DSP

Used for signal processing as part of the CD/DVD drive. Not to be confused with MechaCon in this matter, which is responsible for the drive mechanics among many other functions.

DSP firmware resides in a mask-ROM inside the DSP. Several firmware versions might exist for the same DSP hardware revision.

At least one version of the DSP's firmware (specifically the CXD3098Q) has a tendency to crash MechaCon by sheer bad luck or on badly readable discs (e.g. badly burned/low-quality DVD-R discs or scratched original discs), overvolting the focus/tracking coils of the laser and killing them and also the driver IC in the process. While the problematic DSP has already been used since the GH-022 board/G-chassis, its SPC970-based MechaCon seems less susceptible to fully crashing for reasons not entirely known as of 2024. This leads to the issue being mostly prevalent beginning with the GH-023 board/H-chassis and thus with the ARM-based Dragon MechaCon. Several hardware-based mitigations/"fixes" have been developed by the community to address this issue with varying degrees of success. The most well known of these fixes have been the "Romeo-mod"/"LA-fix" for SCPH-500xx/5500x consoles and "summ0ne's fix" for some SCPH-700xx consoles; however, these do not reliably prevent damage and can have side effects like reading issues and a slow tray. The most reliable fix is the Matrix PIC fix which monitors communication between DSP and MechaCon and turns off the console when a crash occurs, just like the hotfix made by Sony itself.

The CXD3098Q-1 DSP chips of DEX models (DTL-H5000x & DTL-H700xx) are not capable of producing the crash.

The CXD3098Q DSP chips of PSX (DVR) units may not be able to produce the crash, but this needs further research.

The CXD3098Q DSP chips of GH-022 motherboards may be able to produce the crash, but this needs further research.

Revisions

• CXD1869Q (GH-001, GH-003)
• CXD1869Q-1 (DIF-2, DTL-T10000 DVD interface board)
• CXD1869AQ (GH-004, GH-005, GH-006, GH-007, GH-008, GH-010, GH-012, GH-013, GH-014)
• CXD1869BQ (GH-010, GH-012, GH-013, GH-014)
• CXD1869BQ-1 (DIF-001, DTL-T15000 DVD interface board)
• CXD1886Q (GH-013, GH-014, GH-015, GH-016)
  • Die size: about 8 x 8 mm
  • Die marking: D1886 (M)(C)SONY'01
• CXD3098Q (GH-017, GH-018, GH-019, GH-022, GH-023, GH-026, GH-027, GH-029, GH-032, GH-035, GH-036, GH-037, GH-040, GH-041, GH-051, GH-052, GH-061, XPD-001, XPD-005)
  • Has a (very likely) intentional bug in the firmware which causes MechaCon to freeze/crash when bad ECC sectors are read (e.g. badly burned/low quality DVD-R discs or scratched original discs). This likelyhood is increased on ARM-based Dragon MechaCon, thus SCPH-500xx/5500x units up to some (mostly earlier) SCPH-700xx units. Some later subrevisions of the GH-032/GH-035 boards implement a factory safety circuit to prevent this from happening. All earlier boards has no factory fix, all later boards has factory fix.
• CXD3098Q-1 (DTL-H5000x, DTL-H700xx, DTL-H75000)
• CXD3098AQ (GH-052, GH-061, GH-062, GH-070, GH-071, GH-072)