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Description #
In this video, I dive into a unique find: a North American PlayStation 2 discovered in my apartment building’s trash room here in Australia. Join me as I attempt to revive it with a new power supply from AliExpress. This will allow it to run on both 120 and 240 power.
We’ll go through the entire process, from opening the unit to installing the replacement board. Will it work, or will it explode? Plus, a surprise bootleg disc inside!
This is the board I ordered Affiliate links below. If you buy through these links, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Timestamps:
[00:00] Intro and backstory [00:05] Identifying the unit and power requirements [00:15] Unboxing and inspecting the new power supply [00:26] Disassembling the PlayStation 2 [02:20] Removing and replacing the power supply [03:00] Installing the replacement board [03:48] Powering on the unit and initial tests [04:50] Final thoughts and next steps If you’re curious about retro gaming repairs or just love a good DIY challenge, this one’s for you. Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more tech adventures!
Model is SCPH-50001 U/C
Original Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPGogQbr54w
Transcript #
I’m back with something a bit different. This is a PlayStation 2 I found in my apartment building’s trash room. Just like me, it’s a North American unit — it runs on 120 volts, and it seems to have found its way to Australia. I ordered a new power supply from AliExpress. It shipped in just a little baggy and got kind of crushed, so I hope it doesn’t explode. Let’s get it open and see if this fixes the issue.
Okay, we’re at the bottom of the unit. You have to remove these feet — I’ve already done that. The rubber ones are easy; the plastic ones are a bit harder, you have to pry them up with a flathead, but it’s not too bad. Let’s unscrew it and get inside. I’ve removed all the screws, now I can flip it over and open it up. We’re just going to flip it over like that, slide it off the memory cards, and now we’re inside. Next we need to unscrew the memory card and controller ports.
Now that that’s done, you can pull the whole unit out of its housing. I’ll do that now — just give it a lift. Oh, don’t want that to come loose. All right, we got it out, and the power supply is on the other side, so now I’ve got to flip it over again. I’m really worried about that ribbon cable. Oh boy. Hopefully that ribbon cable’s fine.
Here we are on the underside of the PlayStation 2. This is the original power supply. That’s a 125 volt fuse — I checked it, it didn’t blow, so plugging in 240 didn’t seem to cause this to explode. I’m going to guess this is actually still a good board but it’s not working here, so there must be some protection circuitry preventing it from exploding when plugged into 240. I’m going to need to disconnect it, unscrew it, and install the new board.
All the screws are removed and now I should be able to lift the board out. Easy — the board’s out. Now it’s time to install our replacement AliExpress board. Let’s open it up. Those pins just kind of slide in there. I’ll try and set this in — it seems a bit finicky. That seems right, it just doesn’t seem flush. Something’s stopping it from sitting flush. Okay, the board’s installed. I notice the PCB wasn’t completely flat, but I think that’s just how the board is — a little warped. Hopefully it doesn’t cause any issues. Also keep in mind: if you plan on installing one of these, there are multiple revisions of the PlayStation 2 power supply, so make sure you get the right one for your unit.
Let’s get it sealed back up and see if it explodes or works. I’ve plugged it in — it’s on in the back, I just need to switch it on on my powerboard. I’ll be right back. And it’s in standby. It turns on. Ooh, that’s not a good sound — oh, it’s the disc drive, but it works. Barring the disc drive. Oh jeez, that’s not a good sound. Whoa — Night at the Museum. It’s a bootleg, I think. Is this real? This doesn’t look real. Yeah, that’s definitely not real. So it came with a bootleg copy of Night at the Museum. Sick.
I’ve sealed it back up and the disc drive seems to have stopped making grinding sounds. I just don’t have AV cables, so I’m going to go order those. We’ll check back in a few days and see if it outputs video — if so, I’m going to put a hard drive in this and I’ll have a PlayStation 2.
So I took a gamble and I bought all the needed accessories to make this PlayStation work. I even got it working with a Switch controller, which is a bit sacrilegious, but it is working. All I needed to do was convert it from a North American power supply to an Australian one, and I got this delightful Minecraft homebrew working. The unit seems to be in mostly working condition — the DVD drive seems a bit fried, but it plays CDs perfectly fine. The clock battery is dead. That’s pretty much it. I’m getting use out of it. Put a lot of money and time into it, but hey, that’s pretty cool. Maybe I’ll replace the clock battery and look into the DVD drive later. Overall, I’m pretty happy with it. Welcome to the collection. See you. Bye.