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Messiah 2 Advice Please

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    Messiah 2 Advice Please

    OK, so finally I'm going to take the plunge and chip my PS2. Only problem is I don't have the cash to get it done by a pro, so I'm going to bribe my dad (he was born with a soldering iron in his hand) to sort it out for me.

    I have a version 1 US console (Yikes). Which is according to Saur and others a Bast to mod. I've seen the board scans on the messiah site and locating the solder points won't be a problem. However I do have some questions which need addressing before I let my dad loose on my machine.

    1. Are there any issues with taking the PS2 appart (board connections, hidden screws, clips, special tools that sort of thing?

    2. What grade of wire should I use and how much will I need?

    3. Where is the best place to mount the chip (I assume that you just make a solder bridge to a plain spot on the main board)?

    4. Any common problems, tips, tricks, that I should be aware of?

    I'm not going into business doing this, so if there are any trade secrets that shouldn't be broadcast on the boards please PM me. Most modders won't touch a v1 console anyway, so even aside from the cash issue I don't really have an option.

    #2
    I know it sounds obvious, but test the chip before you solder all those points! The guy who installed mine spend around 45 mins doing it, then discovered the chip was a dud >_<

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      #3
      Sounds like a good idea, but I'm not sure what to check for?

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        #4
        Not to worry everyone, I've just noticed that the messiah2 site has been updated with a much improved installation guide giving all of the info I asked for. Aside from Tips and Tricks that is.

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          #5
          I know this is going to sound like a blatant sales pitch as I offer modding and pre-mods on this forum, but as my friend Saur says - the early PS2 consoles are a NIGHTMARE. I consider myself a professional solderer - I've been modifying anything that can be modified since the early 1990's and I still won't touch the early PS2s. I probably turn down ?200+ a week of potential business by refusing to work on the v0-v3 consoles, such is my aversion to them. It's just one of those things - when it goes fine, it's fine, but when it goes wrong... it's usually permanent

          The diagrams are very deceptive, they show a hugely zoomed in photo of the DVD controller chip where 7 or 8 points go. We are talking about soldering 30awg Kynar wire to IC legs about 0.8mm wide, with a 0.3mm pitch. With the added stress of one wrong touch of the soldering iron bridging these legs, it's just a big headache. All this for a console that may not even last the distance in terms of laser wear, DVD-R reading, etc. There are many people who don't want to take the chipping route, for whom an NTSC US PS2 is a lovely thing... my advice really is to sell the US console and get a v5 or higher PAL machine and have that chipped.

          Just a final word of advice, if you do decide to take the plunge be EXTREMELY careful if you mess up soldering to the DVD controller chip - even with a good fine desoldering braid, the IC is very prone to heat damage. If you've got a temperature adjustable iron, don't set it higher than 200-215 deg C, and use a really good grade solder, with very little flux.

          Hang on, I'm giving my secrets away...

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            #6
            will,

            thanks for that. Fortunately the old man has a temperature adjustable soldering iron. However I hear what you are saying about the PS2. And you're not the first person to tell me to sell up and get a PAL unit.

            Perhaps I should just stick it on ebay and buy a brand new PAL model.

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              #7
              Hi Madbury,

              I decided to mod my PS2 myself rather than get someone else to do it because I have an older PAL V4, and a lot of people won't touch these any more. Also, I fancied the challenge! I consider myself to be skillful with electronics, I've built and modded all sorts of things in the past. After some very helpful advice from Saurian, I had a go.

              In short, it was a real git to do. The pins on the DVD controller are incredibly close together and you really need to be very careful. It took me about three to four hours to do, going very very slowly.

              I also had to fit it twice, because first time round I wired up the DVD controller wires 'off by one' (there is a run of about 8 in a row to do). I could have left most of them on and rewired the Messiah, but I only realised what I'd done half way through removing it to start again - argh!

              Ok - tips and tricks

              The key to getting it right is a lot of patience and the right tools. You really need a soldering iron with a ~ 0.1 mm tip, and some very thin 35 SWG wire for all the data connections.

              Instead of (or rather as well as) solder I'd recommend you get some solder paste and flux spray. This makes wiring up the smt chips an awful lot easier. A word of warning about flux spray though - when I ended up refitting the Messiah there was a lot of flux residue on the chips, which made reconnecting the wires difficult. Heres what you do: add a spot of flux to the pins on the chip you're wiring up (not too much), a dab of paste on the wire, place the wire on the pin and then hold the soldering iron tip on the wire for a couple of seconds.

              This is where you need really good eye sight to make sure the joint takes properly. Another thing to watch is that you don't apply too much pressure to the pins, they are a little fragile. The main reason I chose paste over solder is because otherwise its very easy to use too much solder and bridge the pins on smt chips.

              You also need to check and re-check every single connection. For the wires going to the DVD controller you can just check whether there is a connection between adjacent wires, which is a big help.

              I'm not quite sure what the deal is with people not touching the earlier machines. Some people reckon its because the DVD drives don't last as long, others because they are more difficult to fit. The most difficult thing to do is the DVD controller, and thats the same for any model...

              I guess a mis-wired or dud Messiah probably does more damage on an older PS2 is all. For your v1 PS2 that would make fitting the Messiah an even more delicate operation

              So overall if you can get someone to fit it for you I'd say do it, because a Messiah install is very easy to mess up. I was lucky when I mis-wired the DVD controller chip not to have done any damage (although they were only data lines).

              Oh, and taking a PS2 apart is a chore in itself. Its ok when you're used to it, but a pain the first time. Watch out for the ribbon cable going to the power and eject buttons, and be careful with the controller and memory card block. You have to flip the machine at one point with the controller port block attached by a short stiff bit of ribbon cable.

              Be careful not to catch any of the Messiah wires in the pcb shielding when you reassemble either - I used double side sticky tape to make sure all the wires were flat to the pcb and out of the way before putting the PS2 back together.

              Finally, check here for some pretty good (if brief) guides to fitting the Messiah:



              They should fill in the technical details, and contain more good info on equipment to use and taking the machine apart (personally I'd ignore the razor blade idea). Be sure to check the Messiah 2 pcb fix too.

              Are these the guides you mentioned? They've been around for a while now.

              Good luck - you'll need it!

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