Help fixing 2 Fat ps2s (disc read problems)

[Kemiroch]

Hi.

I recently acquired two PS2s. I knew beforehand that they were not working 100% correctly, but I need a little help getting them back in order.

PS2 #1: This one will play PS1 games and PS2 games with a silver back. It plays PS2 games with a blue back occasionally. It will even recognize DVDs or music CDs, and when I insert one of these discs a 'Reading disc' message comes up for 1 second and disappears, as if there were no disc in the drive at all.

PS2 #2: This one won't play anything. I got it to play the first couple bars of a music CD once, but it won't anymore. DVDs and PS2 games never get off the 'Reading disc' message. Most PS1 games get it to change to a screen that says 'Please insert a PlayStation or PS2 format disc'.

So far I haven't done anything other than turning the PS2s to the vertical position, which didn't help anything. Any help would be appreciated!

[Hobie-wan]

Well, first thing would be to open them up and try carefully cleaning the lenses with a q-tip dampened with alcohol. Don't press, just lightly drag it across. After that would probably be trying to calibrate the lasers. I haven't done that before, but finding a guide online shouldn't be hard.

[dedalusdedalus]

Well, first thing would be to open them up and try carefully cleaning the lenses with a q-tip dampened with alcohol. Don't press, just lightly drag it across. After that would probably be trying to calibrate the lasers. I haven't done that before, but finding a guide online shouldn't be hard.

This is sage advice. The problem with the first PS2 sounds exactly like a problem with a unit that I bought a couple months back. Swabbing the lens with a bit of alcohol worked like a charm for my unit.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Also try going into your PS2's system options by pressing triangle at the main Browser/System Settings screen and turn your PS2's diagnosis mode on, then try playing a disc. If the disc shows up, play it, and your PS2 should make some automatic adjustments to fix itself, but it won't be perfect. If it doesn't play any better if at all then disassemble the unit and calibrate/clean the drive as necessary.

[Kemiroch]

OK I cleaned the laser lens on #1. Now it will play any game without a problem and also audio CDs. It won't play DVDs still, though. It does seem to recognize that there is a disc present, but it just makes grinding noises trying to read it.

More information as events warrant.

(thanks for help btw)

[BigTinz]

Open it and turn the white gear.

[Niode]

Is there any reason you need to play DVDs on the PS2? Playing DVDs is well documented to cause unnecessary wear on the PS2's laser and should be avoided if possible. DVD players can be bought for next to nothing now, why waste a perfectly good PS2 watching DVDs? Not to mention the PS2 isn't exactly quiet, having a standalone DVD player will mean the picture quality is better since you can use RGB without the green screen, it uses hardware MPEG decoding so you have less artefacts and the player will be silent aside from the mechanical noise of the optical drive.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Is there any reason you need to play DVDs on the PS2? Playing DVDs is well documented to cause unnecessary wear on the PS2's laser and should be avoided if possible. DVD players can be bought for next to nothing now, why waste a perfectly good PS2 watching DVDs? Not to mention the PS2 isn't exactly quiet, having a standalone DVD player will mean the picture quality is better since you can use RGB without the green screen, it uses hardware MPEG decoding so you have less artefacts and the player will be silent aside from the mechanical noise of the optical drive.

True, but to play devil's advocate all PS2's since the 5000 series have hardware MPEG decoders, progressive scan output, DVD remote IR sensor built in and a much quieter disc drive.

EDIT: Not to mention all steel drives and generally longer lasting construction.

[Kemiroch]

There's no real reason I need to play DVDs on these PS2s, no. My slim PS2 works like a dream for that, if I need it. My standalone DVD player works sometimes, and needs to be replaced. For now, any console I have is more reliable than it for playing movies. Go figure.

Anyway, I tried cleaning the lens on #2, no luck. Tried adjusting the white thing, one or two small turns at a time, no luck. I hope it isn't a voltage problem because it just seems like a lot of blind tinkering and hoping, from the guides I've found.

#1 seems ok for now. It would be nice if it would play DVDs, just so I could say I fixed it back to it's original working order But I can live without it.

Oh by the way, both are model 39001s, just FYI.

[Niode]

On the second one, exactly what happens when you boot the system? Without a disc first and with a disc.