Newbie with 1,000 questions ( not really 1,000, but close enough)

[tdoran70]

I have just discovered this board today and I have found the postings in the first five pages to be very interesting. Being a newbie to this hobby though has its disadvantages. There are a number of questions that I have and I am hoping that I will be able to get them answered here. I will give you as much information as I can on the types of systems that I am using. If there is more info that you may need to make an educated suggestion, please let me now. I will be more than happy to supply it. Thank you all in advance for your help, here it goes…….

P3 600mhz running XP
384 MB RAM
50 GB Hard drive space
4x4x24 HP CD Writer Plus
DVD ROM reader

US PS2 system
Model number SCPH-30001
Serial number starts with U5

And now for the fun part, the questions:

1.)How can I tell if my PS2 is a V5 or V6 without opening it up?

2.)Will a GameShark2 play backups, imports or imports that are backed up? If not, what will? This is the big one, I really want to play some Japanese wrestling games form both the PS1 and PS2.

3.)I have tried to use several versions of CDRWin (3.8 4.0 and 5) with no success. I have not been able to get the program to recognize my CD drives even after I have loaded the ASPI manager. (Whatever that is) Is there a program that might work better? I plan on using the tutorial pages on this website, I am just trying to see if there may be a problem with my drives.

4.)If I understand this correctly, if there is a DVD ROM symbol on the back of the game box, I will need to use a DVD-R drive to copy it?

5.)Is there a place in the Philadelphia/South Jersey area that I can take my PS2 to get modified and how much can I expect to pay? Also, is there one chip I should use to allow me to do all of the things that I want to do in question 2? I don’t mind having to do a disc swap. I have been doing this for years with my old, old, old original PS1 system.

Thanks again for your help with these questions, I really do appreciate it.

[surtees]

Originally posted by tdoran70
I have just discovered this board today and I have found the postings in the first five pages to be very interesting. Being a newbie to this hobby though has its disadvantages. There are a number of questions that I have and I am hoping that I will be able to get them answered here. I will give you as much information as I can on the types of systems that I am using. If there is more info that you may need to make an educated suggestion, please let me now. I will be more than happy to supply it. Thank you all in advance for your help, here it goes…….

P3 600mhz running XP
384 MB RAM
50 GB Hard drive space
4x4x24 HP CD Writer Plus
DVD ROM reader

US PS2 system
Model number SCPH-30001
Serial number starts with U5

And now for the fun part, the questions:

1.)How can I tell if my PS2 is a V5 or V6 without opening it up?

2.)Will a GameShark2 play backups, imports or imports that are backed up? If not, what will? This is the big one, I really want to play some Japanese wrestling games form both the PS1 and PS2.

3.)I have tried to use several versions of CDRWin (3.8 4.0 and 5) with no success. I have not been able to get the program to recognize my CD drives even after I have loaded the ASPI manager. (Whatever that is) Is there a program that might work better? I plan on using the tutorial pages on this website, I am just trying to see if there may be a problem with my drives.

4.)If I understand this correctly, if there is a DVD ROM symbol on the back of the game box, I will need to use a DVD-R drive to copy it?

5.)Is there a place in the Philadelphia/South Jersey area that I can take my PS2 to get modified and how much can I expect to pay? Also, is there one chip I should use to allow me to do all of the things that I want to do in question 2? I don’t mind having to do a disc swap. I have been doing this for years with my old, old, old original PS1 system.

Thanks again for your help with these questions, I really do appreciate it.

sorry about doing this,only way that i can remember your questions .first off your comp is set to go
1-when did you buy your machine? this is only from memory,the version before the GT bundle pack was a ver3,then there was another model can't remember the #'s,in short the GT bundle is a vers 4,hope it kinda helps ya.
2- yes it should allow you to play any region back up
3-just keep fiddling i had to update my aspi drivers to enable dvd rips,see if hp has a driver update,my software did
4-correct
5- that i don't know because i'm in australia

[surtees]

to be honest with you i don't know how sony work their models out,but whats confusing me is,you say yours is 30001,my console is a 3500* (*=something)sorry i'm not at home at the moment to check.mine is a vers 4. i thought the 3000-30001 were the very first models to be bought out(launch date) i may well be wrong, i'm sure i'm bound to find out eh.

[charlie_ps2]

Originally posted by tdoran70
I have just discovered this board today and I have found the postings in the first five pages to be very interesting. Being a newbie to this hobby though has its disadvantages. There are a number of questions that I have and I am hoping that I will be able to get them answered here. I will give you as much information as I can on the types of systems that I am using. If there is more info that you may need to make an educated suggestion, please let me now. I will be more than happy to supply it. Thank you all in advance for your help, here it goes…….

P3 600mhz running XP
384 MB RAM
50 GB Hard drive space
4x4x24 HP CD Writer Plus
DVD ROM reader

US PS2 system
Model number SCPH-30001
Serial number starts with U5

And now for the fun part, the questions:

1.)How can I tell if my PS2 is a V5 or V6 without opening it up?
Charlie's Answer: You can't. There is no such thing as a v6 - there's a v5.1 which inverts a disk drive plug to foil the orignal R-mod. There are some horror stories on the R-mod and if you want to play backups hassle free, go for a Messiah.

2.)Will a GameShark2 play backups, imports or imports that are backed up? If not, what will? This is the big one, I really want to play some Japanese wrestling games form both the PS1 and PS2.
Charlie's Answer: The Gameshark in conjunction with a modchip (other than Messiah which is direct boot), will boot your correctly made backups. CD games should be backed up with CloneCD; DVD games with PrimoDVD on a Pioneer A03 burner.

3.)I have tried to use several versions of CDRWin (3.8 4.0 and 5) with no success. I have not been able to get the program to recognize my CD drives even after I have loaded the ASPI manager. (Whatever that is) Is there a program that might work better? I plan on using the tutorial pages on this website, I am just trying to see if there may be a problem with my drives.
Charlie's Answer: The HP burner is lame. It does not support sub-channel data and so can't make 1:1 copies. You shpuld use CloneCD (www.elby.de) with a fully compatible burner - a Yamaha or a Plextor come to mind. Tutorials on www.psxcopyworld.co.uk

4.)If I understand this correctly, if there is a DVD ROM symbol on the back of the game box, I will need to use a DVD-R drive to copy it?
Charlie's Answer: Yes - see answer 2

5.)Is there a place in the Philadelphia/South Jersey area that I can take my PS2 to get modified and how much can I expect to pay? Also, is there one chip I should use to allow me to do all of the things that I want to do in question 2? I don’t mind having to do a disc swap. I have been doing this for years with my old, old, old original PS1 system.
Charlie's Answer: Probably but I point people to www.freedomlives.com in Illionois for a trustworthy job.

Thanks again for your help with these questions, I really do appreciate it.