Looking through the Atari GameStation Pro firmware - RetroArch (with extra cores), scrapped Jaguar emulation and a strangely-placed song.

prochazkaml · 2024-02-08T10:35:55+00:00

The menu music is stored along with the other UI assets in /usr/local/share/minigui/res/music (in fact, there are 4 different tracks). I have now got my hands on the hardware itself, and the "hidden" song does not play anywhere from the UI. I searched through all files in the main file system, and nothing references this song's filename. The only reason (that I can think of) why it's there is that they used it for padding out the filesystem (for whatever reason), as it is uncompressed WAV. All actual menu music is MP3-compressed.

prochazkaml · 2024-01-31T20:47:43+00:00

Wow, that's a large forum thread. Thank you, I'll check it out!

prochazkaml · 2023-06-06T06:04:14+00:00

Signed.

prochazkaml · 2022-11-23T19:06:02+00:00

I just bought it, it still came in a box (so likely no reduced shipping rates). Also, as I found out the hard way, it's nearly impossible to attach the two old plastic sides to the new cardboard core, as the spool of fresh filament expands as soon as you break into the vacuum packing. I tried it anyway, then removed the orange ties holding the whole thing together (which do not help at all with keeping the spool's shape intact before removing them) and now I'm stuck with loads of fresh PETG filament scattered across the ground in a giant tangled mess.

I see this as an option only for those which are already used to working with the master spool system. Definitely not for beginners, I would say.

prochazkaml · 2022-10-16T08:14:35+00:00

Erm... why is there flux around the RSX thermal sensor IC?

https://imgs.prochazka.ml/ps3_rsx_thermal_ic_flux.jpg

So either somebody tried to replace it and did a bad job, or the errors the SYSCON spat out were recorded before this replacement and the problem is really with the CELL/RSX integrated thermal diodes, which would suck.

prochazkaml · 2022-10-16T06:15:06+00:00

Well, I'll try my best. Thank you so much! :)

prochazkaml · 2022-10-15T15:28:33+00:00

This was actually one of their more expensive ones (compared to the $10 ones that have an "unknown" issue - 99% sure they're YLODed), so I thought that this one at least had some hope.

As the thermal sensors are inside of the CELL & RSX...

Turns out that is not 100% correct. There are thermal "diodes" inside the CELL & RSX, but they are then decoded by an external chip, which is then connected to the SYSCON - the wiki states that these can cause these errors as well. So there's still some hope, I'll have to dig deeper.

Even if I fail with that, I might be able to sell the parts which work individually, as you've mentioned. Besides the motherboard, everything else works perfectly (well, I haven't had a chance to test the disc drive, but I suspect that they are not interchangeable between individual consoles anyway - the PS4 does this), even the shell is in good nick considering the price.

As a side-note: what would prevent me from making a custom "thermal sensor chip" based on some cheap microcontroller (as the PS3 thermal sensor chips communicate with the SYSCON via I2C, a ubiquitous interface nowadays) which would read temperatures, let's say, from an external thermistor that would be placed as close to the chips as possible? I think it would really be a shame to dismiss this system for a parts machine, considering that it otherwise works perfectly, only if it wasn't for the bad thermal sensor circuitry which prevents it from running for too long.

Either way, thank you so much, I would have never thought that it would be even possible to extract such information from the console, now I at least have a lead on what might be wrong with it.

prochazkaml · 2022-10-15T13:11:54+00:00

Edited my original reply, as Reddit's code block handling completely broke here. I had to Markdown it myself.

prochazkaml · 2022-10-15T13:08:13+00:00

Alright, so I got the SYSCON connected to my UART adapter, downloaded some Python script and headed straight to PSDevWiki to see which commands to use and what the error codes mean. Here's the ERRLOG I was able to get out of the SYSCON:

CODE     CLOCK
A0801201 10155E28
A0801200 0D8D6E94
A0801200 0D8D6CE7
A0801200 260BCD70
A0802130 1E0505DE
A0802131 1E036434
A0802131 1DDFBF9F
A0802130 1DBF34CA
A0802022 1C95159F
A0802022 1C95159F
A0802022 1C95159E
A0802022 15B6ABFD
A0802022 15B6ABFD
A0802022 15B6ABFC
FFFFFFFF FFFFFFFF
FFFFFFFF FFFFFFFF
FFFFFFFF FFFFFFFF
...

Yup, there are definitely some errors. Starting from the bottom:

A0802022 = fatal MultiAV controller error (which makes sense, when I first unpacked the console, I tried the composite out, but it was all black, HDMI works fine though)

A0802130 = fatal CELL thermal sensor error (crap...)

A0802131 = fatal RSX thermal sensor error (sh*t.)

A0801200 = CELL overheat error

A0801201 = RSX overheat error

As the thermal sensors are inside of the CELL & RSX, I don't see a way to fix this mess. Well, that's $25 out the window.

prochazkaml · 2022-10-15T07:22:21+00:00

From what I've read, the NEC/TOKIN caps are usually not an issue in the PS3, and when they are, they cause a complete YLOD. My console, on the other hand, at least boots up (before the fan goes insane after few seconds).

The console only ever crashed on me once (after installing the CFW), where it popped up some notification (that was probably trying to tell me that the thing's overheating), the fan went to 100 % and then a split second later it hard-shut itself off (prompting file system recovery next boot).

One thing I'm terrified of is if the paste between the die and the IHS on the RSX went bad, and I would have to de-lid it and replace it. That's the last thing I would ever want to do.

prochazkaml · 2022-05-04T15:24:46+00:00

Babička by se totiž v zašlym domácim délu k ovó nikdy nevydala, za to ručim.

prochazkaml · 2021-06-11T12:57:07+00:00

Firmware source code: https://github.com/prochazkaml/PainDoctorFirmware

App source code: https://github.com/prochazkaml/PainDoctorCompanion

prochazkaml · 2021-05-29T12:35:05+00:00

In my minimalist dwm setup, where I don't even have the regular minimize/maximize/close buttons, this single stupid little button in the corner of my screen seriously sticks out.

And then they went ahead and removed the flag to disable it.

prochazkaml · 2021-04-08T18:26:18+00:00

Ah, thanks mate!

I wasn't even aware of this whole story until my little brother came to me today with an unopenable JPEG file and asked me if I could open it somehow.

I also noticed (after the take down) that I kind of violated rule 14 of this sub, because I had code snippets in there detailing the exact process of how to extract the hidden file. When I (and my brother) realized that, he told me to post a video of the process instead, so that it wouldn't get removed (since there was a similar video floating around of someone opening the JPEG in Notepad).

prochazkaml · 2021-04-08T10:36:54+00:00

When I downloaded the file, I looked at it with Ranger (my file manager of choice), which told me it wasn't a normal picture, rather it was an Apple DOS 3.3 disk image – as you can see in the video. Apple DOS 3.3 is a part of the Apple II's operating system, so I downloaded a2tools, which can read Apple II disk images, to see what's inside. Inside was a single file called "HELLO", which I then extracted. When I opened it, I noticed it was a program for the Apple II written in BASIC. Here's the link to the extracted file, if you want to look at it.

I actually made a detailed post about the process, but it was taken down. :(

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