game patches not working.. help

[psx2020]

i'm in the US
WIN 98
CDRWIN 4.x
BURNER - acer 4x4x32 (same as always used)
CD-R - Memorex 80min (same as always used for everything, that in-between silver/blue color, not that old school true blue)
PSX - scph 9001 NTSC, internal mod, mode switchable
patches used -
pdx-fi2k.ppf
stc-spdr.ppf
both from megagames, both pal/ntsc selectors.
games patching of course -
fifa 2002 PAL ------> NTSC
spiderman 2 PAL --------> NTSC

yeah, i can't figure it out either. it should be easy as - .bin, patch, burn. the only thing i can think of is that both patches obtained by megagames are fakes or were never tested and don't work.

however, that still wouldn't explain why PAL4U successfully found the sequences in fifa, but that patch failed to do aything either!