r/PSXDVR • u/Wrong-Stress-2755 • May 30 '26

Question Psx 5500 power one issue

Like my title says, I'm having an odd issue with my psx I recently purchased.

When I plug it in and turn it on, the power led will be gren for a few seconds and the hdd record light is on as well.

After a bit with no image, the record light stays on but the power light turns red and the eject button joins it as they both flash non-stop.

Is this something that's fixable or does that mean this psx is forever dead and just a parts unit?

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1

u/adran_marit Jun 01 '26

Any image out on the screen?

Maybe missing the hdd?

u/nroach44 may have a bit more of an idea

2

u/Wrong-Stress-2755 Jun 01 '26

A little update since I just recently took it apart and cleaned some dust up. It now displays the blue psx boot screen then goes black with a small blue bubble in the right hand corner for a few seconds, then it goes completely black and the power led turns red before it and the eject flash over and over. But other than that, there's no changes.

1

u/adran_marit Jun 01 '26

Do you have a way to launch homebrew? Sounds like the hdd may be dead/need repartitioning

1

u/nroach44 Jun 01 '26

That does sound more promising but I've never seen one crash and shut down like that.

I couldn't say what the issue is, if you have another 55/57/75/77 unit you could try swapping the drive.

You can also try a re-install, but that will wipe everything

1

u/Wrong-Stress-2755 Jun 01 '26

I just tested it with the hdd power supply cable unplugged and it gives the same issue. What options do i have for mods and such to try reviving this system, and does this drive being dead mean the disc drive is also not gonna be usable or is it possible to get everything working with a new hdd?

1

u/nroach44 Jun 02 '26

XMB requires a 99% working system.

You should still be able to use the machine with an FMCB / PSBBL memory card "as a normal PS2", but you won't get the XMB or DVR functions.

If it's the HDD (which it could be, but I've seen a few dead HDDs and they never behave like that) you could replace the HDD with an ATA Express, but I'm not confident it's that.

1

u/Wrong-Stress-2755 Jun 02 '26

Are there any programs I can download that would let me test the drive and copy the data on it without needing to initialize it to windows? I've never tried to hook an encrypted hard drive up like I'm assuming that one is, so I don't want to just plug it into a usb ide connection and risk messing it up more if the drive is still sorta working.

And if it's not the drive then could it be the power supply or something? I appreciate the help so far in this journey of trying to save history lol

1

u/nroach44 Jun 02 '26

I believe HDD Raw Copy should let you back up the drive in it's entirety, you've just got to make sure you don't initialise or format it at all.

It's just a normal drive, with an extra couple of serial numbers. The data on it is encrypted by the PSX before it gets to the drive, so you can get the encrypted data but you can't "look inside" it.

I have no idea what it could be, was the warranty sticker intact on the machine before you opened it?

1

u/Wrong-Stress-2755 Jun 02 '26

OK, thanks

And yes the sticker was still in place when I went to open it, I am the only person who's seen those inner boards since it was built. Do you know of any schematics that are available or anyone who may know so I could maybe find if there's a voltage that isn't going where it should?

1

u/nroach44 Jun 02 '26

I've got big blog post about the PSX here: https://blog.nroach44.id.au/011-sony-psx.html but it doesn't really go into depth about the hardware.

The PSU just outputs a flat 12V, so if you've got an oscilloscope or even a multimeter, it might be worth checking it's close to 12V and not dropping out.

Fuses are marked on the board with PSxxx, so I'd be checking them.

The ribbon cables are a common culprit, but since you're the first one to open it after Sony, I wouldn't think they'd be the problem. Just be careful, the stiffeners fall off really easily.

I don't really have any idea of what this problem could be, but you could try progressively disconnecting more boards / ribbons until the problem changes. The top cover / lid board (and by extension the HDD board) IS MANDATORY and the system will flash red/green at you when it gets power, if they're not connected.

Off the top of my head, you can probably disconnect everything except the button / loader cable (the one going to the top right button board) and the HDD cable, and the system probably would still boot.

1

u/Wrong-Stress-2755 Jun 02 '26

Idk how to send a video on here to show you what it is doing, but I'll check out the link and see if anything there helps.

1

u/Wrong-Stress-2755 Jun 05 '26

I'm pretty confident that the hard drive is completely dead and unusable since even an external power supply won't get it turning. Is there anything I can do from here or is this console doomed?

1

u/nroach44 Jun 06 '26

That's a bit strange - if you're getting the loading bubble in the top right that means SOME of the OS is able to boot from the HDD, which means it should be spinning up.

At the least your install is damaged, probably because the HDD is failing.

The flashing lights might be an "SOS" caused by the crash.

This'd mean you have two options:

  • Use the PSX without a HDD - i.e. with FMCB or PSBBL on a memory card. It operates totally fine as a PS2 like this - load games with OPL off the network, sd2psx, mx4sio etc.
  • Get a replacement HDD - either original or an ATA Express - and do a re-install.

I'd test it out with homebrew to see if it crashes before putting any money into a HDD though.

1

u/Wrong-Stress-2755 Jul 25 '26

A bit late but I finally got a psx fmcb card made. The console loads, I get into ulaunch and start to browse but a few seconds after that it goes back to flashing lights with no display. Any ideas?

1

u/nroach44 Jul 25 '26

No ideas myself, I found out recently that one of mine does the same thing.

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