Finally got my PS1 fat model spinning discs again after 6 weeks of tinkering

I picked up a beat-up PS1 at a garage sale near Dayton back in July for $10. The disc drive was totally dead, so I spent the last month and a half replacing the laser assembly and recapping the power board. After three failed attempts at aligning the new laser, it finally read a copy of Crash Bandicoot this morning. Has anyone else found those ribbon cables on the early models to be super fussy to seat properly?

2 comments

2 Comments

masondixon1mo ago

Wait, didn't those early fat models use a different laser diode entirely?

jade31mo ago

Hang on, you're telling me the fat boy models actually used a totally different laser? I thought it was just a bigger housing with the same guts inside. That's wild if true. I always figured they just shoved a bigger lens in front of the same diode to spread the beam out more. But a whole different laser source would explain why those things were so finicky and why they had that weird buzzing sound. Gotta look into this because that changes how I think about those old machines completely.