Need some info on scph50003 - its V9 right ?

[oZER0o]

i also need to know if theres anything i should know about this particular model. my friend has had it for a short while and he wants me to mod it, he ordered himself a matrix infinity homebrew last night, i saw the diagram and it looked a little harder than the infinity on a V7...

is there anything i should know about like the laser of the V9 and stuff ? it has the 400c laser in it right? he wont be putting a HD in it so he needs a good laser.

[lufcfan]

You'll need to Romeo mod it for starters to stop the LA6508 burning out and killing it and the laser. This isn't for non-pro's.

There are also VIA points or a selection of very fine legs to solder to on the main board BGA. Again, not unless you're a pro.

V7s are uber easy - V9 aren't as easy - particularly if you've only done 1 PS2 before. I'd do a few more V7s and V5s etc and then progress to the 9s and 10s...

[oZER0o]

ughggghhhhhhhhhh

http://www.darkplanets.com/la6508/

read up about the romeo mod, doesnt look to hard, i'll just do that first. i have a multimeter so can check the resistance. says it should be between 4 to 5 ohms.

so its true that only a small batch of the consoles got the problem? i guess its better not to take the risk, as ive got nothing to lose by doing the mod, in fact, everything to gain, unless i do it wrong (which i wont )

so is this all i need to know? the romeo mod?

[lufcfan]

They've all got the LA6508 problem - and if you aren't careful, you'll scortch the board, ruin the pad and break the leg off of the chip. Find a scrap board you can use to practice lifting the chip legs from. You also have to solder the 5v point to a VIA so if you aren't sufficient at soldering those (there are 3 others to do on a v9 also) then I wouldn't even attempt trying.

[oZER0o]

Originally Posted by lufcfan

They've all got the LA6508 problem - and if you aren't careful, you'll scortch the board, ruin the pad and break the leg off of the chip. Find a scrap board you can use to practice lifting the chip legs from. You also have to solder the 5v point to a VIA so if you aren't sufficient at soldering those (there are 3 others to do on a v9 also) then I wouldn't even attempt trying.

scortch the board as in... ?

i know it will require someskill, but for the VIA's all i need is patience and precision. i have a flux pen etc, so it shouldnt be so hard this time around. i do have a scrap board i can practise on though.

can you direct me to a concise instruction on how to do a romeo mod? is it just the one wire ? in the "post your pics here" thread, most of the romeo fixes seemed to have 2?

[lufcfan]

Scortch the board as in burn it when lifting the pin.

The reason most romeos appear to have 2 wires, is because the wire should be bent down below the laser optical cable input to the motherboard to avoid the noise from the cable interfering with the power to the LA6508

The best thing is to practice lifting every 3rd pin of the BA chip on that scrap board of yours and then bending it up, soldering a wire to the lifted pin and finding a VIA to solder the wire to.

Hope this helps...

[oZER0o]

Originally Posted by lufcfan

Scortch the board as in burn it when lifting the pin.

The reason most romeos appear to have 2 wires, is because the wire should be bent down below the laser optical cable input to the motherboard to avoid the noise from the cable interfering with the power to the LA6508

The best thing is to practice lifting every 3rd pin of the BA chip on that scrap board of yours and then bending it up, soldering a wire to the lifted pin and finding a VIA to solder the wire to.

Hope this helps...

whoah whoah slow down mate. what exactly is the BA chip ?



thats the V10, its from a site where they tell you all about the LA6508 problem. is the V9 much different? which IC pin do i have to lift? is there a site with instructions, or can you show me?

thanks mate.

[lufcfan]

The scrap board you have will probably have a BA chip which you can practice on before doing the LA on the real board.

The v9 is different in that the point is a large VIA rather than the other points shown on the v10...

[oZER0o]

well you were being very vague, but i eventually found the romeo mod instructions.

3rd pin down from the corner the faces the center of the board, and connect that to a "VIA" on the inverse side, through the hole to the right. i have closeup pics. VIA's are the little round pads right?

so the idea is to lift the pin of the LA chip, right? the whole point is to replace the Vin with 5v1 from 12v right? So all i have to do is heat the base of the leg, and use a needle-nose plier to lift the leg? ive done this many times before, shouldnt be too hard, i have lots of trashed circuit boards in my house to practise on (but just 1 ps2 board).

[lufcfan]

Basically, you lift Pin 17 which is on the top row of chip legs with the front of the LA facing you. It is then the third in from the right. If you have pics, then it shouldn't be a problem. On a V9, the required VIA is a few centimetres away from the LA itself. It is on the same side as the LA6508 which you will be lifting the leg from.


One word of warning however, i'd pop the pin from the LA using a fine pin as it's easier to get behind the leg and lift from behind. Just be careful how quickly you lift and how far. Otherwise, you could find yourself with a stub of pin to solder to if it snaps off...

PS - the VIAs are the small round copper rings with holes through the middle. These connect the various layers of the motherboard together, so if you apply a little too much heat, the layers melt into each other and it's all over for the PS2

[oZER0o]

ok, got it. the via is a few CM's away and on the same side ?! 1 sec.







these are the correct pics ?

does it matter which side of the via you solder to? from the pic, it looks like the wire is going through to te other side? or is that just so that the solder can be applied on the top ?

[lufcfan]

Originally Posted by oZEROo

it looks like the wire is going through to te other side

It looks like it, but it isn't...

[oZER0o]

Originally Posted by lufcfan

It looks like it, but it isn't...

i found a different pic, and yeah youre right, its on the same side. the really strange thing is, it seems like it was once modded, but someone unmodded it. hmm. its warranty sticker has been ripped off, and a different one was put on. my friend bought it second hand you see, and this guy he bought it off must have put his own warranty sticker on it (which doesnt make sence.

looks like alot of the dirty work has been done for me, there is bits of solder in all the right places, and the LA chip pin 17 has been lifted, but soldered back down. all i have to do is unsolder it.