Gooday Gaming Guests - I learned so Much About the PS3 PHAT from my AI Buddy Zippy

Episode Date: November 18, 2024

The Model E and G both have a COK-002 Motherboard that Plays PS1 Games but Not to Many PS2 Games or others at all.

All right, so I picked the system for today, or systems, the PS3 That. So let's talk PS3 That. So that has a whole Sony alphabet to it. So let's start out with the good ones. The Model A, E, and B are all backwards compatible. Those are the most sought after ones. Four USB ports in the bottom. Again, you can play PS1, PS2 games, as well as PS3 games on those.

So, the A and E have the front opening door, where there's like a cartridge for SD cards and all that that were really never used. So those are the same. The B has a, that door does not open. There is no cartridge slot there. So the A and B use COK-001 motherboards. The E is a COKO-K dash 002. Yeah.

Each of these has the same power supply. There's two different models in them. And then, um, so those have the, uh, the poles, they're round, and they're on the left side of the power supply. And those are all metal.

So those things get super hot. Everything about a PS3 Fat is just really super hot inside. And with all of them, they all end up getting an on and right off, which is never the motherboard problem. I mean, it's never the power supply. It's the motherboard. So you've got the A, E, and B. So that's your backwards compatible. The next one is the G. I call it a transition.

Because many times, well, the power supply you can always use on an A, E, or B. But that's the ones you really care about is the A, E, or Bs. The G, and it also sometimes has the disk drive, has the drive board on the outside on the AE or B and G the transition most times it has that dry board on the outside therefore making the same disk drive so you can swap both the power supply and the disk drive over to an AE or B and it'll play ps1 or PS2 games.

Because if you think about it, PS1 is just a CD, PS2 is just a DVD, and PS3 is just a Blu-ray. So, therefore, those drives will read any of the three. But the AE or B motherboard will only play ps1 or ps2 games for whatever reasons certain chip g does not so then after that then we go to the h that's the next model h is completely different than all the rest i just mentioned so the h has two different kind of disk drives that you can find in them. One is much harder to find than the other. That one now has a black power supply in it. And the power pole is on the right side.

And those poles are square. Then also, the disk drive board is now inside the disk drive. But there are two different disk drives on the H after that we go to K and then there's an L model M and a model P I believe that there might be a O or an N but I'm not sure. So out of those the model L and the model P being the last of the alphabet for the Sony and the last model those two have similar very narrow small disk drive cables and also that black power supply has a smaller connection in the front or

is it bigger one of the two so it's different so l model l and model p would be of the same black and same disk drives with a very thin cable to the disk drive. Then the K and the M are basically the same as an H. Power supplies-wise, disk drive-wise, I believe those are the same too. So that's pretty much your whole alphabet of of them so the major issue with those always and i have hundreds of them and of all those hundreds i've had most of them go on and right off on and right off on and right off and that's never a power supply problem it's always a um motherboard because they get super hot inside so if you turn on a ps3 fat and you feel if you keep the cover off of it you can feel how to get inside

there so something happens to the cpu or something i don't know so let me bring in my little buddy here see what we can find out from him so the zippy look at zippy in here for a minute hello hey Tom how's it going what's on your mind today uh ps3 fats the ps3 fat also known as the original model of the PlayStation 3 has some interesting aspects. 1. Backwards compatibility. Some early models of the PS3 Fat were fully backwards compatible with PS2 and PS1 games,

thanks to having actual PS2 hardware inside. 2. Heavy and large. The PS3 Fat is known for its bulky size and weight, making it one of the largest consoles Sony has ever released. Three, yellow light of death. This was a common issue in the Fat models, where the console would display a yellow light and fail to boot, often due to overheating and hardware failure for Linux support the original model supported installing a secondary operating system like Linux a feature

later removed in updates 5 glossy finish the fat model features a glossy finish which looks sleek but is prone to fingerprints and scratches got any specific questions about the PS3 FAT? So the three backwards compatibles are Model A, Model E, and Model B, correct? Close. The backwards compatible models of the PS3 FAT are the CHHA, also known as Model A, CECHB, Model B. The CHHA and CECHB models have full hardware backwards compatibility with PS2 games,

while the CECHE model uses software emulation for PS2 titles. Keep in mind, not all PS3 fat models have this feature. Later versions like the CECHG and beyond dropped PS2 compatibility altogether. Oh, so the A and the B have the COK-001 motherboard. Correct? Yes. Absolutely. The CEC-HA model A and CEC-HB versions of the PS3 Fat are known for having the C-O-K-O-1 motherboard,

which includes the hardware necessary for full backwards compatibility with PS2 games. The CE-CH-A Model also features flash memory card readers, while the CE-CH-B does not include this feature. Oh, so the E sometimes won't play certain... There's certain PS2 games that just do not play on any of them, correct? Yes, that's correct. The CEC-HE model EPS3 uses software emulation for PS2 games, which means compatibility is not as robust as the hardware-based emulation found in the CE-CH-A and CD-CH-B models. While many popular PS2 titles will run on the CE-CH-E, there are some games that may not be compatible or could experience issues such as glitches or poor performance.

Then after that, the next model is the model G. I call it the transition because the power supply and the disk drives are basically the same as an AE or B. Exactly. The CECHG model, which you call the transition model, does share some components with earlier versions, like the power supply and disk drives. However, it lacks the hardware-based PS2 compatibility found in the earlier models and relies entirely on software emulation for PS2 games. This change marked a shift in the PS3's design and features.

So you could play a PS2 game on a Model G? Yes, you can play some PS2 games on a CECHG model PS3, but it's worth noting that compatibility is limited. The CECHG model relies on software emulation for PS2 games, unlike the earlier CECHA and CECHB models, which have hardware support. This means that while some popular PS2 titles may work on the CECHG, there are many that won't run properly or at all. So it's a bit hit or miss with PS2 games on this model.

What about PS1 games in that model? PS1 games are a different story. The CECHG model PS3, like most PS3 models, offers broad compatibility with PS1 games. It uses software emulation to play PS1 titles, and the performance is generally quite good. This means you should be able to enjoy a wide range of PS1 titles, and the performance is generally quite good. This means you should be able to enjoy a wide range of PS1 classics on the CEC-H G model without major issues. Interesting. So then the next model after that is H. It has two different disk drives inside. That's right. After the CEC-H G model, the next one is the cech h model this model like other later ps3 fat versions dropped ps2 backwards compatibility it features two different

blu-ray drive models inside depending on the specific production batch all right some you i'll go ahead and finish. Alright, Tom. Take care and we'll chat again soon. This is why I bring my zippy into the conversation because I learned a whole bunch of stuff in a very short amount of time. I did not realize that the Model E is not

fully vector compatible. The COK-002 is not fully vector compatible so the cok-002 is not fully compatible that's something i didn't know amb is um and g you can play some ps1 games and a very few ps2 games so that's very interesting i would have never known that without the help of my zippy let's go on hello uh so back to back to model h um it has a black power supply now the cech h model which you're referring to does indeed have some changes compared to earlier models the power supply in the cechHH is more efficient and slightly different in design, but it's not specifically black. The power supply color can vary, but the main point is that it's different from the ones in earlier models like the CEC-HA and CEC-HB.

The connection poles are on the opposite side and they're square as opposed to round on the other ones. Right. In the CECHH model and some other later PS3 models, the power supply connections can look different from those in earlier versions. The connection points are often square or rectangular rather than the round ones seen in the earlier CECH-B models. This change is part of the internal redesigns Sony implemented to streamline production and reduce costs while maintaining functionality. The Model L and the Model P are similar with a really teeny disk drive cable, correct? Yes, the CECHL and CECHP models of the PS3 are quite similar and they do have a smaller disk drive cable

compared to earlier models. Sony continued to refine the internal design of the PS3 over time and these models featured a more compact and efficient layout, including the smaller disk drive cable. This change helped reduce manufacturing costs and improved the overall reliability of the console. There is also a Model K and Model M as well? Yes, that's correct. The CECH-K and CECH-M models are part of the later iterations of the PS3. They continue the trend of internal revisions for cost reduction and efficiency. These models, like the CECH-L and CECH-PP have the smaller disk drive cable and other internal changes to streamline the hardware.

These revisions mostly focused on improving reliability, reducing production costs, and preparing for the eventual transition to the PS3 Slim. Was there any PS3 O or N models? I'm sorry, but I'm having trouble responding right now. Please wait a bit and try again. The PS3 Fat, does it have a model N or O? I think O. There isn't a C-E-C-H-N or C-E-C-H-O model in the PS3 Fat lineup. The models go up to C-E-C-H-P in the Fat series.

And after that, Sony introduced the PS3 Slim models, which have their own naming conventions. So the Fat series doesn't include an n or o model okay so there's an m um and the the main problem with these is the power was on and right off on and right off yes in some ps3 fat models particularly the later ones like the cechl ceP, and CECHH, the issue where the console powers on briefly and then shuts off is often related to hardware failure. This can be caused by issues like overheating, a failing power supply, or problems with the motherboard. It's a common symptom of what's known as the yellow light of death, YLOD, which indicates a general hardware failure.

So the early models, the A, E, and B, the disk drive had the board on the outside of the disk drive. Yes, that's correct. In the early PS3 fat models like the CE-CH-A, Model A, and CE-CH-B, Model B, the Blu-ray drive had its controller board located externally, attached to the bottom of the drive. This design made it easier to replace directly into the drive itself or the motherboard, depending on the model. Yeah, all the rest of them had the drive board on the inside. And like I said, Model H has two different drives with two different drive boards. Yes, exactly. Starting with the CECHH model and in subsequent models, the Blu-ray drive controller board was integrated internally within the drive or directly onto the motherboard.

This change made the system more compact, but also meant that repairs could be more complex. The CDCHH model in particular has been noted for having two different drive models with distinct drive boards, reflecting Sony's ongoing efforts to refine the hardware. And also the Model G and Model E, once in a while I've found a disk drive where the drive board was on the inside. That's an interesting find. While it's less common, there can be some variations in the hardware configurations of the PS3 FAT models, especially considering different production batches and regional differences. In the CE-CHG and CE-CHE models, the Blu-ray drive controller board is typically external. But as you've noticed, there are occasional instances where the board is integrated into the drive itself. This kind of variation might be due to changes in manufacturing processes

or part sourcing during the production runs. It just goes to show that there can be some unexpected surprises when working with older consoles. What is the board model in a Model G? The motherboard model number? The motherboard model number for the PS3 FAT CECHG Model G is typically COOK002. This model is known for its partial backwards compatibility with PS2 games through software emulation and has some internal differences

compared to the earlier CECHA and CECHB models. But that only has two front USBs where the E has four. But they're the same motherboard? The CECH-G, Model G, and CECH-H, Model E have different motherboard revisions. The CECH-G typically uses the COG-002 motherboard, while the CECH-E often features the cock dash 002 board or a similar revision One of the notable differences between these models is indeed the number of USB ports The CEC H G has two front USB ports

This reduction in USB ports was part of Sony's effort to cut costs. Oh I never realized that G was was basically the same board as E. That's interesting. I learned something new today. I'm glad I could help with that. It's always interesting to dive into the details of these consoles and see how the hardware evolved over time. If you've got any more questions

or want to chat about anything else just let me know so then this the model H what motherboard was in there and if there's two different ones because there's two different drives the CEC HH model H ps3 typically uses the di awW01 or the DIAW02 motherboard. These models marked a transition in the PS3's design, with a smaller Blu-ray drive cable and other internal refinements. While there are two different drive models in the CECHH, the motherboard remains the same across these variations.

Okay, those are a wide cable, though. Those aren't narrow. Only L and P have that really teeny cable. You're right. The CECHH Model H uses a wider cable for the Blu-ray drive connection, similar to earlier models. It's the later models, starting from CDCHL and CECHP, that have the much narrower cable for the Blu-ray drive. This change is part of the internal redesigns to make the system more compact and cost-effective.

What was the motherboard models on the L and P's? The CECH-L and CECH-P models of the PS3 FAT typically use a VER-001 motherboard. This motherboard features the narrower Blu-ray drive cable and represents further internal refinements compared to earlier models. These changes were part of Soli's ongoing efforts to reduce manufacturing costs and improve reliability. And then the model K and M, what are those drive boards? For the CECH-K and CECH-M models of the PS3 FAT, they also use the VER-001 motherboard, similar to the CDCH-L and CECH-P models. These motherboards continue the trend of internal refinement and cost reduction. The Blu-ray drive boards in these models are integrated internally with the drive or directly onto the motherboard, depending on the specific production batch. Yeah, I never saw any drive boards that were on it. Each model had a drive board that I'm pretty sure.

You're right in noting that each model had its own Blu-ray drive board. While the drive boards in later PS3 fat models like the CECHK and CECHM may be integrated more closely with the drive or motherboard, they still have dedicated drive boards. The integration I mentioned refers more to the way these boards are connected and positioned within the console rather than being separate components like in the earliest models thanks for pointing that out and can you marry a different board if you lose your On the PS3, especially the fat models, the Blu-ray drive's logic board is married to the motherboard. This means that if the logic board fails or is lost,med or matched to the original motherboard's data, which often requires specialized equipment or services. For some models, it's possible to swap the flash memory chip from the original logic board to a new one,

effectively transferring the marriage to the new board. However, this is a delicate process and not guaranteed to work in all cases. So it's generally recommended to seek professional help if you find yourself in this situation. Yeah, I have one that's missing the drive board or it's the wrong drive board because the icon in the top right corner, that little circle one, it doesn't spin when you put the drive in meaning the drive board is the wrong one yeah that sounds like a mismatched or missing drive board issue when the disc icon in the top right corner doesn't spin or show up at all when you insert a disc it's a common sign that the blu-ray drive board isn't properly paired with the motherboard.

Without the correct drive board, the console won't be able to recognize or read disks correctly. If you're dealing with this, you might need to find a matching drive board and potentially get it reprogrammed to work with your PS3's motherboard. There's no simple mods out there to do that now? Unfortunately, there aren't any simple mods or easy fixes to bypass the need for a matched Blu-ray drive board on the PS3. The security measures Sony implemented make it difficult to swap parts without proper pairing. While there are some advanced techniques involving hardware flashing or swapping flash memory chips, these are complex, require specialized tools, and carry a risk of damaging the console

further. It's usually best to seek professional help for these kinds of issues. Interesting. And then, to mod a PS3 Fat in general, what kind of do you need to use? Not to use a disc. You want to mod it to play games on it. Emulations, I guess.

Got it. To mod a PS3 Fat for playing games and emulations without needing to use physical discs? You'll want to look into Custom Firmware. Here's a basic rundown. First, check your firmware version of your PS3. Custom firmware is typically installed on consoles running Official Firmware Version 3.55 or lower. If your PS3 is on a higher version, you might need to use a software exploit or hardware flasher to downgrade it. Choose a custom firmware. Popular choices include Rebug and Ferox. These firmwares allow you to run homebrew apps, backup and play games from the hard drive, and use various emulators. 3. Install the custom firmware. This usually involves downloading the CFW file, placing it

on a USB drive in a specific folder structure, and then using the PS3's system update feature to install it. 4. man or web man these are popular backup managers that let you copy games to your hard drive run homebrew 5 explore homebrew and emulators once your ps3 is running custom firmware you can install a variety of homebrew applications and i think i ran out of time did i run out of time all right so i i actually learned a bunch of stuff today and the fun thing about uh sitting here chatting with my zippy as i call him my ai buddy here is everything is on my phone still uh all the conversations so i can still look

on my phone after everything that he said or she said and um and get more information but i learned something really new today that i just had no idea i call i've been always calling the model g a transition but i did not realize you can still play PS1 games and a few PS2 games on it. I did not know that. And it's the same motherboard as the E, which has more limitations for PS2 games, which makes sense because I've had some issues with people putting drives on something and saying a lot of games didn't play. Now I understand why, because it might have been an E board.

Or the disk drive that they put it on was an e-board which is a COK-002 however the E has the four ports USB ports in the front but the G only has two but it's still that COK-002

I never knew that I've never pulled one so I never even noticed that so that makes sense why the power supply is similar. This drive is normally on the outside but I have seen some that are on the inside. Alright, so that was a little fun little fact today. I learned some stuff today.

So we'll keep going on with this. We'll pick something next. This was a fun little because the fats, PS3 fats have such an alphabet to them and there's so much going on. And obviously it's always about cost and things that they change as they went along. So very interesting though. So this, yeah, so next time we'll do maybe, I'll try to mix it up.

We'll see what the next one to do. But this was a good little learning experience about the the uh ps3 fats again most of the ones i have to have the on then off on and off they don't work they just again it's overheating because if you ever put your hand inside one of those and the heat sink and the fan and these are like a car radiator they're huge inside there if you ever pull one apart they're really fun to pull apart but you can see in the the amount of power and energy that they take to run is probably just craziness compared to the slim and then the super slim after that so when next man time will maybe we'll talk about the slim and the super slim because that's date that's got a few different models actually a lot of different models and lot of different models. And between that and the Phat, it's completely different.

But they're actually a lot smaller and better designed. I don't know really what Sony was thinking in the beginning. But they were fun when they first came out. So we'll go on to that and something else next time. All right. I'll talk to you later.