Is it true that v9 PS2's have a fault?

[jiroczech]

Hi, my first post to the forum, so take it easy on me!

I recently emailed www.londonconsole.com about getting my Platinium PS2 chipped, and they sent me back a nice reply saying that could do it but they wouldn't offer me the usual 3 month warranty...

Apparently the Euro v9 boards (which are in the new Platinum PS2s, and have hurriedly been replaced with a v10 board) have a fault that makes chipping them risky.

Supposedly some v9s have just ****ed up out of the blue, even tho' they're only a couple of months old, and chipping them can aggravate it.

Has anyone here heard anything about the alleged fault?

Been gagging on playing some PS2 imports.. thought I'd be safe with one of the new models but apparently Sony's QA is still ****e.

[DjSatansfury]

Sony's build quality on PS2's in general are ****, so it wouldnt suprise me

[Saurian]

I've been told about a fault on certain V9 machines, something to do with the BIOS corrupting or something. I'm sure I remember some other guys here were talking about the same thing a while ago (cant find the topic >_&lt.

[mid]

I can't find the topic either, but if memory serves it was something to do with the first lot of v9 'compatible' chips, and boxes dying like two weeks after they were installed. Whether it was something dodgy about v9 boards (and I believe there is a v10 now in any case), something that the chips were doing wrong, or something new and fancy in the chipping protection, I don't know - Will was going to get back to the board if he found anything definitive, but I presume his silence means he hasn't found the answer yet.

[Yod@]

Apparently the problem can surface any time after chipping a V9 - symptoms are just a black screen, and replacing the laser unit makes no difference. This fault has been reported by users of the Messiah 2, Matrix MXL2 and also the DMS3 chips - so it's unlikely to be a flaw in the design of any of these chips.

So far nobody has come up with a definitive solution (or even a reason) for this - speculation regarding this topic is rife on several other forums, and includes reasons such as corruption of an EEPROM on the motherboard, overheating of one of the laser controller ICs, poor installs, poor media etc...

Some chippers have reported machines being returned to them with these symptoms, yet others claim to have successfully chipped many machines with no returns at all.

Strangely, I don't think this problem affects US or Japanese V9 machines - only PAL ones.

[jiroczech]

Guess I could wait for a fault to devlop, get the PS2 replaced with a v10 and then get it chipped? Mind you, if I try that, the damn thing will probably work flawlessly for the whole of its warranty.

Hmm.. ?80-ish to get it chipped but if it ****s up then I've got a dud PS2 with an invalidated warranty.. Bollocks.

edit: Oh, thanks for the replies!

[nips]

If you've still got the box and all for your lpay PS2, you may wish to sell that to someone, maybe here or on eBay. Then with the money from that you can buy a v10.

You'll be out of pocket, but it'll save messing around, and you know someone will want a PS2!

Why shell out for 2 chips and 2 PS2 consoles when you can take a small loss on your current PS2, then purchase a superior machine with a mod chip in?

[bangaio]

How can you identify a v10 ps2? If I walk into a virgin megastore and buy a console, how do I know I am getting a v10 console and not a v9?

[Bleeders]

How can you identify a v10 ps2? If I walk into a virgin megastore and buy a console, how do I know I am getting a v10 console and not a v9?

Will kindly sent me an email last-night detailing how to tell if you have a v10 PS2.

If you goto into the System Information on the PS2 and look at the DVD Driver version, if it reads X.02 (where X can be any number), then you have a version 10 machine.

I think that's it anyway, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

[Mayhem]

Cheers for that, will go look tonight on our new machine.

[lem]

Damn it, i've just bought a secondhand Platinum PS2, was gonna get it chipped.

[mid]

Actually, I don't think anyone has asked this yet:

Are there reports of the v10 having the same problem as the v9?

[bangaio]

The v10 is fine apparantly