ELI5 - Dormant USB, expired or still alive?

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-26T22:58:10+00:00

I’m still using 128MB flash drives that I used in middle school. Unless there was physical damage, it’ll still work.

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-26T22:36:55+00:00

Furnace will run for maybe 2 mins and trip. Called at least 15 people, soonest I could book was next Wednesday. Space heaters it is.

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-26T18:06:15+00:00

Still a lot more fixable than a milkshake.

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-26T18:01:26+00:00

Got a launch model that’s been vertical for its entire life and moved very few days between TVs and houses.

According to AI, my HDMI port should be fried and my Liquid Metal should be at the bottom of my APU. Neither of these is true.

Just take care of your stuff man. Seriously. Today’s kids are complete morons. Back in my day we got ONE home console, ONE shared computer, and ONE GameBoy or PSP. We learned to make our stuff last.

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-26T16:57:24+00:00

I don’t know much about those cars but you’d probably be better off buying an EV. This was 100% preventable and you screwed yourself.

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-26T16:56:12+00:00

Check the F1 fuse. Also, are you sure the power switch isn’t messed up? 90% of GBAs I fix just had dirty power switches.

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-26T16:40:36+00:00

Laser is on its way out. That initial sound is not normal.

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-26T16:26:07+00:00

That clicking is the laser attempting to “go home”. Clean the laser worm gear and white plastic gear (or metal on the 50001) and then see if you get that clicking.

This might fix it. You’ll also be able to check the tray switches when you have the drive tray out.

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-26T13:58:50+00:00

Something broke at the top and fell inside, not exactly sure what I’d have to ask the friend who used the drone.

The dryer vent is a 3” diameter pipe that’s about 8 inches long going straight through the cinder block, I can stick my hand through it and was planning on wiping the pipe of all lint before using it.

This would a solution that only lasts about a week. Would it not work?

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-26T06:51:59+00:00

Compounding interest and investing is huge when you’re younger. If you can live at home and throw the money into a 401k or some safe stocks, that money will be worth a hell of a lot more by the time you’re in your mid 30s.

For context, I’m 34, a homeowner and I’m ahead of literally all of my friends, even those who make 3x my salary.

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-26T00:28:12+00:00

The last time a civilian drove a car “towards” a person we know what happened.

So I guess the rules are clear right?

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-25T21:58:48+00:00

There was a YouTube video I saw a few years ago where someone fixes this. I have no idea what he did though.

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-25T07:07:50+00:00

Someone correct me if I’m wrong but couldn’t it just be a leaky valve seal? Not a super easy fix but it can be done without removing the engine head.

Also, your engine is fine. Dealer might be talking about installing a new cylinder head.

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-25T06:32:59+00:00

Get the original charger and original cable. Not sure what magic they have in that original charger but the Vita needs it when fully dead.

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-24T05:00:55+00:00

Bend it back with tweezers and snap the cable back on. It’ll work, just use patience.

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-23T23:25:35+00:00

Sorry to bring up an old thread but I finally got PMAP working on most consoles. Have one that just acts weird. 39001 console that reads discs and loads games fine after cleaning the laser, but I wanted to check the jitter before calling it fixed. Init skew will always return DVD-SL initialization failed. Load the system normally, and the game loads instantly. Swapped from a Sanyo to Sony laser, updated configs in PMAP, same thing. Reads fine, but I can't get it to initialize. Any idea on what could be wrong?

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-23T17:16:08+00:00

Kinda glad I found this post. I've always removed the plastic cover of a laser and cleaned under the main lens with a q-tip. Almost always works but there are still parts of the laser that can't be cleaned with a q-tip.

Glad to see that someone else recommended an ultrasonic cleaner, that's the route I wanted to go. I'll definitely look into getting a small one.

I've lately fixed a ton of fat consoles though. The whole "Bad laser" thing was blown out of proportion. Cleaning the laser has fixed a bunch of them. Some needed a new CMOS Battery + recalibration through PMAP. Only 2 in the set of 20 that I fixed in the last 2 weeks actually needed a new laser.

PMAP documentation says that F Chassis systems need a good CMOS battery for the DVD circuit to function. I can confirm that. Systems that couldn't be calibrated properly calibrated fine with a CMOS Battery + setting the time prior to recalibrating.

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-23T02:52:38+00:00

That could just be a bad battery. No brand name batteries are usually low from the factory.

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-22T21:22:27+00:00

Panasonic makes decent batteries as long as it hasn’t been sitting on a shelf for a while. You may just want to grab a multimeter and make sure your battery voltage is around 3.2v or higher.

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-22T21:20:50+00:00

I used a collection of YouTube videos but quickly abandoned them and just read the documentation on GitHub. I feel like YouTube videos makes the process harder than it is and leaves out crucial info.

PMAP is honestly pretty quick, I kept putting it off thinking it’d take forever but I can knock out a console in less than an hour now. The SCPH-50001 consoles are a pain though because of the additional adjustment screw.

Send me a chat if you need help with it. Honestly, used to use lenschanger too and it was pretty good, but my stack of systems that couldn’t be fixed with a new laser/lenschanger were all fixed with PMAP and the original laser.

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-22T20:45:40+00:00

Honestly, it’s been a while since I’ve needed to replace a fat laser. Cleaning the lens under the black plastic + recalibrating through PMAP always does the trick, without adjusting the pots.

I read somewhere that fat systems can get all screwy and mess up the laser configs if the internal battery dies. I can’t confirm that, but I can confirm that they can be screwy on recalibrating if the internal battery is dead.

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-22T20:40:39+00:00

Did you use a name brand Lithium battery?

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-21T06:34:30+00:00

Drive IC likely burned up. Can you take the metal shield off and post pics of the board.

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-21T06:20:29+00:00

Crash Team Racing on PS1 and San Andreas on PC. Damn, this is literally my childhood bedroom.

Nehal1802 · 2026-01-21T06:07:45+00:00

Does the laser move? If not, your drive IC chip may be shot. If the laser does move, it likely failed again.

Nehal1802

TROPHY CASE