PS1 loading issues

[atheistgod1999]

I'm taking a break from Gradius and playing Crash Bandicoot instead, and it occasionally freezes on a loading screen after about a half-hour of playing. It doesn't consistently do this on a certain level or anything; it seems totally random. It will hang on loading a level it normally loads in only a couple of seconds. I even resurfaced the disc with my new resurfacer and that got rid of virtually all of the scratches and shortened loading times for the times it doesn't freeze.

I've played Tony Hawk's Pro Skater on the same console for a lot longer than Crash and that game has never froze on a loading screen or missed a beat on an FMV, and that disc is in pretty much the same condition as the other.

Is it the game or the console? It's a PS1 SCPH-1001, FYI. Is there any way I can fix this?

[mvsfan]

Ive read in general that the PS1 1001 models have a weak drive to begin with.

personally 1 Prefer the 5000x models. good drive and they still have the parallel port for the action replay.

it could be that your laser needs to be replaced.

[Guspaz]

You can try playing the games on a PS3. My copy of SoTN wouldn't even read in my PSOne (wouldn't even load the game), but the PS3 read it just fine. I had to have it resurfaced, after which it worked fine in both consoles.

[atheistgod1999]

You can try playing the games on a PS3.

And deal with input lag and imperfect emulation? I'd just play on my PS2 instead.

I actually think it might have something to do with the console itself overheating. I was playing again and this time it froze in the middle of a level. The music and everything just stopped. This is exactly what happened when I removed the heatsink from my model 1 Genesis and had it on for a few minutes. Then again, it was probably loading another part of the level during gameplay. WTF is going on? I'm able to progress because I can reach at least one bonus round before it freezes every time, but this is still extremely irritating and is wasting my time.

My copy of SoTN wouldn't even read in my PSOne (wouldn't even load the game), but the PS3 read it just fine. I had to have it resurfaced, after which it worked fine in both consoles.

You mentioned that before. The thing is, my PS1 can load a level in a couple of seconds, but then later in that playing session it just freezes. It's inconsistent; if the console can load a level in a couple of seconds, the part of the disc containing the data required to load that level is clearly very readable, yet the console later can't read it when I haven't done anything with the disc, and then when I hit the reset button it loads it just fine again.

[Blair]

have you tried stacking the PlayStation on its side? That was a trick people used to use when the drives were getting old erratic

[atheistgod1999]

have you tried stacking the PlayStation on its side? That was a trick people used to use when the drives were getting old erratic

No. I've heard of turning them upside-down, though. Is there a way to fix the issue by opening it up? I have pretty good soldering skills, and as I've mentioned twice in the past few days, my dad's an electrical engineer so he can help. Should I order a replacement lens?

[Blair]

that depends what's going on exactly, it could be that the lasers going out and needs to be replaced. but you also might have some problems with the motherboard, it sounds like (you might want to check for bad solder joints and bad capacitors)

[atheistgod1999]

I wonder why none of these issues happen when I'm playing THPS; maybe it's because I might not play it as long in a single sitting. I also don't get why the console is fine as soon as I reset it.

[mvsfan]

Another thing is this. ps1s are very inexpensive. if your going to have to spend too much $ or time on it, buy another playstation.

you can often find 3 working ps1s in 1 lot for $25.00 with free shipping.

just saying.

[Blair]

I wonder why none of these issues happen when I'm playing THPS; maybe it's because I might not play it as long in a single sitting. I also don't get why the console is fine as soon as I reset it.

well, if you never noticed it happening in any other game then perhaps the game has some type of scratch or error on it ( that can't even be repaired with resurfacing)

I can't imagine crash bandicoot being that taxing on the system, or causing it to overheat abnormally versus other games.

you could try leaving a 3-D polygon-based game running in the background for an hour or two (something like a demo mode or attract mode) and then come back and play for 30 minutes to see what happens. (do you have tekken 3?)

[atheistgod1999]

I wonder why none of these issues happen when I'm playing THPS; maybe it's because I might not play it as long in a single sitting. I also don't get why the console is fine as soon as I reset it.

well, if you never noticed it happening in any other game then perhaps the game has some type of scratch or error on it ( that can't even be repaired with resurfacing)

I can't imagine crash bandicoot being that taxing on the system, or causing it to overheat abnormally versus other games.

you could try leaving a 3-D polygon-based game running in the background for an hour or two (something like a demo mode or attract mode) and then come back and play for 30 minutes to see what happens. (do you have tekken 3?)

I don't have Tekken 3, but I'm currently doing exactly that with THPS at the moment. Also, I haven't even played any game besides THPS and Crash on that system.

I think I maybe should mention that I've owned that copy since I was like 5 (played it on my dad's PS1 from 1998) and never had that issue. Playing it again because I didn't beat it, in case you're wondering.

[Blair]

have you tried running the game in your PS2 to see if you get any weird errors or problems?

[ApolloBoy]

The SCPH-1001 has a shitty optical drive, thankfully it's really easy to swap in a PSOne drive (just switch around the plastic covers on both drives and it plugs straight in) which is far more reliable.

[atheistgod1999]

So I put the disc in my PS2 SCPH-79001, which I know for sure works perfectly because I've used it for hours on end many times without issue, and the same thing happened. This means it has to be the disc. What could cause it to become unreadable at seemingly random intervals? When I hit the reset button on the console, it becomes readable again.