So the other day I went on my thrift journey to find things that might take my fancy. There's this charity shop owned by a guy that really doesn't know what he's talking about, but more often than not I find something I like, most often PS1 demo disks.

On this day, I spotted a PS2 Slim model, SCPH-75004, in which the owner told me it was an "XBox 2". This is sort of the norm for him and I brought it for £5, which was a really good deal. He told me it was working and I believed him, popped in a game and set everything up. I then noticed that the power cord adaptor was American with two slots, instead of the three slots we use in England. I got excited, as I might have actually bagged a US PS2 without the import costs. Alas, the SCPH-75004 model was a PAL version.

That just got me wondering, that makes no sense. I gave the console a closer look and it had been opened. Wondering what on earth the previous owner did to it, I opened it up, wondering, hoping if I had somehow stumbled across a modded PS2 to be region-free, for practically free. Low and behold, the console was indeed modded.

http://i.imgur.com/icRg3Fs.jpg
The motherboard. The tape and orange wires shouldn't be there.

http://i.imgur.com/WA6t9ek.jpg
The chip at the centre from under the tape. This is most likely the mod chip.

http://i.imgur.com/oYUDTV6.jpg
Wires connecting to the bottom left hand of the motherboard. Note sure how this works.

http://i.imgur.com/lxgW1IX.jpg
Similar, just above the previous image. No idea what this soldered point is for.

The only problem is, I have no idea what this does nor what the purpose of it is for. Does anyone with experience to this recognise the chip?
The tape was probably used as a form of cable management, but I didn't want to tear it away too much least I break a soldering point.

Edit: Easy come, easy go. The console worked perfectly using a power adaptor. Since putting it back together the PS2 has stopped reading disks. It's infinitely infuriating when something that was working perfectly beforehand, now isn't for no reason. It seems the motor is completely dead, the disk isn't spinning. Can I perhaps replace the monitor from a regular, bulky PS2?

It means you can burn PS2 ISOs onto DVD ROMs and use them on your PS2, essentially meaning you have free PS2 games. Other than that you can install certain software onto the Memory Card if I'm correct, and you can also play region free games with no hassle.

You essentially have every PS2 game ever, congrats. As for all of the technicalities involving the hardware I have no idea, but all I know is that it bypasses stuff so you can play imports and pirates.

Best way to burn PS2 games is to get the ISO from.. an affiliate website, which I can't say due to Vizzed rules, and the software known as Imgburn should work.

yoshirulez! : It's what I could ever want and more, thanks. I will test this out and burn a copy of a game I already own because that at least is accepted, and see how that works. I ordered a USA and Japan only game as well. I've always wanted to play FF XII International, but didn't want to buy another PS2 + import costs, and I don't have the tools or knowledge to mod my own PS2.

This is super interesting. I wonder what the lift of the console was like.