Well, I have a library of 80+ PSX backups. The wierdness begins when I now attempt to run these backups on either of my modded PS2 consoles. A few worked fine on my PS2 that were on TDK 74min media. None of the ones on Memorex 74 min media worked. Still other games on the same TDK media that loads and runs fine on the PSX console will not load on the PS2 with the normal suggested boot methods. Others will only run on the PS2 if I do a swap method as if they were imports, even though these are U.S. games. Some wouldn't run at all. I tried succesfully to re-burn a few onto different brand media (Verbatim, Kodak) and got them to boot normally on the PS2. However some still come up on the PS2 indicating that the tracks are from an audio CD starting from track 2. Frogger for PSX was one of them. I re-burned it again and omitted the audio tracks and even then I only got it to load with an import PSX game swap trick. The interesting thing is that all the burns old or new will run on the Modded PSX console???? The problem is with the PS2. Any suggestions? Anyone ever have the same problems?

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :zombie:

Certain brands of media work better than others for the PS2 I use verbatim (the green bottom ones) memorex in a pinch and PNY black CDs and they all work pretty good with my version 4 laser but I have noticed on other peoples PS2s that I have modded do that the same thing with my disks that you described.

Some of the games that you have tried to put on better media that wouldnt read in your ps2 might be scratched and whe you copy them it might not read the copy as well thus makes a back up that wont work

Trying to copy onto better media might be your only hope other than adjusting the cd pot or cleaning your laser lens you can fix the scratched games with a disk doctor before you copy them too

Thanks PS2Daddy. But I'd have to add that I always took care to treat the burns old and new like fragile items. The copies are perfectly intact without a single scratch on them.

The one problem that I discribed with the discs being detected as an audio CD seems to only happen with those that actually have audio tracks in addition to the ISO track. I can get them to play if I re-burn and omit the audio tracks. Then I have to still boot as an import swap on a few of them.

I'll try getting some of the media as you suggest and try again.

Are there any laser cleaning kits that you recommend overall. Or would opening the unit to give the lens a real cleaning be better?

And final question...On my DVD to VCD conversions I can only get my Sony DVD carousel to play them if the media is CD-RW. So would the same hold true for many of the PSX burns, Considering that the PS2 is also a DVD player of the same brand as my carousel? The following site claims that the PS2 will not play movies, but will play games on DVD-RW media and hasn't had enough feedback on CD-RW media to make a confirmed post....

http://www.vcdhelp.com/dvdplayers.php

So....Have you ever tried CD-RW media for games? Anyone?

:bouncing: :bouncing: :bouncing: :bouncing: :bouncing:

Interresting, mine were immaculate also but I let someone borrow them and they scratched a lot of them up when they were making copies

AS for your games, I am thinking it is the brand of CD's that you used might have not provided a reflective enough surface or not as good as a quality as others so when you make a backup to better media it might not make a difference from some games
(this is just a theory that I have)

(I had a Psone silver of the game Smurf and it would not play in my PS2 it would go to the audio select screen but the copy I made worked fine. The original silver would work fine in my chipped PSone though)

You might want to open it up an clean it with a cotton swab with alcohol on it an let it dry a about 15 min or more before you fire the PS2 backup.

Even though the same mechanism is used for the Sony PS2 and the Sony DVD player they dont have the same features due to the chip programming of the 2 devices

There are actually 2 wavlengths of light that the laser reads at to read CD's and DVD's and the cd games will be seen as cd games whether they are on a CD-Rom, CD-R,or CD-RW. The PS2 will not read CD-RW's but you could probably adjust it to work if you really wanted it to but it would have problems reading CD-r's and maybe CD-roms then so you might not want to do that.

For DVD players the reflectivity of the CD-RW is closer to the DVD-Rom wavelength so they will work while CD's wont some DVD players have the ability to detect CD's and switch the power to the cd required wavelength so they will play CD-r's but they will state that feature and you will have to pay extra for those DVD players though ususally

This also holds true for DVD-RW's most PS2's wont read them (about 99% wont I have heard one guy that it does work for) but they could be adjusted to do so but that could really mess up your dvd-r games and original DVD games and movies

Originally posted by sengimage
Well, I have a library of 80+ PSX backups. The wierdness begins when I now attempt to run these backups on either of my modded PS2 consoles. A few worked fine on my PS2 that were on TDK 74min media. None of the ones on Memorex 74 min media worked. Still other games on the same TDK media that loads and runs fine on the PSX console will not load on the PS2 with the normal suggested boot methods. Others will only run on the PS2 if I do a swap method as if they were imports, even though these are U.S. games. Some wouldn't run at all. I tried succesfully to re-burn a few onto different brand media (Verbatim, Kodak) and got them to boot normally on the PS2. However some still come up on the PS2 indicating that the tracks are from an audio CD starting from track 2. Frogger for PSX was one of them. I re-burned it again and omitted the audio tracks and even then I only got it to load with an import PSX game swap trick. The interesting thing is that all the burns old or new will run on the Modded PSX console???? The problem is with the PS2. Any suggestions? Anyone ever have the same problems?

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :zombie:

I'M GLAD I AM NOT THE ONLY PERSON WITH THIS PROBLEM.

IF ANYONE HAS ANY IDEAS I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT IT.

I HAVE TRIED SEVERAL DISC'S INCLUDING VERB'S WITH NO JOY.

Originally posted by ps2daddy
Interresting, mine were immaculate also but I let someone borrow them and they scratched a lot of them up when they were making copies

Lousy friends

AS for your games, I am thinking it is the brand of CD's that you used might have not provided a reflective enough surface or not as good as a quality as others so when you make a backup to better media it might not make a difference from some games
(this is just a theory that I have)

The theory might hold true if I were making the re-burns from CDR to CDR. But, I'm creating a disc image first then burning.

(I had a Psone silver of the game Smurf and it would not play in my PS2 it would go to the audio select screen but the copy I made worked fine. The original silver would work fine in my chipped PSone though)

I haven't had this problem yet. Almost no chance of it happening since all my PSX games are CDr burns only.


You might want to open it up an clean it with a cotton swab with alcohol on it an let it dry a about 15 min or more before you fire the PS2 backup.

Did it last night on both PS2s. No improvement.

Even though the same mechanism is used for the Sony PS2 and the Sony DVD player they dont have the same features due to the chip programming of the 2 devices.

O.K.

There are actually 2 wavlengths of light that the laser reads at to read CD's and DVD's and the cd games will be seen as cd games whether they are on a CD-Rom, CD-R,or CD-RW. The PS2 will not read CD-RW's but you could probably adjust it to work if you really wanted it to but it would have problems reading CD-r's and maybe CD-roms then so you might not want to do that.

I'll try a few CD-RWs from various brands and see if there are possibilities with game burns. I did verify that CD-RW VCDs do work for movies on the PS2.


For DVD players the reflectivity of the CD-RW is closer to the DVD-Rom wavelength so they will work while CD's wont some DVD players have the ability to detect CD's and switch the power to the cd required wavelength so they will play CD-r's but they will state that feature and you will have to pay extra for those DVD players though ususally.

OK this explains why the VCDS on CD-RW work.

This also holds true for DVD-RW's most PS2's wont read them (about 99% wont I have heard one guy that it does work for) but they could be adjusted to do so but that could really mess up your dvd-r games and original DVD games and movies

Now... the VCDhelp website has claims that the DVD-RW will not work for movies, but does work for DVD-Rom games. I'll need to verify for myself.

My other option would be to take my second PS2 and just adjust the POTS on that one for the PSX burns and CD-RW, DVD-RW etc etc. Sucks though. All the hype about playing PSX copies on the Neo mods and yet nothing but problems and a steady stream of coasters.

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AS for your games, I am thinking it is the brand of CD's that you used might have not provided a reflective enough surface or not as good as a quality as others so when you make a backup to better media it might not make a difference from some games
(this is just a theory that I have)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



The theory might hold true if I were making the re-burns from CDR to CDR. But, I'm creating a disc image first then burning.

Humh try renting a game and burn it on a verbatim disk and see what happens

Can't help you on this one if that one doesn't help


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now... the VCDhelp website has claims that the DVD-RW will not work for movies, but does work for DVD-Rom games. I'll need to verify for myself.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have made 3 attempts to get movies and games burned on a DVD-RW to work and they never did work for me (all with the same media pioneer DVD-RW)
I coudn't get the RW to play in my DVD player either though but the R would


I have tried 2 different CD-RW games and I couldnt get them to work either (with different media)


I think it is a laser issue not the chip though.
I think I was just lucky to find a version 4 with a good laser.

I have about 90 psone backups and around 87 read perfectly.

I have a serial number U4.......... Date code 1B version 4

I have chipped ate least 3 neo 2.2's that had problems with my PS2 backups. (even though they work fine on my PS2)

The versions of those PS2 were 1,2,& 4 that had problems but they would play PS2 backups and DVD-R just fine (my PS2 backups are mainly on verbatims and some memorex)

MY DVD bacukups are mainly on apple I have one tdk I am expermineting with some generic media I found at circuit city for $5

The cd pot is not too hard to adjust but be very careful adjusting the DVD pot it is very sensitive I had had limited success adjusting them I have goten 1 out of 3 to work perfectly one that is good but takes alttle onger to read but it will paly dvd games now and one that was a failure

Take a baseline reading before you adjust

PS2Daddy,

Thank you for all the feedback. I guess it's a hit or miss issue with these PS2's ie. version, manufacture date, lot number etc, etc. I could try a few other things when the time allows, for now I'll need to keep my PSX.

Your recommendation about re- renting an original of one of those PSX burns and re- burning to better media sounds like a good option but I would still question it. Data is data after all. If you can extract it or make and verify an image It's still data matter where you put it, if the PS One can read it and the PS2 can't than perhaps it's a reflectivity issue and the media, but I have doubts that it's the content of the data or the quality of the originals since the PSX can read them, It's worth a try though so I'll give it a go.

Is it possible that burn speed is an issue? I've noticed when I burn at the appropriate speeds for the media being used my success for PS2 burns is 100%. So if the media is 8x or 16x then that's what I burn at. But, when I burn the PSX games I do it at either 1x or 2x regardless of the rating on the media, I follow the recommendations of PS24life although I was always burning for PSX that way even before his post. Do you burn them at the slower speeds too or do you go at the fastest settings available according to the media being used?

On the positive side...I can still play all the PS2 Burns on CDr or DVDr media. Never a problem after you pointed out all my clumsy timing issues with the swap methods.

Humh I ususally burn at the fastest seed possible and I don't have problems.

I just bought a Lite On 32x12X40 CD-RW and I have used the 24X rated verbatims and they work fine.

I burn at 32X takes about 2min and I haven't noticed any problems with the games

Granted I have only burned 3 so far using this drive and I have only played the games about an hour or so a piece.

But they appear to be working fine.


As far as the reburning issue

I have notice that I have had a few games that didn't seem to work well with my PSone after I made a copy but when I ummm..obtained the same original games from different places they seemed to work fine.

On the games that didn't work I did notice that they did have a few errors show up using astarte disk copy but disk copy did finish making the image

I thought that this might have been due to the fact that the original disks might have been dirty or scratched (this was before I bought a disk dotcor I might add)

Since the lasers are different in the PSone and PS2 I think they are set to different frequecies and thus the same media might have a problem being read from one to the other due to the type of media

MACDUDE,

You probably having probs cos your burners a bit effeminate... bit like yourself really:laugh: .

Get a man burner you big jess. Burn some deep holes in yer media.

Seriously though m8, bout time you became a member instead of lurking around reading all the posts.:tup:

You should be having:beer: tonite so stop reading now...

dan

Roasting Newbies over a hot open flame. HAHAHAHA.

Hey Internet Hazing is not permitted. Just useful info please.

So what ale mate? Maybe MacDUDe can burn better after a few. Offer Up some advice from the Queensland will ya?.

S'allright I know MAC DUDE he knows I'm serious about him being a big girls blouse LOL.

He is having probs with PS2 CD-R,

Works with the knife method when he burns but not a mod-chip eject for some reason.
Comparing his CD-R to mine that do work with the Mod-chip everything seems the same LBA's for all the files the whole thing is identical. Only thing is as I say dont boot unless you knife the PS2. We tried loads of media same every time.
He uses an external predator (Iomega), we even tried hooking his burner up to my (dirty word here) PC and using Discjuggler it burned O.K yet, back on his still big problems.

What do you think, it's not media, its not the burner, but it's gotta be something.

Originally posted by danman
S'allright I know MAC DUDE he knows I'm serious about him being a big girls blouse LOL.

He is having probs with PS2 CD-R,

Works with the knife method when he burns but not a mod-chip eject for some reason.
Comparing his CD-R to mine that do work with the Mod-chip everything seems the same LBA's for all the files the whole thing is identical. Only thing is as I say dont boot unless you knife the PS2. We tried loads of media same every time.
He uses an external predator (Iomega), we even tried hooking his burner up to my (dirty word here) PC and using Discjuggler it burned O.K yet, back on his still big problems.

What do you think, it's not media, its not the burner, but it's gotta be something.

As I have said about 3 times it is a PS2 laser problem sony put good lasers in some and crappy lasers in others

PS2 Daddy,

You dont seem to be getting what I'm saying...

We used exactly the same media and exactly the same recorder on his Mac and My PC (USB predator On Verbatims , White tops etc) By this I mean he brought his entire setup round to mine NOT just the same models etc.. Mine play in exactly the same PS2 (his and Mine) using just the eject swap on HIS & My modded PS2. His backups have to be Knife swapped but then go on to function exactly the same as mine (the backups made on his kit BUT burned on My PC)once loaded.
Summary :-
Everything is the same Media/PS2/Burner but they work in a different way His need to be knife swapped, Mine can do a normal Mod swap that is to say eject and press X when tray is going in.
Now I know he is using the same software as others on this board Astare and Toast Titanium 5.2 (theese are taken from memory so correct me if I'm wrong MacDude). Nobody else seems to have a problem with this combination so whats amiss here?

He has young kids and dont want to knife swap all his backups, I could carry on doing all his backups for him but that would make him feel less of a Man (which he is LOL).

This is catagorically NOT a laser problem, so bearing that in mind any other sugestions would be welcome

Thanks

Dan

Originally posted by danman
PS2 Daddy,

You dont seem to be getting what I'm saying...

We used exactly the same media and exactly the same recorder on his Mac and My PC (USB predator On Verbatims , White tops etc) By this I mean he brought his entire setup round to mine NOT just the same models etc.. Mine play in exactly the same PS2 (his and Mine) using just the eject swap on HIS & My modded PS2. His backups have to be Knife swapped but then go on to function exactly the same as mine (the backups made on his kit BUT burned on My PC)once loaded.
Summary :-
Everything is the same Media/PS2/Burner but they work in a different way His need to be knife swapped, Mine can do a normal Mod swap that is to say eject and press X when tray is going in.
Now I know he is using the same software as others on this board Astare and Toast Titanium 5.2 (theese are taken from memory so correct me if I'm wrong MacDude). Nobody else seems to have a problem with this combination so whats amiss here?

He has young kids and dont want to knife swap all his backups, I could carry on doing all his backups for him but that would make him feel less of a Man (which he is LOL).

This is catagorically NOT a laser problem, so bearing that in mind any other sugestions would be welcome

Thanks

Dan

What is your version your
1. PS2 serial, date code,
2. what chip are you using
3. What version Gameshark are you using
4. What is the exact procedure you are using to burn you games

We can start from there Dan maybe I can help.
Also the connection to pin 2 if it is a neo 2.2 or neo key
might have come loose or the wire might be crimpped since it sounds like he is not injecting the SCEX signal to boot the games or his laser is going bad

Have him his check his wires it cold be from the other end of pin 2 also if it is a neo 2.2 chek pin 2 on the chip or check the usb point on a neo key also



I have now chipped 25 PS2's so far 18 PS2 with a neokey and 8 PS2's with a neo 2.2 and I have noticed that probably about 30-40% of those I have some problems reading the Psone media but they will read them
I use my same games to test every PS2 that I chip
usually they never have problem reading DVD-r or CD-R for PS2 games

I have had to adjust about 4 of the CD pots to get them to read more accurately and then they worked fine. I have noticed that some of the version 4's have had this problem but must of them are the older version 1-3 models

I have a version 4 datecode 1b serial u4......... and I use a Gameshark 1.9 with a neo 2.2 and almost every game that I have always boots perfectly with no problem and I have about 87 PSone (three of these were bad burns that wont play in my psone) 58 PS2 CD-Rs and 15 DVD-r's

Thanks PS2 Daddy (also sorry cos we seem to have hi-jacked this post a little)

The main thing here isn't really the PS2/media/burner.

If I can confirm that ALL games I backup for him work with an eject boot (PS2 3003 Neo 2.2) this is with both Action Replay 2 V2 and Region X. No problems boot every time therefor Chip functions 100%.

You know the score Load up chosen Boot CD be it AR2 or DVD reg X, hit eject swap disc as the tray closes pres X or start depending on AR2/Region X. Game boots. This is on every one of the games I do for him, even if they were burned using His writer on MY PC and with different/same types of media. As I say I use either CDRWIN or DISCJUGGLER.

He writes a game on his Mac using Astarte and/or Titanium 5.2. He then goes to boot said game using same eject method as above and no go. YET if he does the knife swap INSTEAD of the eject swap, it boots and plays fine.

This does not just aply to his PS2, as I could then see where you are coming from with the loose wire thing. They behave exactly the same on MY PS2 as they do on his, i.e knife O.K eject swap NO GO.

I modded them both and am very experienced in both chipping & backups. However I am NOT experienced in the field of MAC backups. The only difference between the copies I make and the copies he makes are the software used to write them and the fact his was done on MAC and mine PC.

As I said knifing wouldnt be a problem if it wasn't for the fact he has young kids.

We've tried everything and every combination to get the prob sorted, but the ONLY thing it could be IMHO is maybe burning software.

For those that need help with a mac
You need to use Toast Titanium 5.01 or 5.02
Open toast

If you just have a CD-RW

1. Select image copy (third option from the left at the top of the toast window)
2. insert CD game
3. Select "Save as image " under the file menu
4. Click on the image then Record image

(note you must have enough space on your hard drive to do this)

or

1. Select image copy
2. insert CD game
3. Click on record
it will ask you to place in a blank CD-R When ready

(note you must have enough space on your hard drive to do this)

If you have a CD-RW and CD-Rom drive

1. Select image copy
2. Drag CD to window
3. Click on record


If your cds are scratched there is a differnt method lemme
know if you have problems
Try burniing at a slower speed

How to make an image using astarte

1. Insert the disk and click on the “select all button” then hit save.

2. Make sure your preferences look like my attachment I included


How to patch games

Obtain PPF-o-Matic for the mac goto http://www.psxcopyworld.com
Obtain the required patch from that same site look in the psx patches and utilities sections

1. Open the program and select the Astarte iso you just created
2. Select the patch it is the file that has .ppf on the end
3. Click on apply patch



How to burn PS Game with audio tracks

1. Open toast 5 and select the “others” file cabinet in the top of the Toast window
2. Do a right click and select “Multitrack CD-Rom XA”
3. Then click on select and pick the iso file then click on “Add” repeat for each audio file and make sure that you put them in order
4. Select Record

Without Audio Tracks

1. Just double click on your Astarte image and it will put everything in the correct format in Toast Titanium 5 and click record

How to do DVD’s

For those that need help with a mac

You need to use Toast Titanium 5.01 or 5.02
Open toast

If you just have a superdrive

1. Select image copy
2. insert DVD game
3. Save as image
4. Record image (don't use burnproof)

(note you must have enough space on your hard drive to do this)

or

1. Select image copy
2. insert DVD game
3. Click on record
it will ask you to place in a blank DVD-R When ready

(note you must have enough space on your hard drive to do this)


If you have a DVD-RW and DVD-Rom drive

1. Select image copy
2. Drag DVD to window
3. Click on record

I have burned at 2x on apple branded and pioneer media with no problem 4.37Gb took about 28 min

Originally posted by danman

The main thing here isn't really the PS2/media/burner.

If I can confirm that ALL games I backup for him work with an eject boot (PS2 3003 Neo 2.2) this is with both Action Replay 2 V2 and Region X. No problems boot every time therefor Chip functions 100%.

I have a friend with the same issues. He kept coming back with PS2 DVD rom burns I did for him and claiming they weren't good. He was doing everything correctly but, they wouldn't work on his PS2. However Cd rom burns and PSX burns worked fine. Just the DVD Rom games were a problem.

He writes a game on his Mac using Astarte and/or Titanium 5.2. He then goes to boot said game using same eject method as above and no go. YET if he does the knife swap INSTEAD of the eject swap, it boots and plays fine.

I verified that his copies worked on my PS2 and for a while I believed it was him who was having timing issues. So I asked him to bring his equipment over to my home and I'd test everything on his own equipment and show him how it's done. Told him to bring his gameshark too.


I modded them both and am very experienced in both chipping & backups. However I am NOT experienced in the field of MAC backups. The only difference between the copies I make and the copies he makes are the software used to write them and the fact his was done on MAC and mine PC.

I can only claim that I know what to do if needed. I have a modded spare because I fixed another friends botched attempt, he went and bought a premodded unit and gave me the one he screwed up. But backups on Mac or Windows platforms is no problem as I have both available to me in my home. Either platform never gives me a problem and for my friend with the boot issues I also tried burns off both platforms.

As I said knifing wouldnt be a problem if it wasn't for the fact he has young kids.

Same issue for me for the PS2 and PS one games which is why I'd like to fine a definite fix for my issues but perhaps I'll need to do as PS2daddy suggested.

We've tried everything and every combination to get the prob sorted, but the ONLY thing it could be IMHO is maybe burning software.

Well let me finish by saying that when my friend got all his stuff over to my home we tried to boot the same DVD rom games that I burned and booted on my PS2. Well, they didn't boot on his unit. The DVD rom boots would just hang on the "insert game and press X to continue" screen. Curious now I tried them on my PS2 using his gameshark and the same thing...would just hang and not boot DVD titles.

I verified the version of his GS2 and it was the correct Ver. 1.9 and the look and feel of the GUi was identical to mine. Well further curiosity led me to boot his games off of my GS2 on his PS2. And they worked. Every single one I burned for him booted. Oddly when I attemted to boot his game shark afterwards it no longer would get past the first splash screen...it just stopped working for him. However My GS was still booting and working for all burns on either PS2.

I verified his version PS2 as ver. 4 and as I said his now dead GS2 cd was and is a ver 1.9. The chip is a Neo 2.2 and it was a combined purchase from a game electronics store in Chinatown NYC that I've been going to for the last 10 years. His GS2 dongle is good because my GS2 cd boots with it. Therefore we confirmed his GS2 cd was a defective product.

The reason I mention this is that there was no mention whether MACDUDE or you verified the boot media. Was his GS2/AR2 always a part of the picture? Or did you attempt to use another one at any point? Sounds stupid and too simple I know...that's how I felt to discover this with my friend.

He aquired a new GS2 and now his boots work fine. And he still has the defective one hanging on his wall as a reminder that a simple solution may be right in front of you.

:bouncing: :bouncing: :bouncing: :bouncing: :bouncing:

Hey Senimage I didnt think about the gameshark being the problem.

By golly that could very well be his answer

Good points all,

I'm glad were looking at things from a different point of view now.
However we did try my DVDX in his PS2 and vice versa. He also now boots using AR2 V2 because the DVD-R capabilities, but the issues remain the same in either AR2 & or Region X.

We really appreciate all your input however, so thanks for your time folks

Dan

Originally posted by danman
Good points all,

I'm glad were looking at things from a different point of view now.
However we did try my DVDX in his PS2 and vice versa. He also now boots using AR2 V2 because the DVD-R capabilities, but the issues remain the same in either AR2 & or Region X.

We really appreciate all your input however, so thanks for your time folks

Dan

I should add that My GS2 although it works for Booting....will only work with an EA swap/ DVD original swap type method or any method where the reset button must be held in the entire time before the X is pressed. And that's whether I boot a DVDr or Cdr. I'm not complaining since they boot everytime. But there is no success in getting it to boot by just hitting reset. I have to keep it pressed, My friends GS2 booted without having to keep it held in(that's before it finally stopped working of course). So again I would just kindly recommend that you for the sake of experimenting aquire or borrow another known boot cd whether DVDx or AR2/GS2 and try again. It's obvious from my observations that they are not all the same, just as PS2daddy will agree that not all PS2 consoles are built the same or the same quality. The same IMHO holds true for the Boot media.
Cheers.
:cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

On the other hand there is the dongle for the AR2/GS2. This is possibly another weak link. I'm not sure but I believe it is a necessary part of a successfully booting AR2/GS2. I wouldn't be so strong to suggest a problem with either if I hadn't experienced the same problems myself. So really before you throw in the towel on this one give an honest effort to try.

1. Using an alternate AR2/GS2 off of a known working system.

Or if the results are the same with the CD media then....

2.Try an AR2/GS2 dongle off of a known working system.

If this fails then I conceed that perhaps this PS2 is possesed and only works when threatened with a knife

:beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer:

As i say wehave tried with my Region X, his region x, dongle version, no dongle version, my AR2, His AR2, Lots of different peoples AR2/DVD X

The story remains the same...

Those I burn he can eject swap......

Those he burns have to be knifed.....

The recorder has been the same.... A Iomega Predator on MY PC (eject swap fine).... His Mac (eject swap no go = knife swap O.K).
This writer was his that he brought round to try to see if that was the problem....it wasn't. I use Plextor as a rule and Liteon and sometimes a Mitsumi. Doesnt matter what I use though ALL the ones I do work fine (mostly on any Verbatim or Whietop brand media)

The sheer amount of configurations we have tried is baffling but the story remains the same.

You may be right his PS2 is possesed and hates CD's burned by a Mac.

Curious though. Did you ever try a different burner? Were the results the same with a different burner? Swap with your system burns and Knife with his burns?

DanMan, Anomalies happen all the time. Hard to explain this one. The interesting part is that you can see the data the same way on either burn With your PC's Cd-rom. So, in theory it should play just the same.

Unless as Ps2Daddy claims it's the laser pickup in combination with my claim of an underpowered writer.

What's the length of the cable between his mac and the burner?

Resistance can cause less power to the device and/or a weaker signal.

Did you ever try a shorter length? I've seen this fix burn issues in the past and it could apply here.


It goes a long way towards determining if it's the hardware. I know for a fact that my G-4's can't handle as many devices daisy chained as my PC off a firewire port. Perhaps a power fluctuation could cause "a weaker burn" on his mac configuration. As I think about it more, it becomes a sound theory. After all some PC cd-Roms consistently can't read some burned data cdr's while others can on similarly configured PC's.

In theory as PS2daddy states in another post on how the neo 2.2 works, the laser pickup adjusts at some point during the swap method in preparation for burn media. And If as I theorized that this Mac is providing weak burns then perhaps when the laser pickup adjusts during the swap in preparation for this media it's over or under compensating. Thus swapping won't work. It seems that with the knife method there is an interruption forced manually on the unit and thus not dependant upon the PS2 laser pickup and a mod chip to adjust the frequncy in preparation for the burned media. Therefore, it just continues after manually being opened and closed again to read at the same unchanged frequency. Which could explain why only this method works for him.

This would cause me lots of frustration as well. I still feel it's a really simple fix that's right in front of you.

Perhaps it is the sissy burner. Maybe a bad data cable. Maybe too many devices daisy chained or just a device that wants to be isolated. Maybe the cable is running too close to other cables and experiencing some crosstalk or digital feedback. Possibly the current draw on his power outlet is not leaving enough to provide enough power to all his devices.

Trying a different burner other than the Iomega Predator would answer some of these.

If another burner works then it is the sissy burner.

But if his PS2 just likes to be stabbed and poked to get it going...Oh well.




:cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

OK

I DISCONNECTED MY USB HUB WITH MY PRINER/SCANNER ETC. USED A SHORT USB CABLE AND STILL NO JOY.

MAYBE IT IS THE CDRW(PREDATOR).

HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD ANY SUCCES WITH IT?(ON PS2)

KEEP THEN IDEAS COMING AS I FEEL WE ARE GETTING CLOSER.


:tup: :beer:

DANMAN THIS KINDA LOOKS A LOT LIKE U:zombie:

Originally posted by MacDude
OK

I DISCONNECTED MY USB HUB WITH MY PRINER/SCANNER ETC. USED A SHORT USB CABLE AND STILL NO JOY.

MAYBE IT IS THE CDRW(PREDATOR).

HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD ANY SUCCES WITH IT?(ON PS2)

KEEP THEN IDEAS COMING AS I FEEL WE ARE GETTING CLOSER.


:tup: :beer:

DANMAN THIS KINDA LOOKS A LOT LIKE U:zombie:

MacDude, I thought in error that you had a firewire drive all this time. I have to agree with DanMan. The burner in combination with the USB on your mac is the issue. Many newer PC's now use a higher transfer rate on their USB ports since they're on the USB 2.0 standard....they're faster and carry more bandwidth. That alone would explain a weaker burn on your Mac with just about any CD burner over USB connections.

I've seen Iomega writers in firewire cases that don't have these problems.

If DanMan's burns work and your's don't then I'd say with certainty that it's the fact that perhaps DanMan's system is using the USB 2.0 standard and with the increased bandwidth he's achieving better quality burns.

Not to say that your burner doesn't work. It obviuosly does an adequate enough job if you can read the data on your Mac. It's just not adequate enough for the PS2's laser after it adjusts using the mod swap over the knife method.

I recommend a firewire or a scsi burner if you can't borrow another USB burner that works. Or spring for a pioneer AO3 and replace your internal drive. Unless you have a cube or iMac, then firewire's your only choice.

You might want to speak to PS24Life about his initial trials with his Firewire burner. Could save you lots of time and finally get your investment back out of that mod chip.

:cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

Originally posted by ps2daddy
Certain brands of media work better than others for the PS2 I use verbatim (the green bottom ones) memorex in a pinch and PNY black CDs and they all work pretty good with my version 4 laser but I have noticed on other peoples PS2s that I have modded do that the same thing with my disks that you described.........


Got a fix for all those burns that the PS2 doesn't detect as correct media and/or those that it detects as audio CD's begginning on track 2. Trial and error found this fix, but it works like a charm. Now I don't have to keep trying to re-burn all those games. Although It helped on some of them. Here's what to do for the ones that still won't work.

You use the 2nd disc out of the GS2 package. Yup the complimentary one for PSX game codes. Boot that sucker up.

then do as follows...

1. Select start game
2. Select without codes
3. eject the GS2 disc 2 and replace with the PSX backup
4. push tray in or eject then press X

Game will start



If the screen goes blank and there is nothing I believe it's either the media or a weak burn, if so then try the following...

1. Insert GS2 disc 2 and Power unit off for 5 seconds
2. Press reset to power PS2 up and keep the reset button pressed
3. Get to the PSX codes menu and select start game while still holding in reset.
4. Select without codes while still holding in reset.
5. When the "insert PSX game and press X to continue" screen comes up RELEASE reset button.
6. Tray ejects for about 6 seconds before going back in...swap the GS2 disc 2 with PSX backup before tray goes in and press X before it starts to go back in.

Game will start

An alternate method Double swap for a difficult PSX Backup. Try the following....

1. Insert GS2 disc 2 and Power unit off for 5 seconds
2. Press reset to power PS2 up and keep the button pressed
3. Get to the PSX codes menu and select start game while still holding in reset.
4. Press eject and swap GS2 Disc 2 for a PSX original while still holding in reset.
5. Select without codes while still holding in reset.
6. When the "insert PSX game screen and press X to continue" comes up RELEASE reset button.
7. Tray ejects for about 6 seconds before going back in...swap the PSX Original with PSX backup before tray goes in and press X before it starts to go back in.

Yes these are variations of the PS2 backup boot methods, but believe me...they work. The Import swap method also proves successful for some of the difficult to boot PSX backups, but not all. That method is as follows...

1.Insert a PSX original game and power PS2 off for about 5 seconds
2. Power unit on to begin booting PSX original
3. Right before the Playstation Splash screen comes up press eject and insert the PSX backup then press eject to close tray.

Game might boot.

Again These methods were tested on both my PS2's and a friends.

They do work. If one method isn't working for you try one of the others mentioned. One of them will. I've seen just about every situation where my old PSX backups would not boot by conventional modded PS2 instructions and all the symptoms are as follows.

1. Pink screen comes up stating to please insert a Playstation Disc
2. PS2 boots and only detects the Backup as audio starting on track 2.
3. The Playstation Splash screen apears and the PS2 hangs/ freezes.


Good luck all who need it and please update me as to whether these instructions helped any of you. Thanks in advance.


:bouncing: :bouncing: :bouncing: :bouncing: :bouncing: