

[charlie_ps2]

Please refer to the Troubleshooting Section in the Install Guide. It details the likely causes.

[jdmullet]

ok i hope this helps i did not right this copied it from sum other forum!!!!!!!!.......hope i helped!!!!!!

Tools
You need an 8x magnifying glass to identify bridged pins. Solder balls behind the BIOS or CD/DVD Controller legs are a common problem; two pairs of reading glasses used with the 8x magnifying glass will help. A multi-meter will check continuity between pin and pad on the Messiah 2.

PS1 backups won't boot
First suspect SCEx. PS2 components are lacquered & a good electrical connexion is necessary. If too much heat is applied during soldering, it might have damaged that component. Otherwise suspect that you haven¡¦t put the Messiah 2 into PS1 mode (see Operating Instructions).

PS2 backups/imports (CD-R/DVD-R) won't boot or Red Screen Displays
Disk was seen (groove found & focused) but PS2 was unable to identify it as valid disk type (Audio/DVD/PS1/PS2). Note that if the groove had not been found, the Browser would have displayed No Data.

If it¡¦s all backups that won¡¦t boot, first suspect is B C, then try cleaning the laser lens with a cleaning CD. If it¡¦s just DVD-Rs that won¡¦t boot, suspect wires E, R, W or the DVD laser diode (which may need recalibration). Laser Azimuth might also need adjusting.

Then suspect a loose wire, solder bridges or solder balls. If you can¡¦t see bridges/balls, then it¡¦s the hard way. If the BIOS wires are attached, detach them from the BIOS & clean up. Boot a backup using AR2/GS2. If it works, A-I are OK; the BIOS was the problem. (You can try this with the BIOS wires still attached but if it doesn¡¦t work, you¡¦ll have to take the BIOS wires off).

When you can boot backups (including DVD-R) with AR2/GS2, carefully re-attach the BIOS wires, MNOP QTUV RW. Note that R and/or W may be located off the BIOS chip on certain PS2 models. Then try direct booting of backups and/or imports.

"Disc Reading" displayed on Browser Screen
The disk was seen (groove found & focused). The PS2 was able to identify it as a valid disk type (Audio/DVD/PS1/PS2) but cannot do anything more with the disk or takes ages to load.

This is most likely a laser related issue (clean the lens and/or the disk). Or recalibrate the laser.

If the drive seems to load sluggishly (like it seems not to have enough power which is not the case), particularly in PS1 mode, check wire SCEx.

"No Data" displayed on Browser Screen and/or Clicking sounds
The disk was NOT seen (groove was not found nor focus established). In this situation nothing will happen with the particular game. This is almost certainly a laser or media related issue that MIGHT be resolved by:


Cleaning the lens with a lens cleaning CD

Adjusting Laser Azimuth (see below**)

Recalibrating the laser diode down by 10% to increase power to the laser

Using different media/burn speed. **



The clicking sound is often assumed to be the lens trying to focus. The clicking to which this article refers is akin to a short dull thunk, caused by the laser sled being driven past the micro-switch that ishould detect this and which should then stop the track motor.

On PS2 pre-v5, the older the PS2, the more likely it would be that there has been laser degradation; clean the lens with a lens cleaning CD.

On v5/v6, hope that the lens needs cleaning or it's a media issue.

**On v7, there is a well reported history of 1 in 5 units being very fussy on the laser, with DVD-R. The solution in nearly every case has been:


Adjust the laser azimuth, combined with

Use of Traxdata DVD-R media


The laser azimuth adjustment is about the default height from and parallelism of the lens to the disk surface. If set too low, then, particularly if the rails on which the sled runs aren't parallel with the disk (White Cog Adjustment), the lens can collide with the disk. Laser Azimuth is separately described in the FAQ, but basically:


If the laser unit sled is 'slack' when bearing on the rails, it needs adjusting

You would tighten the azimuth screw that bears on the rails & slacken off when tight

You would boot a Traxdata DVD-R, adjusting till it works



Screen remains black
Assuming the electrons were whirling initially, this is usually a mis-install on the BIOS, often MNOP. But it could also be [b[A-I[/b]. Points should be checked & solder balls suspected.

If the electrons never happened, then some wires likely snagged when you put the PS2 back together & possibly a fuse has blown. Wires or ribbon cables may have been caught in the screws when re-assembling the PS2.

Also it is possible that the Messiah 2 is grounding on the metal case or the wires are not lying flat on the motherboard; then under compression the stripped wire ends touch (to much stripped).

If you have a memory card inserted, try removing it. Some people have had black screen issues when their memory card was inserted (see below).

DVD Movies don't boot
Check your boot method. If booting an import movie with GS2/AR2, remember to boot GS2/AR2 with the PS1 method above (or with Messiah 2 switched off) so as to bypass what Messiah 2 would otherwise do for PS2 games.

CD/CD-R games boot but not DVD/DVD-R
It is likely that one of the following causes applies:


The W wire or the R may be incorrectly connected.


The laser lens is dirty & should be cleaned with a cleaning disk or a cotton swab. The DVD is read at a higher frequency than a CD and results are more sensitive to a dirty lens.


The laser needs re-calibrating because of wear and tear. This is a complex process separately described in an FAQ article.


The laser needs replacement because of severe wear & tear.


On v5/v6 models, the CLK wire needs attention as per a later article in this guide.


The PS2 disk tray won¡¦t open when EJECT is pressed at power on
If the lights are on but you can¡¦t open the tray, Messiah 2 is likely to be misinstalled & most likely the connexions to the BIOS chip.

Messiah 2 won't boot if Memory Card is in
... but you can re-insert the memory card after booting. This might be accompanied by a loss of controller vibration. Examine fuse at PS7 marked with the legend S7.

Messiah 2 appears dead (pcb fault)
If you are certain your install is good yet Messiah 2 appears dead, then your Messiah 2 might be fussy about voltage; the Messiah 2 pcb has an error whereby a diode that regulates input voltage for the Actel chip is shorted & thus ineffective. Some Actel chip batches or wafers within a batch work tightly within a spec 2.6v to 2.9v; hence the Messiah 2 will not function. The fix is to cut a track or drill out a via as shown in the photograph A in attachment TSG Pictures.jpg.

Messiah 2 appears dead (Actel wafer fault)
IF you are certain your install is good yet Messiah 2 appears dead
AND you have Messiah 2 PRO from Actel batch 0245
AND you have applied the pcb fix described previously
THEN
it is possible your Actel wafer is not working within nominal voltage spec. The on-board diode on the Messiah 2 PCB is unable to pull the voltage down sufficiently at a particular point in the boot process. Note that PS2 voltage points are not 100% stable & can surge, say to 3.6v at certain times when Messiah 2 is initialising; in such circumstances when the Actel wafer is at the lower end of its specification, Messiah 2 cannot properly initialise.

The solution in this case is one of:


Solder an identical diode in series with the original so that voltage to the Actel wafer is reduced to within its (out-of-spec) tolerance


Exchange the Messiah 2 for one that will perform properly.



Sound is tinny or odd or fails
This can occur on v5/v6 PS2s ¡V but in theory it could happen in any PS2. The wire carrying the 36MHz. clock to Messiah 2 is inducing noise in other circuits. A long CLK wire at frequ's above 20MHz acts as it own capacitor which also degrades the clock. This is resolved by ensuring there is a proper ground plane along the length of the clock wire. The alternative ways of dealing with this in order of priority are:

1. Lay the CLK wire flat along the motherboard not crossing over any components.
2. Wire the CLK signal as a twisted pair**, with the other wire being grounded at both ends.
3. Use thicker wire (24 awg/25 swg) but lay it flat.

** This method for applying solution (2) above was kindly supplied by Fatcat. With reference to the attachment TSG Pictures.jpg:

Obtain 2 pieces of Kynar wire; place two ends in a vice and the other two ends in a chuck on a cordless screwdriver or similar gadget that can turn. Rotate the gadget until you have one length of twisted wire.

Photo B shows where one wire (RED) has been soldered to a GND point & the other wire (YELLOW) to the CLK point on the motherboard.

Then route the wire over to the Messiah 2 chip. Photo C shows where the twisted wire appears at the Messiah 2; the GND (RED) wire simply is soldered to the GND connection point on the Messiah 2. Likewise with the CLK (YELLOW) wire soldered to the CLK connection point on the Messiah 2.

If all else fails and it still doesn¡¦t work ...
Back out of your installation, get the PS2 under control into "normal condition" and begin again



DISCLAIMER
The author accepts no responsibility/liability for the outcome of work performed based on this material. Any such work carried out on a PS2 is at the risk of the person using this material.[/img]

[ottoman]

Thanx v much jdmullet for the very thorough reply.

However I have fitted about 40 messiah 2's now so am a bit of a mini expert on subject.

The reason was so confused was that fault doesn't appear on any of fault finding sites I look at, in fact this is only second mis-installation I have ever had.

Anyway, re-fitted it last night and works perfectly, can't c any reason why it didn't work first time. Just one of those things.

Once again, thanx everyone for the replies.