Sales Yard Finds - VII
-David, webmaster DVGI

Although it was already into the afternoon I thought I'd head out to the Sales Yard yet again.  There are two times of the day you find deals, either early in the morning or a little after noon.  If you get out there early you can usually find interesting items since things are freshly being unloaded.  Late in the day you don't have as good a chance of picking up rare items but what's left usually goes for next to nothing.  Then again if you're there selling it's an entirely different matter of browsing over contents throughout the day but on this particular Tuesday I didn't get out to the Sales Yard until around 12:30.  I really wasn't looking for anything in particular and didn't expect to find anything spectacular as it was so late but one might as well look around anyway.  My boxed Atari 5200 was picked up late into the afternoon years ago (as well as a box of complete Master System games that I stupidly passed up for $20 from the same seller) so you really can't completely tie good finds with time of day and this trip was a perfect example.

While looking around I came across some loose NES carts for the usual price of $5 each however there really weren't any games that jumped out as worth picking up or that were dirt cheap.  I also found a few longbox PlayStation games but again, nothing that was really worth haggling over.  Since it was late in the day there were the usual large piles of unwanted and unsold goods piled around the trash cans.  Upon looking over what was there I didn't see anything worth grabbing however someone else looking at the trash pile had an older model PlayStation tucked under his arm.  One of the people that was with him said something like "...yeah, you can open it up and maybe all that's wrong with it is a loose wire or something..." and right there I knew that none of them knew what they were talking about but they were going to take it anyway.  With that I continued on and again only came across some loose NES cartridges and piles of "toaster" model NES consoles (the common ones).  One of these days I'm going to just buy an entire supply of them from somebody that wants $30 or so each, I'm just going to tell them "$60 and I'll take them all" and that will be that, however that's for another time.  It looked like that would be it for this trip but on the way out I passed by the trash pile from before and much to my surprise the PlayStation from before was sitting on the top of a trash can.  It seemed the guy that had it before wisely figured out it was nothing he needed and put it back.  Needless to say I grabbed it immediately and soon after left.

Usually a PlayStation wouldn't be a big deal, but I've been missing having an original PlayStation for some time since they're easy to get to play imports via external override boxes.  I regrettably sold my PlayStation the week of the PS2 launch which was stupid since at that time I had plenty of money coming in and the console worked great and was complete with everything including the box and documentation.  It wasn't an original console, it was the release just before the DualShock pack in bundle.

Upon getting the "trash" PlayStation home and giving it a good look over a few things were apparent.  First off it was one of the earlier released models of the PlayStation console as it had standard A/V jacks (RCA plugs) on the back instead of just the PlayStation family multi out socket.  Next I noticed that the little tab on the open button that holds the disc lid shut was broken off so the lid would not stay closed.  This is an easy fix, you just swap out the open button with another one.  Lastly the sides of the console were coated with what looked like cola, all over the vents on each side.  This worried me a bit since usually this is a sign that something got spilled inside and ruined the electronics.  The whole system was dirty as well but given that the unit was free I figured even if it was thrashed inside I had nothing to lose.

So I began to disassemble the system for full cleaning.  All the screws were present which is always a good sign and the console opened easily.  Thankfully the cola on the sides of the vents was external only and the insides were shiny and clean - not even any dead bugs.  Upon removing the power supply board I noticed something strange about the socket where the power cord plugs in.  The little teeth on the top and bottom that prevent third party power cords from working with the system (since it makes it so they won't fit) were ground out and removed.  It looks as if either an xacto knife or hot cutter was used to chop them out.  Who ever had this system originally knew what they were doing and obviously knew their way around the PlayStation.

I pulled everything out and cleaned up each of the components although they were in excellent condition to begin with.  I removed the CD drive assembly and gave it a full cleaning and diagnostic.  As is standard with PlayStation consoles of this age the three little tabs on the spindle that often pop off have done so, revealing the orange disc beneath them and giving access to the mounting screws for the spindle motor.  The gear set for the read laser carriage is all there and the gears themselves are all in good condition.  After getting everything disassembled I took the top and bottom halves of the shell outside and gave them a hard blast and wash down with the garden hose which surprisingly removed nearly every last trace of dirt and soda.  Really this is the best way to clean out fan vents on video game consoles.  I left the shell halves out in the sun to dry and went back inside to look over the internals to see if I could spot any problems.

All the boards looked fine, the fuse on the power supply board was intact, and all the wiring was complete.  It was then I noticed something on the back side of the main board that brought back a lot of memories.  There was a little piece of two-way sticky tape stuck to the underside of the main board but the outward facing side still had it's adhesive protecting paper attached, in other words it was being used as a cushion.  Upon carefully removing the small piece of tape I came across a small four wire mod chip mounted to the underside of the board, with its four tiny wires running to their connection points.  The chip was attached nicely and the solder work was top notch, definitely installed by someone who knew what they were doing - the same type of person that would modify the power cord socket to accept universal cords.  This brought back a lot of memories as in high school my friends and myself were PlayStation mod masters, making extra money after school in the electronics shop modifying PlayStation's to play import and bootleg games as well as swapping out shells for translucent colored ones and so forth.  We also did a lot of the same during monthly engineering class functions as well as import services - we had our own little enterprise.  It had been quite awhile since I had seen one of these chips and even longer since I had installed one (that was back around 1998-1999, the height of the PlayStation's popularity) so I had to check to make sure that it was connected correctly.  A quick search online turned up that it's a four wire mod chip and it is in fact connected correctly.

After the shell dried off I brought it in and reassembled the console.  I have a few universal power cords (one WAY narrower than any other that I use for most repair testing) so I plugged one in and tried out the system.  It turned on but nothing else happened, no picture, no sound, no anything - just the power light.  However I didn't panic, I just sat and thought for a second.  "...did I reconnect the power board to the main board?"  Nope, I forgot to.  After opening her up again and reconnecting the power board to the main board via the little wiring loom the PlayStation started up on the first try and the familiar and long missed orange and white "Sony Computer Entertainment" screen came up.  After cleaning out the controller ports the controls respond perfectly and it runs better than most new PSOnes.  There is a small quirk however, the console has to be turned upside down for games to load properly, this is a common problem with older PlayStation units due to wear from usage.  Really this isn't an issue right now since I was going to turn it upside down to keep the lid closed anyway.  I played Einhänder, Nitrous Oxide, and Wipeout XL for a few hours and they all ran perfectly.  I made a quick duplicate of The Next Tetris and booted it up, although the intro FMV's where skippy (common with PlayStation backup copies and mod chips of this era) the game ran fine which means the mod chip is working properly.  I'm not about to duplicate all my PlayStation games, (that would kill my CD drive / hard drive) I just wanted to test out a backup title to check the functionality of the mod chip.  This means I should have no problem playing Japanese PlayStation games - time to track down a copy of Vib-Ribbon and the Japanese PS1 DDR games.  (I dumped all my PlayStation import stuff years ago)

I had a spare power cord that is curved on one side of the plug and square on the other (same as the PlayStation original) and after shaving it down so it has a narrower profile it fits no problem due to the modifications of the PlayStation power socket from the original owner.  I plan on replacing the entire CD drive assembly as well as the open button so that this system can be restored to its original condition and can be set up in a place that doesn't need space for it to be flipped over during each usage.

This is even better than the $5 NES top loader I found a few weeks ago and almost as good a find as the JVC X'Eye I picked up for $3 last year.  What's funny and makes it "meant to be" is that just the day before I got this PlayStation I had lost an eBay auction for a PlayStation that had a mod chip installed in it.  It ended up selling for more than $60 (had a couple games and two original DualShock controllers as well) which was about $30 more than I wanted to spend.  Since the price got up that high I decided to let it go and then came upon this free modded PlayStation console the next day.  Suppose that means the PlayStation listing will have to have an import bracket added soon enough.

Acquired...
PlayStation - Console only (first release, mod chip installed)

Sold...
None
 

Written on 04-21-05 by David, insanedavid@classicplastic.net

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