Wednesday, December 05, 2007

PS2 Frustration

I recently received my old PS2 and a fairly large collection of games shipped here from India. Shipping it here turned out to be a very bad plan. Despite the fact that it was packaged fairly securely, the CD spindle that the games were in was shattered. Luckily the CDs/DVDs were undamaged. However, when I tested the PS2 it would not read any discs. The memory card was also unreadable.

I have been struggling to find a way to fix the disc reader. After a combination of cleaning the laser lens (using alcohol and Q-tips) and cleaning the components which allow the lens to move to different locations on a disc, I have gotten it to reliably read audio CDs and PS2 CDs. It does not read PS2 DVDs or DVD movies however. I have been waiting over a year to play a certain DVD game.


Despite upcoming exams, I have spent several hours adjusting the lens alignment in an attempt to get it to read DVDs. There are many different alignment settings, and testing each setting requires assembling and disassembling the drive (to avoid hazardous laser radiation when the drive is powered up). Every time I make a minor adjustment a completely different set of sounds and vibrations are made when it tries to read a disc. None of the settings successfully read DVDs.

The cost of a replacement lens is $40. I am trying not to let the sunk cost of $67 for shipping the PS2 here play a factor in my decision. I am still not entirely sure if a replacement lens will fix the problem. Despite the fact that the amount of money that I have spent is approaching that of a brand new PS2, I have just finished ordering a new lens. I will post an update on whether it works when it arrives.

2 comments:

Adam Dunn said...

Laser radiation? What is that? Is it the same radiation that turned regular pet turtles into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or is it the type of radiation that made Godzilla and Mothra? If you were irradiated with laser radiation would you turn out like Marvel's Cyclops, and you can start shooting lasers out of your eyes?

Byron Knoll said...

Yes, the sticker on top of the drive warned me that exposure to the radiation may cause one or more superpowers. It would most likely be a lame superpower however, such as the ability to instantly remove fizz from a carbonated drink.