As I write this, I have attached 16 of 17 wires to my PS2, and am waiting on the Fed-Ex truck to deliver my mod-chip… but more about that in later posts.

I decided to hide this from the prying eyes of search engine spiders and whatever anonymous folk that might decide to look up some dirt on people who mod their PS2. (I definitely don’t want to get any certified letters from Sony lawyers).

I had heard that PS2 mod chip installations were really hard, and only to be attempted by practiced, competent solderers, so I looked up the prices for having my mod chip installed. Most places that sell the chips online also offer installation services for a fee. The $60 cost plus shipping of the ps2 (you ship the unit to them, they mod it and ship it back) was prohibitive. I also solicited installation information on the git.ads newsgroup.
The one response I got back was from an EE undergrad who offered to install it for $45 and would ‘guarantee his work’. The chip itself cost me $48, so I wasn’t all that eager to make arrangements. I decided that if some EE undergrad could do it then I should be able to do it too. I did a bunch of online searching and came across a web page that listed all of the materials + general instructions needed to do the job.

My friend with the modified PS2 (who happens to be a EE with a grad degree) kept trying to dissuade me from doing it myself, warning me that I was going to fry my PS2, but I had made up my mind. I was concerned about my relative lack of soldering station experience (approx 10 times in my life, nothing much more difficult than wire splices), so i decided to practice on some broken computer equipment that I had laying around.

Ironically enough, the supplies that I bought ended up costing me about $40. Here is a list of what I bought:

• 30awg kynar wire (100ft) – $3.25 – Very thin wire, even thinner than cat5 conductor strands.
  The doofuses working at Fry’s had no idea what this was. One guy claimed to have had gotten an EE degree back in the 70’s but hadn’t ever heard of it.
• Wire strippers – $7.99 – Had to hunt a little bit to find a pair that would strip 30 awg wire
  I usually use nail clippers or a pocket knife to strip wires, but the 30awg kynar was too thin for that to work.
• Solder paste flux (non acidic) – $2.99 – Used to help solder flow in the desired direction
  I didn’t have any clue how to use this stuff. It took a combination of advice of IRC and trial-and-error for me to figure it out. It is handy, but has its limitations.
• 0.32 dia Rosin core solder – ~$4 – The solder I’d already had was too thick.
• 15W Soldering Iron – $8.30 – Ripped off! Radio Shack blows!
  None of the irons at Fry’s had the conical tip I needed, and they were out of replacement tips for their irons below 40W. Radio Shack had the only appropriate one I could find.
• Solvent Cleaner – $3.99 – A volatile aromatic, by the smell of it. I *think* this is supposed to help clean off/dissolve the thin plastic coating put on to circuit boards & connections.
  I wiped it over the solder points, but I have my doubts as to how effective it was. A quick perusal of the label says ethanol, petroleum solvent and other hydrocarbons.
• The best safety razor + blue tack – ~$5.00 – The razor blades are used to shield the point on the board you are workign with from other points. The blue tack (putty) holds the blade in place to keep your hands free.
  This was really helpful. It allowed me to focus on not letting the solder go in one particular direction while acting as a physical shield and heat shield for parts in the other direction. Even if you have a surgeon’s steadiness, i’d reccomend it as an added precautionary measure.

So, doing the installation by myself wasn’t that money-saving a deal. I saved about $5 and had to risk messing up the PS2 without any kind of guarantee in case of an error. Nevertheless, by doing so I will end up with left-over materials and skills that I can loan, lease, or sell to others if I am so inclined…. though I am very hesitant to attempt another mod chip installation.
After I obtained all of the materials, I ventured out on to IRC for some first-hand advice from people who had performed PS2 mod chip installations. I spent most of my time in #ps2 on EFNET. Pretty much EVERYONE told me that I had no business opening up a PS2 if I didn’t have decent above-average soldering skills, but I did get some helpful advice. It was after that that I decided to take a practice run on a broken ISA 3Com 3c509B network card.

More to come…..