Bizarre PS2 Problem

[The Brown Eye]

I went to play my PS2 tonight and I ran into a weird problem. The machine appears to be loading at 1/8 the normal speed. Games with music in the loading screen will play a section of the music over and over for a minute, then move on to the next part of the song and repeat that for a minute, etc. On Leisure Suit Larry, the game refuses to load 75% of the time, and the other 25% it loads 1% every ten seconds. On Midway Arcade Treasures 2 it will load the menu, but won't load any game. My machine is version SCPH-39001. Does anyone have any idea of what the problem could be? It runs too slow to play games, although DVD movies work fine.

[omnedon]

Has it been dropped?

Sounds like laser camber may be off.

[The Brown Eye]

It could have been dropped, I really don't know. I never dropped it though. I purchased it used, so who knows? What do you recommend I do to fix it? Keep in mind it has had a new case put on it, so I can't very well send it in to Sony.

[omnedon]

It's really too complicated to explain. Finding the right settings is like divining for water. It becomes instinct. Adjust, listen to how it tracks, adjust some more, listen some more.

There is a white dial north of the laser and transport. mark it's position. Then move it a little bit, then test. this may or may not work depending on version.

It's different with each version.

I will work on modded systems. Thing is, the more you fiddle with it, you will likely make it harder (or possibly render it impossible) to fix.

[leonk]

Hey omnedon!

I assume all the DVD drives in these systems are made by Sony (hence the "wonderful" quality). Are they interchangeable between models? (for people that don't feel like tweaking)

[omnedon]

Sure! The version 1's are compatible with the 1's, the 2's for the 2's and so on, through all 10 versions.

[leonk]

So if/when my GT3 PS2 dies (I believe it's 4th gen) I will not be able to put a 5thgen + DVD drive in it?

[omnedon]

Some parts of the drives can be transferred 'cross version', bt usually the whole drive cannot.

I have a hard time calling what in the PS2 a 'drive'. It's more like the skeleton of a drive.