The obvious thing is that it's dusty and needs a cleaner. I called up Gamestop and they have none, but the lady said I can go to radio shack and just pick up a CD or DVD cleaner and it'll work fine.

Seems logical, has anyone else tried this?

Also, I've heard I might have to actually open up the PS2 and wipe clean the laser/lens thing, has anyone done this as well?

Thanks.

You can wipe it with a q-tip with some alcohol on it.

A normal dvd cleaning kit will work fine as well, can get it cheaper at wal-mart, target, best buy, etc. than radio shack though.

There is an article about laser alignment, and lens cleaning in the February 2004 issue of GamePro (pg. 18) they were taken from this website.

One thing you can try is the tape trick.

Take two pieces of clear tape (the kind you used to wrap your christmas gifts) about two inches long each and place them on top of the disc to the left and right of the hole in the middle:

-----------------------
O
-----------------------

They should be close to the hole but not covering any portion of it. You can try this prior to taking apart your PS2, I got this information from one of my gaming mags but I'm not sure on which one.

http://stormpages.com/lee/1ps2clean.html

Clean your PS2 lens. Use the link above for a VERY simple step-by-step. I did the cleaning thing when it had trouble reading discs & my PS2 works great now.

I have cracked mine open to clean the lens. Fixes 90% of DRE problems.

Hey guys, thanks. But in a lot of these things, they say use canned air--or at least it's recommended. Do you think a blow dryer would work just as well, too?

If none of that works just call Sony and they will repair it for free. See this thread for further.
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=331413

I really doubt a blow dryer would work as well. You need a pretty hard burst of air coming from a small space, a blow dryer can't do that. (unless you have some kind of freaky-small blow dryer)

not to mention the heat from a blow dryer is pretty hot! hot stuff is bad for electronics. Just pay the $3 for a can of compressed air. It's useful for dusting aroung the house too!

There are also detailed instructions (with pics) on fixing your PS2 here -

http://www.techtv.com/xplay/features...516150,00.html

Thanks guys. It worked, and I didn't even need the compressed air.

I think this is designed to work when having problems with 'blue disks' on your PS2. I have an older PS2 that refuses to read blue disks (they are literally blue on the bottom) unless I stand the ps2 vertical or use the tape trick. I remember finding out about this problem because Tribes Aerial Assault just wouldn't play on my PS2. I returned it twice to Fred Meyer, then decided to check out the 'net to see if there was a solution. There are huge threads about the infamous blue disks, and the tape trick is one way around it. Not sure I buy the theory that "the clamps in the system wear out and cannot grab the disk as easily" but the tape did seem to help.

Wait, so PS2's do have problems? No...you don't say...

Open up your PS2 and wipe the lens clean. Sony will NOT fix your system for free after your 90 day warranty has expired. Some people have managed to, but for the most part, forget about it. I have had plenty of customers that have had problems and sony has refused to fix there system.

A lot of times out here its a matter of the customer not taking very good care of their system. Keep in mind cracking open your PS2 does void your warranty with a store (like GameCrazy) and with Sony.

And Gizmo..dude long time no see!

I assure you it's not a matter of customers not taking care of their systems. I've totally babied my PS2. My friends have done the same for their PS2 as well. It's a well known problem, but fortunately it's easy enough to fix & clean yourself. Sony refuses to acknowledge the problem, they suck. They refuse to acknowledge a manufacturing defect on my Sony HDTV too. I hate Sony sometimes.

The Xbox on the other hand... the Thomson drive problem is also well known, and unfortunately there is no easy fix. You have to replace the whole drive. At least Microsoft acknowledges the problem now (at least internally) and outfits newer Xboxes with the Samsung drive. But there are still a ton of Xboxes with Thomson drives out there (like mine!), which are dying because of the craptacular build quality of the Thomson drive. I don't mind that MS made a mistake by putting a crappy DVD drive in the first place, but I DO mind that they want $99 to fix it.

Electronics companies are trying to get every cent out of every sale. They cut a corner here and there to do that.

Some jump on Sony when MS is no different.

I guess you have one of those HDTV's with the flickering problem from Sony.

I also own one.

How is Sony not acknowledging the problem when I got my first PS2(which I have had since July 2001) fixed for free with no hassle what so ever in July of last year because of this problem?

Both zero and myself work in a videogame store. My store happens to sell more Xboxs then PS2s, granted not by much, but a few more each month (we track how many of each system is sold).

The amount of PS2's that we see come back Within 7 days is 4 a month. The amount of Xboxs is 1. The amount of PS2's that we see people TRYING to bring back after are 7 day in store warranty expires is 9-10 a month, for xbox 2. For people that purchased a 1 Year warranty with us, we see almost 1/3 of every person that has purchased the warranty come back with there PS2 being defective (and its usually it won't play blue or silver discs). For xbox, we see 1/10 people.

I guess there is nothing wrong though... Im sure the Xbox owners are securing there system in an air tight room...right?

See, it dosn't make much sense to me why some people defend Sony just because they have there system. There are SO many people that have problems with there system (and its not a certain model, I have seen all come back, including the new + model with the same damn problem). I actually work in a videogame store and deal with these customers, do any of you? Or are you just going by "my 2 friends have has a ps2 since launch and nothing is wrong with it"?

Try Hooked on Phonics.

if you have a PS2, it's going to break. pretty much guaranteed. the dvd drive is poor build quality. when I say that Sony doesn't acknowledge the problem, I'm saying that they aren't doing anything to correct it in the manufacturing process. As GizmoDVD said, Sony is still putting out PS2's with bad drives.

If you have an Xbox with a Thomson drive. It's going to break. Pretty much guaranteed. I'm saying that MS at least "acknowledges" the problem because they are changing the manufacturing process to phase out the old Thomson drives and sell Xboxes with only the Samsung drives.

Some people have gotten Sony to fix their PS2's dvd drive for free. Not everyone though. It's a YMMV situation because it's not official Sony policy to fix them for free. Some people have gotten MS to fix their Xbox dvd drives for free. Not everyone though. It's a YMMV situation because it's not official MS policy to fix them for free. In this respect, both companies suck for not fixing them for free. But at least MS is doing something by correcting the defect in new Xboxes. Sony is doing nothing.

But on the other hand... at least the PS2 dvd drive can be fixed in a do-it-yourself fashion cheaply and easily. Whereas the Xbox Thomson dvd drive is an expensive & complicated fix. ($50 just for the replacement drive & a pain to replace it yourself, or $99 to have MS do it all for you).

Yeah, buy an X-BOX

I disagree. Sony repaired my system that I picked up at launch 3 years ago and all it cost me was to ship it to them, about $8. They repaired it and shipped it back free of charge.

Again, read this thread for further.
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=331413

And then when it breaks, because if its a Thomson, and there are still some floating around, it will and you can buy a GameCube.

No offense, but all systems break it seems like. My PS2 is very picky, but works usually so I don't mess with it for now. My XBox has already had the drive replaced by me - MS would not fix a 7 month old machine. My Gamecube, which probably gets the most use between my wife and myself is just fine with quick load times. That is why I reamin loyal to Nintendo - quality if not quantity.

I enjoy all the systems, but I really hope build quality goes up in the next generation.

Well obviously most of these CD based systems will break eventually, but they shouldn't within a few weeks. My experience with Sony (being myself and DOZENS of customers) is if its within 90 days its free, after 90 days its if your lucky.