PS2 DTL-H30002 Slow at reading discs

Hello, got this PS2 from eBay, it's literally mint condition,it reads imports no master patch needed, PS1 games burned or retail, burned PS2 games also (master patched).

Thing is it takes a LONG time to read the disc but once it has it runs perfect and loading of GTA VCS is faster then on my slim, so i'm kinda confused, if i boot PS2 with a disc in it wont boot straight into game it goes to the browser menu.

It the disc drive makes clicky noises if i start console with disc in but will still read and play.

I used a CD lens cleaner but the brushes are ruined, so i have purchased new CD lens cleaner, i'm wondering if it's worth asking for a partial refund of like £20 for the new laser unit i'm going to need no doubt.

Any advice would be nice, really want to avoid opening this debug console , it was inforgrames owned so was well looked after, i know these early models are prone to laser problems.


Thanks in advance.

 

Do take heed that an opened debug console, will wipe off around 50% of the value easily. Will suggest getting another modded ps2 for your usage.

 

Lens cleaner is gonna do jack shit.

Sounds like you either need to adjust your laser a little or install a new one.

Is the seal so important? Just get an exacto knife and carefully break the sticker. Functionality is more important than form, right? It isn't like a debug PlayStation 2 has any real value.

 

The seal is proof that the unit has not been opened before and is pristine. If gaming is what you want, then use a modded retail because the debugstation consoles were not mass-produced. Plus FMCB/FHDB cannot be used on most of them, which makes it impossible to make them totally unreliant on their CD/DVD drives (even if a HDD unit is used).

Older units have worse CD/DVD drives, so you have to use better-quality discs like those Verbatim DVD-R discs that were manufactured by either Taiyo Yuden or Mitsubishi.

If the laser has to be adjusted, it's weak and needs replacement. If the current is increased, then the laser will not last for much longer afterwards. Therefore, increasing the current is only useful for prolonging the lifespan of a weak laser.

EDIT: WAIT. How can a debugstation play burned retail games without the disc image being master-patched first?

 

if i'd have to guess, either it's been rebuilt with CDVDGEN (at somepoint in it's life)
or then the game was donwloaded from somewhere and has undergone the treatment at it's previous owner.

i know a sheer amount of games that can be donwloaded from torrent sites are already "patched" as a lot of them have been rebuilt to reduce their size.

 

Not sure if it has to be master-patched, i always patch it and it runs, sorry i forgot to state.

 

I don't want a modded PS2, i want this for gaming, it's a PS2 that can play games i'm not going out my way spending more money when this unit will do everything i want and more, if i need to replace the laser i will, just annoys me how once it has read the disc...it's fine.

 

I don't want FMCB, and i use verbatim azo discs, could i put a HDD on this console? would be cool to have it, i'm sure there is a use for it.

This console didn't have a expansion bay cover which leads me to believe it might of had a HDD?

 

I used to use a 30001 E with HDLoader via uLaunchELF that I had on a disc.

I lucked out with a 30101 E a few months back for £30 off eBay. Seal intact and works perfectly.

 

I am getting a partial refund to cover a new laser, i'm waiting for my isopropyl wipes to come in the mail and i will clean the laser and do some adjustments, if that fails will look at getting a new plastic guide for the laser, if not a whole new laser.

 

£30 is practically stealing, lucky you

 

Actually got four at £30 each, the rest being PAL. In the end costing me -£30..

 

It's your call. It's just that you have to know what opening the set (and breaking the seal) means. And that replacing the laser would make it a tampered set.
If you don't think that you will ever resell it again or get bothered by the fact that it has been tampered, then it's not a problem.

All debugstation consoles can support a HDD unit, for it's official use... and for the rest of us to play games from.

The problem with your model is that it will never be totally unreliant on the CD/DVD drive because FMCB/FHDB will not be supported by it. That means that if you want to boot games from your HDD unit, you must first start uLaunchELF (to start OPL) or OPL directly from the CD/DVD drive.

Just in case you haven't realized this yet, but the laser doesn't last forever (especially if you use burned discs). This is why we play our games off the fat console's HDD unit.

 

I use my debug to play retail discs, never been a fan of the HDD unit - I know I'm in the minority though.

Regarding the breaking of the seal. I've purchased a fair few debug machines in the past now and I've not seen anything to indicate that a broken seal yields a lower asking price. A working machine is more desirable than a non functioning sealed machine IMO.

 

I know what you mean by tampered set, i suffer from OCD, but in this case it's a needed adjustment to the console, so not much i can do about it, you don't buy a Debug PS2 and just look at it...so if it needs fixing i'll do it, it's a simple laser replacement nothing else, and i can hairdryer the seal so i can put it back


As for the laser, it will cope fine with high quality burned media as long as i tweak the laser so it's not working overtime.

 

If you want to fix it properly, replace its laser. Increasing the current flow is only useful for prolonging the already diminished lifespan of a weak laser. It will not last for long afterwards.

 

I can do tweaks to the laser with adjusting the POT using the cog that raises & lowers the lasers height, will probably just replace the whole thing, but i'm just about to clean the laser with isopropyl wipes and see what happens, i have another laser lying around so i maybe i can use the plastic guide from that laser.

Also what can a PS2 HDD do to benefit a Debugging Station? i heard that you can debug game through the i-link port on a thread here, could you elaborate on that?

Thanks.

 

Yeah that does make sense, often if people are buying a Debug Station there probably clued up on how it works, so one with a replaced laser would be sough after in the early models imo, then again some people prefer a untouched console so they can do the repairs themselves, i'm one of those people.

 

It's like if I was going to purchase a PlayStation debug again. All of those are going to have crappy lasers - even if they still work. I'd also probably be buying an NTSC machine, so I'd grab a PSU from a SCPH-1002.

 

The part about adjusting the potentiometers was what I was referring to. By adjusting them, you will be probably increasing the current.

Sony does the adjustments (not the current pots part, but the adjustment to the white gear and other stuff in software) with their service jig and PC-side software, with an expensive disc. Doing so blindly might just cause things to get screwed up, so be careful of what you are doing.

Cleaning the laser is the safest and simplest maintenance job that you can perform, before determining whether the laser is really weak or not.

Why do you want to replace the guide? PlayStation 2 consoles are not known to have problems with them, unlike the original PlayStation.

As mentioned earlier, it is used for official software (as on the retail set) like games. For the rest of us, we can store our games on the HDD unit and play them with software like HDLoader and OPL.

I think that debugging through the i.Link is done with some SNSYS software that I am not familiar with. I don't know what machines are supported, but don't get your hopes up because the debugstation consoles (especially the earlier ones like yours) were probably designed for only testing games on realistic hardware before publication. They lack IOP RAM (only has the standard 2MB, instead of 8MB that a TOOL set has), don't have the DECI2 modules in their boot ROM (will result in limitations that the Sony TDB startup card mentions) and your model cannot load OSD updates. The inability to support OSD updates results in no chance of supporting stuff like the TDB startup card, which means that the debugging stuff has to come on a disc... if such a thing exists.

If you want to find out, you could try looking in the direction of the SNSYS software. I think that it's ProDG, isn't it?