cross-posted from: https://leminal.space/post/40261910
Does anyone here know a lot about PlayStation 1 mod chips?
I took my old PS1 apart and found the mod chip that was installed back then.
The PS1 has a PU-22 motherboard, and a PIC12C508/P is soldered onto it. The chip is glued into the case and soldered to the motherboard with wires.
If I’ve identified the pins correctly, pins 2, 3, and 5 are not in use.
I’m trying to figure out exactly which firmware or mod this might be.
wow, I remember fitting those in the late 1990s and early 2000s. I used thinner wires though. I cannot remember what they were called but, managed to buy the blank chips and program them from hex I got off the internet.
this sounds like the same. https://github.com/Kippykip/PSX-Modchip
I would never need this in my life but I find it really comforting that things like this are archived and shared and rewritten decades after they’re relevant.
PIC12 is a universal microcontroller from Microchip. They were probably used in many many modchips from back in the day. You might be able to extract the firmware using a Microchip PIC programmer, but most of those include fuses that can be blown to prevent them from being read or re-programmed. Reverse engineering the firmware probably wouldn’t be too hard either, but might take some time.
Most older modchips were just random microcontrollers with some software on it to trigger some levels in specific situations making the software think everything is fine.
Are you having some issues with it?
I also asked my question on Mastodon, and someone said “the PIC12C508 seems to only really be used by the Old Crow modchip”
Along with this link: https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps1/Modchips
I don’t have issues with it, I just opened up my old console, I don’t remember who set this modchip up, so I just want to know what it is, do I maybe want another one, etc. Just a small assessment.
Can’t tell you details but found a similar chip for sale. Maybe that helps… https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000236804743.html
Cold boot imports and backups
There were several mods that ran on a pic chip (including some that have been made much more recently and can be found on GitHub)