Sony PSX / DESR assembly guide

[Parris]

I'm in the middle of a PSX / DESR assembly guide, but my time is limited at present due to family & seasonal commitments. I promise to tidy this all up and complete the guide asap, but in the meantime if you have a PSX / DESR unit and want to see what lurks beneath it's sleek exterior here is a basic guide (incomplete as I stopped at the DVD section as it is clearly rather complex and at 2am I was not up for dealing with it).

I apologise for the rawness of it and the large images, but this will be removed and turned into the more familiar PDF type guide shortly.

[Parris]

PSX disassembly guide

Note* If you follow these instructions you should avoid the wasted 15mins I spent initially attempting to open the unit starting with the screws. It is in fact possible to do it without removing the grey side panels, but I found it firstly put a great deal of pressure on fragile casing parts and when attempting to reassemble with the grey side panels already attached it was almost impossible to slot the pieces together.

Also, it is far easier (and safer) to remove the PSU before any of the other components. Again through doing it the wrong way I discovered that removing the main PCB was hampered when the PSU was in situ and reassembly placed far too much pressure on the PCB & PSU connectors. So even if you are merely replacing the battery, I would suggest removing the PSU.



1) Turn unit onto side (see image) and using a small flat screwdriver gently tease the large rubber pad from the base of the grey side panel. (Repeat on other side)



2) Turning the unit completely upside down on a soft surface (for example a towel), locate the metal arm halfway along the inside of the grey side panel (see image). Using the small flat screwdriver, prise the arm gently downwards and pull the grey side panel backwards so it unclips. Repeat this on the other side. Notice that the side panels are actually marked ‘L’ and ‘R’ for reassembly.



Once the plastic plate has been removed your unit should look like this (Note that large clip. This image should help with it's location whilst assembled).



3) Place the unit on its back again and remove the small white rubber feet to uncover the screws holding the base to the frame. You will also have to break the warranty seal in order to remove the 3 plastic covers concealing the other screws.

4) Note that the longest screws are for the 4 forward screw holes, the small brass screws are for the rear 2 screw holes.

5) There is a secondary plastic plate marked with the various connections. It is held onto the frame by 2 medium length silver screws. Once this plate is removed you will expose the first IC connection (see image). Gently pull this cable away from the exposed PCB as this detaches the top plate from the main PCB frame.





6) Once all the screws are removed you should simply be able to prise the plastic parts away from the metal frame underneath. This exposes the internals. Note the IC cable running from mid side of the upper portion of the casing, over the HDD and to the rear of the unit. This is the cable you have just detached from the HDD array PCB. It can become easily forgotten about whilst flipping the unit over and twisted, possibly even damaged by the sharp metal edges. Keep it taped down if you can. If it isn't then secure it with electrical tape so you can easily remove it later.



7) Before laying the plastic parts aside or cleaning them, notice the thin PCB at the rear of the top lid. This is the HDD access and HDD activity status PCB. It is held to the top lid by three very small black Philips screws. Once you turn the PCB over you will see the rear IR sensor.



8) The top plate is relatively heavy and consists of two layers of plastic, a sheet of heat resistant rubber and a thin metal casing. Be aware that at the front of this panel there are a number of buttons. When cleaning, make sure that this entire top plate is suitably dried prior to assembly otherwise water or cleaning fluid may lurk between the various layers!

9) The base plate also has a series of six very fragile switches and a metal frame. Image (see image) also shows one of two brackets which once removed the front pull down cover comes away from the base plate. I am going to look into how to replace the broken plastic hinges on my unit and if I come up with something that actually works then I shall leave details later.



10) At this point you may wish to remove the two metal arms which held the grey side panels. They are secured to the main metal frame by two black screws each. They are unique sizes depending on left or right and you shouldn’t be able to mix them up or put them on upside down. It is worth noting their orientation prior to removal.



11) Once removed you have the main frame of the unit laid out before you. On the upper side you have the HDD, PSU and DVD. Underneath you have the main PCB.

12) Locate the PSU. Remove the three small brass screws and gently pull the white power supply cable from the PSU board. It hooks through a small plastic clip – this is to avoid the cable snagging or being damaged in reassembly as you will note a main screw passes through the upper corner of the PSU! Remember to re-hook the cable on assembly to avoid electric shock or damage to unit! Worthy of note is that the PSU for the PSX is not a standard PS2 type. Despite the unit being larger, there is more crammed inside the casing and therefore the orientation and size of the PSU is different. Note also the location of the main PSU fuse just to the side of the connection. It is a slow burn fuse, which in my haste I never checked the value of - doah! Judging by the image it's a 125v 5amp fuse, but I shall check properly.

It is worth noting to anyone unfamiliar with the PSX / DESR unit that they all run on 110vac (US/Japanese supply) and not the 240vac (Europe supply) and therefore don't just replace a blown fuse and plug it in! **Ensure that you have a step-down converter if required, otherwise kiss the PSU goodbye!**



13) Once the PSU has been removed from the main frame you should also remove the plastic PSU pad located directly on top of the metal frame. This is essential on reassembly! It isolates 110vac from the metal – do NOT forget to replace it and remember its orientation & function! There is a corresponding plastic isolator attached to the top lid. Should it become detached, you should find some means of reattaching it.



14) To the side of the PSU area is located a fan. Although it resembles a standard PS2 fan it has a non-standard cable end. If for any reason your fan should become damaged you would be required to retain the cable ending to suit the PSX PCB and splice the old cable to the new fan. The voltages appear to be exactly the same.




15) Take out the two brass screws on either side of the fan. Lift the fan out of the metal frame and gently pull the cable end upwards (without placing any tension on the cable itself).

16) You will now want to remove the HDD. Two cables attach the HDD to the main PCB. Locate them and remove them prior to commencing in order to facilitate the removal of the HDD. (See image).









17) The HDD is attached to the main frame by four small brass screws. Having removed them you should simply be able to lift the HDD from the frame, making sure that you note where the cables are fed through the metal frame.

18) One removal of the HDD you can flip the drive over to establish the manufacturer and / or capacity. In this instance it is a 160Gb Seagate. The largest capacity of DESR sold was 250Gb. Not wishing to assume anything, but I suspect that the smaller version could be upgraded to this capacity.

19) On the HDD is a small PCB attached to IC cables. This can be removed by unscrewing the HDD from the sled. Once the four screws are removed the drive can be pulled gently away from the PCB to expose a standard connection.

20) To continue disassembly, flip the main frame onto its back to expose the main PCB. This is the PS2. Underneath are 2 other PCB, one is a small connector PCB and the second is a larger VHF/ UHF RF PCB.



21) Unhook all of the IC connections located around the PCB. Note the type and size of connection. If necessary take detailed notes and / or photographs to ease reassembly.

22) Remove the five small brass screws holding the main PCB to the frame. Note their position and also note that one screw point remains empty. The screws points for this PCB are clearly marked with arrows pointing to the holes. The one without an arrow should be ignored on reassembly. Now remove the seven small black screws which are located at the rear of the unit on the I/O panel.



23) Gently lift the PCB away from the main frame, ensuring that no IC connections were missed. Also note at this point that if you do not follow the steps of disassembly noted here and you remove or assemble this board with the PSU still in situ, you will find it difficult and may inadvertently over flex one of the boards / connectors.

24) On removing the large PCB, lay it upright (due to the large metal heat sink it is impossible to lay it upside down). Notice that the PS2 battery is located on this PCB next to the memory card slots. It is a standard PS2 type.



25) Now you have exposed the remaining PCB. The RF PCB is hidden beneath the metal & rubber shielding. Remove the three brass screws which hold the shield in place and remove it.





26) The PCB is hooked at one end by a metal slot, so be careful not to force this PCB and cause damage. The smaller SVideo & RCA PCB should be detached from the RF PCB (note IC cable) and the lifted out of the way. Lastly, the bottom metal shield should be removed.











TBC (When I find the time to tackle the DVD...)

[unclejun]

Nice way to spend your Saturday morning!
Check your PMs when you can.

[Parris]

Nice way to spend your Saturday morning!
Check your PMs when you can.

Hi UJ, will check now as I've been exceptionally busy for the last few days. Actually we are getting ready for a party here later on today so I am becoming less popular the longer I remain at the PC, so I am off before I am cast out of the house!

[ConsoleFun]

Sweet!! Thanks for sharing!!!

If you have time later, would it be possible to have a closer look at the PCBs? Some hi-res photos of what might be the DVD-controller, BIOS and/or FlashROM would be awesome....

[Parris]

Yes, I am sorry I never took as much time & care last night as might be required for this guide to be of more use, but it was very late and I was very rushed. I'll be able to check more of this next week.

The remote for the DESR-5000 is a PSX RMT-P001 and takes 2 AA batteries. (Being anal here, but can other owners with different model numbers post whether their particular model has a different number and the corresponding unit - might be handy if they do differ).

[Borman]

Very very nice Parris. Thanks :) I love that unit, stupid arcade machines taking so much monies

[Carnivol]

Nice little "look inside the box".

I've actually wanted to get ahold of one of these for some time... maybe a birthday present for myself next year?

I guess my first terrible experiment with it will be to try to boot non-Japanese games on it (both PSX and PS2). The DVD region doesn't bother me, not that I would use it for DVD playback anyway, though. The recording function on it might be interesting, especially if it doesn't care about macrovision on devices hooked up to it and the quality of the recordings are of high quality. (Guess I could either use the DVD-R to export the footage... though, if it does re-encodes, then it's not desirable... Then I could ofcourse just hook up the HDD itself to a computer and extract somehow)


Say, if you want to toy around with it and take requests/answer questions, do you think you could check this for me?
If you hook up a VHS player (or something else) to it and playback macrovision protected media on the device hooked up, does the PSX get upset with you and refuses to record if you try to record the macrovision protected source?

[Parris]

I'd have to ask perhaps Festerfly, Limey or Unclejun to conduct this experiment as I ditched VHS a few years ago. I no longer actually own a stand alone DVD player or Laserdisc player either - sorry!

[Festerfly]

as ever a top quality guide from Parris!

Well done sir¬!

[Parris]

Thanks guys! One rather untidy modification on the unit would be to remove the internal HDD and extend the IDE and power connections through a hole in the casing. Flat cables could easily pass through a gap in the casing without any modification. With the additional space a standard 240vac PS2 PSU could be adapted (with sufficient technical experience & sheilding) to fit the now larger PSU area. It would be untidy however.

[limey]

Thanks guys! One rather untidy modification on the unit would be to remove the internal HDD and extend the IDE and power connections through a hole in the casing. Flat cables could easily pass through a gap in the casing without any modification. With the additional space a standard 240vac PS2 PSU could be adapted (with sufficient technical experience & sheilding) to fit the now larger PSU area. It would be untidy however.

Rather than take the IDE/power cables outside, you could replace the 3.5" HDD with a 2.5" laptop HDD, in order to gain some space. Personally, I'd go with the external step-down transformer route, unless an alternativel PSU could be found that fits in the normally available space.

Actually one of the things I'm curious about is whether the HDD can easily be replaced & how the unit would handle the new drive. Would it auto-format a new drive & if so, would it take a bigger drive (say 500Gb, or even just 250Gb to make a DESR 5000 equivalent to a DESR-7000)? Also wondering if the drives are bog-standard, or have any funny firmware trickery...?

[Festerfly]

the PS3 manages it, i wonder if the PSX had the same capabilities as you say. Also, if tried and failed, would it still be possible to reinstate the Original HDD?

[Parris]

Rather than take the IDE/power cables outside, you could replace the 3.5" HDD with a 2.5" laptop HDD, in order to gain some space. Personally, I'd go with the external step-down transformer route, unless an alternativel PSU could be found that fits in the normally available space.

Actually one of the things I'm curious about is whether the HDD can easily be replaced & how the unit would handle the new drive. Would it auto-format a new drive & if so, would it take a bigger drive (say 500Gb, or even just 250Gb to make a DESR 5000 equivalent to a DESR-7000)? Also wondering if the drives are bog-standard, or have any funny firmware trickery...?

I quite like the idea of an external alternative to swap drives if necessary. If and when anyone figures out a way to get these units to tune into (even just) US television (rather than European) then you may find a removable drive handy for storage reasons. Fill drives up with favourite programmes.

If you have very good cutting skills I think it would be feasible to cut out a window in the PSX lid, have the HDD on some kind of quick release set up if an external drive was not an option.

I wasn't sure whether a 2.5" HDD would be accepted.

[hl718]

From a connection standpoint, 2.5" and 3.5" drives are pin compatible.

The system wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

-hl718

[Parris]

Thanks for that. Then it would more than likely be able to use a 2.5" and a standard PS2 PSU with some jiggery-pockery and good shielding. There might be a way to get a 240vac unit running. The only annoying thing is that my spare 2.5" is only 50Gb. However, from a testing point of view it would be ideal.

:icon_bigg

[hl718]

Jiggery-pokery?

A Chris E., Who fan I presume?

-hl718

[Parris]

Jiggery-pokery?

A Chris E., Who fan I presume?

-hl718

You'll have to explain that one to me I'm afraid.

[hl718]

Doctor Who of course. ;)

Christopher Eccleston played the Doctor in the first series of the revival. Perhaps it's just me, but after it was uttered by him on the show it seems like the phrase is getting used a lot more often.

-hl718

[Parris]

Doctor Who of course. ;)

Christopher Eccleston played the Doctor in the first series of the revival. Perhaps it's just me, but after it was uttered by him on the show it seems like the phrase is getting used a lot more often.

-hl718

Ahhhh, no it's my son who's the Dr. Who fan not me and I don't ever recall him ever using that phrase. In my defence the term 'J-P' has been used in my family for decades and I thought it stemmed from The Goon Show, which my late father often quoted. There are lots of odd phrases this family has adopted as their own from various films, books & comedy sketches through the years!