PSX card reader

semicolo · Post by **semicolo** » Mon May 01, 2006 6:45 am

it could also be the level dropping to 2.4V because of the high current drain.

anyway, using i/o to power something is a bad idea, use a real power source.

Post by **melancholy** » Mon May 01, 2006 10:26 pm

I'm guessing your first assumption was correct. It acts like there isn't any power at all. I'm not sure if I'm good enough with electronics to try to wire up the power supply to it. Would all I need to do is remove the diode and run a wire from the orange wire on the power supply to the cut in the red wire where I removed the diode?

semicolo · Post by **semicolo** » Tue May 02, 2006 6:57 am

yes it's all what's needed (power goes to the flash card of course, not the parallel port)

Check with a voltmeter that you've got the good wire (well with a pinout of the atx power supply you probably can't go wrong).

Post by **Quzar** » Tue May 02, 2006 9:01 am

also, are you sure you hooked up the diode in the right direction?

Post by **melancholy** » Tue May 02, 2006 12:24 pm

Quzar wrote:also, are you sure you hooked up the diode in the right direction?

Positive. I triple-checked with the post BlueCrab made. It just acts like there's no power getting to it.

I'll try semicolo's method. It seems easy enough, and I just use a generic memory card in case something were to go wrong.

Post by **melancholy** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:33 pm

Another quick question. According to that diagram about the ATX supply, the red wire is 5V. And according to the memory card diagram, the parallel port is suppose to be able to output 5V. So instead of tapping into the motherboard cable, could I just use the red wire from a spare hard drive adapter to power the card and just leave the diode on the cable to step down the power? Because then I could just build a little adapter that could easily be removed rather than a permanent wire coming from the motherboard.

Post by **melancholy** » Tue May 02, 2006 3:27 pm

Alright, well I wired it up, and now I'm positive it is getting power. But it still will not read. I tested the card on my Playstation to make sure I didn't fry it in the process, and all my original saves are still intact. So it's not a card problem. And it's not a wiring problem. And it's not a power problem. So either its some kind of software problem, or this adapter that I'm using to build this thing might be junk, which seems possible. I might just have to take a trip to Fry's and see if I can find something better to use as a parallel plug.

Post by **Quzar** » Tue May 02, 2006 3:53 pm

maybe it has to do with the mode your paralell port is set to bi directional as opposed to epp(?) ecp(?) or whatever they are called. It might be that the software for it is only designed to work in one or more of those modes?

Post by **melancholy** » Tue May 02, 2006 4:41 pm

How do I know what mode it is?

Post by **Quzar** » Tue May 02, 2006 5:16 pm

You can either check in your bios or go to the device manager and it may say what type of port it is (defining the port by the mode it is in).

semicolo · Post by **semicolo** » Tue May 02, 2006 8:12 pm

use epp or ecp
if in standard mode it probably can't be configured as input.
also the power needed bye the card is 3.3V, you'd need 2 diodes to step 5V enough.(1n4148 will drop ~0,8V at 20mA)

semicolo · Post by **semicolo** » Tue May 02, 2006 8:20 pm

well in fact you shouldn't nee a bi-directionnal port (outputs of the flash card are wired to standard inputs).
If you've got a voltmeter test your port i/o while connected to the flash card (someone wrote a handy lpt controller software : http://semicolo.homelinux.org/lpt.exe)
Verify the software you use is configured for the right type of adapter

Ex-Cyber · Post by **Ex-Cyber** » Tue May 02, 2006 10:34 pm

The PSX card/pad supply is 3.7V, not 3.3V Also, if you're going to run on a "proper" supply it would also not be a bad idea to buffer the signals with that supply. I'm sure PSX cards have protection circuitry that can deal with the fairly trivial overvoltage that might occur, but it would help avoid any weirdness that might occur from the "virtual supply effect" (not sure what the proper term for this is; I'm referring to the phenomenon where inputs can affect supply rails when protection diodes are conducting; in fact, some devices can even be powered this way with no actual supply connection...).

Post by **melancholy** » Tue May 02, 2006 11:02 pm

Quzar wrote:maybe it has to do with the mode your paralell port is set to bi directional as opposed to epp(?) ecp(?) or whatever they are called. It might be that the software for it is only designed to work in one or more of those modes?

Well, the good news is that you were right, my PC wasn't set to EPP/ECP. But the bad news is even after changing it, it still doesn't work. I'm just going to guess that the adapter I bought to plug into the parallel port is bad and just replace it. Everything is set correctly, even the software that I'm using to try to read the card. I think it just might be something with this parallel port plug.

Ex-Cyber · Post by **Ex-Cyber** » Wed May 03, 2006 12:57 am

Is there any way you can force the software to slow down the transfer rate? If there are signal integrity or power issues, that might help things.

Post by **melancholy** » Tue May 09, 2006 1:30 am

Alright, a slight update. I went to Fry's today to buy a parallel adapter that I could actually solder to as opposed to tearing apart a parallel cable like I was doing before. I redid all of the soldering and plugged it in again. Turned on the program, and instead of just getting a read failure, it tries to read it. So I found the problem! However, yesterday I installed the 64 bit version of Windows, and the program doesn't like it, so it crashes when it attempts to read it. But it does have the ability to read it. So I just need to either dual boot my computer or find an older computer that I can use for the transfers.

At any rate, it looks like my assumption was right in that the parallel plug I was using was faulty. Now I just need a computer that can use the program to read the device.

semicolo · Post by **semicolo** » Fri May 12, 2006 11:58 am

I just read that vcc can vary between 5V and 3V, your best bet would be to measure directly on a playstation what your card needs.

Post by **melancholy** » Thu May 18, 2006 12:41 am

I tried the adapter on another computer. Looks like I was wrong. The adapter still doesn't work. I have taken all measures to make sure this thing is built exactly like the diagram. The adapter is flawless. So therefore, it has to be the software. It keeps crashing on XP machines, so I'm guessing the software does not like Windows XP. I tried to search for an alternative software, but everything is DirectPad Pro compatable and not Sakura compatable. So it looks like I'm going to have to find a machine that is still running Windows 98, but that certainly kills the 'ease-of-use' factor of this adapter. Damn...