iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

kb @4096kb.gay · 25/04/2026

initial paint coat, button text masking

The upper tray and the disc drive cover. They're both now matte black with no lettering. They sit in my closet atop the cardboard box they were painted in.

The currently blank "Power" button is installed in its slot on the upper shell. Masking tape is applied along the button to level off the area where lettering will be applied.

An orange vinyl stencil with the text "POWER" is centered on its intended location. A guiding extrusion is also affixed to the stencil in order to achieve an application that isn't askew.

All three top buttons, "POWER", "OPEN", and "RESET", are masked off so only the surface within the stencil is exposed. They're ready to get their lettering painted on.

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kb @4096kb.gay · 23/04/2026

fuse replaced, fuck yes

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kb @4096kb.gay · 22/04/2026

went panic mode for a sec, thought i lost the reset button. found it in the dirt after like 15min of searching 🙃 priming complete!

The reset button with an initial primer layer. It's been jammed into the crack of a small cardboard box to hold it upright and in place.

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kb @4096kb.gay · 22/04/2026

arts n crafts, primer layer

Top shell of the PlayStation. It's inside an open box and has an initial coating of dark-grey spray primer applied. It's on the sidewalk in my apartment's parking lot.

The controller port and parallel port cover. They're in the same box as before; I've been using it across each set of parts. Fret not, I was quite liberal with the masking tape, no paint will hit the contacts of the controller port module.

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kb @4096kb.gay · 21/04/2026

ikikik the hammer on top of the playstation looks pretty bad trust bro it wasn't shorting anything

The demon core and it's associated screwdriver

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kb @4096kb.gay · 21/04/2026

yeah we're just gonna memory-hole that

Deleting my initial posts on putting an xStation in a broken PS1 since I fucked up the image uploads

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kb @4096kb.gay · 21/04/2026

,,,and now we wait. digikey order should come tomorrow. i've also patched up some of the broken plastic on the shell and have spray-paint on deck for a new paint job.

An unholy union between ABS (the original plastic) and PLA (the haphazardly applied grey plastic). It's very bad looking and the mix of grey and tan is repulsive. The outer shape more or less resembles what it should, however!

The patched-up power button corner that was previously mentioned. With a coat of paint, it shouldn't look half bad!

All the (now cleaned) housing parts in a box with some spray paint and primer. The controller module's also there, with minimal masking tape to cover any contacts or tight-tolerance slots.

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kb @4096kb.gay · 21/04/2026

i ended up tracing the problem back to a voltage regulator on the underside. swapping it out with an equivalent one from the donor, i had audio! for five seconds because then i dropped the controller port module on the board and shorted a bunch of shit, blowing the fuses again. digikey time :/

A screenshot from my order confirmation for a (hopefully) equivalent SMD fuse. It's rating is 300mA shy of the base spec, but if the various reddit comments I saw are to be believed, this should be "OK". The size also differs, I think it won't be a problem though.

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kb @4096kb.gay · 21/04/2026

i then committed gross crimes against the board - i used a dupont wire to bridge the 5v from the unoccupied CD motor socket to DVDD on IC402. and boom, amplification!

A brown dupont wire is haphazardly connected to the rightmost pin of CN701. It's not even connected really, the wire's way too big for the fuckin pin.

Fucking goofy looking pūkeko bird. Bigass legs oml
(Context: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pukeko)

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kb @4096kb.gay · 21/04/2026

so clearly something's wrong with the audio amp. unfortunately, electrical engineering is not my trade, but nevertheless, i took out my multimeter and started probing points. i narrowed it down to the DAC (IC402), which was only receiving 1v4 instead of the 5v specified in the datasheet.

Me pointing a dupont wire to IC402. Well, rather a capacitor that leads to DVDD, the digital positive "lead" for the IC.

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kb @4096kb.gay · 21/04/2026

...but, in fact, there WAS AUDIO. on a whim, i cranked the stereo all the way to 100% volume. for context, i usually don't put it past 30%. among the static, i could just barely make out the synth in the second half of the boot sequence.

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kb @4096kb.gay · 21/04/2026

after further investigation, there were indeed bridged solder points. i think the main issue was that i blew fuse PS604, however. i swapped fuse from the donor board and that's what finally got it working... mostly. i can get into games but still no audio! worse, THPS2 has no FMV audio now!

A blurry shot of fuse PS604. It's next to the 7-pin power connector and labelled with a "50" up top.

PaRappa The Rapper menu screen! But no music... how sad.

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kb @4096kb.gay · 21/04/2026

i swapped out the chip, and,,, nothing. something is definitely shorted.

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kb @4096kb.gay · 21/04/2026

the CXD2925Q ran for about $35 shipped on ebay, a price i was not willing to pay. instead, i picked up a donor PU-20 board.

A confirmed order for a "BROKEN Sony PlayStation 1 PU-20 Motherboard with Metal Heat Shields". I paid $26.34 for it on the 9th of April and received the board 4 days later on the 13th.

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kb @4096kb.gay · 21/04/2026

the xStation booted with relative ease. what i noticed after loading some games onto the ODE, however, is that /none/ of them would properly boot. they'd all freeze before hitting the menu. given this behavior, i was certain the SPU was to blame.

The dashboard for the xStation. It's empty and showing a Christmas theme.

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kb @4096kb.gay · 21/04/2026

a few weeks later, all the parts had arrived. i felt like shit at work around this time, so i took a sick day. with plenty of tissues and cough syrup at my side, i began replacing each capacitor on the board. following that i installed the xStation.

The XStation QSB installed along the bottom of the board. The board made the install very clean - only a single purple wire runs across the board, everything else is connected to a purpose-built PCB.

IC309 with various pins (intentionally) lifted. This is required in the XStation installation manual, can't tell you for what purpose. That's beyond my pay grade 😝. You can also see some yellow tantalum capacitors on the board. These aren't stock - rather than shipping out tiny 3mm capacitors for some points on the board, Console5 ships out equivalent tantalum capacitors, making the swap a bit easier.

A bunch of fresh caps. The connector for the PSU and optical drive motor have been slightly melted. I don't have a very steady hand, these goofs were a result of that.

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kb @4096kb.gay · 21/04/2026

i'm not experienced with it, but i whipped out my hot air station and removed IC308, model CXD2925Q. to my dismay, everything underneath the IC seemed to be up to snuff, and putting the IC back on with fresh solder yielded no change in behavior.

IC308, the sound processing unit in this console, sits atop the board, detached from the pads that previously were connected to the QFP chip. Some flux residue is present.

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kb @4096kb.gay · 21/04/2026

After tweaking the laser a bit (thanks, dogbreath.de/PS1/LaserAli...), i was able to get it to boot Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2! it couldn't load past the Activision logo, which wasn't unexpected, but what was was the aforementioned FMV playing audio properly. what the hell?

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kb @4096kb.gay · 21/04/2026

it was time to do some forensics. i opened up the console which proved simple enough despite the brittle plastic of some screwposts breaking loose. upon visual inspection of the board, a late PU-8 model, i found no leaky capacitors or corroded traces.

A blurry shot of the system board. Despite being covered in some dust, the system is otherwise unremarkable. Peeking at the board revision on the top edge, we can see that this is a late PU-8 board, specifically the -22 version. This board type has all the pros of the early "audiophile" PlayStations while also having SGRAM instead of VRAM for the GPU - see https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps1/Motherboards#PU-8. These later sub-revisions with SGRAM have 8-bit dithering rather than the 5-bit dithering sported by earlier models - see https://consolemods.org/wiki/PS1:PS1_Model_Differences.

Nothing in particular that's interesting here. You can see the back of the console, sporting the dedicated composite-out RCA jacks and RF-out seen only on the SCPH-100X models and the upper EMI shield. You can also see my cat keenly observing me from the floor.

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kb @4096kb.gay · 21/04/2026

once i got the console, it was in pretty rough shape. to my dismay, there was also another problem - upon starting the console, i was not greeted with the typical booming synth of the PSX startup screen, but rather plain silence. Video displayed fine, however, the console put out no sound.

The received console now sits atop a cluttered table. It's significantly yellowed in its many years of service, save for the controller ports, which remain true to their original shade of grey.

A close-up shot of the console's lid. There's some light scratches on it along with patchy discoloration and black specs spanning its surface.

A view of the console from the power button's corner. Heavy grime covers the front face of the console, and on the lower corner, chunks of plastic have broken off, leaving that portion of the housing slightly disfigured.

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kb @4096kb.gay · 21/04/2026

latest project: putting an xStation into a $25 SCPH-1001. this particular unit was chosen as it seemed like a good candidate for an ODE, given its failing optical drive

The bottom side of the PlayStation as shown in the eBay listing. The console is covered grime and is thoroughly yellowed. Surveying the model information listed, the console can be observed to be one of model SCPH-1001, one of the select models that the XStation optical drive emulator is compatible with.

The eBay listing description. It's short and vague, only reading "For parts only or repairs, doesn't read discs anymore."

The "order confirmed" page in eBay. I got the console for a cool $26.64. After ordering on March 21st, 2026, I received the console on March 28th, one week later.

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kb @4096kb.gay · 17/01/2026

>year 2076 >ephemeral cultural artifacts from decades prior have been preserved despite all odds >stored in a long established (and presumably largely accessible) physical media format it'll be ok, bros

A masculine figure breaks a set of chains which previous bound their arms. The sun sets in the distance, leaving only a silhouette visible. The escapee is overjoyed, with both fists in the air.

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kb @4096kb.gay · 25/12/2024

Since I'm not seeing here, this is the full article. abcnews.go.com/US/unitedhea... Relevant screenshots are attached. This isn't to say I don't agree with Mangione's views. I just think it's important to include full context rather than assuming extrapolating intentions from headlines.

Screenshot from the ABC news article. Subeading reads "Addressing Underlying Anger". The section reads as follows:

Overall, what needs to be addressed is the increased anger being expressed in society against corporate entities, especially the health care industry, the experts told ABC News.

Mihalek said that both law enforcement and the general public will need to keep an eye out for anyone who seems in distress and shares angry rhetoric against health care companies and CEOs, and act if they encounter it.

"Concerning behaviors should not be ignored: They need to be reported and addressed. If somebody says something, don't be afraid to be the someone to raise the flag about it," he said.

A continuation of the previous screenshot. This section reads like so:

Clancy reiterated that the grievances felt by many when it comes to the health care industry, or capitalism in general, are rooted in legitimate concerns expressed by a large majority of people. He stressed that sincere, open communication between the public and the people in power, including emphasis on non-violent responses, is the first step to lowering the temperature.

"If you can find you can off-ramp people at the early stage by saying, 'Hey, you know, you're right, the corporations are greedy, and they are too powerful. We should do something, here's what we can do,' then you can lead to long-term solutions," he said.

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