Back-ups freeze, disc winds down during FMVs

Zuh Gamer · July 3rd, 2006

I've got a small but select library of games for the PSX.. I'm moving into an new apartment in a "bad" neighborhood and I've decided I want to back up my games and put the originals in storage so I don't have to fear for my collection.

I keep hitting a wall when it comes to re-burning the discs. I cleaned the games up best I could and followed the directions in the sticky. The back-up process worked just fine without any DREs, but when I re-burn the discs and play them, most games play just fine but only as long as I skip past every FMV the moment it gets to playing. Some will run for a couple seconds up to half a minute, but always eventually makes the video freeze and the disc stop spinning. Is there some common mistake here that I'm missing?

The games in question are Azure Dreams and Tomba... my copy of Klonoa seemed to work alright, at least I got all the way through the opening FMV and the first few levels no problems. Tomba won't even start past the opening into, it seizes as soon as the FMV begins.

For reference, I'm using an SCPH-5501 machine with a Gold Finger game enhancer.. Toothpicks propping open the drive door while I try and locate a suitable spring.

Also, do I need to use a different backup method for Japanese games? I've got a Japanese copy of Bust a Move (the dance game, not Puzzle Bobble) that I really don't want to get all messed up.

Thanks in advance.

flowrent · July 3rd, 2006

What i can say : Use Alcohol 120% , good media and burn at lowest speed possible.

Zuh Gamer · July 3rd, 2006

Will Alcohol 120% work with .ccd files? And how much does it cost? I already put down $40 for a copy of CloneCD.. I don't want to have to buy any more software. This project has already cost me like 90 bucks in software, hardware and media. I'm a college student, dammit, I need my monies

FrostyTheSnowman · July 3rd, 2006

Actually CloneCD is more than suitable for this job. I've used CloneCD many times to back up my PSX games. Just try re-burning them at like 2x. I know that's horribly slow, but it usually fixes any problems. And using a good brand of CD-R's(Verbatim, Maxell, etc.) is a good idea too. You ARE using CD-R's and NOT CD-RW's right?

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Zuh Gamer · July 3rd, 2006

Sorry, I tried to include some information to get that out of the way but I see it wasn't really enough.

I'm using TDK 700MB CD-R discs on an HP DVD640 DVD burner. I was burning stuff at 4x and even as slow as 1x but it does nothing to alleviate the problems... in fact, the one disc that works well, Klonoa, was burned at 40x.

Tried using a demo of Alcohol, and it didn't have the 'PlayStation' preset mentioned in the sticky... It wouldn't burn on SAO+Sub so I burned it on straight SAO (yes, close session, no, don't repair subchannel data) and the disc wouldn't even boot.

Also, Alcohol won't let me burn slower than 8x.

KanedA · July 3rd, 2006

I'd like to confirm what FrostyTheSnowman wrote - burn them as slow as possible, on good brand CDs (Verbatim, Maxell, TDK). If direct copy (on the fly) doesn't work, than try to make an ISO, than burn from it

__________________

Zuh Gamer · July 3rd, 2006

Okay, Alcohol is just getting weirder and weirded. I restarted it, and now all the data types show up (I can select Play Station) but now it won't let me burn slower than 40x. WTF?

Having my entire collection stolen is less frustrating than this... although I suppose Sony made it that way for a reason.

Zuh Gamer · July 3rd, 2006

Well, I don't suppose I can complain any more. I re-burned one of my original clone CD images with Alcohol 120% at 40x using the PlayStation RAW + DAO setting and it works flawlessly. It even doesn't make the constant reading/straining sound that my other working discs make. Although, this one by a strange fluke was burned on a Dynex CD-R instead of a TDK one. Hopefully I've found the cure for what ails me... and I just want to say thanks to all you guys for being so awesome... a lot of times when you show up in a speciality forum and ask a question all you get is 20 people yelling 'wtf search function n00b'.

I think it's great that you guys are actually willing to help people, and thanks a ton for helping me!

FrostyTheSnowman · July 3rd, 2006

Well, if you've tried all these methods, then my guess is it might just be a TOC problem. Personally I don't use modchips, I use a Code Breaker disc to swap. You should consider buying one of those. Their TOC is roughly 700MB, so it works with all the games i've tried.

To use Code Breaker/GameShark:

BEFORE turning on your PSX, use the 'toothpick' method you are currently using to hold the rear button down.

Turn on PSX, boot up CodeBreaker.

Select 'Start Game'

It will now ask you to insert a PSX disc.

Simply swap the Code Breaker disc for your Backup disc, and press X.

Walla! There you go.

BTW, The rear button needs to be held down the ENTIRE time you do this method. This method works great for me, on both my PS2 and my PSX.

EDIT: Nevermind, it seems you got it working correctly. We're always happy to help.

__________________
Full VGA Support For Modchips! (VGA Patcher v0.6-v0.8 Development Thread)

FrostyTheSnowman's VGA Patcher v0.8 & Evox M8+ VGA Patcher

Frosty's v1.0 5101 Retail BIOS

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Zuh Gamer · July 3rd, 2006

Indeed. I've done 3 games now and all are 100% functional with Alcohol. Even the JP Bust a Move, which is mad cool.

Are there definite advantages to using a game enhancer disc instead of a serial pack? The Gold Finger (what I have) sits in the PSX Serial I/O port just like the original gameshark used to... I've just been using an old game I don't care about to read the region code from (Guardian's Crusade, if anyone cares). My only beef so far is that none of the Gold Finger's built in codes (of which it claims there are 10,000 but less than a quarter that in reality.. God Bless Hong Kong) work. I think I have a PSX GameShark v5 or v6 disc... the games will boot the same way using that? If only I had known earlier. @_@

Last edited by Zuh Gamer; July 3rd, 2006 at 15:48..

FrostyTheSnowman · July 3rd, 2006

There are no differences between Serial cheat devices, and CD based ones. BUT, different products (GameShark, Code Breaker, Gold Finger) boot backup games differently, providing more compatibility. In my experience, Code Breaker is the best one to use. But if Gold Finger works for you just fine, there is no reason to switch.

__________________
Full VGA Support For Modchips! (VGA Patcher v0.6-v0.8 Development Thread)

FrostyTheSnowman's VGA Patcher v0.8 & Evox M8+ VGA Patcher

Frosty's v1.0 5101 Retail BIOS

FrostyTheSnowman's XBOX Gallery (Pictures of my XBOXes)

Zuh Gamer · July 3rd, 2006

Awesome. Well, I've only got one question left if anybody has some suggestions.

I need a good sized spring to replace that tooth pick. As much as I like the prospect of being able to carry on my gaming without damaging the originals, it's bittersweet as long as I have to leave that hood open and let all that dust in to damage my PlayStation. Is there a particular piece of home furnishing I can get an appropriate spring out of? I tried using one from a retractable pen, but it's neither long enough nor sturdy enough to hold down the button.

Any suggestions?

FrostyTheSnowman · July 3rd, 2006

Hmm, I don't know on that one. I think you can order specially made ones online. But, if I were you I would just solder the button's leads together so the button is always being pushed down, as far as the console is concerned. But that requires soldering skill.

Look online, I think you can order those spings for like 2 bucks.

__________________
Full VGA Support For Modchips! (VGA Patcher v0.6-v0.8 Development Thread)

FrostyTheSnowman's VGA Patcher v0.8 & Evox M8+ VGA Patcher

Frosty's v1.0 5101 Retail BIOS

FrostyTheSnowman's XBOX Gallery (Pictures of my XBOXes)

Zuh Gamer · July 3rd, 2006

Soldering I can do. Is there an online guide that shows which contacts belong to the switch or am I just going to have to crack open my psx and figure it out on my own? Shouldn't be too difficult either way.

Edit: Opened up my unit and got the down to the ems plate, but gave up there because I wasn't sure about the integrity of the ribbon cable connecting the mainboard to the optical unit. Sony already had me bug out on those thin ass ribbon cables once when I modded my PS2, so I figure I'll just stick to the springs. At least it was a good opportunity to clean out my console.

Last edited by Zuh Gamer; July 3rd, 2006 at 16:29..

July 3rd, 2006	#1 (permalink)
Zuh Gamer Registered User Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: United States Posts: 8	Back-ups freeze, disc winds down during FMVs I've got a small but select library of games for the PSX.. I'm moving into an new apartment in a "bad" neighborhood and I've decided I want to back up my games and put the originals in storage so I don't have to fear for my collection. I keep hitting a wall when it comes to re-burning the discs. I cleaned the games up best I could and followed the directions in the sticky. The back-up process worked just fine without any DREs, but when I re-burn the discs and play them, most games play just fine but only as long as I skip past every FMV the moment it gets to playing. Some will run for a couple seconds up to half a minute, but always eventually makes the video freeze and the disc stop spinning. Is there some common mistake here that I'm missing? The games in question are Azure Dreams and Tomba... my copy of Klonoa seemed to work alright, at least I got all the way through the opening FMV and the first few levels no problems. Tomba won't even start past the opening into, it seizes as soon as the FMV begins. For reference, I'm using an SCPH-5501 machine with a Gold Finger game enhancer.. Toothpicks propping open the drive door while I try and locate a suitable spring. Also, do I need to use a different backup method for Japanese games? I've got a Japanese copy of Bust a Move (the dance game, not Puzzle Bobble) that I really don't want to get all messed up. Thanks in advance.

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July 3rd, 2006	#2 (permalink)
flowrent European Citizen xD Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bucharest ,RO Posts: 339	What i can say : Use Alcohol 120% , good media and burn at lowest speed possible.

July 3rd, 2006	#3 (permalink)
Zuh Gamer Registered User Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: United States Posts: 8	Will Alcohol 120% work with .ccd files? And how much does it cost? I already put down $40 for a copy of CloneCD.. I don't want to have to buy any more software. This project has already cost me like 90 bucks in software, hardware and media. I'm a college student, dammit, I need my monies

July 3rd, 2006	#4 (permalink)
FrostyTheSnowman XBOX Modder Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Utah Posts: 659	Actually CloneCD is more than suitable for this job. I've used CloneCD many times to back up my PSX games. Just try re-burning them at like 2x. I know that's horribly slow, but it usually fixes any problems. And using a good brand of CD-R's(Verbatim, Maxell, etc.) is a good idea too. You ARE using CD-R's and NOT CD-RW's right? __________________ Full VGA Support For Modchips! (VGA Patcher v0.6-v0.8 Development Thread) FrostyTheSnowman's VGA Patcher v0.8 & Evox M8+ VGA Patcher Frosty's v1.0 5101 Retail BIOS FrostyTheSnowman's XBOX Gallery (Pictures of my XBOXes)

July 3rd, 2006	#5 (permalink)
Zuh Gamer Registered User Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: United States Posts: 8	Sorry, I tried to include some information to get that out of the way but I see it wasn't really enough. I'm using TDK 700MB CD-R discs on an HP DVD640 DVD burner. I was burning stuff at 4x and even as slow as 1x but it does nothing to alleviate the problems... in fact, the one disc that works well, Klonoa, was burned at 40x. Tried using a demo of Alcohol, and it didn't have the 'PlayStation' preset mentioned in the sticky... It wouldn't burn on SAO+Sub so I burned it on straight SAO (yes, close session, no, don't repair subchannel data) and the disc wouldn't even boot. Also, Alcohol won't let me burn slower than 8x.

July 3rd, 2006	#6 (permalink)
KanedA PS2 PAL[v9] Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: PolanD Posts: 5,310	I'd like to confirm what FrostyTheSnowman wrote - burn them as slow as possible, on good brand CDs (Verbatim, Maxell, TDK). If direct copy (on the fly) doesn't work, than try to make an ISO, than burn from it __________________

July 3rd, 2006	#7 (permalink)
Zuh Gamer Registered User Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: United States Posts: 8	Okay, Alcohol is just getting weirder and weirded. I restarted it, and now all the data types show up (I can select Play Station) but now it won't let me burn slower than 40x. WTF? Having my entire collection stolen is less frustrating than this... although I suppose Sony made it that way for a reason.

July 3rd, 2006	#8 (permalink)
Zuh Gamer Registered User Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: United States Posts: 8	Well, I don't suppose I can complain any more. I re-burned one of my original clone CD images with Alcohol 120% at 40x using the PlayStation RAW + DAO setting and it works flawlessly. It even doesn't make the constant reading/straining sound that my other working discs make. Although, this one by a strange fluke was burned on a Dynex CD-R instead of a TDK one. Hopefully I've found the cure for what ails me... and I just want to say thanks to all you guys for being so awesome... a lot of times when you show up in a speciality forum and ask a question all you get is 20 people yelling 'wtf search function n00b'. I think it's great that you guys are actually willing to help people, and thanks a ton for helping me!

July 3rd, 2006	#9 (permalink)
FrostyTheSnowman XBOX Modder Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Utah Posts: 659	Well, if you've tried all these methods, then my guess is it might just be a TOC problem. Personally I don't use modchips, I use a Code Breaker disc to swap. You should consider buying one of those. Their TOC is roughly 700MB, so it works with all the games i've tried. To use Code Breaker/GameShark: BEFORE turning on your PSX, use the 'toothpick' method you are currently using to hold the rear button down. Turn on PSX, boot up CodeBreaker. Select 'Start Game' It will now ask you to insert a PSX disc. Simply swap the Code Breaker disc for your Backup disc, and press X. Walla! There you go. BTW, The rear button needs to be held down the ENTIRE time you do this method. This method works great for me, on both my PS2 and my PSX. EDIT: Nevermind, it seems you got it working correctly. We're always happy to help. __________________ Full VGA Support For Modchips! (VGA Patcher v0.6-v0.8 Development Thread) FrostyTheSnowman's VGA Patcher v0.8 & Evox M8+ VGA Patcher Frosty's v1.0 5101 Retail BIOS FrostyTheSnowman's XBOX Gallery (Pictures of my XBOXes)

July 3rd, 2006	#10 (permalink)
Zuh Gamer Registered User Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: United States Posts: 8	Indeed. I've done 3 games now and all are 100% functional with Alcohol. Even the JP Bust a Move, which is mad cool. Are there definite advantages to using a game enhancer disc instead of a serial pack? The Gold Finger (what I have) sits in the PSX Serial I/O port just like the original gameshark used to... I've just been using an old game I don't care about to read the region code from (Guardian's Crusade, if anyone cares). My only beef so far is that none of the Gold Finger's built in codes (of which it claims there are 10,000 but less than a quarter that in reality.. God Bless Hong Kong) work. I think I have a PSX GameShark v5 or v6 disc... the games will boot the same way using that? If only I had known earlier. @_@ Last edited by Zuh Gamer; July 3rd, 2006 at 15:48..

July 3rd, 2006	#11 (permalink)
FrostyTheSnowman XBOX Modder Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Utah Posts: 659	There are no differences between Serial cheat devices, and CD based ones. BUT, different products (GameShark, Code Breaker, Gold Finger) boot backup games differently, providing more compatibility. In my experience, Code Breaker is the best one to use. But if Gold Finger works for you just fine, there is no reason to switch. __________________ Full VGA Support For Modchips! (VGA Patcher v0.6-v0.8 Development Thread) FrostyTheSnowman's VGA Patcher v0.8 & Evox M8+ VGA Patcher Frosty's v1.0 5101 Retail BIOS FrostyTheSnowman's XBOX Gallery (Pictures of my XBOXes)

July 3rd, 2006	#12 (permalink)
Zuh Gamer Registered User Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: United States Posts: 8	Awesome. Well, I've only got one question left if anybody has some suggestions. I need a good sized spring to replace that tooth pick. As much as I like the prospect of being able to carry on my gaming without damaging the originals, it's bittersweet as long as I have to leave that hood open and let all that dust in to damage my PlayStation. Is there a particular piece of home furnishing I can get an appropriate spring out of? I tried using one from a retractable pen, but it's neither long enough nor sturdy enough to hold down the button. Any suggestions?

July 3rd, 2006	#13 (permalink)
FrostyTheSnowman XBOX Modder Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Utah Posts: 659	Hmm, I don't know on that one. I think you can order specially made ones online. But, if I were you I would just solder the button's leads together so the button is always being pushed down, as far as the console is concerned. But that requires soldering skill. Look online, I think you can order those spings for like 2 bucks. __________________ Full VGA Support For Modchips! (VGA Patcher v0.6-v0.8 Development Thread) FrostyTheSnowman's VGA Patcher v0.8 & Evox M8+ VGA Patcher Frosty's v1.0 5101 Retail BIOS FrostyTheSnowman's XBOX Gallery (Pictures of my XBOXes)

July 3rd, 2006	#14 (permalink)
Zuh Gamer Registered User Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: United States Posts: 8	Soldering I can do. Is there an online guide that shows which contacts belong to the switch or am I just going to have to crack open my psx and figure it out on my own? Shouldn't be too difficult either way. Edit: Opened up my unit and got the down to the ems plate, but gave up there because I wasn't sure about the integrity of the ribbon cable connecting the mainboard to the optical unit. Sony already had me bug out on those thin ass ribbon cables once when I modded my PS2, so I figure I'll just stick to the springs. At least it was a good opportunity to clean out my console. Last edited by Zuh Gamer; July 3rd, 2006 at 16:29..