Hoping somebody might be able to give some advice here. I got a PS2 secondhand about a year ago, for free, and while it appears to be in great condition it has an issue. I hooked it up to my CRT and while it powers on and I can hear audio, can even hear the sound of navigating menus, the display is all just distorted static as if it’s receiving a bad signal. I’ve tested it with 2 different AV cables and both yield the same results.
I’m not sure what exactly the problem is, I assume something may be wrong with the port on the console itself and it’ll need to be replaced, but want to get the opinion of anyone who has more experience than me with this kind of thing. All the previous owner told me was that it’s “stuck in an update loop” which I originally took to mean that it just has a dead CMOS battery as I’m not aware of PS2s having firmware updates.
Would love some advice on what my best course of action may be. I don’t have the parts and tools to replace the port myself and while I’d be happy to outsource it to a retro shop for repair, my local one doesn’t do repairs on this console.
I don’t think I’ve seen that issue before. Normally when I hear about video issues and the PS2, it’s caused by 1. trying to play a PS1 game on a flat panel that doesn’t support 240p video, or 2. trying to use component cables and the console is set to RGB (or vice versa).
Yeah, I tried tutorials for changing the video mode, but that didn’t resolve the issue. I noticed too in the tutorials for that issue that their screen was just pure static where as mine appears to be broken input. Attached some pics for reference. I get the same result regardless of what ports I use and it’s not the CRT or cables because I can plug the same ones into my PS1 and they work fine.
Get the feeling it’s not something that I can resolve myself. Wouldn’t mind sending it off for repair but I don’t know if there’s any reputable, and reasonably priced, online shops that could fix this.
This is… fascinating. Fun accidental glitchart, but I’ve not seen it before.
First sanity check: Is the PS2 the correct region for your TV? Not pairing PAL w/ NTSC or anything?
But yeah I’d assume either a messed up pin in the multi-out port as you suspect, or possibly something more wrong with the GPU/video encoder.
I will say it will most likely be cheaper to just grab a new PS2, BUT I would specifically look at console modders to find repair services. Just email with your issues and ask if they’d be willing to take a look.
Some I have found (not verified their goodness, not an endorsement):
Double checked and they are both NTSC so that’s not the issue.
I think you’re right that it’s likely cheaper to just grab another one, between the cost of shipping and the repair itself I’d probably break even with buying a new one at best.
Figured I’d see if it’s fixable at least for the sake of preserving it, but at this point it’s probably better to just sell off for parts. Maybe it can be used to save some other ones!
