Installing a Modbo 5.0 in a Playstation 2

The Modbo chip I will be talking about in this article is the version 5.0 with USB support. All of the information in this article and diagrams are still relevant to the Modbo 4.0, the only difference is that the Modbo 4.0 doesn’t support USB HDD’s – only internal HDD’s via a network adapter or E-sata mod.

Preparation

For this mod you will need the following:
Tools:

• Modbo 4.0/5.0 Chip
• Soldering Iron with a very fine tip
• 45 AWG Enamel coated/Insulated wire (For IC points)
• 26 AWG Insulated wire (For 5v and Ground)
• Magnifying glass/Jewelers loupe
• Solder braid
• Insulation tape
• Hot glue gun (Optional)

Motherboard Identification:

	USA / NTSC	EURO / PAL
v0	N/A	N/A
v1	SCPH 30001 (GH-004)	N/A
v2	SCPH 30001 (GH-005)	N/A
v3	SCPH 30001 (GH-006) SCPH 30001 (GH-006)	SCPH 30002 (AUS) (GH-007) SCPH 30002 (AUS) (GH-007) SCPH 30003 (UK) (GH-007) SCPH 30003 (UK) (GH-007) SCPH 30004 (EUR) (GH-007) SCPH 30004 (EUR) (GH-007)
v4	SCPH 30001 (GH-010) SCPH 30001 (GH-010) SCPH 35001 (GH-010) SCPH 35001 (GH-010)	SCPH 30002 (AUS) (GH-010) SCPH 30002 (AUS) (GH-010) SCPH 35002 (AUS) (GH-010) SCPH 35002 (AUS) (GH-010) SCPH 30003 (UK) (GH-010) SCPH 30003 (UK) (GH-010) SCPH 35003 (UK) (GH-010) SCPH 35003 (UK) (GH-010) SCPH 30004 (EUR) (GH-010) SCPH 30004 (EUR) (GH-010) SCPH 35004 (EUR) (GH-010) SCPH 35005 (EUR) (GH-010)
v5	SCPH 30001R (GH-015) (EARLY VERSIONS HAD v4 BOARD)	SCPH 30002R (AUS) (GH-015) SCPH 30003R (UK) (GH-015) SCPH 30004R (EUR) (GH-015) (EARLY VERSIONS HAD v4 BOARD)
v6	SCPH 30001R (GH-015)	SCPH 30002R (AUS) (GH-015) SCPH 30003R (UK) (GH-015) SCPH 30004R (EUR) (GH-015)
v7	SCPH 39001 (GH-019)	SCPH 39002 (AUS) (GH-019 & GH-022) SCPH 39003 (UK) (GH-019 & GH-022) SCPH 39004 (EUR) (GH-019 & GH-022)
v8	SCPH 39001 (GH-022)	SCPH 39002 (AUS) (GH-019 & GH-022) SCPH 39003 (UK) (GH-019 & GH-022) SCPH 39004 (EUR) (GH-019 & GH-022) SCPH 39008 (RUSSIA) (GH-019 & GH-022)
v9	SCPH 50001 (GH-023)	SCPH 50006 / 50007
v10	SCPH 50001 (GH-026)	SCPH 50006 / 50007 (GH-026)

PS2 motherboard identification

Modbo Installation Diagrams:
Modbo Installation Diagrams

 

Installation

The Playstation 2 used in this article has a Version 9 motherboard, you can find out which version Playstation you have by checking the table above or the motherboard identification document. You must download the installation diagram for version motherboard that you own, each version has different locations that you must solder to.

IMPORTANT: It is important to note that the USA/PAL installation diagrams for the V9 are the wrong way around, the diagram for USA is the one to be used for PAL and vice versa. The diagrams show the “H” pin as not needed on the PAL version, when in fact it is the USA version that doesn’t need the “H” pin connected. If you miss the “H” pin on a PAL V9 then it will fail to read backup disks.

Also, please note that the PS2 only has a USB 1.0 BUS, so data transfer rates are very slow. What this means is that because it is only USB 1.0, then booting games from USB isn’t 100% flawless. It does work in many cases though albeit with very laggy cut-scenes, the game play is normally fine. What it is mostly useful for in my opinion, is loading the Modbo system files onto a USB drive, to boot the menu and then using backup disks to play the games. Booting from an internal HDD does not suffer from these restrictions though, so you can still do that with Modbo 4.0 or Modbo 5.0.

V12 LASER FIX: V12 requires you to install an extra little 6 wire PCB to stop your laser burning out. If you do not install the laser fix with your Modbo 5 on your V12 motherboard, you will fry the laser in your console within a few weeks, as the chip does not send the right voltage to the laser. The laser fix, corrects the voltage so that doesn’t happen. The V12 is the only motherboard revision that requires the laser fix.
Laser fix board looks like the board on the left in this picture below (colours may vary):

Now comes the hard part, we have to solder all of the wires to the correct pins. After finding which motherboard version your PS2 has and downloading the correct installation diagrams, we can proceed to install the chip.

As you can see on the diagram there are 2 pins, one named “5v” or “3.3v” and the other named “GND” these are your power and ground pins and these are what you should use your thicker 26 AWG Insulated wire for, as the power will not transfer through the thinner wire properly, the thinner wire is for your data pins which do not draw so much current.

First we need to remove the sticky back from the chip if it came with it applied, if not apply the one provided or use some double-sided tape and stick the chip down in a location and orientation like the example installation picture below. Now, cut each wire to length as you solder them into place.
Here is an example of how it should look when finished (It doesn’t have to be so neat but try if you can):



Once you have it all soldered up and you have checked all of your solder joints, it’s time to test your soldering job and see if it works. Partially re-assemble the PS2, so that you can test it’s all functioning as it should, but don’t fully screw it back together yet! If you experience any problems here it is most probably down to either some bad solder joints, using the wrong installation diagram or just a plain bad chip.

Installing the Modbo system menu

1. Download the Modbo / Matrix Infinity system files
2. Extract the files from the .zip file
3. Plug in your USB drive into your PC or connect your internal HDD internally or via an adapter
4. Create a folder at the root of your USB drive/HDD named “system”
5. Copy all the files that you extracted from the zip file into the “system” folder you just created

Once the Files are on the USB drive/HDD you are ready to boot the PS2.

Booting the Modbo system for the first time

Fingers crossed, if all has gone well you should be greeted with the very basic but very functional ModBo System Menu, from here you have four different options to navigate to.



From left to right:

1. Open PS2 Loader (Load PS2 games from internal or USB HDD)
2. HD Loader
3. uLaunchELF File Browser (A file browser that can launch native PS2 ELF executables)
4. PS2 Default Browser (The default PS2 browser you all know and love)

If you are happy it’s all working, then now we need to dis-assemble it again (I know right) and secure all of your wiring into place using either electrical tape or hot glue. I would recommend using a small amount of hot glue like the install example above but do not use too much as it can cause the chips to overheat if you have smothered them in too much glue.

Boot Hotkeys

There is an assortment of different boot options, if you hold down certain buttons while the system boots, the console will perform different tasks. Here is a list of the functions that I know of:

1. Circle – Boots ModBo Chip/system into PSX DVD Video mode. This forces the PS2 to either play PS1 games or DVD movies
2. Triangle – Forces the system to boot the Infinity Manager
3. Cross – Forces the system to bypass settings and boot to the Sony Browser with the ModBo chip enabled.
4. Start – This Disables the chip. Once this is done, tap the standby button to reset the system to finish disabling the Modbo chip. To Re-enable the Modbo chip you must place the system into standby
5. Select – This forces a Fast boot on PS2 games. Basically skipping the startup animation and Playstaion 2 Logo on disc boot
6. R1 – This boots a homebrew ELF file from the first memory card (mc0:/BOOT/BOOT.ELF)
7. L1 – This boots a homebrew ELF file from the hard drive if installed (hdd0:/__boot/boot.elf)
8. To enter the Configuration Menu, hold TRIANGLE AND CIRCLE at power on

Homebrew Apps

Now that you are all up and running you will probably be wanting to look at the homebrew apps made by the community. You can download a wide range of homebrew games and apps from here for free.