Hacking the PS2

Not as easy as I thought. Following standard procedure, I spent a couple of days trawling through the online forums and Youtube, researching on the different ways to hack a PS2. As they say, there's more than one way to skin a cat. I'm interested in the cheapest way, as this cat is only a freebie.

If you're a cheapo like me, your best bet is FreeMcBoot. Latest version as of this writing is v1.8b. The theory is that using a modded PS2, you run the FreeMcBoot installer (off a USB or a customized CD). Once prompted, insert a memory card, and FreeMcBoot with install the necessary files on it. Insert this memory card on any unmodded PS2, then power up. Voila, soft-modded PS2!

At least, that's how it's support to work, but it didn't work for me. I burned the special CD with the Noobie package. The install process worked fine, but when I tried to boot off the memory card, FMCB didn't come up. It's like my PS2 can see the files, but it's not booting from the MC. Bad.

Is it because my new 64MB memcard is not genuine? So I go to eBay to buy a used 8MB Sony MagicGate memory card. Still no go. Is it because my FMCB disc is bad? I burned it again. At 1x speed. And tried it on the two memcards. Still no go. I downloaded FMCB v1.7, and tried everything again. Still no go. Time for a break.