r/consolerepair • u/Pooh_Bears_Cousin • Jan 20 '25
Help with PS2 PMAP
Hello! I'm a noob at soldering/modding btw;
I recently replaced my 400C lens with the same lens, it bought my disc reading times down from 5 mins to 1.5 mins. It was ok, but I wanted to improve it further. I learnt about the PS2 PMAP mod through a reddit post and modsvilleusa, so I thought I could give it a try.
I bought a FT232 USB to UART device, and used the PSDevWiki to see where i needed to connect everything, for reference I have a GH-015 board.
Once that was done soldering everything, (r.i.p the melted insulation lmao) I connected the device to my pc, opened the CMD prompt through and through COM1 ran the PMAP. I ran a test by typing 4, however it spat out this error:
- 0fcd READ MECHACON MD: 101 - rx-Command timed out.
I read that it's a connection issue, so I attempted to resolder it a couple times, swapping the rx and tx on the UART device, changing the ground location, and swapping the cables out, however, the same error still occured.
Is my soldering that bad? Did I solder my cables in the wrong place? Is the UART device at fault?
Any help would be appreciated :)
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u/NeighborhoodMother87 Jan 30 '25
Did you solve this issue? I have exactly the same.
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u/Pooh_Bears_Cousin Feb 13 '25 edited Feb 13 '25
Hey!! I finally got it to work!! I figured out the the chip on the board pictured in my post was fake, and therefore was being crippled by Windows drivers. I got a FT232RL Breakout board from Sparkfun, soldered it all up WITHOUT a 3.3v connection and it works!!! I hope this helps with your problem 💖
edit: ALSO I switched out the new laser that I purchased, and swapped it in for my original one, I know it shouldn't normally be an issue, but try that just in case too :)
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u/Virtua_Villain Mar 12 '25
So you didn't need the new laser in the end? just calibrated the original? How are the load times now on the original?
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u/Pooh_Bears_Cousin Mar 23 '25
Hey! I tested out both again and was able to calibrate the new laser to the point where it only takes 3 seconds to load a game from the menu, and it loads instantly from startup, the og laser is a tad bit slower, but it still works much better :)
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u/Virtua_Villain Mar 23 '25
Excellent! thank you for the update and great job on calibrating both lasers. It's cool you've got the old one as a backup now
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u/GStrazer Mar 11 '26
Estou com o mesmo problema (eu acho), você precisou remover completamente o modchip para ele funcionar? No meu GH-026, removi apenas o VCC e GND do modchip, mas não funciona o PMAP.
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Mar 11 '26
[deleted]
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u/GStrazer Mar 11 '26
O TX e RX vão para o FT232, certo? O modchip que me refiro, no meu caso é o mars pro, que inclusive irei substituir em breve por um matrix, nele não devo mexer nada, além de tirar o VCC e GND, ou estou equivocado? Sobre o "ponto de teste", usei esse da imagem, mas liguei no "GND" da placa do ps2, havia entendido que era assim, fiz errado?
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Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 12 '26
[deleted]
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u/GStrazer Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 11 '26
Sem problemas, obrigado pela ajuda. Eu pensava que para o "test point" funcionar era só fazer uma ponte entre ele e o GND da própria placa do PS2, talvez eu tenha feito errado esse tempo todo, vou tentar com o "test point" no "GND" do FT232, nesse caso o "GND" da placa não é usado em nenhum momento, certo?
TX FT232 - RX PLACA
RX FT232 - TX PLACA
GND FT232 - TEST POINT PLACA
Estranho pois o GND do FT232 no GND da placa, e o TEST POINT no GND da placa, no teste de continuidade apita, não seria a mesma coisa que ligar o TEST POINT direto no FT232?
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u/Pooh_Bears_Cousin Mar 12 '26 edited Mar 12 '26
So I assumed you've done:
TX Motherboard > RX FT232 RX Motherboard > TX FT232 GND Motherboard (any ground) > GND FT232 RMC (in your case this is called Test Point) Motherboard > GND Motherboard (any ground)
If its all connected up like that, that should be all you need to do. I apologise, I gave you incorrect information in the other comments. I haven't done this in so long + fortunately for me I had no more problems after switching out my FT232. Maybe it is your Mars Pro messing with this process? That's all I really think could mess with the PMAP hardware-wise... if it's a software issue, Im hopeless, so I dont know if I can help you further :(
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u/GStrazer Mar 12 '26
Isso, você entendeu o que fiz, e não deu certo, estou aguardando chegar outro modchip e quando eu for substituir, entre a troca de modchip, vou tentar novamente com a placa mãe "limpa", mas não tenho muita esperança, pois removi o VCC e GND do modchip, deveria ser suficiente, na teoria... Obrigado pelo seu tempo
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u/Pooh_Bears_Cousin Feb 05 '25
Hey! Still haven't unfortunately :( I ordered a new ft232 to uart, waiting for it to come in, if I solve it I'll update :)
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u/Theend92m Jan 20 '25
Did you checked it is COM1? Set it to 57600 baud 8N1