Thanks dude, I was thinking of getting the ripper IV, a pstwo laser fix pcb, and a wire and solder kit, but I am really worried about frying something on the board, so:
What chip is yours?
Is your ps2 slim?
Approximately, how many soldering projects, or other experience have you had, and done successully?
Do they include step by step instructions, or just the diagrams on their website?
I have a V4 PS2, I got it pretty much right after GTA3 came out. The slim PS2's are V12. My chip is a Magic 3.1, which I believe won't work for you. First thing I'd do is make sure your PS2 plays DVD-r's or DVD+R's. Try burned movies to find this out. Then there are sites to find out which version your PS2 is. Mod chip sites should have links to these sites.
I had to solder 22 wires on my PS2 to install the chip. I used solder with flux but did not add additional flux, as I was afraid of the solder running where I didn't want it to. My chip came with no installation instructions, I found a wiring diagram online, which was just a pic of the PS2 board blown up to like a 6000x4000 resolution with letters and arrows for where to solder wires. I did it at work. I am an electronic technician and have much experience soldering surface mount components. This was still the MOST DIFFICULT soldering I have ever done. I had to do it under a microscope. Imagining soldering onto the motherboard of your computer. Putting the damn thing back together was a pain too. Then it didn't work. I had to take it apart again and look at it sideways under the microscope to see the solder bridge connecting 2 pins of an IC chip. So I fixed it with solder wick (very scary on an IC) and resoldered the connection. Also I burned up a solder pad (on the chip's little board) and had to scrape off some of the trace with an exacto knife and solder directly to that.
All I can say is be PATIENT while soldering on your PS2 board. Be careful putting it back together too. I don't know about the slim ones, but mine has a ribbon cable connecting the reset and eject buttons to the main board. I put a hole in that putting it back together and had to buy a new one.
Check into other chips. I've heard that they increase the voltage going to the laser which will make it burn out quicker. Not sure if this is true, but mine is louder so it probably is true. I put my chip in about a year ago and it still works fine though. There are chips with flash upgradeable firmware, which will be nice further down the line and can be upgraded to bring the laser voltage back to normal. So I've read at least.
thanks squizzle, I know the versions and all that, I read somewhere that on v1-v11 ps2s it is easier if you put a razor blade between the pins on the ic you are soldering so you dont bridge. I think for a pstwo I would be soldering onto pads underneath the ic.
Yeah Ill check out that muppet, however, I dont want to spend too much, If I wanted the best chip, I would get a dms4 pro. But laser protection is good.
I am 13 years old with good electronic knowledge and about 4 years experience doing projects with ics and transistors.