PSX DESR7700 general questions

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In99flames

Forum Noob
Hello all. Been a lurker for a while and finally want to post some questions if I may. I've read a lot about it here and on other forums. Ive found a ton of info and not all I understand. So thus I will ask here!

I have a completely working unmodified DESR 7700. I replaced PS2 and DVDR laser proactively as I assumed they were getting tired. Judging by the cloudiness of the lasers vs the new ones I'd say they were on their way out. So, onto the infamous topic: The HDD.

My drive is working, so when I pulled it out, i actually had a PATA 250gb brand new Seagate hdd I wanted to replace it with. I thought, perfect. 250gb for 250gb. I have an ICS Image MASSter 1000 hard drive duplicator machine. I ran the duplicator and it completed successfully. Unfortunately the new HDD did not work. I read here that it must be only a few types of HDDs and the Seagate I have is NOT one of those. It did the typical failed HDD symptom with the new drive, it boots and you see the psx logo with sound, then black screen forever.

So, the drive in mine is a Hitachi Deskstar model HDS722525VLAT80. If I purchased the exact same model HDD and size, then I put both drives on the duplicator again, do you think that would work? I am thinking my Image MASSter probably does a better job than using software cloning programs as this is an actual machine made for duplication of hard disks. Thanks for the help!
 
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You will not replace it by other HDD than those came from another DESR or PS2 (the official ones of course). Those have special firmware and that's the reason why DESR reject normal HDD.

But this junk is already hacked, just not yet published. So fingers crossed and be patient.

How You will make sector by sector image doesn't matter. Can be dd, HDD Raw Copy Tool, DMDE, any hex editor, whatever. ;]
 
Ahh understood. Thank you so much for that information! I started to get cross eyed reading everything. I will be patient. In the meantime, should I keep that copied HDD as a backup? maybe it is good to have that backup.

Also. I thought of another option. If its a custom firmware on the drive, couldn't I also purchase the same exact HDD model and transfer the circuit board over from the original drive? Furthermore I could also just desolder the firmware chip on the original board and bring it to the new one(i am an expert in soldering smds and trace repair)...I would like to attempt this but do not want to screw with a working DESR HDD. Maybe I should try this on a broken desr 7700 drive first.
 
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Berion said:
Those have special firmware and that's the reason why DESR reject normal HDD.

But this junk is already hacked, just not yet published. So fingers crossed and be patient.
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Yeah it is cracked, but the "available" stuff is just not yet quite safe AFAIK.

It doesn't hack the drive-firmware, but something on the PSX's NAND (system-files?) and doesn't have much around to secure it from "bricks".
 
In99flames said:
should I keep that copied HDD as a backup? maybe it is good to have that backup.
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Of course. Because when Your current HDD will die, such dump safe You a lot of headache (then You will buy HDD equal or larger, comes from DESR/PS2 and write image back). At least this is how situation looks today without hacking.

If its a custom firmware on the drive, couldn't I also purchase the same exact HDD model and transfer the circuit board over from the original drive?
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In theory yes, but each HDD unit have its own geometry written in service area, and who knows if this fw doesn't have some hardware ids checks. I never read anyway if someone tried such trick. In theory should works but... well, that's risky.

Furthermore I could also just desolder the firmware chip on the original board and bring it to the new one(i am an expert in soldering smds and trace repair)...
Click to expand...
So then make backup of DVRP fw because future hacks will write there (@TnA ).

I would like to attempt this but do not want to screw with a working DESR HDD. Maybe I should try this on a broken desr 7700 drive first.
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Definitely, not mess with working environment if You don't have another. But this approach also have sense to me.

TnA said:
Yeah it is cracked, but the "available" stuff is just not yet quite safe AFAIK.
Click to expand...
Exactly.
It doesn't hack the drive-firmware, but something on the PSX's NAND (system-files?) and doesn't have much around to secure it from "bricks".
Click to expand...
I think You misleading two things. What can be booted from XFrom is kind of FMCB but from internal flash (since we know how to sign xosd). This will not lift HDD security because it is in DVRP, not this fw.
 
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You guys are great. Thank you for replying. I put my old HDD back in and it is working again. I just noticed my firmware is 2.10. I doubt ill find an official update disc to 2.11. I also doubt there is any benefit to hooking it up online at this point.

I need to learn the terminology more with this. As I just only started to look through all the terms you were using. What is the DVRP. The firmware file? Ill need to read how to do this.
 
In99flames said:
You guys are great. Thank you for replying. I put my old HDD back in and it is working again. I just noticed my firmware is 2.10. I doubt ill find an official update disc to 2.11. I also doubt there is any benefit to hooking it up online at this point.

I need to learn the terminology more with this. As I just only started to look through all the terms you were using. What is the DVRP. The firmware file? Ill need to read how to do this.
Click to expand...

Not sure if you've been to the PSX page on the wiki (https://playstationdev.wiki/ps2devwiki/index.php/PSX) but I definitely would if you haven't.

Without further tools, replacing the PSX HD is for all intents-and-purposes a no-go as of yet, as Berion said.

Also, not sure if you've seen the thread where myself and another user are offering a bounty on cracking this particular problem, if you want some more information (https://www.psx-place.com/threads/bounty-for-psx-desr-model-drive-swap-mod.37981/).
 
In99flames said:
You guys are great. Thank you for replying. I put my old HDD back in and it is working again. I just noticed my firmware is 2.10. I doubt ill find an official update disc to 2.11. I also doubt there is any benefit to hooking it up online at this point.
Click to expand...
If I'm not mistaken, all servers are now down. So the only option left officially is update through original discs.

I need to learn the terminology more with this. As I just only started to look through all the terms you were using. What is the DVRP. The firmware file? Ill need to read how to do this.
Click to expand...
https://playstationdev.wiki/ps2devwiki/index.php/DVRP
Read mentioned NOR and You will get backup of it - for future in case You will get brick. But I'm not hardware guy, so I cannot help You in this task (what reader to use etc.). Damaging this chip means console killing.
 
Ok Ill read more. I think I have another issue. This may have been there before the laser swap. First, putting in a blank DVD+R disc works and is recognized properly. When playing a ps2 game(dvd) the game loads no problem. In the middle of playing, (doesnt take long to happen) the game will crash. Screen freeze or crazy stuff happening. The whole system does NOT freeze thiugh as you can quit the game with the button on the front and then load the game again. I only have 1 Japanese ps2 game and it has some small scuffs on it. I dont know if thats the cause or not. I put in a Japanese ps1 game(cd), and the system doesnt try to read it. Spins for a quick second then stops. I have more than one new KHS-400C ps2 laser on hand and tried 2. No difference(yes grounding solder ball has been removed) in behavior.
 
Yea....based upon how my PSX is acting....i fear for the worst. Again, BOTH lasers have been replaced with new lasers. Other than launching a game, the system currently works but disc functionality is questionable other than a blank DVD+R No cds will read. Ps2 game crashes and glitches out once you start to play the game after going through menus and everything. Ill research to see if others have had similar behavior.
 
Install FMCB for DESR and see if the symptoms are in game run from USB in OPL (for game which is fully compatible of course). This will at least exclude ODD related issue if everything be ok.
 
Great idea. I will have to research how to do that. I will actually be away from the system for about a as I am taking time off work. I wont be able to try till late February. I will definitely update here though when it happens.
 
@Berion I wanted to update you. I havent tried the freemcboot yet. I went a different option. I bought another desr7700. I should be getting it at the end of the month. This apparently does not read disks either and is probably laser. It was also not clear if the system boots or not. It doesnt matter to me though.

With 2 systems ill be able to test everything I need. I can try the disc drive from the new one in my current one with the new lasers to see if it works properly. If it my current system behaves the same(not reading cds crashing on ps2 games) ill swap main boards to see if i have a hardware issue. If the new one doesnt boot, im going to buy the same model HDD as what is in the machine. Ill duplicate my backup to the new purchased HDD, then ill swap the HDD pcbs from the bad hdd in the new system to the newly purchased hdd(since they are the exact same hdd model) and see if this process will be accepted by the system.

If i can get a failed OS to boot with this method I think that would be a great way to help a lot of people. It would basically only require a backup of a working system. This would have had to have been made before the hdd failure or potentially someone with the same model DESR having a system backup to be able to give to someone. Then Buying a new(probably used by this point) HDD of the exact same model. Copying the backup to the newly purchased hdd, then switching the PCB from the dead hdd onto the newly purchased one. The hitachi deskstar's pcb in my desr 7700 is only attached with a few screws and a detachable ribbon cable. Its easy to swap the pcbs.....im eager to see if this works. Ill post all my findings, but again itll be at the end of the month when the new system arrives.
 
Very high price but well, also totally safe method to bypass this stupid limitation. I also wait for some reviews/feedback from buyers.
 
Thats great about this progress but yes 320 is steep. So I did buy another DESR 7700. I got it fairly cheap and it was listed as not working. Much to my surprise, the new one I got is in fact 100% working! It reads Ps1 discs, Ps2 discs, and DVDs as well as booting into the systen. Now that I have this second one, i was able to do testing. I wanted to try a whole bunch of things. First, i swapped HDDs between the 2 systems. Both are DESR 7700 with version 2.10. I swapped HDDs(both original and working from each unit) and it did not work. So I also tried swapping HDD pcbs and that also did not work. The next test was to duplicate the HDD onto an exact same model Hitachi HDD and then put the pcb from the original Hitachi onto the new one I purchased and see if the system will boot that way. So, I did buy an exact same model hitachi HDD that is in my DESR7700. I was going to duplicate the working HDD to the one i just got,but go figure, my HDD duplicator has stopped working. So This test will have to wait.

Next I went to tackle the odd disc reading issues. Currently my original desr has both lasers changed. Unfortunately it STILL does not read regular CDs or PS1 games. It does read Ps2 games and load them no problem. However, during game play, the game will crash and glitch out completely(as noted in a previous post of mine).

Here's what I found so far, I swapped the entire disc drive from the original desr to the new 100 percent working one. Attached to the new DESR system, it still wont read regular cds and only read ps2 DVDs. One important note: on the new system attached with the old disc drive, the PS2 games DO NOT freeze/crash during gameplay. So it looks like the my old DESR has a main board PS2 logic issue. I am skilled to find and look for these things but with no schematics and the different design of this PS2 mainboard for the PSX, I doubt I will find the problem. I think my old PSX is irreparably damaged in this way.

I am still going to try and get the disc drive to read cds. Ill update further.
 
In99flames said:
Thats great about this progress but yes 320 is steep. So I did buy another DESR 7700. I got it fairly cheap and it was listed as not working. Much to my surprise, the new one I got is in fact 100% working! It reads Ps1 discs, Ps2 discs, and DVDs as well as booting into the systen. Now that I have this second one, i was able to do testing. I wanted to try a whole bunch of things. First, i swapped HDDs between the 2 systems. Both are DESR 7700 with version 2.10. I swapped HDDs(both original and working from each unit) and it did not work. So I also tried swapping HDD pcbs and that also did not work. The next test was to duplicate the HDD onto an exact same model Hitachi HDD and then put the pcb from the original Hitachi onto the new one I purchased and see if the system will boot that way. So, I did buy an exact same model hitachi HDD that is in my DESR7700. I was going to duplicate the working HDD to the one i just got,but go figure, my HDD duplicator has stopped working. So This test will have to wait.
Click to expand...

Not surprising. The last thing you have to test has the most potential for success, but I still wouldn't be optimistic.
 
Yea i wasnt optimistic with the other HDD tests i did today but I figured what the hell since all the parts were in front of me. :) mad about my HDD duplicator failing though. Just when I needed it....usually how this stuff happens anyways isn't it.
 
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