CECHA12 Displaying Green Screen only PS2 games

Alright, I found what caused issue with my CECHA00 and PS2 games freezing, maybe it will be interesting for someone.

It turned out, that if I increase the PS2 emulator fan speed at webman, to, lets say, 30% then PS2 games would instantly start freezing. The only stable speed is 25%, if you go higher than that - games would start freezing.
At the PS3 games, I can use even 40% speed or higher - there are no issues, but for PS2 it's only 25% or you will have these freezes.

What's worst, is that my temps for 1 hour of PS2 game session would rise to 74 on CPU, and that's too hot, I don't know how to solve the issue to be honest.

Seems super weird, but it is the solution - just tune down the PS2 emulator fan speed to 25% or lower.
 
ddsqa said:
Alright, I found what caused issue with my CECHA00 and PS2 games freezing, maybe it will be interesting for someone.

It turned out, that if I increase the PS2 emulator fan speed at webman, to, lets say, 30% then PS2 games would instantly start freezing. The only stable speed is 25%, if you go higher than that - games would start freezing.
At the PS3 games, I can use even 40% speed or higher - there are no issues, but for PS2 it's only 25% or you will have these freezes.

What's worst, is that my temps for 1 hour of PS2 game session would rise to 74 on CPU, and that's too hot, I don't know how to solve the issue to be honest.

Seems super weird, but it is the solution - just tune down the PS2 emulator fan speed to 25% or lower.
Click to expand...
You could try to not use any software fan control, and use this instead
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/ps4-ps3-hardware-fan-accelerator.31345/

The way how that hardware accelerator works in nice (so the suggestion to use it applyes for everyone), but im not so sure if it could help to solve your problem though
 
sandungas said:
You could try to not use any software fan control, and use this instead
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/ps4-ps3-hardware-fan-accelerator.31345/

The way how that hardware accelerator works in nice (so the suggestion to use it applyes for everyone), but im not so sure if it could help to solve your problem though
Click to expand...
Thanks for your suggestion.

But I think in my case problem relates to CPU temperature, rather than the fan speed.
For example, I was running 45% fan speed in XMB, and CPU temp was around 47ish.
When I booted up PS2 game(with 25% fan speed in an emulator at webman) it would still freeze(and throw occasional graphical artifacts visually) it would remain that way until CPU will reach to 65C temperature or higher. Only at that point I could play PS2 games with zero problems or artifacts.

I just can't seem to understand why, from a technical perspective, why would chip do that, is it some kind of technical aging process, when a chip would not work properly unless maintained at a specific 'working' temperature?
Does anyone can also confirm that some CECHA models are like that?

What's worse is that I can play PS3 games with 45% fan speed and temperatures around 55, only PS2 games require temps like 65 or higher, which probably raises up the chances that the console will get YLOD eventually, being that hot.
Netemu works fine, with 45% fan speeds and all, only hardware emulation has this issue.

I just don't get it.
 
ddsqa said:
Thanks for your suggestion.

But I think in my case problem relates to CPU temperature, rather than the fan speed.
For example, I was running 45% fan speed in XMB, and CPU temp was around 47ish.
When I booted up PS2 game(with 25% fan speed in an emulator at webman) it would still freeze(and throw occasional graphical artifacts visually) it would remain that way until CPU will reach to 65C temperature or higher. Only at that point I could play PS2 games with zero problems or artifacts.

I just can't seem to understand why, from a technical perspective, why would chip do that, is it some kind of technical aging process, when a chip would not work properly unless maintained at a specific 'working' temperature?
Does anyone can also confirm that some CECHA models are like that?

What's worse is that I can play PS3 games with 45% fan speed and temperatures around 55, only PS2 games require temps like 65 or higher, which probably raises up the chances that the console will get YLOD eventually, being that hot.
Netemu works fine, with 45% fan speeds and all, only hardware emulation has this issue.

I just don't get it.
Click to expand...
Is weird and hard to tell at this point, but long story short... your PS3 seems to be in a unestable point of his lifespan, and whatever is happening probably is going to change for worst soon

The capacitors (in general) are sensitive to temperatures, and the way how they reacts incase of problems could be very confusing, but what you are telling is very common in other devices
The device works fine when is warmed up... but at the next day when you boot it from cold (ambient temperature) it have problems and reboots several times (while it gets hot) and finally after reseveral reboots it works fine again... and the next day the same story

I had a PC monitor with that problem, and i was using it for a couple of weeks because i was lazy to fix it... and every day the number of reboots was bigger.. and eventually it was not able to boot (the damaged capacitors said that was enought suffering and commited suicide, lol)

In the PS3 there are many capacitors, but is needed to consider all them from the power lines... starting from inside the PSU
Thats why i mentioned in a post before that you did good in trying to replace the PSU, somethimes thats the cause of the problems (because is the source of all power lines)
I dont really know if there are more critical capacitors in between the PSU and EE/GS (the PS2 components), but probably

In the same way there are the tokins/nec for CELL/RSX... the EE/GS should have his owns
I dont know much about that area of the motherboard in the PS2 backward compatible PS3 models, but im guessing all them should be located close to each others
Just for curiosity sake... in a circuit that area is usually named a "power block", the PS3 have a single "power block" for CELL/RSX... so i guess GS/EE power components are also considered part of the same "power block"

Dunno... a lurking in the service manual could give you some hints about the power components dedicated to EE/GS
 
Ohh and btw... there is another posible cause for your problem
You could have one (or more) BGA solder balls broken (with some kind of fracture). When the PS3 is cold the electrons needs to do a "jump" in the fracture but is too big and doesnt works
The increase of temperature makes the BGA solders to expand "closing the gap" of the fracture and the electrons circulates normally

The electrons creates micro-sparts in the "jumps" degrading the BGA material and cummulates garbage in the fracture (think in a microscopical oxidation) and eventually the device stops working because the electrons are not able to do the "jump"
 
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ddsqa said:
Thanks for your suggestion.

But I think in my case problem relates to CPU temperature, rather than the fan speed.
For example, I was running 45% fan speed in XMB, and CPU temp was around 47ish.
When I booted up PS2 game(with 25% fan speed in an emulator at webman) it would still freeze(and throw occasional graphical artifacts visually) it would remain that way until CPU will reach to 65C temperature or higher. Only at that point I could play PS2 games with zero problems or artifacts.

I just can't seem to understand why, from a technical perspective, why would chip do that, is it some kind of technical aging process, when a chip would not work properly unless maintained at a specific 'working' temperature?
Does anyone can also confirm that some CECHA models are like that?

What's worse is that I can play PS3 games with 45% fan speed and temperatures around 55, only PS2 games require temps like 65 or higher, which probably raises up the chances that the console will get YLOD eventually, being that hot.
Netemu works fine, with 45% fan speeds and all, only hardware emulation has this issue.

I just don't get it.
Click to expand...
When using the fan at 45% you are demanding a huge quantity of current, that maybe your PSU isn't able to deliver since is a 13 years old oven full of old electrolytics. The other aspect you have to take in mind are the NECs and problably an incompatibility with WebmanMod too, but I think caps are messing with your powering aspect too.

Many have to turn on over and over the console to make it boot when NECs are about to die, that's why I see them like spark plugs.

Don't understimate the power of a broken BGA, or PS2 side in bad state either. Why you don't try it with OFW for an hour?

P/S: A guy in this forum solved an artifacts problem by replacing the PSU.
 
Thanks for the replies, I wasn't in this forum for a while.

ElGris said:
When using the fan at 45% you are demanding a huge quantity of current, that maybe your PSU isn't able to deliver since is a 13 years old oven full of old electrolytics. The other aspect you have to take in mind are the NECs and problably an incompatibility with WebmanMod too, but I think caps are messing with your powering aspect too.
Click to expand...
45% fan works fine for PS3 based games, only PS2 games have the issue, which raises the question of bad electrons inside of motherboard that's responsible for PS2 emulation I think.

I've been able to play PS2 games just fine these past days for now under 27% fan speed, and checking if it's in range of 65 - 72 C degrees, if it's lower then PS2 games would freeze, if it's higher, well, on SYSCON setting at webman I reached peak temperature at about 75 C degrees, in a 20 minute session.(fan speed was 20% on syscon I think)
The issue is definitely hardware-based.

Based on what you all guys suggested, I'm thinking of 3 possible ways:
1. Check PSU, replace
2. NEC tokins, or tokins in general needs to be replaced
3. BGA solder balls are broken, need to a reball process?
Also it's probably full of dust and that doesn't really help it.

All in all, I have to take it apart and check it sometime, I hope it can be fixed because if the problem lies in the PS2 chip/crystal itself, then no way I can replace it without buying a new console I guess.
 
"45% fan works fine for PS3 based games".

Which games? Any exclusive?

If you can play without issues games like TLOU at 45% or more, then your PSU is just fine, and also the NECs.

Now, with the PS2 aspect, maybe you should try another MM and WMM versions, and even better, going to HFW and test WMM there. Just to discard anything software related. If the PS2 emulation is still going bad, maybe is something in the PS2 "area" on the mobo that's causing this issue.

If that's so, you can't do much about it.
 
ElGris said:
If you can play without issues games like TLOU at 45% or more, then your PSU is just fine, and also the NECs.
Click to expand...
Hmm, thats a good test actually, im facepalming myself a bit for not thinking about it before :D

Also, i suggest to repeat that same test from a "cold" temperature... as we was discussing before we are not sure if the problem is dependant of the PS3 temperature

The idea is... power OFF the PS3 and let it cool down for several hours to allow all the PS3 parts to return to ambient temperature (something around 20ºC)
Then power ON the PS3 and start playing TLOU as faster as posible... you should be able to enter ingame in a matter of 2 minutes or so
This way you are bypassing the "warm up" completly... most probably when entering in the game the temperature is going to be around 35ºC or 40ºC (very low)
 
sandungas said:
Hmm, thats a good test actually, im facepalming myself a bit for not thinking about it before :D

Also, i suggest to repeat that same test from a "cold" temperature... as we was discussing before we are not sure if the problem is dependant of the PS3 temperature

The idea is... power OFF the PS3 and let it cool down for several hours to allow all the PS3 parts to return to ambient temperature (something around 20ºC)
Then power ON the PS3 and start playing TLOU as faster as posible... you should be able to enter ingame in a matter of 2 minutes or so
This way you are bypassing the "warm up" completly... most probably when entering in the game the temperature is going to be around 35ºC or 40ºC (very low)
Click to expand...
An issue like the NECs should be notorious by doing what you said, but maybe WMM is using some kind of data delivered by the EE+GS, or some sensor from the near area, and /or increasing the voltage/current when the PS2 core is active is provoking this issue. He said he plays normally with the fan set at 27% or auto, and he should start from there. Definitely WMM is having issues with the PS2 area.

I don't know anything about all of this, so I'm just guessing/wondering what's going on :D
 
I was playing PS3 games like Killzone 2 for example on 45% fan speed just fine.

I'll try to do what Sandungas suggested and start up a Killzone 2 with 45% fan speed(overkill, I know :P) as soon as I turn on the console, so it would be super cool, and it won't have any time to warm up at all.

My main concern about this console was to keep the safe temps, ideally in 60-65 ranges. And that range is very unstable in PS2 hardware emulation for some reason. But anything above it is fine. Sometimes I have to keep 23 fan speed for PS2, due to the difference in the ambient temperature of the room I guess.

Honestly, I don't think it's software related at all, I still have my ps2 discs and I can try uninstalling WMM and MM and try to play the games via disc on XMB I think thanks to cobra. They should play fine since the fan controller will be controlled via syscon and it will reach 70+ degrees or more but I don't think it's safe, as I said, the highest temp I saw was around 75C degrees on PS2 games, and that's quite a lot.

The PS2 area of the motherboard definitely seems problematic currently in my opinion, I still haven't disassembled the unit.

Just to further confirm this - if I'll turn on PS3 and start PS2 games immediately I won't be able to play them until the CPU reaches around 65 degrees or so, doesn't matter which FAN speed I'm using upon starting up the console.

UPDATE:

So I tried what Sandungas suggested, booted up console, put 40 fan speed, loaded up Killzone 2 (CPU was about 42C degrees) and can play game fine with 40 fan speed and 49C degrees on CPU after about 5 minutes of playing. PS3 games can play fine at any temps or fan speeds.

Just to follow up: after Killzone 2 test my CPU was about 52 degrees hot with 40 fan speed, I loaded up PS2 game and PS3 will freeze on black screen after XMB (I still could quit to XMB via PS button menu) As my CPU will get hotter and closer to 56 degrees, then upon starting up PS2 title I could hear Playstation 2 splash screen sound, but still no image on the screen. So it seems like hardware is not working correctly until it reaches a specific temperature range. Now when I'm at 65 degrees I would see the image of Playstation 2 splash screen, the sound, and the game itself works fine. No black screens freezing or issues.

Something is wrong with either PS2 hardware on the MB or the software like WMM or MM(which I highly doubt)
 
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Well, it looks the test confirms your suspections, it seems is a problem related with components dedicated to PS2 (EE/GS or other surrounding components)
Is a bit weird, i never heard a problem like this
 
So I disassembled the unit and saw the Frankenstein inside : D
The previous owner was messing with the console, at least the term paste looks somewhat good and there's no dust really.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/485380563788890112/784977748195672064/20201206_060052.jpg
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/485380563788890112/784977769565913118/20201206_060040.jpg

Now, the question is WTF is that black rubber layer on top of the PS2 chip and why would it create such problems that I have?
Everything else seems to be fine on the motherboard so I cannot find anything else to blame.

What's funny is that there was a warranty sticker applied but I definitely can see the seller taking care of the console insides and putting the sticker back on the unit afterwards, that, or maybe Sony themselves?
 
You got a BC that didn't have that much of use, that explains the lack of dust and the not so dried thermal compound, I believe. Also, that's a PS3 from Hong Kong, I had one on sight a few months ago, with w sticker and all, but It was very expensive..

Those rubber things are thermal pads, that were included with the OG PS2 too, so there's not much difference except for the extra heat that these machines manage. The main problem with PS2 emulation I see is the lack info about the E.E+GS temperature (two processors in one PCB, let's not forget that). I don't see the solution in putting the fan at 45% for cooling a processor that's not even making contact with the main heatsink, so that's not safe at all, and why a lot of people have problems like black screen, freezing, game not even booting, when emulating PS2 games natively.
 
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