u/iVirtualZero

I thought I make a post about my FZ1 3DO that I have modded and repaired years ago. It was imported from Japan with Disc Read Issues, so instead of replacing it with an ODE, I decided to repair it along with some cool fancy mods. I can now say I have the Ultimate 3DO, it reads original discs and audio discs perfectly and it's fully recapped with an external universal 12v PSU. I use Leicke Brand 12v 5 Amp PSU for clean power and another option for the 3DO is to switch to the Wii's PSU or to USB C. I think the only thing left now is to pick up an External Flashcart.

It has the following mods and fixes

A New Laser

Replacement Gear Motor and Shaft Set

New Drive Belt along with a regrease of the rails and worm motor

New Capacitors from Console 5. I fully recapped the Disc Drive, Motherboard and replaced all 7 caps in the control pad.

A 12 External DC PSU mod

8 Pin Din RGB Mod with 240p and 480p support

In Game Reset Mod to be able to reset the console with a controller by pressing (L+R+Stop and Play)

New CR2354 Clock Battery Socketed

This makes my Sega Genesis and my Super Nintendo look like babies toys.

I thought I showcased my original Ultimate Neo Geo AES build 3-5 revision, that I have finally been able to complete. I have replaced the motherboard with a new one in glossy black to match the aesthetic of the original, I didn't go for Matte black since it would look too much like a modern PC motherboard, gloss looks more Retro. Plus the original PCB was rotting/corroding away with a bit of delamination. Replacing it with a modern new PCB has made it like new again, along with that, I have Recapped it with a Console 5 kit, socketed all of the dip chips with a Unibios along with an RGB Amp. I also replaced the Yamaha YM2610 Sound Chip and the Z80/ the Ram chips with new ones. I have also installed the replacement Laser Bear Tactile switches into the original Neo Geo CD Pad, along with replacing one of the caps, and I have replaced the buttons in the Arcade Stick with Sanwa Buttons along with a new modern metal tactile joystick. And now I have the Ultimate AES essentially like new.

This was quite the project, replacing the PCB was a lot of work. I used all of my tools such as a Rework Station, low melt Chip Quick Solder Paste, Desoldering Gun, Solder Wick and tweezers for desoldering many of the parts carefully out of the original motherboard. I had to reposition some of the SMD chips aswell, as it wasn't aligned correctly the first time around. I also made a mistake with installing the dip chips in the wrong orientation. Luckily it was socketed and I can easily orientate it correctly. I also damaged the 100nf ceramic caps whilst trying to desolder it, so I instead ordered another 30 of those caps and also damaged the A1442 voltage regulator which I also had to replace. It was annoying since I meant waiting another week or so for the replacement parts to arrive costing me extra in the process, but it has now finally paid off. As for my Controller and Arcade Stick, I modded these years prior, the Arcade stick was also a lot of work, as I had trim and quite a bit out of the Arcade Stick shell to fit and bolt the replacement Joystick in, but it's now so much better than it once was, way more tactile and overall than the original.

I can now say I have the Ultimate Neo Geo AES. I might also pick up the upcoming AES Plus to compare it with. May have the AES Plus for the living room set up, and the original set up in my Game Room to a CRT.

I restored this Disc Read Error console to full working order. I started off by opening it up and dusting it. I had a Console5 Capacitor kit laying around, so I decided to Recap the motherboard along with a new CR2032 clock battery. I then installed my UART device to this console to PMAP tune and adjust the Laser. I went through a whole bunch of lasers that were simply bust. Some read CD's and only one of them read discs but I couldn't tune it past 3000 no matter what I tried and the other lasers didn't read discs at all.

I almost gave up hope until I found a perfectly working spare 400C laser that I had, that worked great. I was able to tune it even further through the PMAP program into the 2's by adjusting the potentiometers I kept at around 1200ohms and now it reads discs perfectly with instant boots on CD and DVD based games and it plays them perfectly. I then replaced the drive belt in the disc drive and regreased the rails so it opens and closes properly. I replaced some of the worn out ribbon cables like the power/reset and the controller FFC cable. And then I uninstalled the UART adapter and installed a Modbo 5 chip into this PS2 to fully region unlock this console to play PS1 and 2 games from any region.

It feels great to get a non working PS2 fully working again. To better preserve the laser in this, i installed a Free McBoot Memory Card into this with OPL and a 2tb HDD. Playing games off the HDD is a must at this point in the long run to prevent wear to the laser. I mainly use discs for casual play and use the internal storage for longer play sessions.