but I dont feel I have the expertise.

Probably true, but everyone starts out like that, and its already broke. Either you fix it and youre a hero, or it stays broke and whatever

Definitely try replacing the capacitors. They just don't live that long.

https://wiki.console5.com/wiki/PlayStation

If you don't have a lot of expertise with soldering, here's a few basic tips:

Don't set the iron too hot, because if you burn the wires it's pretty much gg. Use lots of flux. To remove the old caps, just cut them off, they are cheap and replaceable.

Good luck!

I’m no expert either but a first step would be to take the case off and listen for which part the whine is coming from. That may clue you in.

You can also touch parts and see if any are extra warm/hot soon after start up.

That can help direct your trouble shooting.

Don’t buy parts until you have a clue as to what might be happening. It’ll save you money.

Rereading, one part of what I said wasn't clear: Emulators themselves you should be able to find for PC and phones. And if on PC, you should be able to play directly from the disc drive.

I've got a $50 game boy wanna-be clone that I bought on Amazon on my bedside table, thing runs PS1 games smoothly. It ain't quite the same obviously, but it just about scratches the same itch (plus it's portable, I've enjoyed playing it on the train to and from work for example).

Nah, it's totes the same.

Use a playstation controller on your emulator.

Well it depends, there’s certainly an argument for like, the original CPU. I’m personally fine with emulation tbh, I do think someone maintaining the hardware is good for archival but I don’t have the space or funds for a bunch of the consoles I grew up with and either a CRT or expensive ass hdmi mods (which is another point of debate I suppose) but I like installing them for people and fixing old consoles is surprisingly lucrative, especially if you “Cadillac them up” with this stuff (assuming you can still find them cheap, which is incredibly difficult nowadays)

But changing the psu? That’s a no brainer. Functionality remains identical and the modern designs are superior because they simply couldn’t have existed 30+ years ago. Components have improved a lot in terms of efficiency since then and as a result the modern designs are much smaller and generate far less heat and ripple (two biggest factors for longevity). Using the original power supply just means stressing the motherboard more which is counterproductive if your goal is keeping the machine running as long as possible. The exception would be if you got a bad modern replacement, like if you designed your own poorly or pulled the trigger on an unknown one and did 0 testing. Repsx (and the associated other systems under the same name) are well designed and made.

You can get it repaired. There are lots of places online that can do it, and there are probably some repair shops near you that can too. It might be some small part that’s causing the whole issue, so it’s worth checking out.

Damn I'm sorry to hear that

OK I rounded the number up its actually 12 years old. But soon... If I'm lucky

At least in the UK modern tellies don't support analogue TV signals!

I finally got around to it, the ps1 is an absolute beast. There was some rusting on the shielding but the PCB was no worse for wear. Didn't even need to replace the laser.

Fingers crossed, maybe I'll make my first post here documenting their story and where they've been. The ps1 specifically though is one of those boxy ones with the big side vents, and it was sticking up out of the box caught right in a draft. I'll be really surprised if I can get that one up and running, I can see the amount of dirt and moisture that settled in that vent.