50003 - Please insert.... unless at weird angle? Please help

[martd]

Hi all

My PS2 50003 will run DVD films no problem and used to run my PS2 backups.
However, for a while now I can only get my backups to run if I hold the console upside down at a slight angle.
Then, sometimes, the game will run.

If I leave the PS2 the right way up - horizontal or vertical - I am asked to "Please insert a Playstation or Playstation 2 format disc"

Any idea why this could be and how to fix it??

[dlanor]

My PS2 50003 will run DVD films no problem and used to run my PS2 backups.
However, for a while now I can only get my backups to run if I hold the console upside down at a slight angle.
Then, sometimes, the game will run.

If I leave the PS2 the right way up - horizontal or vertical - I am asked to "Please insert a Playstation or Playstation 2 format disc"

Any idea why this could be and how to fix it??

If it used to run game backups without complications then you must have a modchip in that console. Possibly one of the connections to that chip has come loose, but in such a way that it will regain contact with the proper signal when held as you describle. This has happened before to others.

If that is your problem, then the console will have to be opened to resolder that connection.

If that is not your problem then we must instead suspect some mechanical difficulty with the CDVD drive, but that should then affect original discs as much as it does backups.

The best long-term solution is to stop using physical discs entirely and use some other backup system. My own choice is to run all my games from storage in a fileshare folder on a PC, using the samba core of OPL (== "Open PS2 Loader") to run the games over LAN. With the latest revisions this also allows most games to use virtual memory card files on the same PC for gamesave storage, so that each game can have its own separate VMC files for this. OPL also works with internal HDD of a fat PS2, or with external USB drives for the game and VMC storage, but the USB interface of the PS2 is too slow for some games to work well (quite a lot of the games 'stutter' when run from USB).

Best regards: dlanor

[SP193]

Hi all

My PS2 50003 will run DVD films no problem and used to run my PS2 backups.
However, for a while now I can only get my backups to run if I hold the console upside down at a slight angle.
Then, sometimes, the game will run.

If I leave the PS2 the right way up - horizontal or vertical - I am asked to "Please insert a Playstation or Playstation 2 format disc"

Any idea why this could be and how to fix it??

Do you hear a scrapping sound when the console tries to read the disc?
I know that this seems to be only a problem with some of the older consoles... but it's still possible,

If you do hear such a sound, you may have to put some tape at the center hub (That transparent plastic area) of your discs to give your console more grip on them.

If you can hear the laser eye clicking instead (Struggling to read) - I think that either your backup discs have gone bad, or your laser has weakened (But not dead) or has some alignment problem .

[martd]

If it used to run game backups without complications then you must have a modchip in that console. Possibly one of the connections to that chip has come loose, but in such a way that it will regain contact with the proper signal when held as you describle. This has happened before to others.

If that is your problem, then the console will have to be opened to resolder that connection.

If that is not your problem then we must instead suspect some mechanical difficulty with the CDVD drive, but that should then affect original discs as much as it does backups.

The best long-term solution is to stop using physical discs entirely and use some other backup system. My own choice is to run all my games from storage in a fileshare folder on a PC, using the samba core of OPL (== "Open PS2 Loader") to run the games over LAN. With the latest revisions this also allows most games to use virtual memory card files on the same PC for gamesave storage, so that each game can have its own separate VMC files for this. OPL also works with internal HDD of a fat PS2, or with external USB drives for the game and VMC storage, but the USB interface of the PS2 is too slow for some games to work well (quite a lot of the games 'stutter' when run from USB).

Best regards: dlanor

Thanks dlanor!
Thats probably the most comprehensive reply ive had from any forum post!

I'll check the solder points on the board to make sure they're making sound contact.

I dont know much about the PS2 HDDs. Do I need a special adapter or is it something I can connect up easily? I can get hold of 2.5" HDDs pretty easily but i dont want to have to pay out for an adapter if I can help it.

How do I run ganes from a HDD? This is all new to me - as you can probably tell!

@ SP193 - Maybe I do hear a scratching actually. But I also hear the laser clicking. But it reads DVD films ok - but i must say it struggles to find the disc to start with (3-4 seconds before it spins up properly)

Thanks all

[dlanor]

Thanks dlanor!
Thats probably the most comprehensive reply ive had from any forum post!

I do try to cover most of the relevant aspects of a problem in my replies.
This is not only to help the original poster, but also to make the reply more useful to others, with related problems.

I'll check the solder points on the board to make sure they're making sound contact.

If those all seem fine then there may be some CDVD drive problem affecting the ease with which discs can be read. That too will affect burned discs before it affects pressed original discs, since the burned discs will normally require higher laser intensity for reading. And if it is a purely mechanical problem this might explain why holding the console at a specific angle can help, as that puts gravity on your side, pulling some of the internal parts in the right direction to overcome some problem.

I dont know much about the PS2 HDDs. Do I need a special adapter or is it something I can connect up easily? I can get hold of 2.5" HDDs pretty easily but i dont want to have to pay out for an adapter if I can help it.

Then you won't be using an internal HDD, since the main console does not contain the chip which implements both the IDE HDD interface and the LAN port. These two interfaces both require that you use the PS2 Network Adaptor, and there is no other way to do it.

So without such an adaptor you can forget both of the high-speed non-CDVD backup methods. This leaves you with USB as the only alternative, which is not satisfactory IMO.

As for the HDD type, the network adaptor interface is designed for 3.5" PATA drives and so is the internal drive bay too, but there are some SATA-to-PATA adaptors that can be used to allow 2.5" SATA drives to be used instead. But those extra adaptors will of course cost extra money to buy...

How do I run ganes from a HDD? This is all new to me - as you can probably tell!

Internal IDE HDD:
Games are installed as separate partitions on the HDD, either using the PS2 itself or by connecting the HDD to a PC (using either IDE bus or USB adaptor). Special applications are also needed to do these installs, the best one being WinHiip, which as the name implies is a Windows application, so it requires the HDD to be connected to the PC. This method is best when installing multiple games in a single session, as it cuts the time to less than half of the other methods, which more than compensates for the effort of moving the HDD back and forth when those savings are applied to many games. Instead of 45 minutes for one big game you can get away with 15-20 minutes, which makes a big difference with a large game collection. I've had at most 100 games on internal HDD, and the upper limit is 255 I think. Say that the average savings of WinHiip would come to just 10 minutes each. That is still a savings of 100*10/60 == 16.7 hours, or over two normal 8 hour 'workdays'...

External USB HDD (or large capacity USB flash drives):
Game images are installed in a special split-file form (to get around filesize limits), all in a single FAT32 partition, which may also hold other stuff. The installation is always made with the drive connected to a PC and using special PC applications developed specifically for this purpose, the best one being named "USBUtil". Install time per game is comparable to the time required for normal writing of such large data amounts to the same USB drive. (It's pointless to state specific speed here as it varies greatly with the drive used.)

Playing games from either internal or external HDD, or even from LAN:
This is best done by using OPL for both cases. This will simply present a list for each supported device containing games, one list for internal HDD, another list for USB drive, and yet another for the LAN connection. Use of each list is optional and you can disable the ones you don't use in the OPL configuration. You can easily switch between the active lists simply using the D-pad Left and Right buttons.

In the active list you just step a highlight cursor to the game you want to run and press the Cross button, which then causes OPL to launch the game.

There are a lot more things you can do, such as VMC setup and per-game compatibility settings, but it would be pointless to go into such details now, when you can't try it yet.


Summary:
I strongly recommend that you do buy a network adaptor, not so much for the IDE HDD interface, though you won't be able to use an internal IDE HDD without it, but even more for the LAN port. To me that is the most important access medium of the PS2, as it opens the way to unlimited storage on other units in the LAN, like the three PCs in my LAN. Thus my SMS (== Simple Media System) player on the PS2 can access several TeraBytes of media files stored on HDDs of those computers. For several years I've used that for all my viewing of movies and TV shows downloaded from Internet. I only recently abandoned using SMS that way in favor of a commercial streamed media player, to gain support for MKV and WMV and other formats that SMS can not play. But for normal AVI and MPG files the SMS player is excellent.

Best regards: dlanor

[shagster]

It could be your laser arm,i'd replace that.You can find them cheap on ebay.Then clean and regrease the laser rails.Also with the laser removed stick a alcohol dipped q-tip into the rail holes on the laser mount to clean those up,there copper! they can get green and gunky.If you're going to take the laser out be careful handling it though,could cause more damage than before.Important there's a clip on the laser ribbon that needs to be pulled before you can remove the laser correctly.Later you could also carefully and lightly q-tip the laser lens clean when the dvd-rom is semi reasembled,ie laser back in its original position.