Did I get ripped off? Also, bad lasers, wrong media and strange modchips!

[NoNo9]

That's the best one place link that I have found but to sum all the information i have gathered this week from various sources, newer PS2 versions (V9/V10) are supposed to be able to read dvd+-rw and to achieve it, sony replaced the previously used BA chips with LA ones which can handle more types of media - the laser units themselves were not changed and are the same as say V7s.
The main problem is that when a media is poor, instead of giving up, the LA chip tries harder by pumping more current into the coils - bad media results in current spikes that are beyond the tolerance of the coils which amazingly quickly get burnt, the even sadder part is that when they burn they just melt abit causing shorts which quickly reduce the resistance of the coils, in an attempt to overcome that problem our beloved LA chip pumps in more and more current which causes further reduction of resistance in the coils until the coils (normally the focusing one) gets to around 0.9 ohms and at that point the LA chip blows putting the whole fiasco to a sad end with a disfunctioning unit. At that point you have to replace both the laser unit and the LA chip... (It's funny how none of the fuses burn in the process, I wonder why Sony put them there in the first place)
Romeo mod just replaces the 12V input to the LA chip with a 5V one, thus reducing the possible current by more than half - that way, the coils live longer but bad media can't be read.
Good DVD-Rs are considered to be RitekG04 ones (Hopefully, I'm going to get some tomorrow) but...
A. I have no idea how much longer do Romeo modded systems live though I haven't seen reports of people complaining after having systems modded that way.
B. I still don't know the status of bad cd media (I have chepo cds gallore - and it was one of these that ruined my system in the first place) how much danage can bad cds cause to a system modded with Romeo?

[patch god]

He is ripping you off. He is dodgy and cheating you. Discs don't wreck PS2's, s*** soldering and lame chips do.

Now he wants you to pay more? WTF? He did a crap job to get more money out of you.

And HELL no, I have played my PS2 for 8 hours straight. I have played THOUSANDS of hours on it. Works fine.

Use a good chip and good media (ritek, TY, verbatim) and a good burner (pioneer 106). The word "problem" will be unheard of

[sl33p]

lol what a cycle of tricks that guy has up his sleeve... not doing the romeo mod and making the customer come back for a 100 dollar fix every months, if not week.
and aout the giving your ps2 a rest thing... i dont think thats true.. i think the ps2 manual says to give your EYES and BODY a 15 minute break not the ps2.

[Farkad]

Would it be safe to use lower quality discs(Memorex) once the Romeo Mod is done?

You see, I'm still extemely paranoid of the PS2 making the slightest noise. I just turn it off after 15m of use.
Someone please ease my mind!

As for better media, I don't have access to it. Memorex is the best I can do, and a post in these forums checking DVDs said that Memorex and Riltek are just as good as originals.

[NoNo9]

http://www.dstore.co.il/yp/product.asp?pc=61790
If you can go and pick it up from their place when you are in the center then it would be rather cheap.
These are not fakes, they are the real deal.

[Farkad]

What about the games I already have on Memorex? Can I still play them?

Or is the risk of completely destroying the PS2 again is too high?

[lufcfan]

No, don't use Memorex. It'll kill your laser whatever. Backup to Ritek and ALWAYS do a Romeo Mod.