Multiple PS2 Slim SCPH-7500 Grinding Issues

Hello,

so I have gotten 2 different PS2 Slim 7500 models in the past week both with the exact same problem. When I insert a PS2 Game, the worm gear (or whatever the twisty gear is to the right of the laser) will slowly move and grind every two seconds. Usually after 20 seconds it stops grinding and it starts spinning and reading the game, and the gear moves fluidly and freely instead of slowly grinding. No issues are present with PS1 games, Audio CDs and DVDs, it reads these right away. This is really bumming me out seeing two consoles in a row like this, and everything I have tried doesn't help, including greasing all the gears/rails ,cleaning the laser and reseating all ribbon cables. Curious if anyone have experienced this problem before since I can't find much precise information on the internet.

Note, I have noticed that on one console one half of the worm gear has a black color as opposed to the normal gold color. Maybe this is from years of the previous owner just letting it grind like that...

 

I agree with ASSEMbler on that one, but if you are tight strapped for cash, a whole new laser with drive and mechanicals is only $15 on Aliexpress.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Lase...62,searchweb201560_6,searchweb1451318400_6149

 

Lithium Grease (white) + Dust, or the wrong grease used by someone else..

Could be a simple alignment issue, completely remove the optical pickup off the rails, remove and refit the worm gear guide off it (the while piece of plastic and metal screwed to the optical pickup).
Adjust the tension screws on the bottom of the assembly.

With the optical pickup off the assembly (you can just remove the worm gear guide, leaving the OP on the rails), plug it in and boot the system, does the sound persist??
The limit switch must not be closed, slide the OP half way down the guides
IF NO, then there is most likely an alignment issue with the guide rails (metal rods) for the optical pickup....

Slims have a nasty build quality and can get knocked out of what easily..

Good luck

 

Thank you so much for your post. I did try removing the worm gear guide metal but when I put a disk in after, the gold worm gear just keeps moving and the OP will not move or try to read the disc (nothing happens). The plastic piece of the guide metal was all gunked up and dirty so I cleaned it and re-screwed it in but the grinding still happens. There is an improvement though since it will spin a blank CD-R now when it would just grind and then give up before.

I am considering buying a new worm gear part but I am unsure why it refuses to play/read PS2 games and works fine with anything else. I have noticed that the worm gear guide doesn't have a great grip on the gear, when I move the OP up and down with moderate force it loses grip with the gold worm gear. I could make a video to show all this if it would help.

Also interestingly, now it will sometimes start to read a specific PS2 game I have without grinding but eventually stops spinning and fails. (This was not happening yesterday). With other PS2 games sometimes it will successfully spin and read after ~20 seconds of worm gear grinding.

 

is it grinding or clicking