Dumps of PS2 modchips available?

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FR0ZN

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Hey everybody,

does anyone know if dumps of PS2 modchips were made available online? Speaking of Matrix Infinity, DMS, Ghost 2 etc. ?

I talked to the guys behind the Ghost 2, unfortunately they don't seem to have any source or gerber files anymore :(

The reason why I ask is because of the "issues" certain clone modchips have. For example the Modbo series has seen so many software modifications, that the PAL Y-Fix and PS1 Boot Intro don't work anymore which is a bummer. There seems to be one MI clone called "Matrix Infinity 1.99" manufactured in 2009 which works perfectly. The same modchip from the same manufacturer built in 2016 however is bugged again.
Here is a list from a german board where you can see a certain pattern.

The DMS 4 Lite clone called Mars Pro, seems to again work great, but has issues with saving its settings - it simply doesn't work. This is a problem, because the DVD9 DL setting is disabled by default :(

So I'm asking if anyone of you guys know if the FPGAs / ASICs were dumped in the past and/or made public.
I would like to see one of them open sourced or initiate a project to reverse them, fix their issues and reimplement them into new hardware.

Thanks and regards,
iCEQB
 
I see where you're coming from - unfortunately can't help. I'll just throw this out there: Maybe it's time to look at what methods developed over the years and then do a clean-room open source reimplementation of that, like the PsNee for the PS1. Patching old code to infinity and beyond isn't something I'm too fond of.
 
cta said:
I see where you're coming from - unfortunately can't help. I'll just throw this out there: Maybe it's time to look at what methods developed over the years and then do a clean-room open source reimplementation of that, like the PsNee for the PS1. Patching old code to infinity and beyond isn't something I'm too fond of.
Click to expand...

This would indeed be awesome - a clean, open source, community modchip that works on the entire PS2 range.

But maybe we can learn a thing or two from a dump of existing modchip.
 
I'm now in talks with several people who do decapping for the 'greater good'.
I was also able to contact the staff from the Matrix Team, but don't know if there was ever any change of the team, or if the last living signs from them (around end of 2019) were indeed them.
I asked if there was any interest to finally make the Matrix Infinity open source, including all the gerber files (in case those files still exist).

Also, does anyone know what the update discs contain? Do they only contain the software for the SPI flash? Or does the disc also update the FPGA?
Maybe one of our PS2 experts can help ?

I realy hope we can start something here !

Regards,
iCEQB
 
iCEQB said:
The reason why I ask is because of the "issues" certain clone modchips have. For example the Modbo series has seen so many software modifications, that the PAL Y-Fix and PS1 Boot Intro don't work anymore which is a bummer. There seems to be one MI clone called "Matrix Infinity 1.99" manufactured in 2009 which works perfectly. The same modchip from the same manufacturer built in 2016 however is bugged again.
Click to expand...

I'm sure that these are not the same manufacturers and i think many chinese factories produce these chips.
It looks like that the design is taken from the Modbo 735.
And the one from 2009 is also not bug free.
Many Matrix Infinity Clones has sometimes startproblems with PS1 games on slim consoles, so they hang at a blackscreen.
To fix that you can open and close the tray, or pressing "O" while turning the console on, to force the PS1/DVD-Video Mode.
But with the 2009 chip, you get a RSOD if you pressing "O" at the beginning with a PS1 game inserted.
It will only force DVD's to DVD-Video.
So if a PS1 game hanging with a blackscreen, you have to open and close the tray.
After that the PS1 bootlogo displaying and the game starts fine.
And that chip has no "Matrix" logo under the PlayStation 2 font if you start a PS2 game.
It's only show "Infinity 1.99".
 
Thr asic Pro chips they used are stupidly expensive now as they went end of life. So even if you decapped them, you are looking at over £50 per chip to have them made.
 
Bad_Ad84 said:
Thr asic Pro chips they used are stupidly expensive now as they went end of life. So even if you decapped them, you are looking at over £50 per chip to have them made.
Click to expand...

I've got more of a curiosity question than anything else about the ASIC chips... is it hard to port them over to newer chips? I haven't ever done it, but Verilog or VHDL is just code, right? I know that you may need to change inputs/outputs to match a different chip, but I don't see that being too difficult.
 
If you dump the chips via decapping, you don't have the code to port over. Just the data to program to the chip.
 
Somewhat related thread from a few weeks back here. (Participants overlap with this one, but maybe it's of use to a spectator.)
 
Simple answer would be, why would they? What is there to gain aside from being "nice people"? Doubt it'll ever happen, likely some insider knowledge or corporate espionage or who knows what went on. Better to distance yourself completely from it, caused tons of lost revenue..

Also would be interesting trying to explain what they did to generate the taxable income as a business that they would have had to report if.. they were legitimate. I can't fathom anyone doing this or coming out as the person who did it especially after the geohot debacle. No way.
 
Keeping up with this thread. I will want to help. I can buy chinese modchips and reverse engineer at a basic level.
 
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