Adjust laser height on v3 Auto adjusting cog style DVD drive

Hey guys, this is the first time I have run into this style PS2 DVD drive. (see pic)

According to the little amount of info I could find on the net, it automatically adjusts the laser height on power up.

Since the laser is very weak on this old PS2, I was wondering if there is anyway to adjust the laser height besides this cog. I have not adjusted the pots or tangential skew screw yet.

I thought of perhaps putting some small pieces of plastic under the drive rails. Also it seems the only way to make the laser height lower would be to file out the plastic on the bottom of the area where drive rails rests. I just wanted to consult those with experience with this drive type first.

I have plenty of other working PS2's so I really don't need to replace the laser on this one. I currently use it for HDL and homebrew, so everything else is working correctly.

Hi!

I have a V3, too!
But my drive don´t have this stepper for autoadjusting...
:wow:



Rgds.

I'm having the same problem with a SCPH 50004 , lens is KHS-400c and it won't read DVD's anymore. Opened it up, took a picture and messed around a bit with the laser height by spinning the 2 little wheels ( yes mine has 2 )

What's the right position for DVD reading, lens should be lifted up or should be down ?

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Since the laser is very weak on this old PS2, I was wondering if there is anyway to adjust the laser height besides this cog. I have not adjusted the pots or tangential skew screw yet.

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The cog you showed in the picture doesn't change height but angle of whole mechanism. The only way to increase laser height is to use screw marked in attachment.

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What's the right position for DVD reading, lens should be lifted up or should be down ?

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There's is actually no "right position" for DVD reading because all lens act diffrently and they need different position at all. You have to try for yourself, change cog position a little and then check how it does read your discs. If you'll find the best position for your cog, you should move to screw, basically if the laser is weak, you should increase its height. ( I've used your picture Flo, I hope you don't mind? )

The console CANNOT be an V3 as V3 don't have that motor. It's either GH-004 or GH-005. (V1 or V2 on buccaneer's language.)

The position for the parallax gear (white cog) is stored on the EEPROM.

Here:

Code:

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Offset      0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  A  B  C  D  E  F
00000180  4D 00  30 14  67 11  2C 01  05 28  00                    M 0 g ,  (

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After editing the eeprom dump, fix the checksum at offset 18B. If the checksum is wrong I believe it will assume the Mechacon's ROM default (center). Flash it back and be happy.

To not waste your time trying to adjust/fix an optical pickup that has a dead DVD laser emitter, do this test:

Power on the console without disc or memorycard (no FCMB), go to the version screen and turn "Diagnosis" option on.

If the laser is still good enough to read DVD discs, the Mechacon will automatically adjust the parallax and the disc should read. :cool:
That position is actually the best adjust. So if it work you might want to take a picture and then attempt various numbers on the eeprom until it sets that position. I believe 0x80 (128) is the center.

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If the laser is still good enough to read DVD discs, the Mechacon will automatically adjust the parallax and the disc should read.
That position is actually the best adjust.

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Well, diagnosis method failed me a lot of times in my V5, while manual adjusting did its job. ( Didn't know about EEPROM editing )

I don't know if it's really over for DVD's, the CD's work great . Tried Diagnosis mode, and disc speed HIGH , the disc seemed to spin more but with no succes
How do you dump the EEPROM ,then flash it back ?

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Originally Posted by shadovraven

Well, diagnosis method failed me a lot of times in my V5, while manual adjusting did its job. ( Didn't know about EEPROM editing )

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Diagnosis does nothing on V5 besides attempt to power the laser with more current. Hence your results.

V5 HAS NO AUTOMATIC TILT/Parallax adjust. And please DO NOT EDIT THE EEPROM on your V5 following the instructions I posted. It's for V1 and V2 only.

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Originally Posted by flo

How do you dump the EEPROM ,then flash it back ?

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Lenschanger can read and write the EEPROM. EEPROM contents are saved in a file on the Lenschanger folder at the MC.

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Diagnosis does nothing on V5 besides attempt to power the laser with more current. Hence your results.

V5 HAS NO AUTOMATIC TILT/Parallax adjust. And please DO NOT EDIT THE EEPROM on your V5 following the instructions I posted. It's for V1 and V2 only.

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As I thought, sony staff claimed that Diagnosis can "magically cure" all of your laser problems in all of the PS2 consoles. No I'm not going to edit EEPROM I just stated my facts, manually editing is fine with me.

Tried adjusting the lens angle , opening it up and cleaning it , no luck .
I've been reading about adjusting the laser pot . Anyone knows which one is the DVD pot in the pic ? Also, what is Romeo mod , ever heard of that ? They say 50004 is a "time bomb" without it . I guess my console is an exploded bomb anyway :))