PS3 BC, capacitors changed, delided, weird graphical anomaly in PS2 games

A

alacres

Member
I got this PS3 60gb BC model a little while ago and had it sent to someone recommended over at gbatemp to have the capacitors changed and the thermal paste replaced. So far, it's seemed to perform okay but I've noticed some graphical anomalies and I'm wondering if there was any damage done to the hardware while the work was being done to it. PS3 games have run seemingly fine so far, although I did notice some lighting glitches in Red Dead Redemption and Fallout 3 hard-froze the system. I brushed it off as probably just normal behavior for some of these old games.

PS2 games, however, are more obvious with what appears to be little green dots that show up when looking at objects and backgrounds at certain angles (you can also see them on NPCs, depending on where you look). I didn't even really notice it at first but when I checked the map on FFXII, the green dots were much more visible and pulsating. It wasn't just the game either because I noticed it on Dragon Quest VIII as well, especially when looking at walls and such.

I'm running the latest EvilNat (I think? I just installed it about a month ago) and I haven't messed with any toolbox settings (not even sure if the Rebug toolbox works with this CFW). I had read that EvilNat has some issues running PS2 games but I figured that was just the non-BC models and the software emulation. Is it possible my fat is running in an emulation mode or something and that could be causing issues? I'm running the ISO versions of the game through Webman, and the menu screen doesn't show the temps, so I'm assuming it's using the hardware; correct me if I'm wrong.

So yeah, long story short, I'm getting some weird green dot graphical artifacts and I'm not sure why. I have the fan speed set to 55% for the PS2 games to avoid overheating so I doubt that's causing it. Is it likely the hardware was damaged with the de-liding or the capacitor swap? The guy who did the mod is highly recommended and has good reviews but I guess sometimes stuff like this can't be avoided. I'm hoping he might be willing and able to fix it if I mention it to him, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't some stupid software problem that I'm overlooking first.

If any of you know what this might be, please let me know! Thanks in advance.
 
Ok so let's see which PS2 mode you are using. Two easy ways to check this. First insert a PS2 game if it detects it then you are in full HW mode as the drive is disabled in SW mode. Or press the PS button in game. If the background is transparent black your in SW mode. If the background is solid black it is in full HW mode. Figure that out and we can go from there.
 
atreyu187 said:
Ok so let's see which PS2 mode you are using. Two easy ways to check this. First insert a PS2 game if it detects it then you are in full HW mode as the drive is disabled in SW mode. Or press the PS button in game. If the background is transparent black your in SW mode. If the background is solid black it is in full HW mode. Figure that out and we can go from there.
Click to expand...

It looks like it's solid black. FFXII also doesn't do the sound glitch that happens when using software emulation so I'm pretty sure it's using the HW.

One thing I just noticed is that the green dots weren't there this time when I checked it. I played for a few minutes and checked around and didn't see the dots at all (nor on the map either). I guess that probably means that it's an issue with the temperature? When I noticed it last night, I had already been playing for about two hours. I figured 55% fan speed was high enough for PS2 games, but maybe I need to increase it more? Such a weird thing.

Edit: After testing it for awhile tonight, the green dots came back after the system had been on for about 10 or so minutes. I took some video to showcase how visible they become (sorry for using a phone; didn't have my capture card available).

https://youtu.be/hIlwV7UEIt0


What's strange is that it seemed to help when I turned the smoothing filter off. If I leave it off for a few minutes, the dots are almost invisible again. Then when I turn the filter back on, they take a few minutes to come back. I've read that it could possibly be an issue with "noise" from a bad hdmi cable, but I've tried several (including my new PS5 cable) and it was the same. I've also read it could be the RSX going out. Man I hope that's not the case, given the money I sunk into this thing with the capacitor change and everything. I'm at a loss.
 
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atreyu187 said:
Unfortunately that HW diagnosis is where I was gonna land. I'm descent at minor HW fixes but this is well beyond my scope. If my BC PS3 died I would just cry. I just got it back as I finally have the wifi working and aside from the card reader it is much better looking then my A-01

https://www.psx-place.com/threads/my-cechb-01-teensy-stealth.9534/
Click to expand...

Sigh, unfortunately, I think you're right. I was testing PS3 games too and it looks like they are affected as well. In fact, it's even worse, with large, obnoxious graphical artifacts popping up. Just like the PS2 games, it doesn't start immediately, but a few minutes after the game is running:
(taken with the capture card this time)

I noticed that they seemed to get more frequent as the fan speed was kicking up, for what it's worth.

Man this really sucks. I wonder if anything can be done about it. It wasn't doing this stuff before the work that was done to it, so I figure it must have been damaged in the process.
 
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