Repairing and cleaning your PlayStation 2

By Lee Brannon

2/05/09

This article is going to discuss and illustrate some of the repairs you can make to the Sony PlayStation 2 to keep it running.

The Sony PlayStation 2 referred to as the PS2 is a workhorse game machine. Although it has been replaced in Sony's line of Game devices with the PlayStation 3 it is still used by thousands of people and games continue to be abundant for it. If you have invested a lot in PlayStation 2 games and don't want to go to the expense of upgrading to a newer machine you would do well to perform some simple maintenance occasionally.

A few words about Maintenance:

First, keep the fan and vents clean. A lot of sites will tell you to use canned air to blow away the dust and this will work, but unfortunately when you do that to the PlayStation you are blowing that dust and hair into the machine and possibly onto the optic laser. I recommend that you keep an old soft bristle toothbrush handy. Using a dry soft bristle toothbrush you can drag the bristles along the front vents and actually pull that dust and debris out of them. With a little patience you can do the same to the fan blades but be careful not to bend them or push the fan out of place.

The other thing you need to do is clean the optical laser lens occasionally. Dust and film build up on the lens over time and makes reading games and movies difficult. This is the most common problem with PlayStations (But it is not the most common repair issue. More on that later.) How to clean the lens is discussed later, but cleaning the lens does involve taking the PlayStation apart which voids the warranty, so only preform this if the warranty has expired.

Warning: Taking the PlayStation 2 apart has the potential for electrical shock. Taking the PlayStation 2 apart has the potential for sight damage caused by the optical laser. Also see the Caution label or warning on your PlayStation 2.

Caution: The Following PlayStation 2 Repairs may void your PlayStation 2 warranty. Only preform these repairs if the warranty has expired.

The most common repair issue:

Have you ever noticed that a lot of Playstation 2 game machines are missing the door to the CD tray? This is probably the most common problem with the Playstation 2. Since the door basically snaps into place it often snaps off and on occasion it no longer snaps in. I have had to glue the door back on two of them. Obviously this is a simple repair but keep the following in mind. Make sure you use a glue that is designed for plastic and not one that will eat into the plastic. Also insure that you have the door mounted on the tray in the proper position. Make sure that the door will close properly before the glue dries. It is very easy to glue the door on upside down which will cause the door not to close also. Make sure the logo is right side up and test the door closing.

Game stuttering or Games that won't read:

Aside from damaged or scratched games and Movies when a PS2 won't read or it seems to stutter there are generally three things that could be causing the problem. First, the optical lens (laser) may be dirty or covered in a film. The second problem may be that the “Grab” spindle is not making contact with the magnet or is not gripping the game CD properly. Third, the tray/lens position is wrong. Since the solutions to all three of these problems involves us taking the PlayStation 2 apart I will illustrate the later solution and include instructions for the other two.

STOP and READ: I cannot emphasize enough that if you are not comfortable with taking your PlayStation 2 apart please stop at this point. There are several things that can go wrong and you may damage your system. There is also some risk of injury to yourself.

Warning: Taking the PlayStation 2 apart has the potential for electrical shock. Taking the PlayStation 2 apart has the potential for sight damage caused by the optical laser. Also see the Caution label or warning on your PlayStation 2. and the caution lable on the tray cover that warns of laser radiation.

Caution: The Following PlayStation 2 Repairs will void your PlayStation 2 warranty. Only preform these repairs if the warranty has expired.

Shown here are two PS2 game machines. One I keep around for spare parts and the other began having serious stutter issues recently. I am going to open each of them to show you that although they look identical on the outside they are different.

Shown here are the tools you will need. A small flatblade screwdriver, a long thin Phillips screwdriver, a dry clean toothbrush, a cotton swab, a flashlight and a good workspace.

1. Push the eject button so that the CD tray is in the open position and then turn the PS2 off and unplug everything especially the power cord from the PS2.

2. The next thing is to flip the PlayStation 2 over.

3. Now depending on the model you will have 8 or 10 screw covers to remove. These are small plastic and rubber plates as illustrated here. I say 8 to 10 because I have seen PS2's with screws on the sides where neither of my machines has them.

 

Showing the screw cover locations.

4. Using the flatblade screwdriver pry open each of the plates covering the screws. Using the flatblade screwdriver pry open each of the plates covering the screws.

5. Now remove the screws. Some of them are long but are only threaded towards the bottom so they do not take long to remove. (I recommend that you lay the screws in a pattern around the playstation so you can remember which screw goes back where.)

6. The next thing is to flip the PlayStation 2 over again.

7. When removing the top be careful. You should slide it forward slightly so that it clears the buttons and controller connectors and then lift. Also be careful not to lift it to far or move it to far. Some of the PlayStation two machines will have the Reset and Eject buttons connected to the lid and cabled to the to the machine. Taking these precautions remove the top and set it next to the machine.

 

Showing the top of the case off.

 

8. Now we need tNow we need to remove the screws from the tray cover and remove the tray cover. Depending on the model it may have 3 or 4 screws. With the two I am using for this demo one had a peg where the fourth screw was on the other. Remove the screws and lift the tray cover.

 

Now here is where you will figure out why I told you to open the tray before anything else.  With the tray out of the way we can now look at out three possible read problems.

Since one of the possible issues is that the “grab” spindle is not making good contact it would be a good idea to check it now. There may be debris causing the round spindle to not make contact with the magnet or the surface may be dirty. In either case clean it off.

 

The other possibility is that the optical lens (laser) has dust or a film on it. Take your dry cotton swab and clean the lens. Do not use a chemical as it could damage the lens or make the problem worse. Also be careful not to scratch the lens.

 

The third possibility is a little more involved. At the back of the Tray there is going to be a round white gear. This is the adjustment for the tray and lens positions. In the case of this PS2  I know that the problem is with the gear setting.

Take a Marker and mark the position the adjustment gear is currently in. I put a small dot on the gear and on the metal under it, so I could line them backup if I needed to.

Now adjust the gear by moving it a few teeth either clockwise or counterclockwise. In my case I had to pull a small metal “holder” back while turning the disk. You should hear a light clicking sound as the gear turns.

Put the machine back together and then test it. The risk of electrical shock from touching something inside or eye damage from the laser lens is real. If it helps, I fixed this one which was stuttering badly and not reading some games at all by moving the gear 3 clicks at a time clockwise from the original position. I had to do this twice before getting it right.  It now plays several games it would not read before.

Note the other PS2 had two gears in the back. One on each side. Both would have to be adjusted in that case. Shown here: