PS3 Frankenstein PHAT PS3: CECHA with 40nm RSX

With the dummies i mean... this, explained and with some photos
https://www.fudzilla.com/news/pc-hardware/44538-amd-explains-dummy-dies-in-threadripper-cpus

The dummies are needed because there is a lot of pressure on it... and the IHS needs to be well supported by several "columns" of the same height, in this photo 2 DIE's are real, but the other 2 are dummies
der8auer-threadripperdelid-1.jpg





Edit:
Just to be clear, the dummies should be located like this (the blue squares):
qsPlZZq.jpg
 
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lcferrum said:
It seems that SYSCON was also replaced.

View attachment 23577

CXR714120-304GB. According to PSDevWiki, this is the SYSCON that is found on later Phats starting with CECHH.
Click to expand...

Yeah this PS3 has defo been done by S@ny or at one of there repair centres as only these would be able to pair the SYSCON with another CELL/BE (or has the CELL been done as well lol..?) as CELL/BE and SYSCON are paired together...
 
lcferrum said:
It seems that SYSCON was also replaced.

View attachment 23577

CXR714120-304GB. According to PSDevWiki, this is the SYSCON that is found on later Phats starting with CECHH.
Click to expand...

Actually, this exact Syscon model isn't known yet. The latest Phat console (DECR-1400A) does still have the CXR714120-302GB. The suffix specifies the firmware version, which means this Syscon runs a newer firmware version.
Maybe it's the missing 1.5 one (https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/System_Controller_Firmware#Known_Retail_syscon_update_packages).
Could you post a picture of the More System Information (https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/More_System_Information) to clarify this?
 
At this point i think the previous owner of this PS3 was someone "special" for sony (that person convinced them to do the work)
For the official repair services is not worthy to do all this work/hacks for a normal customer
They follows some procedures to identify the problem/s and if at some point they finds something big what they does is to throw the motherboard to the recycle bin and replace it by another motherboard from the remanufacturing plants (they can reprogram it to clone all ID's, restore the hdd contents, etc.. so the customer doesnt even realizes what happened)

The point is they does it in the most cheapest way posible... but to create this framkencecha is needed time and a good amount of work (and time = money)
 
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I have one of the SS with the smaller die here, the chip itself is a smaller footprint. No dice there without at the very least a custom made interposer. Abandon that idea.

re: swapped syscon ..... uh-oh. I looked through my scrap pile. No CECHA01 had that model, but I did find a CECHE01 with that model .... sooo. I don't know. I think I'm still gonna go through with it, but I've lost a bit of hope.
 
sandungas said:
At this point i think the previous owner of this PS3 was someone "special" for sony (that person convinced them to do the work)
For the official repair services is not worthy to do all this work/hacks for a normal customer
They follows some procedures to identify the problem/s and if at some point they finds something big what they does is to throw the motherboard to the recycle bin and replace it by another motherboard from the remanufacturing plants (they can reprogram it to clone all ID's, restore the hdd contents, etc.. so the customer doesnt even realizes what happened)

The point is they does it in the most cheapest way posible... but to create this framkencecha is needed time and a good amount of work (and time = money)
Click to expand...
I was thinking exactly the same way.
 
squeept said:
I have one of the SS with the smaller die here, the chip itself is a smaller footprint. No dice there without at the very least a custom made interposer. Abandon that idea.

re: swapped syscon ..... uh-oh. I looked through my scrap pile. No CECHA01 had that model, but I did find a CECHE01 with that model .... sooo. I don't know. I think I'm still gonna go through with it, but I've lost a bit of hope.
Click to expand...
Try it without syscon when you have time and we will see.
 
5 hours to go. Maybe the part numbers are just different due to regional differences in Japan and some supply chain differences? I can see them taking the time to do a repair like this for a customer when they don't have spare boards laying around from years ago anymore (and they can't really offer an equivalent replacement system either), but I can't imagine them changing out multiple chips, then messing with firmware and syscon stuff to get it all to play together nicely just for a few repairs.

I can see the techs finding a dead GPU, then seeing they only have the new model chips for spares, then asking the engineers if it will work and they're like "yeah, just ground this resistor" but anything beyond that would just have me completely baffled as to who and why anyone did this. Or maybe I just really, really want this to work...
 
squeept said:
5 hours to go. Maybe the part numbers are just different due to regional differences in Japan and some supply chain differences? I can see them taking the time to do a repair like this for a customer when they don't have spare boards laying around from years ago anymore (and they can't really offer an equivalent replacement system either), but I can't imagine them changing out multiple chips, then messing with firmware and syscon stuff to get it all to play together nicely just for a few repairs.

I can see the techs finding a dead GPU, then seeing they only have the new model chips for spares, then asking the engineers if it will work and they're like "yeah, just ground this resistor" but anything beyond that would just have me completely baffled as to who and why anyone did this. Or maybe I just really, really want this to work...
Click to expand...

In fairness I think everyone here is really hoping it will work alongside you. Besides your thoughts on just how much work it would involve if it wasn't viable to simply swap the rsx and ground that resistor seem pretty dang reasonable from if you're sony and wanting to get repairs done quickly and cheaply.

One thing I'm curious about is will the ihs height need adjustment to make good contact with the heatsinks? Or are all the ihs using models a pretty universal height?

Glad you never successfully deleted your account here especially with the insight you bring to the table.
 
sandungas said:
At this point i think the previous owner of this PS3 was someone "special" for sony (that person convinced them to do the work)
For the official repair services is not worthy to do all this work/hacks for a normal customer
Click to expand...

If the console was insured or proved to be under warranty at the time of repair and the customer didn't want a replacement or such then they would have no choice but to attempt repair it regardless of how they did things..

And this goes for anything, not just consoles.

lcferrum said:
Interestingly, it hasn't. This is standard CECHA CXD2964AGB.

View attachment 23578
Click to expand...

I think its been a bit over done with the thermal paste... it looks like a thermal cake...lol :)
 
Cypher_CG89 said:
If the console was insured or proved to be under warranty at the time of repair and the customer didn't want a replacement or such then they would have no choice but to attempt repair it regardless of how they did things..

And this goes for anything, not just consoles.
Click to expand...
The sony warranty says they can replace the console by a different one of the same (or newer) model
Is like that since the PS2 and probably before
 
sandungas said:
The sony warranty says they can replace the console by a different one of the same (or newer) model
Click to expand...

All manufactures put this in there warranties for their products, means jack sh!t when compared to consumer rights and their right to have it repaired and not replaced when its under warranty... stuff like that is added to cover all angles when issue's arise to give options.

I personally would say just give me a newer one and not wait for it to be repaired.

I work in production and manufacturing, its the same all over regardless of whats being made, I have seen it many times
 
lcferrum said:
It seems that SYSCON was also replaced.

View attachment 23577

CXR714120-304GB. According to PSDevWiki, this is the SYSCON that is found on later Phats starting with CECHH.
Click to expand...
One question, you could update the system normally? I know of someone that could boot up a PS3 with a different Syscon on the mobo, due the original being fried. But that involves software issues.
 
Bad news, good news. Didn't work. But, the board I was trying it on was inconclusive in all diagnostics I tried, so it doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't work. I'll put the original GPU back on and move the resistor back tomorrow, then put the slim GPU back on the slim system. If both work then, I'd call that conclusive.

Good news.....ish. If you were following the TOKIN thread, I mentioned a third, weird-ass waveform that sometimes showed up on the RSX voltage line that looks like data instead of a voltage. Yep, that's what I see now. It was "typical" prior to the swap. So, 100% a problem with the RSX if you see that data looking crap. I don't know if I can say for certain if it means the GPU is dead or just disconnected yet, but...yeah. Progress, I guess.
 
Really cool man. Looks like you are squashing multiple bugs at once here with your theory. What is the next step? Try a known working slim rsx? Or do you think both of those boards are fried? @M4j0r was saying that the syscon was of a newer unknown model. I wonder if that has to do with part of the swap to? This is super interesting stuff. I hope we can get more answers once that machine is back together and running again. Don't lose hope!
 
lcferrum said:
It seems that SYSCON was also replaced.

View attachment 23577

CXR714120-304GB. According to PSDevWiki, this is the SYSCON that is found on later Phats starting with CECHH.
Click to expand...

Wasn't those last model Phats having the same board as first model slims? Ver-001? I recall when doing my hard mod to my cech l00. That it shared many similarities to 2k slim consoles. Maybe they take the rsx, move that resistor , and swap out syscon from a 2k series board. Would be cool if @M4j0r could dump that one to see if they passed any special trickery to I via update.
Wouldn't that mean if you updated it normally though and syscon was updated, it would make this console break from not being a normal update? So many questions
 
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