Are PS2s cheap crap?

[XYXZYZ]

I've waited long enough, and now it's about time for me to get a PS2. But I'm weary; I've heard many bad things about the console's quality and everyone I know who owns a PS2 has had to replace or repair it. But I've also read that it's largely because peope treat them like crap, and the "everyone" I mentioned above can be guilty of that. Anyway, here are some questions-

Do you treat your PS2 fine china (Keep it clean and safe) and have never had a problem?

Is it true that playing DVDs wears the thing out quicker?

Everyone I know leaves their PS2 on all the time, usually with a game idling overnight, does this lead to the machine dying faster?

I guess what I'm asking is that if I treat it the right way, will it still die?

[bargora]

I've waited long enough, and now it's about time for me to get a PS2. But I'm weary; I've heard many bad things about the console's quality and everyone I know who owns a PS2 has had to replace or repair it. But I've also read that it's largely because peope treat them like crap, and the "everyone" I mentioned above can be guilty of that. Anyway, here are some questions-

Do you treat your PS2 fine china (Keep it clean and safe) and have never had a problem?
That is the case with my two PlayStation 2 consoles. One was bought about six months after launch and one was bought about a year ago. I treat 'em good, and no problems so far. The worst treatment I put the first one through was carrying it in a backpack a few times to go to a friend's place for some system link play. The second has sat in place on the shelf where I use it since it was bought.


Is it true that playing DVDs wears the thing out quicker?
I don't know, but it seems to be a reasonable assumption. The thing has moving parts, and moving them more logically leads to more wear.


Everyone I know leaves their PS2 on all the time, usually with a game idling overnight, does this lead to the machine dying faster?
Sounds like a bad idea. See above. Do you mean "on" (with the green light on), or on "standby" (with the red light on)? Standby seems to be OK. I keep my systems on standby pretty much 100% of the time when I'm not playing them.


I guess what I'm asking is that if I treat it the right way, will it still die?
Well, the initial production run and first couple of revisions seem to have had a significant percentage of consoles that fell prey to Disc Read Error problems after only a short period of use. I don't know how people were treating the consoles, though.

Other people can tell you which version numbers reflect the later, more reliable production runs. Also, I haven't heard many complaints about the PStwo version of the console. If you don't care about system link play or using the HDD, that may be the way to go if you're worried about reliability. I've only ever heard about a couple of those overheating and failing. If you keep it well-ventilated, though, (don't put it on a rug or in an enclosed space) that shouldn't be a problem.

Grammar protip: weary = "tired"; wary = "cautious"

[Avatard]

PS2 = total crap. They break all the time and fixing one is a pain due to all the different models they have. Its not worth the time, odds are it will break within 3 years. And thats being generious. Even the local dealer here at the flea market refuses to handle any. Now thats BAD when its not worth a flea market dude's time. Just buy the same games on different consoles or PC, there are very few games that are unique to the PS2, and even fewer that are worth playing.

Now, if we're talking about paying $10 for one, hell go for it.

[bargora]

PS2 = total crap. They break all the time and fixing one is a pain due to all the different models they have. Its not worth the time, odds are it will break within 3 years. And thats being generious. Even the local dealer here at the flea market refuses to handle any. Now thats BAD when its not worth a flea market dude's time. Just buy the same games on different consoles or PC, there are very few games that are unique to the PS2, and even fewer that are worth playing.

Now, if we're talking about paying $10 for one, hell go for it.
Hmm. I guess XYXZYZ could hedge his bets if he gets a PS2 by only buying and playing system exclusives on it, so that incurs minimum wear. Then he could play everything else on the indestructible Gamecube! (I won't suggest the Xbox, because that one has its own reliability problems...)

[davidleeroth]

If you buy a V4-8, keep it clean and well ventilated, you too can beat the odds.

[omnedon]

Get a v4-8, and get a HDD Loader for it, and it wll last a long long time.

Any old style PS2, of working properly to begin with, will last a long time with a HDD Loader.

[bargora]

Get a v4-8, and get a HDD Loader for it, and it wll last a long long time.

Any old style PS2, of working properly to begin with, will last a long time with a HDD Loader.
I am intrigued. I poked around the net a bit, and it looks like I'd need to get a network adapter (about $30 shipped) and a hard drive, either the official Sony 40 GB HD, or else a larger capacity drive to store more games. Plus the HD Loader or Advance or something software.

I'm just wondering how much I would plan to spend total to set myself up with this stuff using (1) the official Sony drive, or (2) a larger, non-official drive. Plus, would I be better off using the official drive for compatibility or online play reasons? If there's a thread that my cursory search missed and that details all of this, feel free to call me bonehead and direct me there. :)

[BrokenFlight]

I've had my PS2 for nearly 4 years and haven't had any problems with it. (wow, has it really been that long?)

When I turn it off I put it on standby first then turn it off at the back. Appart from generally being gentle with it, like I would do with all my consoles, I don't do anything other than that.

Only one of my friends has had problems, out of about 10 with PS2s. But he got his in the early stages, when they had real problems.

[Slate]

I keep mine in good shape. I don't drop it, I always turn it off when I'm done playing, And I reset the console before I eject the game.

[phreak97]

ps2's are cheap garbage, i have two and both of them have worn out lasers. i treat them fine, they dont move, i dont abuse them, and they die.
my gamecube on the other hand has been kicked at the wall more than once, kicked accross the room more than once, and i once stood on top of it on one foot to test the weight it could take.. it was a while ago, so probably 65-70 kilograms.. lol. gamecube still going strong, and it's had more than three times the play time of my ps2s combined.
buy nintendo, fuck sony

[bargora]

ps2's are cheap garbage, i have two and both of them have worn out lasers. i treat them fine, they dont move, i dont abuse them, and they die.
my gamecube on the other hand has been kicked at the wall more than once, kicked accross the room more than once, and i once stood on top of it on one foot to test the weight it could take.. it was a while ago, so probably 65-70 kilograms.. lol. gamecube still going strong, and it's had more than three times the play time of my ps2s combined.
buy nintendo, fuck sony
Given your description of the abuse your Gamecube receives, you may forgive me if I find it hard to credit your protestations that you treat your PS2s like fine china.

[InsaneDavid]

ps2's are cheap garbage, i have two and both of them have worn out lasers. i treat them fine, they dont move, i dont abuse them, and they die.
my gamecube on the other hand has been kicked at the wall more than once, kicked accross the room more than once, and i once stood on top of it on one foot to test the weight it could take.. it was a while ago, so probably 65-70 kilograms.. lol. gamecube still going strong, and it's had more than three times the play time of my ps2s combined.
buy nintendo, fuck sony
Given your description of the abuse your Gamecube receives, you may forgive me if I find it hard to credit your protestations that you treat your PS2s like fine china.

Just about to say the same thing. Personally I had one of the 500,000 US launch PS2's and it worked fine for three years until I started getting DRE's which a manual cleaning made dissapear. I sold it boxed for $100 (yes, I sold a v1 for $100) when the slim PSTwo came out because I like the style - like a baby TurboDuo. I talked to the person that bought my old launch PS2 from me just last week and it's still working fine. I took good care of it, kept it clean, and made sure the discs I put in it were in good condition and it's still running.

I will note however that I ALWAYS flipped off the "Main Power" switch on the back when not in use to cut down on heat build up. I leave my PSTwo in standby all the time since the heat stays in the power brick where the transformer is and not in the console itself.

[bargora]

I will note however that I ALWAYS flipped off the "Main Power" switch on the back when not in use to cut down on heat build up.
I know that a PlayStation 2 on standby is a warm thing, but is it (the power supply) actually kicking out enough heat to make a difference to the system's longevity? And what if you wear out the back power switch? X_x (OK, that last thing is kind of ridiculous.)

Interestingly, the system administrator at my last job came at things from the opposite end and recommended that we leave our computers on all the time to reduce the number of heat-up / cool-down cycles the computer had to go through (admittedly not the most energy-conscious course of action). Yeah, computers, not PS2s (I could only wish), but I imagine the same principle would hold. He was a trained electrical engineer, too, so I took what he said at face value.

[alec006]

Ive had my PS2 for about 7 Months now and it still is working great,I usally keep my ps2 in stand by and it usally cools down. What i really dont like the model i got (the slim one) is it gets hot very easy like in 15-25 minutes and all fans are working. I can say taking well care of it and not abuseing it will prolong the death of it and if your scared of your ps2 burning up over a dvd, and i mean really scared,go to walmart and buy one of those cheap 39.99 DVD players,i did and ive had it for 2 years no problems at all. 8-)

[InsaneDavid]

Interestingly, the system administrator at my last job came at things from the opposite end and recommended that we leave our computers on all the time to reduce the number of heat-up / cool-down cycles the computer had to go through (admittedly not the most energy-conscious course of action). Yeah, computers, not PS2s (I could only wish), but I imagine the same principle would hold. He was a trained electrical engineer, too, so I took what he said at face value.

You have to remember with a computer you're powering up a 400W+ power supply, powering up at the very least two fans, shooting power across the huge bus of your mother board, heating up your graphics chips, initalizing your hard disk to read, your floppy drive to spin, your CD drives to run through boot up proceedures, etc. In other words there's a lot of power and a lot of crap going on. That's why you don't want to be powering up / turning off a computer when there's no reason to.

Now given that, you wouldn't want an unventialted power supply running in your computer while everything else was off would you? It would generate heat that wouldn't be circulated away. This is the reason I always cut the Main Power to my PS2. Hands down heat will kill electronics under normal operation functions (that means no one post about how water is worse) more than any other factor. Let's say you don't play your PS2 for three weeks, it's warm inside, and you left it in standby mode = large heat buildup. Remember how big an issue heat damage was with the original PlayStation? Hell, we all shoved biscuit fans under ours.

[DigitalSpace]

I've had my model 30001 PS2 since 2001, and it still works fine. I wouldn't recommend storing it vertically, though. The only time I had a DRE issue was a couple years ago, after I had stored it vertically for a few weeks. A friend of mine suggested I try storing it horizontally again, so I tried that. I haven't had a problem with DREs since.

[PapaStu]

My launch model unit has had 1000's of hours of gameplay and movie watching on it. It's been kept vertical for its entire life, moved from my house, to dorm, to apartment, back to my house, to another apartment. Its only issue is that the inital intro screen and the one that takes you into the primary PS2 menu take a little while. My poor PS2 has to do some thinking before it wants me to play. I can play away once it goes, but that takes a little time before.

The PSTwo's are seemingly stable systems and i've yet to have a problem with mine (Bought originally as a backup) and it was the first one that hit my store I was working in at the time.

[foxy]

My poor PS2 has to do some thinking before it wants me to play. I can play away once it goes, but that takes a little time before.
yeah, my launch model did that just before full on DRE syndrome. I suspect switching between DVD/CD games made it worse. Dual layer DVD9 movies were the ultimate enemy to my 30001

I've had no problems with the 39001 model (v7 I think) But I'm paranoid about putting anything other than DVD's in it (meaning no CD's or DVD9's)

I vote cheap piece of crap.

IF switching between different types of media is what kills the lasers, I feel sorry for anyone who buys a first gen PS3, how many different types of discs is it supposed to read, lol?

[InsaneDavid]

The PSTwo's are seemingly stable systems and i've yet to have a problem with mine (Bought originally as a backup) and it was the first one that hit my store I was working in at the time.

Agreed.

Also it seems like a lot of people think that ONLY the PS2 ever had problems in manufacturing. Lesse... NES connectors wearing down to the point the system will no longer function. I remember having to get my launch SNES controllers replaced because they kept breaking down. Audio dissapearing with many TurboDuo units. I don't want to begin telling you how many Dreamcasts I've went through due to flaky power supplies. Overheating problems with the original PlayStation. The "disc lid close" pinswitch assembly on the JVC X'Eye being prone to failing. XBox hard drives dying a year after purchase. PSP square button working intermittently due to heat from the display. Game Gear screens scratching way too easily. XBox power cord design problems. ...and so forth. Electronics have problems, especially video game consoles because they're on the bleeding edge of advancement in the technology they're based upon. That's just how it is.

[Cryomancer]

I have heard that Japanese PS2s are more quality and less prone to the things associated with the US ones. anyone know if there is any truth to this?

[XYXZYZ]

I have heard that Japanese PS2s are more quality and less prone to the things associated with the US ones. anyone know if there is any truth to this?

My cousin has a Japanese PS2 that's got DREs just like the US one. But Japanese stuff does tend to be better quality than the domestic versions. It's also comparitively more expensive.

[vintagegamecrazy]

PS2 = crap.

I live close to Sean Kelly's store and he repairs any console and resells it and he says he gets dead PS2s in 10 to 1 over X Box and GCN, and he says their prone to problems. Most notably the cooling fan actually blows dust right over the laser eye causing the most trouble there.

[Avatard]

fan blowing over the lasers eye? what version is that? /boggle

But as for leaving the power on, I doubt that would hurt the PS2 considering most of the time its the laser that goes bad. And I seriously doubt it goes bad due to heat.

[sickdrummer420]

ive had 3 ps2's and they all broke on me. Go with an xbox or cube.

[jonjandran]

PS2 = crap.

I live close to Sean Kelly's store and he repairs any console and resells it and he says he gets dead PS2s in 10 to 1 over X Box and GCN, and he says their prone to problems. Most notably the cooling fan actually blows dust right over the laser eye causing the most trouble there.

The laser eye is INSIDE a closed case that you have to take apart to get to the laser eye. :roll:

[dreams]

I treat all my consoles like fine China and my PS2 [launch] gave out after about 2 years.

The instruction manual also suggests leaving your system in standby mode.

[Slate]

The instruction manual also suggests leaving your system in standby mode.

Wich is a bad idea if you want to keep your PS2 living the longest. Yes, you should turn on your PS2 every few days and leave it on for a minute if not playing (To get himidity out) But keeping PS2s on for their whole life is rediculous. They have to sleep too. ;)

The instruction manual Also suggests this method to eject games:

1: Eject Game.

2. Get Game Off Tray.

3: Put next Game in.

4: Reset console.

When i saw that i was thinking WHAT??

My method is better, and (Probably) keeps PS2s running longer:

1: Reset console.

2: Eject Game.

3: Get Game Off Tray.

4: If not using PS2 after ejecting game, Turn off. If still using PS2, put next disc in and press drive button. Do not push drive in.

Nothing like sony...

Sony fans, please do not start any flamewars.

[BrokenFlight]

I take back what I said before. My 4 year old PS2 is starting to die. When I load games it goes to the "browser/system configuration" screen before loading the game.

I think I heard something about this before, but I have Half Life on a purple disc and it doesn't load at all. I think that was the reason they stopped using purple discs, but I'm not sure.

So in conclusion: PS2s are cheap crap.