DSP

Used for signal processing as part of the CD/DVD drive. Not to be confused with MechaCon in this matter, which controls and adjusts the drive mechanics and the laser among 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 originals), overvolting the focus/tracking coils of the laser and killing them and also the driver IC in the process. 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-5XXXX consoles and "summ0ne's fix" for SCPH-70XXX consoles; however, 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.

Revisions

• CXD1869Q (GH-001, GH-003)
  • GH-008?
• CXD1869AQ (GH-004, GH-005, GH-006, GH-007, GH-010, GH-012, GH-013, GH-014)
• CXD1869BQ (GH-010, GH-012, GH-013, GH-014)
• CXD1886Q (GH-013, GH-014, GH-015)
  • GH-016?
• 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, XPD-001, XPD-005)
  • Has a bug in the firmware which causes MechaCon to freeze when bad sectors are read (e.g. on burnt or scratched discs). This likelyhood is increased on Dragon-MechaCon, thus SCPH-5XXXX and up. Some later subrevisions of GH-032 and GH-035 implement some circuitry to prevent this from happening.
• CXD3098AQ (GH-061, GH-062, GH-070, GH-071, GH-072)