Playstation 1 LASER REPLACEMNT HELP!

[Jorel]

Okay. Quick update. Just got a BAM laser assembly in the mail from Singapore...or some shit.

It doesn't wok. It doesn't work with the lid on the PS1. It doesn't work with lid off the PS1. It doesn't work after doing the crap Neo did in his video.

When I install the laser assemblies from the used PS1's I've been stocking up on, they work flawlessly.

I know I'm installing these things correctly. The only rational explanation at this point is that most of these "new" laser assemblies, are trash, manufactured in China, for pennies. If you get a new assembly and it works. You're just very lucky.

In my opinion, you are much better off, getting a stack of used PS1's that work flawlessly, for the assemblies. They're cheap. I got one last week for $10 and it turned out to be modded. SO now I have a stack of PS1's that work perfectly and one of them even has a mod chip installed.

I'm done with these assemblies. It's just silly.

Thank you and good night. Try the veal. Be sure to tip your waitress.

[s8n]

hi Jorel ,

In my opinion, you are much better off, getting a stack of used PS1's that work flawlessly, for the assemblies. They're cheap. I got one last week for $10 and it turned out to be modded.

this is what i am doing i decided not to go to Donberg and other places to get Laser Assemblies , i must commend you on this Thread as well as the others who have input info in it.

Your persistence on this topic has helped me and others now and in the future who read it


thanks

s8n

[neorichieb1971]

Not enough info Jorel.

Does the eye pop up and down when you press the lid button? Power going in? Does it skip, not spin, what?

I can't of been that lucky that you buy so many faulty and I buy 1 unit and it works straight away.

[Jorel]

S8N, thanks dude. And thank you to everybody who posted.

Neo. Power going in? Not sure what you mean by that. If you're asking me if I plugged the power cable into the mother board...then yes I did. It doesn't skip because it doesn't load games. It doesn't load anything. Yes it spins. I don't know if the lens pops up and down when I press the lid button.

Neo, you installed your assembly with the lid off, and it worked fine, is what you said. Mine doesn't even load the games, with the lid off. It's pretty obvious that these are defective. And in my opinion, it's very possible that you got lucky with your assembly. Also, in your video, you got a completely different laser assembly than the ones I'd been working with. I hope you understand that.

So I got ONE BAM so far, which is the same model assembly you got to work. And mine doesn't work. It's that simple. I really appreciate your information, and the video you made, but to be honest, you didn't really do anything fancy, that I saw, to get yours to work. You might suggest that I should adjust the POT. But from my research, it seems, you shouldn't have to adjust the POT until the laser is beginning to wear down. As adjusting the POT lowers the life expectancy of the laser.

With the lid off, and the lid button pressed, there shouldn't be any adjusting what so ever, to get these assemblies to read discs. Please, tell me I'm wrong. And tell me why.

I have one more BAM coming from LIBERTY, which is where you got yours. I'll try that one out when it arrives and I'll be sure to post the results.

[yojo!]

Also, in your video, you got a completely different laser assembly than the ones I'd been working with.

Could you post a pic of the BAM assembly you got that doesnt work?

Do you have a slim PSone to test with too? It would be interesting to see if the BAM assembly does not work at all or if it was designed specifically for the PSone.

[Jorel]

The BAM IS specifically designed for the PsONE. I think this was discussed earlier in the thread.

The only difference is the assembly is a slightly different shape and size. With the lid off the console it doesn't make a difference. Also when using the BAM on a 9001 model Ps1 like mine, you need an extension ribbon. My extension ribbon was tested twice and works perfectly. This was also discussed earlier in the thread.

[neorichieb1971]

I didn't do anything special. It was obvious when putting the lid back on that I had to shunt the laser mech a bit down to get it to screw on the base. This caused the skipping. Exchanged the top grey bit for the black one of the old unit and voila.. all done.

Obviously my unit checked out without the lid on, so I knew it was something trivial since the bare mechanics were operating 100%.

From what you said above I thought you were using a unit from liberty where I got mine from. I'm sure you will ok when you get your new liberty model. (fingers crossed).

[Jorel]

Okay. Well...got the BAM from Liberty. Worked great with the lid off.

Put the lid on and it skips.

Noticed the black plastic piece on the AEM is the same exact shape and size as the grey BAM piece.

Swapped the grey plastic BAM piece with the black AEM piece anyway. Still skipping with the lid on.

Took the lid off. Now it's skipping with the lid off.

Swapped the grey piece back on the BAM. Still skipping with the lid off.

Not sure which model laser assembly Neo got his black plastic piece from, because he didn't include that information in his video or posts. Probably not from the KSM 440-AEM because it turns out it's the same piece they put on the BAM... just a different color.

There's obviously slight differences between the shape of the lids in various models. So model numbers of the PS1 consoles and assemblies always helps.

There's a few more things I want to try before I give up once and for all. If anyone has any suggestions. By all means.

[Jorel]

Okay well it looks like it's actually getting worse. So I cleaned the lens very carefully. Same issues. It'll run the fmv in tekken perfectly but xenogears and einhander are a mess.

Think I'm just about done. I have 2 modded consoles that work perfectly and 3 assemblies that work perfectly that i took from used systems, so this whole thing just seems kinda silly to me now. I don't know what else to say.

I'm over it. Thanks again.

[Jorel]

Okay quick update.

I think I figured out why it was skipping even with the top off. It appears that the BAM doesn't have a tab on the right side of the assembly that supports it against the metal plate over the mother board. The AEM has this tab. So I wadded up some electrical tape and braced it under the right side of the BAM where the tab would be on the AEM. And there was no skipping with the top off.

So... it appears the top or lid, on my model 9001 is actually pressing down on the top of the rubber vibration dampeners. Meaning the assembly isn't actually too wide. It's too tall. I think I might grind out one of these PS1 lids I have over here, so it won't press the BAM down, maybe that'll fix the stuttering with the lid on...

I think I'm losing my mind. I can't seem to just walk away from this.

[neorichieb1971]

With mine the Grey new mech stuck out towards the back a bit too much. I shunted it down and put the lid on and it did what your explaining (pushing down on the rubber dampers). By changing the plates on the top it got rid of the problem.

Obviously the problems related to this are unique for each laser/machine combo.

I threw away my old laser. Shouldn't be hard to find out though. My machine was a Tokyo day 1 machine from Dec 94. So whatever the very first laser mech was.

[yojo!]

could you guys post a pic to help visualize what the iissue is?

[neorichieb1971]

With mine.

Grey cover sticks out 2mm higher than the black laser (towards the rear of the PS1). When you try to put the upper half of the PS1 back on it doesn't just sit flush. You need to move the laser mech down a tiny bit and the upper half will then sit on top. Fortunately for me, the grey cover was causing this. So I swapped it with the black cover of my old mech and it sat flush, drive worked perfectly.

Jorel is having other kinds of issues because he has a longer ribbon in the equation, not to mention his dampers are getting squashed. But I am in the belief the Laser mech works fine.

[Jorel]

I guess you're saying that my extension cable is an issue. But it isn't. I tested the extension cable on another assembly and it worked perfectly. I cut away the parts of the lid that were pushing down on the laser assembly, so that's no longer an issue. The laser assembly is still not very reliable. It seems to work most of the time, but it still skips here and there, even with the top off. So I took it back out, and just put one of my assemblies in that works perfectly. Also, what's strange is that it was having a real hard time loading imports and cd-r's, even with the top off. I'm sure Neo hasn't tried any imports or cd-r back ups. And I have no idea what the issues could be at this point. There's no reason it shouldn't be working, other than, it's another faulty assembly. I'm totally stumped and so is everyone else apparently. I could post pictures and what not, but to be honest, I feel like I've already wasted enough time on this. It's really supposed to be very simple.

It's possible that for whatever reason the BAM just won't work properly in a 9001 model Playstation. Maybe in a few weeks I'll take the BAM back out of the closet and try again, but I'd rather spend my time playing Zanac x Zanac.

[neorichieb1971]

Point blank 3 was an import (US title on JP machine).

Tekken was native JP.

I don't have any CDr's. I've never felt compelled to use anything with CDr's. A friend did once bring some round and I noticed the old laser was having massive trouble loading them up. I won't bother putting any CDr's on my machine though.

[Jorel]

Neo. That's funny. My BAM ran Tekken perfectly. Your console chipped? What ever it doesn't matter. I don't think anybody is disputing whether or not your console is working properly. It probably is. But if you're going to try and tell me that I'm installing these assemblies wrong, then I'm going to have to tell you, that's not the case.

On a side note. I haven't mentioned this here before, but my father actually has a degree in electronics, and he's been looking over my shoulder throughout the entire ordeal. I'm not doing anything wrong. I did what you did and then some. And mine just isn't reliable. If I take the assembly out of one of my 5501's right now, and put it into my 9001, it will work perfectly. It's one of the easiest things to do. The only logical explanation, is that these replacements are twitchy as hell. There was somebody else who posted on these forums, saying he had bad experiences with Sony replacement lasers. I'm sure you read that part. Right? So I'm not really sure why it's so hard to believe, that these assemblies are made like trash.

And I have some cd-r's I use because some of my games are really expensive. I'd rather use the backups sometimes.

[Jorel]

Somebody here at the arcade I work at suggested that the metal pegs the assembly sits on, might be the cause of the problem. If the pegs are too short, it's possible the assembly is much too mobile. I noticed that when pushing down on the BAM it would sink a bunch. Like it was really mushy. So it's very possible that the BAM is just completely incompatible with the 9001 Playstation. In all of my other PS1's the assemblies don't sink at all when I press down on them. This would explain why the BAM works in Neo's machine and not in mine. Because NEO IS USING A DIFFERENT PLAYSTATION MODEL.

I'll check it out when I get home.

[stuntman]

I just received and tested 2 x KSM440-AEM assemblies from eBay seller poligrafas. Tested in my modchipped 9002 they both work

First disc I tried was an original PAL copy of Colin McRea Rally with plenty of light scratches, and the FMV intro played without any problems. Then I tested with a CD-R (Verbatim) backup copy of Um Jammer Lammy [NTSC-U] and again no issues.

The assemblies did not come in any special packaging, just bubblewrap, without the rubbers, and they did look new. After some recent bad experiences, this has restored my faith in eBay somewhat.

[evil_ash_xero]

Anyone else buy lasers from Liberty Electronics?

I have a SCPH 1001 laser coming in from them, and I'm a bit worried after reading this thread.

[blizzz]

I'm also stuck with a (half) broken laser in my PSone. My hope is this device: PSIO.

It plugs into the parallel port and emulates the disc drive. Put all games on an SDXC card and the laser will no longer be a problem It will also work on a PSone mini if you solder it directly to the motherboard.

[evil_ash_xero]

Well, that would be great.

Sadly, we're stuck with lasers for now.

[evil_ash_xero]

I went ahead and bought a 20 dollar PSOne(shipped). Pretty cheap.

I'm going to use this guide, and just swap the mechanisms.


http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/sony-playstat ... placement/

[evil_ash_xero]

Got the system in today, and swapped lasers. Won't read CD-Rs at all.

So, fuck it.

I'm gonna get something else.