Classic PS1 Can't play the Final Fantasy VII Opening

[OmegaMaximum]

Hey everyone, long time no post.

Recently I picked up a copy of Final Fantasy VII for my old PS1. I then tried to start it up in my SCPH-7501 PS1. When the game tries to load the opening cinematic the screen goes black as it starts to load and then it gets weird. You can hear the laser moving and the disc speed adjusting as it prepares to load the cinematic, and then it makes a terrible grinding sound and the disc stops spinning. I then started playing FFVII on my PS2, which has played the game flawlessly. The other day then, I tried it out again on my PS1, instead loading my save file and it works just fine, and every cutscene so far has played without flaw. I've never had this problem with any other game on a PS1 and so far I haven't found anything that's been useful online. I did open it up, mostly to see if there was something blatantly wrong inside, but everything seems in order, in fact it looks really good considering it's 16 years old.
I've done all I can think of, any thoughts guys?
Thanks for the help!

[Flake]

Take your PS1 and set it on its side. Power up and try again.

Odds are it cannot spool FMV because the track the laser moves on is wearing out. It was a classic problem with the PS1.

[OmegaMaximum]

Alright, thanks for the quick reply, I'll try it out here in a minute. Since I've got it opened up, I'm gonna clean the case. It's kinda crusty after 16 years, lol...

Update: Alright, now that it's back together, I've tried it again. And it loads the video perfectly, without sitting on its side. Weird. Still could be a fluke though, should anything change I'll keep you posted.

[Hobie-wan]

FYI the upside down trick is limited to the 1001 models. Those had an all plastic sled for laser and it was closer to the power supply inside so with heavy use the track would melt or wear out faster and screw up the laser tracking. Putting it on its side or upside down meant the sled was against the other side of the track that might have been in better shape.