PSX boot of doom

[soltrain]

My poor playstation......
I have one of those old ghetto-style playstations (pre PSOne) and wanted to add a mod chip in it myself because my friend said "it was easy". Well, to make a long story short, i believe one of the traces on the PSX motherboard was a little messed up by the soldering iron and now when I turn on the playstation:

it boots (shows the sony screen)
the cd holder starts spinning at high speed
the cd laser itself does not move
the blue screen comes up when the PSX believes no disc is inserted
and the cd holder continues to spin

Having the cover open or not does not affect the boot process. Has anyone else experienced this? Is my PSX fried? Ugh.

 

[blahblah99]

Yup, I've modded over 50 PS's and have had that hapepend to me on a few occasions. Check your messed up trace to make sure its not broken, and that its not shorting with another trace. If there's a surface mount component there (if i remember, a couple of the wires get soldered onto one end of SM components), make sure they are not shorting to ground or other traces. Your PS isn't smoked yet

 

[soltrain]

If my trace is broken (i think the trace is actually gone- the wire/copper got pulled off the board somehow). Can it still be fixed? Mabye? Because the modchip wasn't working anyway, I removed it by just clipping off the wires to the chip and leaving the ends sodered to the board. That shouldn't be a problem, right?

 

[Elledan]

<< If my trace is broken (i think the trace is actually gone- the wire/copper got pulled off the board somehow). Can it still be fixed? Mabye? Because the modchip wasn't working anyway, I removed it by just clipping off the wires to the chip and leaving the ends sodered to the board. That shouldn't be a problem, right? >>


*ouch*

Hmm.. perhaps if you connect both ends with a 'by-pass' operation (i.e., solder a thin copper wire between them), the problem will be fixed?

 

[soltrain]

the thing is... the trace that was broken goes from a chip, then down about a half inch to a copper dot on the board that connects to the underside of the board or something. The little copper dot on the board itself is gone, and I couldn't get the soder by itself to stick to the spot where the copper was...

Hmm, I'll work on getting a picture of it posted up somewhere

 

[Belegost]

Once you remove the entire trace like that... you're more or less hosed. You might have some luck if you buy a trace pen (you can find them at a good electrical supply store) they're made to repair small breaks in the traces, however I doubt it will go through the hole in the board.

 

[Elledan]

<< the thing is... the trace that was broken goes from a chip, then down about a half inch to a copper dot on the board that connects to the underside of the board or something. The little copper dot on the board itself is gone, and I couldn't get the soder by itself to stick to the spot where the copper was...

Hmm, I'll work on getting a picture of it posted up somewhere >>


I'll have to agree with Belegost, I'm afraid... you're more or less hosed.

Regarding the trace pen: I'm very skeptic about fixing a gap of half an inch in such a way. Even if you succeed, it won't last too long.

 

[acebathound]

heh.. that stinks. Was that a 30 watt or higher soldering iron?

You might want to look into purchasing a broken Playstation off of eGay and stealing the motherboard out of it..

-Ace

 

[soltrain]

Thanks for the info... Yea, I'll look around for a PS motherboard. If anyone is willing to spare one... please PM.

thanks!