cross-posted from: https://leminal.space/post/40261910
Does anyone here know a lot about PlayStation 1 mod chips?
I took my old PS1 apart and found the mod chip that was installed back then.
The PS1 has a PU-22 motherboard, and a PIC12C508/P is soldered onto it. The chip is glued into the case and soldered to the motherboard with wires.
If I’ve identified the pins correctly, pins 2, 3, and 5 are not in use.
I’m trying to figure out exactly which firmware or mod this might be.
PIC12 is a universal microcontroller from Microchip. They were probably used in many many modchips from back in the day. You might be able to extract the firmware using a Microchip PIC programmer, but most of those include fuses that can be blown to prevent them from being read or re-programmed. Reverse engineering the firmware probably wouldn't be too hard either, but might take some time.
Most older modchips were just random microcontrollers with some software on it to trigger some levels in specific situations making the software think everything is fine.
Are you having some issues with it?
