PS1/2 PS2 not reading games

[Tom Bombadildo]

Well...more specifically backup games. I've got a backup of FFX that I'm attempting to play, but it seems the disc is having trouble being read. For example, when I first put the game in it makes a clicking noise while reading it for about 5-10 minutes. It does read it eventually, and starts the game. I started a new game, got past the first cutscene and got to the blitzball game cutscene. It would randomly stop every few seconds for a couple minutes into the video and eventually it just seemed to skip the cutscene. I am now at the cutscene before the first battle where you have a sort of close up view of Tidus and Auron, Tidus runs away and now it's stuck with Auron standing there with the bridge animations and the music still going. I assume it must be some problem with the disc I have because every other game I've burnt have seemed to work fine with the clicking noises. I think it might even be the type of disc I bought, as the clicking noise and extremely long loading times seem to happen well those as well. The discs in particular are Memorex DVD-R. I also have a few games burnt with different discs that work flawlessly, those being Cool Colors Memorex DVD-R.

Now I'm wondering whether it's the discs or just the drive itself that might be bad...Anyone know?

 

[DS1]

99/100 times, this is a problem with the laser. Honestly, you can use whatever DVDs work for you, but the general rule of thumb is Verbatim DVD+Rs*. I thought my PS2 was completely dead (even my real games wouldn't work) until I used those.

Anyway, the fact that you are having in-game glitches sounds like a bigger problem than the laser. So long as I can get a game to load, it will run perfectly... so maybe it is your discs. What type of PS2 do you have?

*BEWARE - Verbatim now makes DVD+Rs that look exactly like the others, except they have a little stamp on them that says "life series". They are absolute garbage, despite costing about the same amount.

 

[WiiPower]

If you continue playing this way even for just a few minutes, your laser will get damaged if it isn't already. If the game doesn't run at the regular speed, then you have a laser or media problem. And if you don't solve that and just play, you can start searching for a new one, a new laser, or a HDD adapter.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

I have a 50001. I was told that DVD+R's generally don't work well with PS2's, but perhaps I might be remembering this wrong. I believe I have some DVD+R's around somewhere that I could try, and if that works then I can assume it's just the crappy discs I've been using.

If you continue playing this way even for just a few minutes, your laser will get damaged if it isn't already. If the game doesn't run at the regular speed, then you have a laser or media problem. And if you don't solve that and just play, you can start searching for a new one, a new laser, or a HDD adapter.

I've been looking for one, but I can only find ones for $40 or more, granted I didn't really look that much.

 

[WiiPower]

I read numerous time that some ps2s prefer DVD-R and some DVD+R. And some ps2s are said to not work with DVD+Rs at all, but if these exist, they should be the oldest models.

Bitsetting the DVD+Rs to DVD-Rs while burning won't harm, but i don't think it will help much either.

 

[gygabyte666]

That's right. Some PS2s have no problem reading DVD+R discs but the best rule to follow is to just use DVD-R if you can. I never use +R discs if I can help it. So I wouldn't recommend using those either.

Kind of an obvious but did you try cleaning the lens? You could also try changing the laser reading ohms level? That will usually fix laser problems but at the cost of the lasers lifespan.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

I haven't tried cleaning the lens yet, but only because I don't have time and it didn't occur to me right away. I'll do it whenever I have more time, but before I do that I'm going to try out some of my retail discs I have in storage when I get home and see if it makes the same clicking sounds and takes the same amount of time to load. If it doesn't, then I can assume it's either the disc or the burner. If it does then I can assume my disc drive is bad and I need to replace it.

If it does turn out that I need to replace it can anyone recommend me a shop that sells PS2 drives for relatively cheap?

 

[gygabyte666]

Seriously, clean the lens first and if that doesn't help, look up how to adjust the lasers ohms power. It's relatively easy to do and could save you the hassle of replacing the drive.