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What Hardware Must Be Modified on a PS2?

Like many electronic devices, the Sony PlayStation 2 contains various restrictions in its hardware that regulate how you can use the device. These hardware limitations may prevent you from playing games with other regional coding, such as a Japanese game. They may also prevent you from playing burned backup copies of your media. Installing a modification on the PlayStation 2 can circumvent some of these limitations, though altering your hardware may void any warranty you have on the gaming system.

Disk Tray
- One of the least invasive modifications you can perform on your PlayStation 2 is using a slide card tool along with a software mod known as ̶0;Swap Magic.̶1; To install this modification, you need to carefully remove the front of the disk tray. Once the front cover of the disk tray is removed, you will be able to insert the slide card tool under the disk tray while the Swap Magic disk is running inside of the gaming system. This will open the disk tray and allow you to insert a disk from another region. Novices to hardware modification may prefer this method because it does not require any soldering or significant hardware disassembly.
Motherboard
- PlayStation 2 modifications that require you to install a modification chip set are more complicated than simply removing the front cover of the disk tray. You must entirely dismantle the PlayStation system to add a modification chip set. This requires removal of the bottom plastic casing, controller ports, power switch, power supply board, fan unit and metal heat shielding that protects the motherboard. Once you have access to the motherboard, you will alter it by clipping the modification chip in place and soldering connection wires to the pins of the chip as designated by the instructions for your particular modification chip.
BIOS
- On the chip board, there is a large, flat processor known as the basic input/output system, or BIOS. You will need to prepare some of the connector pins on the BIOS chip with your soldering iron. Connect wires to the prepared pins and then route them to the corresponding pins on the modification chip. Securing the wires to the chip board with hot glue is unlikely to harm the motherboard and will prevent electrical interference from loose wires. It is crucial that you install ground wires to the modification chip before testing the functionality of the BIOS wiring.
DVD Chip
- The final alteration you need to make on the motherboard to complete the installation of your modification chip is to the DVD chip. This chip is responsible for reading the disks you put into the PlayStation 2. Much like the BIOS chip, you will have to connect wires from the pins on the modification chip to the pins on the DVD chip. Once the chip is wired to a grounding and power source, your modification will likely be complete. Some chips may have additional alterations to the laser reader in the PlayStation, however.

PlayStation 2