PS2 Slim lasers deteriorating without use

[Xan]

After pulling some PS2s out of storage that haven't seen any use for 2-3 years I've noticed the lasers on them do not perform as they used to. A modded 70k (V12 with some kind of laser fix, I believe) that had no trouble reading some Philips DVD-Rs of questionable quality struggles with these discs now, and an unmodded 77k will not read a completely mint game and just boots the menu on 7/7 tries. Again, that game also used to read fine there and still works fine in my 90k. I did try cleaning the 77k lens with 99% IPA, no change either.

I'm wondering what exactly it is that is going bad here, could this be a capacitor issue not unlike what is commonly seen with Gamecubes these days? These systems have the dreaded issue with the flex cable standing up as well, so that's another thing to fix, but I don't think it's related to these disc reading issues.

I've also tested a 39k that seems to read fine, but has a weird "plasticky" sound on some reads that I can't seem to recall other fat models doing. Made a recording of it, it's well audible past the 0:18 mark: https://sndup.net/tjr6/

Also in case it's mentioned, I'm aware that OPL generally works very well at this point but I'd still like to have the option of using real discs.

[neorichieb1971]

I have 3 slims. 1 PAL, 1 JP, 1 USA. I don't have any issues with any of them. Mind you I don't own copied games. If I had to guess I would say your media is the problem, or any modification you have done is playing up. Mine are all stock.

[evil_ash_xero]

My slim's laser croaked. I'm not sure how to go about getting it fixed, as most lasers are crap.

[Taiyaki]

The only console for which this happened to me was my Dreamcast. Single owner and only used it on under 20 games, hadn't used it in a while, when I went back to it it was struggling playing discs forcing a restart before each session, until it eventually just stopped playing them. I was amazed considering there must be tons of system with 10 times more wear still going strong. Always kept in healthy storage conditions. I had to have a new gd-rom drive put in. I'd assume the same can be done with the PS2 slim?

[cfx]

While it's not something I see discussed in years, GD-ROM failure was certainly a common thing, though I don't know if it was true in general or if there were certain drives that were less reliable.

During the Dreamcast's lifetime, NCS carried and sold replacement GD-ROM drives because so many of them were failing.

I've always wondered if games that make the drive make all that clicking racket, like Soul Calibur, contribute to it failing.

[neorichieb1971]

I just got Vexx on PS2 yesterday, so I popped it in (Its a DVD) and it made me think of this thread.

The disc was not perfect but looked playable.

Popped it in, no problems. One thing I did notice was the amount of noise it made though on my slim ps2. It seemed to make grinding noises but the FMV's played fine. Mind you, it didn't grind more than my Dreamcast does, that thing sounds like a dot matrix printer. The only console I have with laser issues is my launch 1994 PS1, it doesn't travel. Game usually reads fine but if the CD has red book audio tracks like Ridge racer, the audio tracks skip like crazy by track 3 or 4. So my guess there is the laser mech doesn't like going to the middle of the CD. I did just buy a used 1994 PS1 which is in brand new condition judging by the box.

We are talking about hardware that is very old now. Probably older than some users on this forum.

[bobrocks95]

Might be a matter of greasing the rails and maybe some gears. That would be the number one thing I'd think would deteriorate with zero use.