The PS2 I bought today seems to be faulty or the game is faulty. The unit will play audio CDs and CD based games. It will also play DVD movies but it won't play DVD games. The PS2 knows that the DVD game disc is a PlayStation 2 game and will try to load it but once the screen goes black it just resets back to the browser screen showing me the Memory card and disc icons again. I've tried the diagnostic setting but that doesn't do anything. Should there be some sort of message telling me that the PS2 is running a diagnostics test or something? So, I only have the one DVD based game and it does look 100% mint. Not a single mark on the disc. Do you think that the PS2 is faulty or the actual game disc?
It's a PS2 which means shitty build quality. Probably broken, which would explain why it only reads CDs and not DVDs, since most PS2s in my experience will stop reading either format at some point.
Simple answer is to get another game or two and try again. I have a PS2 that will read certain games but not others. The discs work fine in other PS2s however. In your case it's almost impossible to determine without more to test with.
I guess it would be easier to just return it and get another one. By the way, which PS2 model did you get?
My most recent PS2 (30001-R) was at one point capable of reading every format. Then it stopped reading PS1 games. Then blue discs. Then finally the majority of PS2 DVD games. The drive works just enough for HDLoader to rip my discs to the HDD, though. It will live on.
This is quite common and occurs with CD media aswell. As the laser fails, it will stop reading DVD/CD Games, but still play DVD movies/CD Music. Because they are written and read in a linear fashion, as opposed to games. Honestly it's the PS2 laser dying/needing pot tweaking like most PS2's have
The PS2 was garbage from beginning to end, some were better than others in terms of build quality but there isn't a single one that is remotely free of laser issues.
Hit it on the head. I hope there is a project completed that lets you boot games off a HD, PS2 already has the hardware for the HD so it should just be a matter of some kind of firmware or something, unless you already can do that and im just unaware because I've never even seen a PS2 HD set up let alone used one.
Thanks for the input guys. So it seems the PS2 has a shitty laser. Major bummer but expected since Sony products always seem to have shitty lasers.
Slimlines (SCPH-75000 to SCPH-79000 at least) have far better lasers, but they cannot have a HDD unit installed. The SCPH-50000 and SCPH-70000 series have been notorious for having blown laser coils. As how l_Oliveira puts it, modded systems seem to have their lasers worn out more quicker. If yours was modded, then maybe the previous owner played a lot of burned games. Older consoles weren't designed to read recordable discs, so making them read burned discs (especially cheap ones) will certainly put a lot of wear on the laser. Anyway, assuming that you got a fat PS2: as for HDD booting, you have the following at your disposal (This list is not exhaustive) from my memory: 1. Open PS2 Loader (PS2 game loading). HDLoader was the old contender, but it was never legally free and is closed-source. 2. The Sony HDD OSD (Browser with HDD support). Get a cracked copy if you want to use a non-Sony disk. 3. HDLGameInstaller (PS2 game installer). Allows you to install games for use with the HDD OSD, as if they were bought and downloaded from the PSBBN. Supports local and remote (Over LAN) installations. 4. HDLDump/HDLDumb (PS2 game installer). Supports remote (Over LAN) installations. 5. FHDB (Free HD Boot) - Allows you to boot your console and launch homebrew without a Memory Card (Direct HDD booting). Can be used with a cracked HDD OSD. 6. FMCB (Free MC Boot) - Allows you to boot your console and launch homebrew. Also acts as a drop-in replacement for the system driver update (for SCPH-10000, SCPH-15000 and SCPH-18000 units). 7. WinHIIP (PS2 game installer) - Allows you to install and maintain games with a PC. The disk must be connected directly to your PC. But before you can do anything, you need to get a network adaptor (SCPH-10190 for the PCMCIA consoles, or a SCPH-10281/SCPH-10350 for everything else) and HDD for your console. Sony disks will allow you to use original Sony software without modifications, but they are getting rare, expensive, are old (may die anytime now... lol), and are small (You can't store a lot of games with only 40GB).
He has a SCPH-30000. So it's quite likely that the laser is shot IMHO. Perhaps take it back, or adjust the laser pots I guess. I've personally never had issues with the laser in any PlayStation 2 that I've owned. And I've owned a good 20 or so of them - maybe that's why? Maybe have a rummage around all the machines they have in and grab the latest model phat they have - SCPH-39000 would be good as I recommended on BD. Even a 30000 R or 35000 would be slightly better - theoretically. Not a huge fan of all the faff of the HDD myself on the PlayStation 2. I'd much rather just sling a disc in the drive and play that way. Yes I am aware of how much smoother games run from the HDD but the faff doesn't offset that for me.
I had the exact same problem with my previous NTSC-J PS2; it would load CD-based games, but not DVD-based games. I never checked to see if it would load DVD videos, because I didn't have Japan region DVDs. As others have said, it's probably an issue with the laser. I don't think all PS2 models were equally bad in that regard, though. I have a later revision of the Fat PS2, I think I got it in 2003 or 2004. I've never had any issues with it, and it's still going strong today. Do you know which model it is? The model number is on the back, with the prefix "SCPH-".
Mine finally took a trip down the chocolate express and died the other week, ten years of being in a zombie like state, it was used when we got it and the previous owner had opened it to get a disk get when the drive went kaput and managed to lose the drive bezel and the screws. Laser just needed a clean and it worked fine but we never did get replacement bezel or screws
Adjusting the laser's pots won't make it last much longer, even if it starts working right again. If you got them new and took really good care of them (like not excessively using any one console or using burned discs), I can see why you never observed the wear and tear. I got 6 consoles, and most of them came with heavily worn lasers: SCPH-77006 - new, good condition. SCPH-39006 - Takes a while to read burned discs. SCPH-10000 - Takes a long time to read DVDs. Console is now totally dead. SCPH-10000 - Takes a uber long time (40+ seconds) to detect a DVD game, but seems to readily detect DVD video discs. Console is faulty. SCPH-15000 - appears to be new (Everything is too clean and the laser works too well). Has a warranty seal, which is unusual for this model. DESR-5100 - takes very long to detect CD and DVD games. Agreed! But I'm more for the SCPH-39000 series. Mind telling us what's so bad about using the HDD? Other than the experience, since PlayStation and PlayStation 2 games traditionally come on discs... I know.
Very few have been purchased new - no. Off the top of my head I've owned: DTL-H30001 E SCPH-30003 SCPH-30003 R SCPH-30004 SCPH-35003 SCPH-39003 SCPH-50000 SCPH-50003 SCPH-55006 GT SCPH-70000 SCPH-70003 SCPH-75003 SCPH-77003 Among others, had a few dupes of the above too. Totally want a 10000 somewhen! My issue with the HDD is adding content to it requires removal of the drive (unless you want piss poor transfer speeds) and that it doesn't give me the option to simply just play a retail game off of a disc. It would in conjunction with a HDD perhaps but I personally feel that the HDD adds nothing to my own experience. I did try GTA3 and Vice City off the HDD before and while it played beautifully neither game would load up a save after the initial save from the HDD which is obviously a huge glitch. Perhaps that can be patched though, I don't know.
You have quite a collection! After I replaced the SMAP driver, we can now transfer games with TCP over LAN at about 2.6MB/s. If you went with my UDP HDLDump servers, things like 5+MB/s is obtainable, although I prefer to use TCP for reliability. But yea, if you cannot stand these low rates, then remote installations over LAN are just not for you. Can't you just pop the game disc into the drive and play? It still works. Fair enough. If it works, why replace your current method of enjoying your games?
I used to FTP games to my HDD with my debug machine. And I only own a 39003 with DMS3 Plus currently. I went through a phase of buying and selling things quite rapidly that I'm happy to say is over now.
It's the laser, this probably happens when the laser passes the focus check but has excessive read errors likely when doing a signature check. This is the same behavior that a system locked title such as FFXI does when booting on a different system than it was originally installed on. I just fixed one a few weeks ago.
