PS2 Network Adapter

[ken_cinder]

I know there are a few of you here who have some in-depth knowledge of PS2 hardware, so I figure you may be able to help.

Basically I have a PS2 network adapter, where the hard drive portion of it doesn't appear to be functioning. Network functions fine (SMB and FTP function as intended).

I had a hard drive in there for a long time, that one day up and decided to commit suicide, literally, one of the chips on the controller board burnt a hole clean through itself.

I recently tried 2 different drives, that are listed as compatible, but nothing detects them. Not HDL, not uLE's hard drive manager....nothing.

I cracked the network adapter open to look for obvious damage or loose connections, not one to be found.
Are there any known standard causes of this? Like a certain bad component?
Could it be a connection inside the PS2 itself? I have had it open numerous times to do other work on the DVD drive etc.

[l_oliveira]

There is fuses (Inside the PS2) for +5v and +12V... I suggest you to try your network adapter on another PS2 before tamper with it.

[ken_cinder]

Would one of those fuses being blown, leave me with an otherwise perfectly working PS2 and network adapter?
The only thing that isn't working, is the hard drive.

And I don't even know anyone else with a PS2. I have another one, but it's currently sitting with a half installed Crystal Chip in it. I splashed some solder and said "F**k it! I have another system softmodded"

[ken_cinder]

I just pulled out my other other PS2 (hehe). I've long since speculated it had a blown fuse, based on past google results.

Power comes on, reset/eject switch lights up but the PS2 refuses to turn on.

I just ran through all the fuses listed on a v7 picture, and the only fuse I can't get a reading from is PS11 (12v focus, sled, tracking IC).

Multimeter jumps up to 200ohm, then settles at infinity (1), is this fuse toast? And why would it keep the PS2 from starting if it's for the DVDROM? It's the hardest one to get my probes on, so I don't know if it's just me causing the bad reading.

Luckily I have an identical unit to cannibalize (The bad mod) if need be.

But......help!

[l_oliveira]

There are two fuses marked "50" which are somewhere close to the network adapter connector. These are for the hard disk.
That reading you got means you had a capacitor to "charge" when you connected the probes.


As for the PS2 turning on but having no video, two possibilities:  Blown fuse or short circuit on data lines.
I'd say for you to measure all the pins on the BIOS (points MNOPQTUV-R and W go to the system BIOS, an MASK-ROM chip) and A-BCDEFGHI which go to the DVD drive controller (MECHAnics CONtroller or MechaCON) with the adjacent pin(s) for shorts.

As for the fuses, replacing the blown one will cause the HDD to work again. It's just that there is no power for it to operate.

[ken_cinder]

I checked those fuses on the v7, the HDD problem is the v3 (And I'll check that too).

The PS11 fuse is going to 200ohm and then to INF on the v7. It's the same fuse type as the ones for the HDD.

Sorry if I confused, I didn't want to drag a second thread out.

Summary: V3 has no HDD but otherwise works. I'll check the HDD fuses now that I know where I'm looking.

V7 has the whole black screen, but reset (standby) light turns on when powered on, but no blue eject light. PS11 fuse throws 200ohms and immmediately goes to INF (1) after that.

Edit: Upon further googling, it appears this one is a v2. Incorrectly identified at 2 sites as a v3 (Pictures of mobo and chip sites confirm they're wrong).

[l_oliveira]

That fuse is for the BA5815 chip (Actuator driver for the DVD drive)
If it blew you probably have a blown tracking coil and the BA5815 chip itself is shorted out.
Your unit requires the BA5815 and it's optical pickup replaced. The PS2 did hang at a black screen because the DVD drive did not reply an OK status to the I/O processor (IOP) as it could not initialize it's mechanism. Also, since there's no power at all for the actuator the DVD drive tray won't come out if you press EJECT. The blue light only lights up after the DVD drive hardware completed it's initialization.

[ken_cinder]

Crap, is it possible the BA chip is ok and only the fuse is bad?

Also, with HDD issue on the v2, I checked all the fuses listed on a listing I found for GH-005, and they all check out OK.

The v2 board is like 1/2 the size of my v7 board though, and has way less fuses. Are there any hiding out somewhere else I should check?

[ken_cinder]

I THINK I found my culprit, on the network adapter itself.

Now I don't have a capacitance meter, so I use my multimeter.
A cap should charge and hold INF right?

A leaky cap will hold a steady resistance value will it not? I've found one small ceramic SMD cap on the main board that isn't charging and holding INF, but reading a steady 117ohms. No, I KNOW it's not a resistor.

This cap is pooched no?

Forgive me, I have basic electronics knowledge, and tend to not mess with anything I don't yet understand 100%. But I gotta learn somehow, why not do it something that's already broken right?

[ken_cinder]

Ok I was wrong, I rechecked and it is infact good.

I have however figured out it's a power problem, and nobody probably wants to know or see how I figured it out.

Something like torn apart network adapter, using PS2 upside down ontop of donated bastardized fragging Xbox........hard drive works perfectly in PS2.

[l_oliveira]

Like I said, all you need is to replace one of the two fuses on the PS2 for the network adapter bay. Either one or both are blown. One out is enough to keep the HDD from spinning.

I found a very instructional picture:

http://site.powergamingparts.com/RepairFusesv7.html

And a list of fuse functions of my own :

F1  -  Emotion Engine volage regulator (12v)
PS1 - Standby power circuit (Syscon)  (12v)
PS2 - Power Supply PWM chip (12v)
PS3 - Graphics Synthesizer voltage regulator (12v)
PS4 - 5V/2.6v/1.7v voltage regulator (main 5v rail and Rambus RAM voltages, chip under the heat pad at the middle of the board)
PS5 - Fan
PS6 - output of the PWM for voltage regulator MOSFET (Emotion Engine)
PS7 - 8v for rumble motors (controller ports)
PS8 - For the voltage reference regulators
PS9 - Expansion bay (5V)
PS10 - Expansion bay (12v...  Not sure if they're swapped around but both 9 and 10 are for the hard disk)
PS11 - Power for the laser actuator ( all but spindle motor)
PS12 - Power for the spindle motor actuator
PS13 - Power for the 5v regulator that supply 5v to the laser power control and 5V reference to the spindle motor actuator.
PS14 - 3.4v for all the system (all chips but the EE plus it's memory and the GS which operates at very low voltages such as 1.6v)\

Hope this information is useful for you...

[l_oliveira]

oh I forgot to add (sorry I can't edit my posts here for some obscure reason)
On a V3 the fuses for the HDD will be on the small board and are very likely to follow the naming used on the V7 board.

[ken_cinder]

I wasn't aware there was a small secondary board on the other side of this v2, none of the fuse references I came across mentioned it and I have only taken v5 and v7's apart.

Seems PS410 is blown (50), I'll have to steal one from one of the other boards.

Update: Replaced the PS410 fuse, working HDD!

Next to replace the same kind of fuse on the v7, and hope the BA chip isn't fried. At least I have another v7 if it is.....don't know if I can change it with a standard soldering iron though.

[ken_cinder]

BA chip must be dead, the fuse I replaced blew right away.

I don't think I can get the BA chip off the board to replace it, I only have a 15w/30w Weller iron and theres no way in hell I'm paying for a hot air rework station.

[l_oliveira]

Like I said on my first post regarding the BA5815 chip, it's fuse only blows when it's shorted. And it only shorts when the tracking coils of the laser pickup are already fried. Which means you had a "Mechacon crash" incident.

Is that V7 unit modded ?

Again, to repair it, you need to:

Replace BA5815, PS11 and the optical pickup (Which I believe is a Sony KHS-400C but can also be a Sanyo HD-7)

If you want to make a quick'n dirty repair job on that unit and wish it to power up and boot so you can use it for HD-Loader, do this :

Locate Pin 20 of the BA5815. Lift it (break it out after lifted as the chip is bad already... Just be careful to don't screw the solder pad on the motherboard)

Replace PS11 with the proper "IC-LINK" fuse or anything you have handy.

Remove the flexible cable that connect the laser unit to the PS2 and store it at a safe place for future use (in case you intend on repair it properly in the future)

That should allow you to run the unit again ("sans" DVD DRVE, of course)

[ken_cinder]

The DVD drive itself is fine, it was tested in the other v7 prior to my mod attempt on it. I have 2 working drives, and 2 non working PS2's.
The other v7 can be fixed when I get some de-soldering braid, I removed all my wires for the chip and said screw it.

No the unit in question with bad BA chip was never modded, infact it was only 5 or 6 months old when it died and had never even been opened.

Maybe I'll just cut that leg and put my network adapter in that PS2, so I can put it downstairs to use for streaming video over my network. I already have the perfectly working v2 anyway.

[ken_cinder]

FFS, I cut that pin (lifted with a needle and broke it off, pad is still perfect), put another fuse in and it blew ANOTHER fuse.

WTF?

[l_oliveira]

Then another part of the BA chip is blown ... Maybe the tray motor driver ?
Remove the whole part and replace the fuse.

To make sure it's not shorted, check (with an ohm meter) the resistance from the *still blown* PS11 fuse to the GND on both sides and see if no side is shorted.

[ken_cinder]

Time consuming that was. Removed the entire chip 1 puny ass pin at a time, put yet another fuse in (I'm now out of donor fuses that match from my other board) and NOTHING.

At least this time it didn't blow the fuse, but it's still behaving the same. Powers on, but no audio/video. I give up, both these v7's are going in the trash.

[l_oliveira]

Didn't replacing the fuse at least make the blue led light on ?

Maybe remove the modchip (if any) is installed ?

[ken_cinder]

No, no blue LED even after I took the BA chip out and the fuse didn't blow.

There is no modchip, and never was on this board.

I think I'm just gonna sell everything for parts. At least everything besides the motherboards.

[l_oliveira]

Great idea ! Much better than laying it on the trash bin. I'm aways up for ecological recycling ... lol