I Put a Disc Drive Into a PS5 DIGITAL - But Did It Work?!

[@Tronicsfix]

UPDATE: As some of you have noticed, in this video I put the disc into the disc drive UPSIDE DOWN! Rookie mistake, lol! I just went back and tried it again with the disc inserted correctly and it did SPIN UP! But unfortunately, it still didn't show up on the screen. It seems that the firmware still won't let it actually play the disc. Thanks to those who caught my mistake!

[@cooler14270]

@Nintenblox Shorts and here it ends

[@richardadamson3643]

Why don't you ask Ben heck

[@JuxZeil]

It was a nice try, but I think you fell foul to HDCP encrypted handshake failure. Sony Anti-piracy tech at it's best. Why do you think Sony go big on HDMI?

[@idko5452]

I whould try reinstall console but with disk edition OS, like put another SSD without OS and try reinstall it (I don't know very much about PS5, so this is just my wild guess what to do next if HW is maching disk version now) or bios chip swap from disk version, idealy from exactly that motherboard wich disk drive came from (if they have crazy system like iPhone in their screens... Screen wont work unless you program it with code from old broken screen, there is some crazy comunication protocol or something and maybe sony is doing same thing in their consoles - again wild guess)

[@vanix_8256]

@Nintenblox Shorts OOF

[@FranciscoGoodface]

Save this vid, in a few years we will remember this as one of those "that's how it all started" moments. I love how much curiosity this guy has, awesome.

[@TampaTec]

Interesting video 👍 Sony PS5 security software prevents game disc piracy but still not stopping hackers from stealing my son's PSN account.

[@1800_kam]

Cuz all they want is money

[@41moose]

Lmao

[@SSADO-]

Which is why you should put a login password and only let anyone login into the account through a text message.

[@bunniemunch123]

Hackers are immoral and thieves(sometimes)

[@diligaf1000]

Put on 2 factor authentication I've been there and feel your pain.. lost my activision account from something similar...

[@fendularatsq2317]

Do some more mods and then send it to sony as "faulty disc reader" :)

[@CrashFan03]

Big brain

[@richier896]

Stonks

[@Pin-Din7]

ah nice work smarter not harder

[@Exlipse703]

Big brain

[@theroyer1196]

Just got a heart from this guy, that means probably is gona do this

[@Spaminator3000]

"Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should." :D Fun video!

[@cmanesq]

Reinstall the os with the disc drive plugged in

[@Honeypot-x9s]

This! The OS may have a simple flag on install for hardware checks.. reinstalling the OS completely from safe menu could flip the flag so it’s no longer digital only.

[@amdintelxsniperx]

@@Honeypot-x9s i actually think its like the ps3 and 4 where the boards are mated to specific disk drives

[@daveshank1921]

@@amdintelxsniperx Yes they are married to the mobo by an encription type code. No drive no code no way it will work unless you could get it to run unsigned code.

[@amdintelxsniperx]

@@daveshank1921 exactly

[@radekoplustil6750]

@@amdintelxsniperx There is no such thing as married disk drive on PS4 Slim/Pro. You can swap the drives as you like. With the FAT PS4, that's another story...

[@joep1984]

As the famous Cave Johnson said: "Science isn't about WHY, it's about WHY NOT."

[@AI-Idiot]

That is so true

[@sinbrown1501]

r.i.p cave johnson. ... im still waiting on the lemons that burn my house down!!!

[@Ale_giro]

And... Do you think this is "science"...? 😐😐😐 woo... Well... Ok...

[@goosenman2]

This is the kind of video I'm subbed to this channel for. That, and the ones that start with 'I bought 10 broken.....' Enjoyed the video a lot.

[@kyleyannis]

Sony: let's create a digital and disc version. repair guys: let's frankenstein a working digital version with a disc drive, and source parts from a working disc version to make it work. me: wait.. you have both digital and disc versions working... and you are trying to do what?!

[@TheCod3r]

Wow I've definitely been looking forward to this!

[@tobiewolfen01]

This would be a great upgrade option if possible for those who tried to get a PS5 of any kind. I was hoping they'd add a feature that would let you use a USB Blu Ray on the digital version.

[@kikihun9726]

Why don't you try to reinstall the PS5 firmware with the drive plugged in? And maybe test all of the disk drive pins trough the flex cable.

[@RestoreTechnique]

Good idea!

[@TheCod3r]

*SPOILER* Hey Steve. This was a great experiment. If I had to hazard a guess I'd say you're missing some sort of bdrom controller, something like the BD7764MUV on the PS4 :)

[@JohnHall73]

Spoilers. No need to watch the rest of the video and yours is the top comment :(

[@Yamamsabag]

@@Tronicsfix unfortunately I could see the comment in portrait mode, so it ruined it for me too.... Darn youtube

[@JohnHall73]

@@Tronicsfix It shows the first comment on the screen without even scrolling down. Has only happened on one video. I have watched tons of your without any issues though so thanks for making them :)

[@TheCod3r]

sorry 😞

[@TheCod3r]

I added spoiler to the top row of the comment and blanked out some of the lines

[@Jerome-C]

7:35 I am impressed that you do not shake with your hand when soldering the tiny component !! Good Job

[@windowsxpprofessional]

The legend sees his viewer's comments and does them Never seen such a great man😀

[@ResilientBlaze]

agreed

[@chasefournier]

Had this same idea back in the day with PS3. CECH-B01 had no wifi.. maybe one day some one will make it work.. Great video Steve! @8:00 you made quick work transfering those components!!

[@Mickice]

There is likely some eprom on the board telling the firmware which model it is and what to install.

[@trevor245]

Would it be possible to locate that part and replace it with one from the actual disc unit or are they linked to the boards in some way ?

[@jk-474]

Similar to how you’d reprogram your lens EEPROM on a PS2 fat when installing a new / different laser variant. I bet someone will make a utility to fix this!

[@pinoyreformat]

Since the PS3, Sony consoles and their disc drives were married so replacement drives weren't possible. This might be why the drive isn't recognized. Really enjoyed the experiment though.

[@advaithpr7905]

When he said 'a junk PS5 I felt that

[@Tronicsfix]

Lol

[@joelb2227]

If it's anything like the launch PS3s, where the B model did not have a Wi-Fi card, the community eventually figured out that the firmware is the same for all the PS3 motherboards but for some reason it checks to see if the console ID's motherboard model digit relates to the B model. If the console ID check comes back that it is a B model than the firmware would disable using Wi-Fi even if you put the Wi-Fi card in from an A model. I would believe the PS5 is doing a similar CID check with enabling disc drive.

[@mitafs]

The next step should be swapping the SSD drive from the other ps5, and seeing if it's working with that software 👍 Please make another video regards to this, thank you for your work, Andy

[@irvinblack94]

I dont understand too much english but I like see your videos they are amazing :)

[@LeeDee5]

I feel like the disc wasn’t put in the correct way 😮

[@ren0070]

Yeah 😂

[@SukhithaAmarakoon]

Damn.. get your eyes checked. Coz you've got eagle eyes ✌️

[@umageddon]

How could you 'feel' that?

[@RestoreTechnique]

You're right, he was putting the disc in the wrong way, I wonder if he's tried it since reading this comment...?

[@VilasNil]

@@RestoreTechnique He has, he has written a comment saying that it didn't work either, that the firmware still blocks any possible readings

[@williamsimoninc]

Damn! Talk about instant gratification! I heard you mention this and just assumed it may happen one day, not the next day! Keep the sick vids comin!

[@sypheur27]

I dont like this all digital age because theres something about going to the game store, buying a new game and opening it out of the shrink wrap and playing it that just feels better than entering card info and just having the game downloaded, but im sure in 10 years we will have a console equivalent to steam. Pc gaming has basically been all digital for years now, even most games that came out on disc for pc, they still recommend buying the digital version, or the disc is just for installing the game and you get like a code to get the game on like steam or gog or wherever, for example pretty sure physical copies of gta v for pc give you the disc and a code for the rockstar games launcher/steam version and you dont need the disc after that, and plus with digital, if the account is lost or the store servers shut down completely you no longer have access to that game forever, whereas if you buy a physical copy you wont lose it if the servers go offline or something happens to the account

[@ps-lover8380]

I feel the same I like physical games more

[@Manic_Panic]

You just forgot one thing. Your PS5 and Series X discs just have some install data files these days. Then you also have to download the mega updates, DLCs and the rest of the game. I remember Spyro's trilogy remake only had the first game on disc, you had to download the rest. Physical media died in 2015 with very few exceptions like GoW 2018, Sekiro or complete editions which work fine without the small patches they got. Even so there are problems, you actually have to activate the licenses to be able to play these games. If your PS4's CMOS battery dies, you will need to go to PSN to activate your discs and if PSN is down... you got yourself a brick. This affects digital and physical games. Xbox's DRM is even worse so I won't go into detail with that. If you want a console that still values physical media, you need go back to the PS360 era or below.

[@ps-lover8380]

@@Manic_Panic true

[@KingJario]

Maybe eco friendly?

[@sypheur27]

@@Manic_Panic by the time that ever happens, the ps4 should be easy to hack so by that point hacking would be a must if psn goes down and your cmos is dead

[@rayzimmermin]

im sure the PS5 has a safe mode like the PS3 and PS4 did so what you should try is getting into the PS5s safe mode and rebuild the database it will reinstall all the hardware drivers and maybe it might recognize it has a BD drive and install the BD drivers

[@zohaibsiddiqi715]

This is exactly why I’m subscribed to this channel 😂

[@stazeII]

One of the pins on the higher density connector looked like it wasn’t soldered down fully in the video (it shifted and was touching the pin next to it when you cleaned them up).

[@adr1ean]

The pins at the end of the black line, right? 3:19

[@stazeII]

@@adr1ean was about midway across the connector. You can see it has shifted right after he cleans the flux away with IPA. But yes, that time in the video. I don’t see a black line. Just the pad the pin was soldered to. Maybe the pad ripped off. :/

[@gigglez3036]

Your microscope setup is something else. I always wanted to see it

[@thienlo]

0:44 there are no tracing lines on the digital version.

[@mwint1982]

They've been known to code the drives firmware to the console in (xboxes at least) so drive swaps arent permitted without a hack. I think they do this to prevent playing copied disks/DRM piracy issues

[@Max-uv3eg]

how would having a married disc drive to a console have any impact on piracy at all? The only reason is to prevent hobbyists from saving perfectly working electronics from the landfill and to make people purchase another console (or pay service fees) if a drive is failing.

[@mwint1982]

@@Max-uv3eg I think it was part of their encryption. Plus, xbox live would ban you if your system was opened and the drive was removed/swapped

[@noodled6145]

@@Max-uv3eg There's many consoles that have replacement disk drives that are just a USB, SD card, etc, which allows for easy piracy. Marrying the disk drive to the mobo means you can't do that.

[@efrenmosconi9339]

@@Max-uv3eg In the Xbox 360 you could take out the disk drive, flash a different firmware to it and put it back in the console. Now this disk drive can read pirated copies of the games and, since you didn't touch the firmware of the APU, you could still connect to Xbox live with the pirated games

[@dankolord]

Would that make it impossible to replace the drive on a physical edition ps5?

[@X_Niaxx_X]

Actually, the not reading disc problem could be fixed by installing the ps5 disc edition firmware onto the digital edition, and it should work

[@TheDBZCollector]

i wish they could've fit the disc drive in the black part of the ps5 so it can be symmetrical

[@neu318]

I know on the PS3 the Drive was married to the console (if my memory serves me) I had to replace the drive on mine but still needed the actual board it was on. Might be possible that the drive you attached is married to the board it belonged to and the Digital doesn't communicate with it cause of that. Also since it's a digital it wouldn't have a drive affiliation (not married to anything) Great video nonetheless.

[@slimadigaming4538]

was thinking the exact same thing

[@zx_fra]

Working or not i just love to see this guy working and playing with this kind of stuff. I'll never stop watching your videos mate🤙🏼

[@Tronicsfix]

Thank you very much!

[@BrandenMcKinney]

that feeling when you drop solder on the ground rail and trying to pick it up just tins the copper. Been there a few times, at least it looks pretty and shiny

[@brainiac9579]

Hey Steve, if you don't notice anymore hardware differences between the two motherboards, digital and disc, maybe it's a digital lock that's in place. Now, I'd be curious to know if they run a different OS version between digital and disc or a different BIOS. If you find a way to boot with the proper version, you might achieve success. If the difference lies there, of course. I come here for those experiments of yours. They're really exciting!

[@arthurhazar3150]

Someone had improved his soldering skills ...great job

[@jordyjords1928]

How do you get them to work as the connectors are sooo small? Just looks like the smallest amount of solder could ruin it

[@nexus2030]

The only disc for games he uses: Horizon: zero dawn.

[@Puremindgames]

Wait, isn't the disc upside down?

[@Mr.R0ug3]

Yes it is it’s upside down

[@kenkensistoso]

Coming from the ps3 modding scene, i knew it wont work. From what i remember, even ps3 drives need to be "re-married" to the ps3 if you want to replace it. Still, an interesting video.. keep it up!

[@seacrezt]

You inspired me to fix my Game Boy's and my PS5. Thanks 😊

[@Tronicsfix]

Love hearing this!

[@Paradigmfusion]

I wouldnt think it would work anyways, given the history of the PS3 and PS4, the PCB on those disc drives are "married" to the motherboard.

[@ResilientBlaze]

The long awaited video is finally here 😃

[@janduarte1044]

Isn't it that in order for a disc drive to be detected on the PS4, it has to "marry" or "be married" to a motherboard just as how we did it way back in the PS3 days, where we need to assure that the BD Drive would actually be detected by the mobo of the console? Or am I missing something?

[@hackthis02]

I'm betting like older gens the disk is encrypted to the board. So w/o hacking the firmware on the drive/board. It was always going to be a non-starter. But still had to try.

[@guitarmeggedonit5232]

I'd just pay the extra $100, but I'm glad you showed us how difficult or impossible it would be to "upgrade" a PS5 digital.

[@Reaperazz23]

Amazing video, Tronics always going that little extra XD 💕

[@faithless8888]

You got lucky at the end. There was no fan installed the last time you tried reading a disc. But the console did not overheat. At least that was surprising!

[@Pd69bq]

well, what i've learned from spending money on apple products all these year is that Sony should only sell PS5 digital version then sell optical drive as a USB accessory for $100 even tho the total price is the same but they can save a lot of money on simplify the production line and firmware development

[@Gamezy90]

I really enjoying when I'm watching you, you are fantastic 😀😊👌

[@brainiac9579]

This is so exciting! Reminds me of a time when we used to be able to run unsupported CPUs on Motherboards with adapters (SLOCKETS, anyone?) to get more life out of our hardware. You had to run the appropriate combination of hardware, firmware and software. Good times if you were a tinkerer.

[@Joostuh]

I once had a Asrock mobo (~2000) which supported Socket 939 and AM2, PCI-e and AGP and DDR and DDR2. Asrock had the weirdest products when they started out.

[@wossle73]

Supposedly An AMD Athlon CPU could be Unlocked with a Graphite pencil mark Between 2 Contacts, WAY back Whenever it came out! (I was only Just learning Back then, never Game to try)!

[@brainiac9579]

@@wossle73 Indeed, I did it for a couple of my friends in College. That was a pretty cool party trick! Thanks for reminding me that one!

[@fippo717]

you still can mount 6-7-8-9th gen intel cpus on like z170, jumping pins in cpu and custom bios

[@brainiac9579]

@@fippo717 True. All based on Hacked BIOSes based on an AsRock one (made by an employee or an overclocker). Some MB looses functionalities, some don't. Not entirely sure if you still need to mask off some of the CPU pads, but yes, you had to at first.

[@pomidortv797]

Same situation as PS3 CECHB and CECHA. 20GB CECHB had no wifi and ppl tried to add it. They failed. The OS wasn't ready for WLAN.

[@dericjames2018]

Sony is always a head of people.

[@pomidortv797]

@@dericjames2018 ye

[@nasser_almashjary]

Nothing wrong at all with curiosity and experimenting. I enjoyed every second of it. Keep up the good work 💪

[@max210379]

I don't even have a ps5, but i still enjoy watching your video's. ;)

[@ImmersiveGamer83]

Really cool experiment 👍

[@trickjacko8482]

They sell the PS5 with a disc drive built-in

[@MikeeVee]

Interesting experiment, thank you for answering a question I didn't know I wanted to know the answer to.

[@Tronicsfix]

Ha, ha! You're welcome!

[@-ENIAC-]

The ps5 console must have a programmed reader number in the bios, without it you will not be moved. Replacing the blu ray reader with another one will not help, you have to reprogram the memory chip. The same is true for xbox one

[@youtubasoarus]

I think the firmware has to be different for the disk/diskless versions.

[@cheapasstech]

Swapping a bd drive on a PS4 does not work if the renesas chip is not matched to the board - I guess the same goes for this one

[@johnnymoles318]

Been waiting for this one! Great video man!

[@solinymm]

The drive is married to the motherboard of each console. Maybe in the future with some exploiting it will be possible.

[@marcel9666]

You cannot download the software from the disc version from the ps5 and try to install that?

[@Zulf85]

If someone managed to somehow mod a PS5 extensively in future, it would be cool to see someone flash a disc-PS5 OS to the digital console and see how it fares. Being able to fit an external disc drive to a PS5 sounds impossible, but that would be pretty fun to see happen too.

[@smashICE1]

Some cheers for the molten grumpy component at the beginning! :)

[@Nova2127U]

Have you ever tried to put a old HDMI redriver chip from a Xbox One into the Series X?

[@sebvds8366]

would it be possible to replace a motherboard, or in this case get a motherboard with the disk drive connectors and replace it with the one in the ps5 digital, or has sony blocked that capability in the software?

[@BatuhanD.]

Would be cool if you took a hard drive with the software of a ps5 with a disk drive and installed it onto this ps5 and see if that worked

[@ChfHappySack]

I haven't fully watched the video, but I wanna take a guess and say it didn't work because the disc drive wasn't "married" to the motherboard. It'll probably power up and move but it'll refuse to read any disc. I had this happen to me while fixing an xbox 360. You either had to solder the original disc drive sister board the new drive then reassemble it the correct motherboard, or go through a lengthy process of flashing the disc drive's firmware. Switching and soldering the disc drive's board is the easier method honestly. For the PS5 tho, I wouldn't have the first clue as to how to flash it with a new firmware. I'm sure it's possible and someone out there can do it.

[@empyreangames1325]

I was anticipating an explosion every time he put the power cable into the PS5 😂😅

[@ishhanda12]

I wonder if it would be able to bypass it in the future with some kind of modding/jailbreaking.

[@shawncat]

"How can we discourage people from removing this plate? A few security screws?" "Too expensive. Just use a slew of standard screws - 42 should do it." "No, not 42. 43." "You madman!"

[@pwcorgi2000]

I wish there was a option from both XBOX and Playstation, in which you could build your own console. They provide you the APU and other required items, and the customer adds whatever other option they want. (mainly different storage options and whether you want an optical drive or not)

[@scott12330_fun_with_games]

Is it possible you can swap the BIOS chip? I'm thinking that there are two different kinds of BIOS. One for the digital edition and one for the disc version.

[@itortans]

Mi teoria es que la lectora debe tener el mismo firmware con la firma de la Motherboard, algo similar pasa con xbox. Debe tener la misma firma de lectora que la motherboard. No podran sacar la firma de una lectora a una consola digital por que en realidad no existe.

[@SukiObito]

A moment of silence to that poor chip getting scorch earthed.

[@glassvial]

This is more complicated than the old PS3 drive swap, but that wouldn't work either, you had to "remarry" the BR drive to the system if I recall correctly so it's probably carried on from way back then. I used to fix those consoles back in the day before I got out of it.

[@Durango_2016]

Fun Fact: the PS5 Digital do recognize any dvd or bluray disc with a external plug and play reader, it seems like it just need a permisson for accepting and playing it ✌

[@Tronicsfix]

That is interesting.

[@Neopumper666]

Future Reader add on maybe?

[@silverfox__12]

Even though it did not work, this was still great. Thanks

[@viktor4174]

Nice video! I love these experimental things, especially when there is soldering involved 😊 Can I ask what type of flux (?) you use? Is there a good brand to look for or just a certain type?

[@Volkovic7013]

I cant even get a PS5 and this dude is Dr. Frankenstation over here.

[@ChrisLongPhoneRepair]

Based on previous consoles Im sure even if the hardware supports the data transfer and power, without the key of the drive being supported or programmed to the console it wouldnt work. It might be worth pulling the on board ROM from one PS5 and trying it on the other. It seems even if the hardware wasnt signed with the correct security keys it would still show the disk on the main menu. My assumption is it wont work but would be cool to see if would boot with the ROM switched over.

[@ataparag232]

Thanks for answering my biggest question about this console

[@KillSteelVol3]

I’ve been waiting for someone to try this. I wonder if soldering external drive would work😅anyways Between this and the External BluRay Drive method I really think it’s possible to eventually get a disc to work on the digital console. I see people saying reinstall the OS with the drive attached that sounds like it could work especially since later PS4 models didn’t have married drives.

[@taxidude]

I was about to say, the BIOS would be different for both versions. I'm guessing the reverse would be a problem too! POST (power on self test) would not let it boot!

[@mazyrock]

Hey Steve! I have a suggestion for a new video, it's something I have wanted to see for a long time now. Do you remember when you overheated your Xboxes and PS4s on purpose? Could you test it on the PS5 and on the Series X|S? I'm very curious of what happens in those new consoles, as my Series X is always very quiet and i never saw a video of someone doing it even though I searched a lot. But it's up to you, i know it's almost impossible to find these consoles for sale right now, so i would understand if you couldn't do this just yet, but here's my idea. Thx for your awesome videos, i always watch a lot of them, i love to watch people fixing things and you do it very well. Greetings from Brazil!

[@gtavshortclips4740]

That would be interesting to see, my series x is also very quiet all the time. I would like to see what you have to do to make it rev up if even possible

[@KNG_ERHM_MH]

Now THIS is Content, Love the videos by the way

[@xxCelticFC]

Imagine the frustration trying this at home and realizing Sony even took steps for this to not work. #pissed

[@somethingfunnyyt]

Just gotta say, I love the use of the instrumental version of faster car in the background near the end. Gives me big nostalgia

[@forewheeler]

I'm sure it would have a key linked to the motherboard even if the experiment worked. This was fun to watch! Great job

[@Angellmbrr]

That hand stability, that coordination! You should have been a surgeon!

[@kirbyv21]

Dude!!! I literally bought the digital ps5 yesterday and was wondering if I could just add a disk drive like a upgrade if I wanted it later.

[@thealien_ali3382]

Nope

[@Khloya69]

You wouldn’t want it

[@squidy7461]

Not related to this video at all but I wanna thank you cause I used your video for the ps4 slim cleaning and it helped a lot 😄

[@Samanosuke001]

The disc was upside down 😱

[@newjerseydiesel8962]

Hey man appreciate the content! Always fun watching

[@Tronicsfix]

I appreciate it!

[@Detznuts]

The person that buys this from a goodwill in 20 years losing his mind because no disc's work

[@Buellercom]

That's a bummer but it was fun to watch!

[@sinasinahm]

Quick question, At what temperature do you set your hot air station for removing this connectors? Great video by the way👍

[@fahadaliraza5099]

You are Best igneous people ever repair console technology