PS2 scratching discs;circular pattern - help with diagnosis?

[r3robbie]

Hi there everyone; newbie and fellow retro gaming lover here.

I was wondering if I could have a quick bit of help with a small problem regarding my SCPH-70012; I've found that it's starting to scratch discs in a semi-circular or completely circular pattern. Although they've not yet become severe, I'd like to know, is there any way to whittle down whether or not these scratches would be caused by the laser, ribbon, or possibly something else? If so, I'd appreciate an explanation on how to go about fixing said problem. (I've used google, which has only given me a solution to a "raised" ribbon cable, which asks for the use of double sided adhesive pads; I'd like to avoid that, haha.)

I went ahead and took a look at this thread here, and these are basically the problems that can occur:

Here are some things I've seen that can scratch discs in a slim PS2:

* Debris in the disc cavity or on spindle.
* Bent spindle.
* Metal laser assembly cover not seated properly.
* Traverse rail not seated properly.
* Spindle forced too far down on spindle motor.
* Ribbon cable to the laser assembly not adhered to metal frame as it should be (it’s stuck down with double-sided tape).
* Bent traverse motor worm gear shaft.
* Unit had been taken apart and someone put a screw that was too long into the metal traverse frame, causing the assembly to be pushed up at an angle. This, in turn, caused the plastic in the cavity to contact the disc.

As far as I can tell,

* There is absolutely no debris in the cavity or spindle. (save a very small amount of dust; trivial amount in small area.)
* The traverse rail, laser assembly, and spindle should all be seated properly, and are in good condition.
* The worm-gear shaft appears to be normal.
* Unit was de-shelled at the top to check for dust; pristine inside, (again, save a very small amount of dust in the disc tray) and reassembled gingerly with only original screws.

As far as the double sided tape goes, I've linked two different photos of the ribbon from different angles; does it look normal? (I would've attached them, but I couldn't really compress them down to 400kb.)

Images

Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.

r3robbie

[Anapan]

After reading and viewing so many guides I thought I might be able to do this:
Adjust the focus screw to make your failing laser be able to read the data off the disc because it cannot focus off factory settings.
I failed every time. Many burnt-out lasers on many consoles. In every case the laser was struggling, and it only circularly-scratched more discs despite online guides that I could fix it for free.

IMO you should replace the laser assembly. In most cases you will get a better laser reader assembly than the one installed in your system which was available for cheaper at the time of the production run of your system (there was ~4 companies producing them during the slim run IIRC, only one has proven reliable through regular use over the years - I don't recall the manufacturer ATM). The ones produced after the console was no-longer sold were the ones the warranty service-repair technicians were supplied to make sure that customer never complained again. That's the one you want in your PS2 slim system - It reads burnt discs for hours without fail, even burnt DVD video playing intro video or credits overnight for hours over years of this treatment (ya, I had a steady supply of broken PS2s back then and they still work now). Those stress tests have been done and passed on Slim and Phat units I was asked to refurbish.

Rich's PSX Parts.

Richard is more knowledgeable that I am, and through many email conversations, I trust him to tell me what I need to repair my consoles (do not try to fix, just replace the broken part). Not only that, he has everything I've ever needed to fix them. Four PS2 Slims, 6 Phats, 5 PS1 consoles and 3 completely unresponsive Xbox originals. Within 2 emails I had the parts and instructions to fix them shipped to me.

http://www.richspsxparts.com/

There may be cheaper alternatives for the same products, but I would not order from them. - it's hard to root out fakes in the free-shipping Chinese market. All of Rich's are verified and marked - the models he offers are what he sells. The most important thing - he does the difficult desoldering from the factory shipped parts for free - When I got the laser assemblies direct, it took me over an hour to figure out which anti-static solder-bridge-point I was supposed to desolder to make the f'n thing work when installed (instructions were in mandarin with less than xerox quality pics on rice paper).

[r3robbie]

I apologize for the late-ass reply, I've been working on several college essays over the weekend.

Wait... The entire laser assembly? Damn, that's a painfully expensive and complicated fix (that, and I don't particularly have the best soldering skills, nor a proper soldering iron). Are there any other alternatives?

I've actually already dealt with RPSXP - unfortunately I've not had such a smooth experience with them. I actually wanted to replace the fan in my slim, so I ordered one from them, only to receive a corroded mess. Granted, I received $3.01 of my purchase price back, but I then had to order another which really was only moderately better condition; needless to say I was moderately annoyed that I had to pay for a seller's mistake (I guess "new" is a relative term. I don't even really mind the fact that they've been repackaged as OEM items, it's just each one has seemed to be damaged cosmetically in some way).

[Exhuminator]

I've actually already dealt with RPSXP - unfortunately I've not had such a smooth experience with them. I actually wanted to replace the fan in my slim, so I ordered one from them, only to receive a corroded mess.

If you're talking about Rich's PSX Parts, I couldn't disagree more. I have ordered many PS2 parts from that side, including a Slim fan and multiple laser assemblies. I've never had any issues and Rich is a nice dude.

Replacing the optical laser assembly in a Slim is simple to do. If you just replace the whole laser assembly you only have to desolder three beads, AND if you buy it from Rich that's already done for you. You can get a new laser assembly for about $35:

http://store.richspsxparts.com/v12laser.html

And how to do it:

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/PlayStatio ... ment/13952

[r3robbie]

@Exhuminator
I apologize for the late reply. Originally I thought I'd be notified of you post, as I was subbed to this thread, yet I never received an email. So, I presumed that the thread was just dead.

Ah, I didn't realize that the soldering was already done for the consumer - I may actually consider doing this then, thank you. Hopefully RPSXP will redeem themselves with this repair.