PlayStation (1) Flakey Dual Shock

[SportWagon]

So my PlayStation (circa 1998) seems to be acting up.

After an hour or so of play, the Dual Shock controller is observably not responding. Trial Mountain Reverse. Cannot negotiate the final run down from the tunnel to the finish line. Steering input is just too imprecise. Similarly, in the hairpin at the far end, you cannot go around it slowly; you're likely just to "understeer" off onto the embankment. Power off the machine, give it a bit of rest, and after restarting it seems good to go for about another hour. Take the same car to the same tracks and the oddities do not happen. Flicking in and out of analog mode does not seem to fix it. I think the axis on my right stick throttle might develop similar vagaries, preventing proper acceleration.

Odd that it fixes itself (for now) after rest. Even more weird I can sometimes use GT tuning to compensate for it.

I first observed the problem with one controller, and thought the problem was the controller, but I believe changed the controller at the same time as powering down, resting and restarting. So, either the defect is in the PlayStation end of the analog mechanism, or the PlayStation might be ruining controllers. Fairly soon after observing problems a few weeks ago, I removed the GameShark Pro from its slot.

Oh well, if worst comes to worst, I could play on a PS2. And just the other day I found another PlayStation (1) stored away, and I even have a PSOne I've hardly used.

Any other thoughts?

[thesameguy]

Perhaps try playing a little bit at a time rather than all at once?

[Rare White Ape]

Might be time to upgrade to a PS3.

[Yw-slayer]

I think the answer is somewhere in the middle: Upgrade a bit at a time.

[Dicknose]

Perhaps try playing a little bit at a time rather than all at once?

I'm trying to laugh a little bit at a time, but that's not easy.

[Jason]

I think the answer is somewhere in the middle: Upgrade a bit at a time.

So would that be PS2 or PS3?

[thesameguy]

Slow down. Start with the P and go from there. It'll be cheaper that way.

[SportWagon]

I see PS3 16GB advertised. Does that refer to RAM?

(Utilizes Google (who needs people? Hmm. On the other hand utilitizing the Google brand search engine software did not help me find reports similar to my controller problems))

Took me a bit of rereading of results to get the answer.

16G is a flash "hard drive".
Insufficient to play GT5.
But they sure seem to be pushing them. Will it still play GT1?

I first saw it advertised by surplus places which not infrequently make misteaks in there fliers.

[FaultyMario]

How about a PC emulator?, you've already paid to use the executable. you own both a PS and a PS2. You have the licenses.

[thesameguy]

True true! I used psxe to run a few early titles. GT didn't run well back in the day, but I will bet on modern hardware it'd be fine!

[jimeez]

PS3 will not play PS1/2 games unless you can find one of the first PS3 that did. Not all PS3 were built the same.

[George]

Wow. My PS1 is not the last one alive?

SW, I was in a video game store recently getting a scratch polished out of a XBOX360 Minecraft CD for my kids. I bet they had 10 or 12 used PS1 controllers for sale. Why not just buy a couple spares and throw out the one that's acting up?

[Rob]

PS3 will not play PS1/2 games unless you can find one of the first PS3 that did. Not all PS3 were built the same.

I know only the first couple of revisions played PS2 games but afaik all PS3 consoles will play PS1 discs.

[SportWagon]

George.
- I actually don't see that much used PSX/PS1 stuff around here (and who knows how defective used controllers might be...)
- I have some spare controllers
- I suspect the PlayStation itself is acting up when overheating, because I observed the problem with two different controllers (experiment still to perform, however)
- I actually even have some alternate PSX/PS1/PS2 I could use
- I was actually wondering if anyone had insight into exactly what would be acting up (mostly out of curiosity); apparently not


P.S. I performed "the experiment". The controller I had written off as defective worked fine last night, at least for ten minutes or so to do the Trial Mountain Reverse race of the UKvsJP in a blue race-mod Cerbera. So probably it's the PlayStation itself that develops defects after about an hour of use.

[jimeez]

I know only the first couple of revisions played PS2 games but afaik all PS3 consoles will play PS1 discs.

Thank you for correcting me on that. I figured that some didn't play ps2 games it wouldn't play ps1. Guess thats what I get for figuring. :(

[Yw-slayer]

So if you have spares, and this one is acting up, why don't you just chuck it?

[Rare White Ape]

I think you should buy the cheapest new 12GB PS3 you can find, chuck a good 128GB 7200RPM drive in there and play GT6.

You won't know what hit you.

Did you know that they addressed almost all of the most common complaints with GT4?

[Yw-slayer]

That'd be too much at one time. He needs to string it out in bite-sized portions. It's more efficient that way.

[SportWagon]

Took a while to decide the actual problem was the PlayStation. Actually would have taken a while to find the spare too, if I hadn't have happened to have found it a few days before.

I switched it on the weekend, and controller response. using one of the same controllers, was noticeably improved right at the start. That is, the flakey PlayStation made the controllers slightly less responsive all the time, but after an hour it so it became intolerable for GT1. So now I can go back to all the old GT1 habits I'd thought I had remembered. Understeering? Just steer harder. About to oversteer? Just steer against it. Strangely, several cars now seem to have a tendency to exit oversteer. Besides the altered steering response, perhaps it's also because the power stick is also working better.

I'm actually somewhat surprised at how much I did manage, now obviously with a handicap.

I can't throw out the old PlayStation entirely. The new one has a note saying its GameShark port does not work. A further note indicates it was my nephews' which I swapped with them so their GameShark would work. Surprisingly, the CD hub seems to work adequately with two of the three springy plastic tabs broken off. I now recall my sister-in-law and I determining once (a few weeks before I traded it) why that PlayStation wasn't working. One of those tabs had got wedged beside the lense-moving mechanism, jamming it. My sister-in-law took a knife or something and pried the tab out, and the PlayStation got a new lease on life.

I saw a small videogame place beside the doughnut shop (Tim's!) I visited on Sunday. I made a note that it was open and I should pop in, but forgot about it before I drove off. Oh well, I managed to remember to go ask about a Cable box, so I didn't forget everything that day. Though I did forget to get milk in the evening. I'd still bet that even in a small store PSX/PS1 stuff rarely comes in, and/or they don't want to handle it.

I'm only at 99.4% in GT4. I'm not allowed to start subsequent games until I've got 100%, am I? :)

[Rob]

http://super1upgames.com/

It's in Hamilton and it was pretty great when I went there a couple of years ago.

[overpowered]

Oddly enough, new PS1's are still available on Amazon, though expensive. Used also available and very cheap.

PS2's are also available.

You can even still get the first gen PS3 (60GB) which had the PS2 emulation and the best collection of ports and card slots:

http://www.amazon.com/PlayStation-3-60GB-System/dp/B0009VXAM0/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1392179119&sr=1-1&keywords=PlayStation+3+%2860GB%29

I was always disappointed that they dumped the PS2 emulation.

I hope my 60GB PS3 doesn't die.

[Leon]

I found my "old" PS1 controllers and negcon in my garage the other week.

The reason I say "old" as I think they were almost brand new when I sold the PS1.

[SportWagon]

Suppose I should check, but I doubt you can get a new PSX with expansion port. Cheap used could have similar to mine.

Getting a new PSX isn't a high priority.

Strangely, my wife doesn't seem as opposed to me going to a newer GT as she did a few months ago.

She now claims I didn't seem to spend all that much time on GT4. Hmm. My schedule is different now, though, and it could be difficult to do any play most weekdays, as opposed to the hour or two a night I'd regularly do on GT4.

[SportWagon]

So the other Sunday I checked out the "Just by Chance Games" store near the Tim Horton's doughnut shop I often go to on Sundays. Turns out it's purely RPG -- almost a clubhouse; I had actually seen some gamers stocking up on life force in the doughnut shop beforehand. Including the obligatory guy with bright red hair and beard.

That store sent me to "Good Time Games" http://www.goodtimegames.ca. Not very far from a different Tim Horton's and actually very close to where I live.

So it seems that sometimes you don't see a lot of PSX hardware in these places because they hide it all in the back. Anyway, so last Sunday (Feb 23) I managed to get there and select a PSX with an expansion port (not tested that yet), and chose one with an undamaged CD hub, and a lid raiser whose button didn't stick down. It was superficially a little dirtier than the other two; perhaps it had been owned by a smoker. He had used memory cards for $15, and new third-party for $8, so I got one of each. He let me test the Playstation (with Gran Turismo) for quite a while. In fact, being a slow Sunday he probably would have let me test even longer than I did. I seem to recall I once, a long time ago, looked at a PlayStation diagnostic disk of some sort, but I can't remember whether I purchased it.

The controller I was using seemed to respond sufficiently to navigate Autumn Ring Mini, and allowed me to gold the B1 acceleration/deceleration test on the first try. So I had him include that too. Since I didn't need power or video cables, PlayStation and controller were $20.

When I had walked into the store the first thing I noticed, after the PayDay Cash Loan desk at the front, was a Commodore 1541 large-size disk drive. Apparently he had a Commodore 64 system in the back somewhere, also. In the display case underneath the 1541 was a large pile of Commodore video cartridges, which I recognized as being for the VIC20.

Unfortunately, the controller is actually noticeably a little lacking in acceleration (when I use my habitual right stick configuration). Pretty subtle, but noticeable.

[SportWagon]

Eventually tested the Gameshark port the weekend of March 1. Started a GT2 game with code which meant I would win license test prize cars for winning the single Sunday Cup races. Seemed to work. 15th Anniversary GT2 game isn't due to start until December 17, 2014, however.