Dire 51
03-17-2007, 11:24 PM
A friend of mine is having some issues with his PS2. I said I'd ask here to see if you guys might have an answer for him aside from "send it to Sony" or "buy a new one". He doesn't want to do either, for a reason which will soon become apparent:
I bought Ico last week. It was a used copy from GameStop, but it's rare to come across that game at all, so I snagged it while I had a chance. I took it home and popped it in my slimline PStwo (model #: SCPH-75001, for those of you following along at home) and it played fine up until a third of the way through the opening cinema. It faded out to white and never faded back in.
So I pulled it out and looked at it. Along with turning out to be the only blue-bottomed PS2 game I own (making it the only CD-ROM based PS2 game I own), it had some minor scratches, but no gouges. The scratches were too deep to be taken out with a home polisher, so I took it to the local CD swap shop and traded away Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows for a free professional polish. Got the disc back and it looked pristine.
I took it home and put it in my PStwo and it got past the point it hung on before, but locked up again at a different point in the opening cinema. I looked at the disc again and saw a series of hair-thin, fine scratches that were still on the disc.
So I took it back to GameStop, thinking it was defective. They popped it in their PS3 and hey presto! it worked perfectly. Then the guy tells me that my PStwo probably has lens difficulties.
"Say what?" I say.
"Yes, sir," he says. "Most players that switch back and forth between formats have different lenses. The PS2 just has one lens that it warps and deforms, so often the lens mechanism will get stuck on one format and it won't play the other."
"Huh," I say.
"Sir," he says, "you should call Sony and see if they'll replace it for you."
He gives me the number, then takes my game out of the PS3 and hands it back to me. While the game is still running and Ico's still running around onscreen.
"Hey, you just took the game out and the system was still running it!" I exclaimed.
"It's a very powerful system, sir," he says.
At this point, I go home and look up the "blue disc problem" online and find a bunch of self-help tutorials for the older PS2's. They suggest cleaning the lens. So I do that, gingerly, with a Q-tip and some rubbing alcohol. And Ico still doesn't work.
I'm very frustrated. See, my reasoning is, if the laser's stuck on one format, how come I can play PSone games without any issues? Those are all CD-ROM based. If my laser was stuck, wouldn't I just be able to play PS2 DVD-ROM games alone?
I don't really want to send my system off to Sony, because I'm not sure they'd send me my own system back. As for why it matters, well, maybe it's better to show rather than tell:
http://www.lscmainframe.net/images/ps2_strider.jpg
My wife did that for my birthday last year. That's automotive "flip-flop" paint. The paint changes color from red to green to gold. I kinda don't want anything to happen to it. I'm sure you can understand why.
So. Does anyone have any suggestions? Maybe a good place to get it fixed where they won't mess up the Hiryu logo in the process? Maybe the name of a good lawyer to sue Sony for putting such a POS laser array in the PStwo to begin with?
I bought Ico last week. It was a used copy from GameStop, but it's rare to come across that game at all, so I snagged it while I had a chance. I took it home and popped it in my slimline PStwo (model #: SCPH-75001, for those of you following along at home) and it played fine up until a third of the way through the opening cinema. It faded out to white and never faded back in.
So I pulled it out and looked at it. Along with turning out to be the only blue-bottomed PS2 game I own (making it the only CD-ROM based PS2 game I own), it had some minor scratches, but no gouges. The scratches were too deep to be taken out with a home polisher, so I took it to the local CD swap shop and traded away Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows for a free professional polish. Got the disc back and it looked pristine.
I took it home and put it in my PStwo and it got past the point it hung on before, but locked up again at a different point in the opening cinema. I looked at the disc again and saw a series of hair-thin, fine scratches that were still on the disc.
So I took it back to GameStop, thinking it was defective. They popped it in their PS3 and hey presto! it worked perfectly. Then the guy tells me that my PStwo probably has lens difficulties.
"Say what?" I say.
"Yes, sir," he says. "Most players that switch back and forth between formats have different lenses. The PS2 just has one lens that it warps and deforms, so often the lens mechanism will get stuck on one format and it won't play the other."
"Huh," I say.
"Sir," he says, "you should call Sony and see if they'll replace it for you."
He gives me the number, then takes my game out of the PS3 and hands it back to me. While the game is still running and Ico's still running around onscreen.
"Hey, you just took the game out and the system was still running it!" I exclaimed.
"It's a very powerful system, sir," he says.
At this point, I go home and look up the "blue disc problem" online and find a bunch of self-help tutorials for the older PS2's. They suggest cleaning the lens. So I do that, gingerly, with a Q-tip and some rubbing alcohol. And Ico still doesn't work.
I'm very frustrated. See, my reasoning is, if the laser's stuck on one format, how come I can play PSone games without any issues? Those are all CD-ROM based. If my laser was stuck, wouldn't I just be able to play PS2 DVD-ROM games alone?
I don't really want to send my system off to Sony, because I'm not sure they'd send me my own system back. As for why it matters, well, maybe it's better to show rather than tell:
http://www.lscmainframe.net/images/ps2_strider.jpg
My wife did that for my birthday last year. That's automotive "flip-flop" paint. The paint changes color from red to green to gold. I kinda don't want anything to happen to it. I'm sure you can understand why.
So. Does anyone have any suggestions? Maybe a good place to get it fixed where they won't mess up the Hiryu logo in the process? Maybe the name of a good lawyer to sue Sony for putting such a POS laser array in the PStwo to begin with?