Earlier this month I installed a Modbo 4.0 modchip into my SCPH-70012 PS2 slim console. Since I also own an SCPH-39001 PS2 fat, I decided to install a modchip into it. Modchips for the PlayStation 2 you to get more out of your PS2. Things like playing games from other regions, playing PS1 and PS2 backups, and running homebrew applications. This blog post covers the installation of the Modbo 5.0 modchip into my SCPH-39001 PS2 fat console.

Update: I put together a Modbo modchip installation guide that covers all board revisions. You can find that guide here.

Things you’ll need

• An SCPH-39001 PS2 fat console
• Tools to take apart the PS2
• A Modbo 4.0 or Modbo 5.0 modchip. They are pin compatible, I bought my chip from Eurasia.
• 30 AWG kynar insulated wire wrapping wire
• A soldering iron and solder

Both the Modbo 4.0 and Modbo 5.0 modchips are good modchips. The Modbo 5.0 chip allows booting homebrew directly off of a USB flash drive, which is less important for a PS2 fat, because of the hard drive bay, but still a nice feature. [Read More]

In April I installed an MM3 modchip into my original PlayStation console. Modchips also exist for the PlayStation 2 and allow for things like playing games from other regions, playing PS1 and PS2 backups, and running homebrew applications. This blog post covers the installation of the Modbo 4.0 modchip into my SCPH-70012 PS2 slim console.

Update: I put together a Modbo modchip installation guide that covers all board revisions. You can find that guide here.

Things you’ll need

• An SCPH-70012 PS2 slim console
• Tools to take apart the PS2 slim
• A Modbo 4.0 or Modbo 5.0 modchip. They are pin compatible, I bought my chip from EurAsia.
• 30 AWG kynar insulated wire wrapping wire
• A soldering iron and solder

I initially installed a Modbo 4.0 chip, but ended up swapping it out for a Modbo 5.0 chip. The Modbo 5.0 chip allows booting homebrew directly off of USB flash drives, which is important since the PS2 slim doesn’t have support for an internal hard drive. [Read More]

Sony’s PlayStation 2 is the best selling video game console of all time. By selling over 155 million systems Sony dominated the sixth generation of consoles. For comparison Microsoft only sold 24 million original Xbox consoles. At $299.99 the PS2 wasn’t the cheapest console of its generation, but being priced less than most DVD players helped people justify the higher price. Both the Dreamcast and the GameCube cost $199.99, but didn’t support DVD playback. This is the start to a series of posts covering the fat SCPH-39001 PS2 project. [Read More]

In my last post I covered taking apart a PS2 slim. This post is a similar guide, but for Sony’s first slim console, the PSone. My goal is to have a SCPH-101 PSone teardown guide that’s more complete than the others available online.

I had already taken apart this PSone several times before taking these pictures, so yours may look slightly different. In particular, my PSone has a modchip installed which you can see in some of the pictures. I wrote another post on how I installed the modchip. [Read More]