Thanks man. I'd not seen any resources online about how to adjust PS1 lasers the correct way (i.e. without ruining it), so I thought I'd post my own. Glad I was able to help you got your PS1 working. If I ever post any other videos like this, they'll be on this channel.
I just use a multimeter to spec then scope to adjust if needed. 11.4mv on intensity (while disc is playing), 1.62 bias, 1.82/1.85 gain are the number I usually spec to.
Hi mate, thanks for uploading this. Very professionally done! I had a question regarding my SCPH-7002 model ps1 - it seems to struggle to read some discs and skips and stutters on others, some disks work fine strangely enough. I cleaned the laser with IP alcohol and oiled the spindle motor with some silicone oil which seems to make it run a bit smoother but the problem persists. The ps1 is arranged differently to other models - there are only 2 potentiometers present (one on the laser arrangement ribbon and another on the motherboard I believe). I can't find any info online regarding adjusting this model of ps1, do you have any advice on this? I have access to an oscilloscope and multimeter so am able to carry out the same kind of adjustments as the ones in your video if possible
The disc will actually slow down when the laser is at the outer edge of the disc and the disc will speed up when the laser is close to the centre of the disc.
For later models that don't have these pots I bet it's cheaper to add them back with jumper leads so it can be adjusted well running then it is to replace the laser assembly?
On those newer revisions of PlayStations there's something called Digital Servo, that means there's a Integrated Circuit that auto-calibrates the focus offset and focus gain. That being said, if the laser is not behaving well there's not much to do as there are not potenciometers to adjust .
Do you happen to know what the third potentiometer at this approximate area on the mainboard does? I got my unit used and I fear the previous owners could have messed with it :(
thank you for the video! My SCPH 5501 ( PU 18)sudenly stops playing some background music. This occurs mainly on CGs and FMV. The video image runs ok, but has no sound. In some games the background music plays perfectly, but in others only plays sound effect( voices, shots, explosions)...no sound... For example: Tforce V plays only the sound effects.,,, no sound on presentation CG, no sound on game, only the sound effects. The same issue in Vagrabt Story. But in Crash 1 , 2 and Crash team Racing, has no problem, these entire games plays normally. Do you think its possible to be a optic laser issue? All these CD-r games plays normally on my PS2.And all this games was working flawless three months ago in my ps 5501. Do you have any clue or tip? i just have a multimeter, i try to solve this issue moving the potentiometer, but none of this solve the problem. Thank you.
I installed a chinese replacement laser for my SCPH-1001 and it was just not good for some games using CD-Audio such as Strider 2, not even after following the calibration indicated by the service manual. Perhaps the PSOne lasers follow different calibration adjustements ?
i have bought 2 new cd assembly for my ps1 but the same problem still happens the disc spins for a moment, then stops. on every cd assembly what could be the problem? Power supply maybe?
Hi micheal I have another question if you or anyone else can help. I want to be able to refurbish these consoles to as close to new as possible, as far as working and reliability. They cost nothing to buy and everyone says "just buy another" when they break, but of course then youre just adding another unreliable box to the pile. My question is do you know where I can buy replacement GOOD QUALITY lasers or parts? Or alternatively, does the calibration method in this video bring the lasers back to "like new" quality? Is going out of calibration generally what happens when they go bad? Assuming that mechanically it was all good. And one last thing, are there any other components you know of that commonly fail on these, so that i can preemptively replace them? Leaky caps etc? Sorry for all the questions its just rare finding someone who actually knows what theyre talking about, thanks again
Replacement parts are a bit tricky. You can buy them from eBay/AliExpress but they're very much hit or miss. You could buy several bad parts before a good one. What I prefer to do is buy old/partially working devices and part them out, taking the bits that do work and using them to repair other devices. While it can vary between different devices, recalibrating the laser can fix most disc reading issues with a PS1 quite well. Perhaps it will drift out of calibration again in a few years, but bear in mind these are old devices, and require more tlc as they get older - like old cars. If a laser can be recalibrated instead of replaced, it's a win in my book. Other failure points would include the power supply. You can just swap the board for a better one, or find the problem and fix it if you have the time. My policy with capacitor replacement is that its not always necessary, but it can help. If there are weird intermittent issues with the device, it could be down the the caps in the power supply preventing proper delivery of power to the rest of the device. If you're looking to refurbish these things to brand new, replacing the electrolytic capacitors in the power supply is probably the thing to do.
The PS1 went through several revisions.. the earlier models like pictured here with the laser at the 11 o clock position suffered from a design flaw in the laser transport mechanism, it was all plastic and combined with the heat and poor lubrication over time the sled wears out and grinds down the plastic which causes the laser to be no longer parallel with the unit.. many years ago when the PS was still fairly new and I used to service them on some of the higher hour original models i'd see them with deep grooves worn into the sled. If you have decent engineering skills you can fabricate metal shims and bring the laser back into parallel, maybe not like new but it can often make them work again, people found that turning these units upside down caused the laser to flop down and be closer to parallel so it would read better. The later units also incorporated automatic focus bias / gain control so there are no trim pots to adjust that and Sony corrected the design flaw by redesigning the sled out of metal. Like new probably isn't possible as many of the components degrade with age, including the laser diode itself.. even some transient voltage spikes can shorten the life of the laser diode. Not always true but generally speaking the more hours the unit has been used for the more degradation you can expect to find. Imagine an old lightbulb.. it gradually gets darker over time before it burns out. Lasers are different but similar enough for this analogy to work.. even besides the output becoming weaker the lens can physically degrade to the point cleaning is no longer possible, a lot of things that cant really be serviced or repaired can happen. The best you could do if you had infinite time and money and equipment and knowledge would be to measure and replace any electrolytic capacitor including all surface mounts, you could measure them with an in circuit ESR tester but given their age they will all have some level of degradation, probably not enough to cause problems but this is a theoretical like new condition situation so replacing them all would be what you would want to do, even if it wont really make any noticeable difference (but it will probably fail much later than not doing them) The mainboard has around 40 SMD capacitors.. somewhere like console5 will sell you a complete replacement kit, the PSU has larger capacitors, around 7 or 8. From somewhere like console5 you'll be paying around $30 for the capacitors along with some hours to change them all. You will also want to strip the laser transport, clean all the old grease and apply the correct new grease to the transport. Assuming you can't get hold of an official Sony calibration CD that you need to use in conjunction with the service manual to calibrate and verify pass/fail operation of the laser unit then an audio cd and some games are the best you will be able to achieve.. as in the video a stable eye pattern at the correct voltage is a good indicator the unit is working well. A laser power meter would be desirable but these can cost several hundred dollars.. you want to check the specifications of the laser and verify the power output is correct. During the corona scare in 2020 when many people were told to work from home etc I did the above on an original launch day PS1 SCPH-1000 I had imported when the PS was first launched.. the sled was very badly worn and I have other playstations I could have changed the laser mechanism from (the slim psone laser will fit in the early models without any ribbon cable extensions required and is probably the best conditions laser you will find for the price and not going to be a chinese fake / refurb of unknown quality, you can put it in the later models too with a ribbon cable extender). Repairing the original laser involved putting the sled in a mill and fabricating some shim washers I laser cut to fit then bonded on.. after a lot of work the unit plays audio cds fine and no longer has any skipping on FMV in games and quick load times. Certainly the time and money it takes makes this unfeasible to do from a business perspective, given the uncertainty of how things will age I wouldn't want to sell a completely rebuilt one for $300+ knowing that it could still fail due to some undiagnosed laser degradation then have to refund the customer. Probably why nobody else is doing it either.. for personal project its fine to waste time and money with old junk though.
Useful information nice one thankyou. My model however only has a single pot which is the one on the drive for power. I've been playing with it for about a week now but without an oscilliscope. I've been measuring the mV on the point above that pot starting at 10.0 mV and slowly working my way up so that I can play backups of my games. I believe it may be better to work with resistance instead here, I'm not sure what with being the self taught noobie that I am with electronics. Anyway, regardless of adjustment and with a new drive no matter what I do I cannot get it to read them 100% reliably so much so that I've started to advise that it's best to avoid cd-r backups altogether. I performed the adjustments using a cd-r packed with music. I've gotten it extremely close but no dice.
This is how all instructional videos should be made. Im looking at getting an oscilloscope for this type of stuff and general electronic repair. How do you rate the model you have there?
Thanks. Hopefully I'll make some more videos sometime. I have an old Hameg 20MHz oscilloscope. They made good scopes. This one isn't the most high-end scope out there, but it's very solid, and has enough features for these kind of repairs. My advice is to make sure the scope definitely works before you buy it and I'd avoid going too cheap. You want to get a good brand with plenty of documentation.
hello sir.. i was just wonder how long will the laser last? and now my ps1 works really well after i adjusted my potentiometer. im just worried that my lens will burn out. im no tech savy and i dont know how to revert it again to the way it was. i just wanna know how long will my playstation last until my lens burns out? like days, months, years? thanks in advance for answering.
Hi I have PS 1 that has issue of laser working . It won't read and work until I put small piece of tissue or anything like under the tray to push it more then it can play games. Or it works when I push more the outer of tray disc ! Any idea why it works in that way !
It calibrates de DC output of the Switching Power Supply, since they are factory calibrated I suggest not to mess with it or you may fry the motherboard if adjust to a much higher DC voltage .
I could use a lead soldered to the test point... Or I could not. I was able to get a reading fine for this demonstration. My scope is in need of some calibration itself. What it reads is a touch lower than what the value actually is, but so long as I know it's fine. Besides, these old CD lasers aren't really all that strong anyway - it's one of the reasons older CD players really struggle to read CD-Rs sometimes.
@@meahall_miscellaneous I'm sorry... What I meant was the wire connected on the CL704 as test point. It's pretty handy. My scope is an Hameg 20mhz like yours. And is perfect for the laser adjustment. Another tips is... Try to reach 1.2 v p-p with original disc (That's the Sony standard).
![20 BEST PS1 Games of All Time [OLD]](/img/n.gif)
Dude you deserve way more recognition, you showed how REALY calibrate!!! Thanks for saving my ps1!!!
Thanks man. I'd not seen any resources online about how to adjust PS1 lasers the correct way (i.e. without ruining it), so I thought I'd post my own.
Glad I was able to help you got your PS1 working. If I ever post any other videos like this, they'll be on this channel.
In later PS1 models, the bias and gain tracking controls were removed, so this must be an SCPH-1001/2
Yeah I have a later model and those don't exist 😭
Same@@ens0246 , but this was still a great watch nonetheless
I just use a multimeter to spec then scope to adjust if needed. 11.4mv on intensity (while disc is playing), 1.62 bias, 1.82/1.85 gain are the number I usually spec to.
Hi mate, thanks for uploading this. Very professionally done!
I had a question regarding my SCPH-7002 model ps1 - it seems to struggle to read some discs and skips and stutters on others, some disks work fine strangely enough. I cleaned the laser with IP alcohol and oiled the spindle motor with some silicone oil which seems to make it run a bit smoother but the problem persists.
The ps1 is arranged differently to other models - there are only 2 potentiometers present (one on the laser arrangement ribbon and another on the motherboard I believe). I can't find any info online regarding adjusting this model of ps1, do you have any advice on this? I have access to an oscilloscope and multimeter so am able to carry out the same kind of adjustments as the ones in your video if possible
Thanks! In your experience, can regreasing the railing mechanism and motor help improve tracking as well?
The disc will actually slow down when the laser is at the outer edge of the disc and the disc will speed up when the laser is close to the centre of the disc.
For later models that don't have these pots I bet it's cheaper to add them back with jumper leads so it can be adjusted well running then it is to replace the laser assembly?
If so what size pots? as id love to try this.
Does this apply for SPCH 9002 as well? There is nothing like that on the mobo.
On those newer revisions of PlayStations there's something called Digital Servo, that means there's a Integrated Circuit that auto-calibrates the focus offset and focus gain. That being said, if the laser is not behaving well there's not much to do as there are not potenciometers to adjust .
What are your freq and voltage settings on your scope? Also, what is the point that you look for the eye pattern on? It was not visible in your video.
Do you happen to know what the third potentiometer at this approximate area on the mainboard does? I got my unit used and I fear the previous owners could have messed with it :(
thank you for the video!
My SCPH 5501 ( PU 18)sudenly stops playing some background music. This occurs mainly on CGs and FMV. The video image runs ok, but has no sound.
In some games the background music plays perfectly, but in others only plays sound effect( voices, shots, explosions)...no sound...
For example: Tforce V plays only the sound effects.,,, no sound on presentation CG, no sound on game, only the sound effects. The same issue in Vagrabt Story.
But in Crash 1 , 2 and Crash team Racing, has no problem, these entire games plays normally.
Do you think its possible to be a optic laser issue?
All these CD-r games plays normally on my PS2.And all this games was working flawless three months ago in my ps 5501.
Do you have any clue or tip? i just have a multimeter, i try to solve this issue moving the potentiometer, but none of this solve the problem.
Thank you.
I installed a chinese replacement laser for my SCPH-1001 and it was just not good for some games using CD-Audio such as Strider 2, not even after following the calibration indicated by the service manual. Perhaps the PSOne lasers follow different calibration adjustements ?
Can someone explain to me what the RV703 potentiometer on a newer model ps1 does? Is it similar to the bias and gain pots of the older ps1?
How to fix without oscilloscope?
i have bought 2 new cd assembly for my ps1 but the same problem still happens
the disc spins for a moment, then stops. on every cd assembly
what could be the problem? Power supply maybe?
Hi micheal I have another question if you or anyone else can help. I want to be able to refurbish these consoles to as close to new as possible, as far as working and reliability. They cost nothing to buy and everyone says "just buy another" when they break, but of course then youre just adding another unreliable box to the pile. My question is do you know where I can buy replacement GOOD QUALITY lasers or parts? Or alternatively, does the calibration method in this video bring the lasers back to "like new" quality? Is going out of calibration generally what happens when they go bad? Assuming that mechanically it was all good. And one last thing, are there any other components you know of that commonly fail on these, so that i can preemptively replace them? Leaky caps etc?
Sorry for all the questions its just rare finding someone who actually knows what theyre talking about, thanks again
Replacement parts are a bit tricky. You can buy them from eBay/AliExpress but they're very much hit or miss. You could buy several bad parts before a good one.
What I prefer to do is buy old/partially working devices and part them out, taking the bits that do work and using them to repair other devices.
While it can vary between different devices, recalibrating the laser can fix most disc reading issues with a PS1 quite well. Perhaps it will drift out of calibration again in a few years, but bear in mind these are old devices, and require more tlc as they get older - like old cars. If a laser can be recalibrated instead of replaced, it's a win in my book.
Other failure points would include the power supply. You can just swap the board for a better one, or find the problem and fix it if you have the time.
My policy with capacitor replacement is that its not always necessary, but it can help. If there are weird intermittent issues with the device, it could be down the the caps in the power supply preventing proper delivery of power to the rest of the device. If you're looking to refurbish these things to brand new, replacing the electrolytic capacitors in the power supply is probably the thing to do.
@@meahall_miscellaneous Awesome! Thank you so much for this information, legend.
The PS1 went through several revisions.. the earlier models like pictured here with the laser at the 11 o clock position suffered from a design flaw in the laser transport mechanism, it was all plastic and combined with the heat and poor lubrication over time the sled wears out and grinds down the plastic which causes the laser to be no longer parallel with the unit.. many years ago when the PS was still fairly new and I used to service them on some of the higher hour original models i'd see them with deep grooves worn into the sled.
If you have decent engineering skills you can fabricate metal shims and bring the laser back into parallel, maybe not like new but it can often make them work again, people found that turning these units upside down caused the laser to flop down and be closer to parallel so it would read better.
The later units also incorporated automatic focus bias / gain control so there are no trim pots to adjust that and Sony corrected the design flaw by redesigning the sled out of metal.
Like new probably isn't possible as many of the components degrade with age, including the laser diode itself.. even some transient voltage spikes can shorten the life of the laser diode. Not always true but generally speaking the more hours the unit has been used for the more degradation you can expect to find. Imagine an old lightbulb.. it gradually gets darker over time before it burns out.
Lasers are different but similar enough for this analogy to work.. even besides the output becoming weaker the lens can physically degrade to the point cleaning is no longer possible, a lot of things that cant really be serviced or repaired can happen.
The best you could do if you had infinite time and money and equipment and knowledge would be to measure and replace any electrolytic capacitor including all surface mounts, you could measure them with an in circuit ESR tester but given their age they will all have some level of degradation, probably not enough to cause problems but this is a theoretical like new condition situation so replacing them all would be what you would want to do, even if it wont really make any noticeable difference (but it will probably fail much later than not doing them)
The mainboard has around 40 SMD capacitors.. somewhere like console5 will sell you a complete replacement kit, the PSU has larger capacitors, around 7 or 8. From somewhere like console5 you'll be paying around $30 for the capacitors along with some hours to change them all.
You will also want to strip the laser transport, clean all the old grease and apply the correct new grease to the transport.
Assuming you can't get hold of an official Sony calibration CD that you need to use in conjunction with the service manual to calibrate and verify pass/fail operation of the laser unit then an audio cd and some games are the best you will be able to achieve.. as in the video a stable eye pattern at the correct voltage is a good indicator the unit is working well.
A laser power meter would be desirable but these can cost several hundred dollars.. you want to check the specifications of the laser and verify the power output is correct.
During the corona scare in 2020 when many people were told to work from home etc I did the above on an original launch day PS1 SCPH-1000 I had imported when the PS was first launched.. the sled was very badly worn and I have other playstations I could have changed the laser mechanism from (the slim psone laser will fit in the early models without any ribbon cable extensions required and is probably the best conditions laser you will find for the price and not going to be a chinese fake / refurb of unknown quality, you can put it in the later models too with a ribbon cable extender).
Repairing the original laser involved putting the sled in a mill and fabricating some shim washers I laser cut to fit then bonded on.. after a lot of work the unit plays audio cds fine and no longer has any skipping on FMV in games and quick load times.
Certainly the time and money it takes makes this unfeasible to do from a business perspective, given the uncertainty of how things will age I wouldn't want to sell a completely rebuilt one for $300+ knowing that it could still fail due to some undiagnosed laser degradation then have to refund the customer.
Probably why nobody else is doing it either.. for personal project its fine to waste time and money with old junk though.
Thanks! So much info
Useful information nice one thankyou. My model however only has a single pot which is the one on the drive for power. I've been playing with it for about a week now but without an oscilliscope. I've been measuring the mV on the point above that pot starting at 10.0 mV and slowly working my way up so that I can play backups of my games. I believe it may be better to work with resistance instead here, I'm not sure what with being the self taught noobie that I am with electronics. Anyway, regardless of adjustment and with a new drive no matter what I do I cannot get it to read them 100% reliably so much so that I've started to advise that it's best to avoid cd-r backups altogether.
I performed the adjustments using a cd-r packed with music. I've gotten it extremely close but no dice.
This is how all instructional videos should be made. Im looking at getting an oscilloscope for this type of stuff and general electronic repair. How do you rate the model you have there?
Thanks. Hopefully I'll make some more videos sometime. I have an old Hameg 20MHz oscilloscope. They made good scopes. This one isn't the most high-end scope out there, but it's very solid, and has enough features for these kind of repairs.
My advice is to make sure the scope definitely works before you buy it and I'd avoid going too cheap. You want to get a good brand with plenty of documentation.
@@meahall_miscellaneous thanks mate cheers for the reply
hello sir.. i was just wonder how long will the laser last? and now my ps1 works really well after i adjusted my potentiometer. im just worried that my lens will burn out. im no tech savy and i dont know how to revert it again to the way it was. i just wanna know how long will my playstation last until my lens burns out? like days, months, years? thanks in advance for answering.
Hi
I have PS 1 that has issue of laser working . It won't read and work until I put small piece of tissue or anything like under the tray to push it more then it can play games. Or it works when I push more the outer of tray disc !
Any idea why it works in that way !
Hi and I noticed there's a white plastic Phillips head screw potentiometer on the power supply, what is it and what does it do?
It calibrates de DC output of the Switching Power Supply, since they are factory calibrated I suggest not to mess with it or you may fry the motherboard if adjust to a much higher DC voltage .
So not very helpful for people who don’t own test equipment?
Does it play games now? I need the games man... 😂
Good video, but... You can use a lead soldered on CL704 :).
Also, your RF is good but maybe too low (0.6v p-p?)
Cheers :)
I could use a lead soldered to the test point... Or I could not. I was able to get a reading fine for this demonstration.
My scope is in need of some calibration itself. What it reads is a touch lower than what the value actually is, but so long as I know it's fine.
Besides, these old CD lasers aren't really all that strong anyway - it's one of the reasons older CD players really struggle to read CD-Rs sometimes.
@@meahall_miscellaneous I'm sorry... What I meant was the wire connected on the CL704 as test point.
It's pretty handy.
My scope is an Hameg 20mhz like yours. And is perfect for the laser adjustment.
Another tips is... Try to reach 1.2 v p-p with original disc (That's the Sony standard).