Well, it's finally happened. Please help me fix my PS2 issue

[Rev. Link]

I've had my PS2 since November of '01. I admit straight away that it's not my primary system this generation, but it gets its fair share of play time. I've never had a single problem with my PS2 before, but now it's starting to have issues.

In the past few days it's frozen up on me during gameplay three or four times. At first it was only doing it when I played THAW, but now it's done it during Sly Cooper as well. I've noticed that it only does it during cinema scenes or transitional periods (namely while riding the bus in THAW).

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this before it becomes worse? I've recently bought a number of games for my PS2 that I'd like to finally be able to play (MGS3 and Kingdom Hearts chief among them), and I don't want to have to keep playing parts over due to freeze ups like I did with THAW.

As much as I like the new slim PS2, I can't afford to drop $150 right now, especially on a system I already have. Someone suggested I try cleaning my PS2's lense. Would this help? I have an old CD lens cleaner, a CD with a series of brushes on the underside that I used to use to clean my CD player. Would that help, or do you think it would make things worse?

Any help anyone can give me will be appreciated. Thank you!

[Hammy]

do you get a scuffing sort of noise coming from the cd drive when it freezes? it's a very common problem with playstation 2's older drives

[Rev. Link]

I haven't really noticed any noise when it freezes. Though I have noticed it making a bit more noise then usual when it loads up.

[InsaneDavid]

I have an old CD lens cleaner, a CD with a series of brushes on the underside that I used to use to clean my CD player. Would that help, or do you think it would make things worse?

Go ahead and run that through as long as it's a DRY cleaner (don't use the ones that take cleaning gunk), run it through three or four times and make sure the PS2 is in the horizontal (flat) position when running it.

I've also PM'ed you with some other information.

[phreak97]

well.. you wont stop it getting worse, the laser will eventually die, just treat it good and itll last a bit longer.

yeah, flat play is better for the laser, but one of my ps2's will only load if it's on its end, so i say do what works best once you get to that point, but only if it wont work the other way.

there are guides on adjusting the laser, theres a white gear inside which controls the distance between the laser and the disc, you can move the laser closer to the disc and it sometimes helps, did for me anyway. still with a ps2 laser, once it sucks, itll never come back, you just have to treat it with care and prolong its life if possible.