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The whole issue about modchips and laser damage are for the most part a myth, and only loosly connected by a common use.
Mod chips in themselves really do nothing more then to bypass security checks that the system has. They "generaly" don't in of themselves have anything to do with the laser, nor connect directly to anything relating to the laser (tho some indirect circuit pathways may exist depending on what make & model of console and what make & model of chip are used together).
Damage, laser and otherwise, DOES happen SOMETIMES for SOME people. Why? Two major things:
#1: Burned media does not have the same reflectivity as original pressed copies. As such, the laser will have to work slightly harder then normal in order to read the media. It will also need to retrack and refocus more often to compensate for disc errors, that all burned media will have. This in theory could lead to premature failure. But way too many people have been using chipped systems for years with no problems, so I tend to think this is the least likely cause.
#2: Electrical. What "bypass security" really means is manualy injecting a signal into some critical chip(s) from an outside and seperate source. This creates it's own entire set of possible issues.
--A: Voltage differental. Most modern electronics, including all current video game consoles, use several different voltages for powering different sections of the circuits. If you have a mod chip that only gets it's power from +5v souce, and are connecting that to some chip or circuit that is running at only 3.3v, you can and likely will burn something up other time. Lower quality chips tend to do this, while better chips will try to take power from different sources or regulate it on-board so that all the connections are matched. This is mostly a PSX & PS2 thing, but logicaly still applies to all.
--B: Signal bleed. I'm sorry but this one is going to get a little detailed and technical because there is no other way to cover it. Some circuits are designed to receive signals. Some circuits are designed to send signals. In a situation like an unmodded console, you would see it work something like this. You have a circuit for verifing security that would send a signal that said either "yes, run me" or "no, it's not an original", and that signal would be received by another cicuit for running the code and follows what it was told to. When you manually inject your own signal (that "yes, run me") into this chain, that receiving circuit won't have any problems dealing with our fake signal. But the sending circuit that is still connected and not intented to receive probably will not like being sent to. For example, you external phono player probably won't do well if connected do your stereo's speaker output connectors - or trying to use a telephone handset backwards. Doesn't work, and if the circuit isn't buffered (protected from being driven incorrectly) damage could occure.
--C: Ground fault. Modchips typicaly connect to several differnt points, including power & ground. If you have a bad ground connection on your modchip, rather then the chip powering itself like normal, it's taking in power but dumping it out across it's connections to critical chips, which again will likely burn something up, and rather quickly. This is actually one of the biggest causes of PS2 laser failures.
--D: Impropper installation. This still is the single biggest reason why consoles die after chipping, and by die I'm not talking laser failure but rather the entire console on a whole becomming a useless smoking heap of scrap. Some systems can be relatively easy to mod (gamecube), some are an absolute mother and a half (PS2). (Side note, most so-called sodderless options still require some soldering, and require EXACT positioning, or else you can fry everything just as easy as a bad soldering job).
Anywho, there you go. Also, forgive the ancient phono reference up there. :P
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 13. July 2005 @ 05:31
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