I didn't know where to put this topic so apologies in advance, but I have a game on my 360 that used to make a TON of noise when being read on my original 360, but I'm afraid to play it on my new 360 because I don't want to ruin it. The disc has no blemished whatsoever, but for whatever reason when being played on the old system, it would constantly make this scratching sound as the disc drive would seek side to side. All I could think of is that the data wasn't placed right when creating the discs making the drive work a lot harder than it should have to. There was also one other game I've tried playing on my 360 a long while back that made a horrible, terrible sound, as if the disc drive was spinning at twice the speed. It caused enough of alarm for me to lunge at my 360 and immediately open the disk tray, then return it to the store. The only other time I've seen this happen was with an usb driver install cd for a modem a decade ago. For whatever reason, it revved up my cd-drive to WTFspeed then proceeded to leave a deep circle in the disk! You'd think drives would have a failsafe so the mechanism doesn't collide with the disc! GAH! i've played hundreds of 360 games so I have trouble understanding why one game out of all of those would make the disc drive strain, or whatever.
If I recall Microsoft opted not to spend the money for the part that would prevent that circle scratching issue on discs. You can probably research that or maybe someone here can describe it. If it was just a particular disc, maybe for some reason the disc is unbalanced due to poor manufacturing.
I never had my 360 actually scratch any discs. Oh well I guess it's not worth potentially fucking up my xbox360-e just to play one game I like.
It's not exactly what you're talking about, but I have a problem with my PS2 that only seems to affect one game specifically: Tekken Tag Tournament. It makes an awful buzzing sound when I play that game. No other game I've tried does this, even other CD-based games. And it's not because of the disc I'm using; I bought another copy of it, and it does the exact same thing. Anyway, I'm not sure what causes it, but it's probably a sign that the PS2's drive is starting to wear down. At least it's still usable, for the moment. I got my system new when they were still producing them. I really hope it doesn't just die on me at some point.
For 360s, I cannot help but wonder if the discs ever had a QC problem. I actually OWN a 360S, but it has been benched since a long time ago, after we discovered that it needed the proprietary HDD to go online and two of my games could not be read properly by it. I even got Microsoft to replace my (new) 360S with a refurbished set, but the problems with the two discs did not go away... The shop refused to grant me an exchange for CoD Black OPs (one of the affected discs), after they could do a data install to their 360's HDD. So I immediately told them I wanted to sell it back to them, as a used game. They gave me roughly $2 for that disc that I spent about S$60 on, but I could not care less...
I think that's just normal with cd-rom games. Isn't Tekken Tag Tournament 2 a blue bottomed disc? Maybe there's a difference between silver and blue cd-roms, I dunno. Between the different disc formats and having dvds as well as dual layered dvds, having a perfectly functional ps2 is a nightmare. I have 2 models of PS2 and they both make a terrible jet-engine sound when playing cd-roms since they spin faster. Playing PS1 games doesn't make it since they don't need to be read as fast. I honestly just don't play them anymore. The only cd-rom game I enjoyed was Mad Maestro, really quirky game.
I can't believe the shop actually tested the disc right in the store. Any time I ever exchanged a disc the store did it without question. Also I know from experience just because a disc is readable on one device doesn't mean it is on another (Maybe for some reason there's a flaw with a disc that makes it unreadable with one brand of disc drive in a certain model. I had a few dvds that wouldn't play in some dvd players despite being in perfect working condition)
I'm talking about Tekken Tag Tournament. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is the one that came out more recently. All CD-based (PS2) games have blue bottoms, I think. DVDs have silver bottoms. Tekken Tag Tournament is the only CD-based game I've tried that has this issue; all of the rest are fine. That makes me think there's something about the data on the disc that causes the drive to do something different from what it does when it's running the other CD-based games. I have lots of games like that; some of them are really good, like Ico for example. It's definitely not normal, because I've had this game and this system for years, and it only recently started doing this. The noise is so loud it makes the game unplayable. On the positive side, the system doesn't seem to be doing any damage to discs.
Another possibility is that there's something about the physical design of that disc that's different from other CD games. Maybe it's something that only becomes an issue when a PS2 has had a lot of wear from being used for years.
If it's borderline having problems with reading the disc, what if you turned on diagnosis (press triangle at the main menu of the browser, then again when selecting the console's model, and then turn on the diagnosis option) to enable auto gain?
Well curiosity got the best of me and I tried playing the game anyway. The laser seeking noise wasn't that bad, but the disk still vibrated on the higher side inside the system (but not so bad it was cause for alarm) I'm still not going to take my chances tho
Interesting. So, doing that does seem to mostly eliminate the sound I was hearing. You can still hear it in certain parts of the game, but even in those parts it isn't nearly as loud. It didn't ever seem like it had trouble reading the disc - it loaded fine every time I tried it. So, what does that mean? Is there anything I can do, besides enabling that option? It's an SCPH-50001, by the way.
If you say that it was originally not like that, the op-block may be perhaps just getting on with age, due to wear and tear. The permanent way is to adjust the console's calibration with the service tools (perhaps with eventual replacement of the op-block). The auto-gain parameters obtained from diagnosis are not permanently binding, according to @l_oliveira. Have you ever tried cleaning the lens with alcohol, in case there is just a layer of dust that makes it work not as well? I do not really understand - so did you encounter any problems with playing any particular games, or are you really just concerned about the noise that the drive makes? I would like to believe that the hardware is designed so that it will work within its defined limits - so I would tell you that noise can be ignored... but that would be akin to saying that my gut think that it's okay. (I am not an engineer from this industry though... lol) Back in the early 2000s, my PC had a 56X CD-ROM drive that made very loud motor noises at full speed. So a loud drive doesn't seem impossible.
What exactly is required to do that? I doubt I could do it myself, but possibly someone else could. Do you mean that you have to enable the setting every time you boot the system? Or are you saying that this method eventually won't work at all? I haven't tried that.
Part of me wonders whether it is really the right thing to do on an old optical block, although it would make the system run great... I guess. The next person may choose to pop in an entirely new op-block, then the new calibration may not fit... and may be even worse for the new op-block than the factory defaults. But basically it requires a RS232C-compliant driver/tranceiver to be connected to the MECHACON's serial connection, and to ground the RMC point. You can choose to either use the leaked Sony tools or this one: https://assemblergames.com/threads/playstation-2-mechacon-adjustment-program-pmap.61003/ Adjustment has to be done for the electric circuit (auto gain) and mechanism (radial and tangential skew). The diagnosis option enables automatic gain, but this does not cause the MECHACON to update its settings within the EEPROM. So if you reset the PS2, the gain setting should reset. On the B-chassis (SCPH-30001, GH-004/GH-005), this setting also enables the auto-tilt motor, which also adjusts radial skew.
What I don't understand is it's only with a minor amount of games. THe disc for whatever reason makes the drive vibrate much more than usual. I don't understand what technical reason there is for this. It's scratch free and doesn't look warped. Unless the entire weight of the disc is too light or heavy? I dunno.
I'm confused about what you're talking about here. Are you talking about a cable, or some kind of device that connects to the PS2? If it's a cable, what is the other end of the cable supposed to be connected to? Where would I get this thing you're describing? Also, how do you connect it to the PS2? You're talking about software as well. My system isn't modded, so I would have to softmod it and/or run the tool from an HDD, right? I do have the network adapter. I'm not sure if all of this work would be worth it considering it's such a minor issue. My knowledge of this stuff is minimal to nothing, so please try to explain it in simple terms.
My apolgies. I thought you would not want to try it, given that it requires some work with the hardware, so I just gave you the quick rundown. The drive MECHAnics CONtroller is the CXR706080 device on the SCPH-50000 series mainboard. As its name implies, it deals with controlling the CD/DVD drive mechanism. Unlike the PlayStation, some adjustments are done electronically here. Rightfully, the Sony technician would connect the PlayStation 2 console to the service jig tool. For expansion-bay consoles, we know that this is a metal cage that goes into the expansion bay. For PC CARD consoles, we have a diagram that shows the console sitting ontop of a platform, so the technician had to remove the bottom of such a console. Either way, this service jig will provide an interface between a PC and the RS232C serial port of the MECHACON. It will also ground the ReMote Control (RMC) line of the device, so that the PlayStation 2 will enter service mode. On the SCPH-18000 and later, putting the console into service mode will also activate the TESTMODE program, which causes coloured bars to be displayed instead of the browser. On the PC, the technician would use Sony service tools to check and adjust the PlayStation 2. There were three tools: ELECT (electric circuit adjustment, MECHA (mechanism adjustment) and eeprom (EEPROM management). Eventually, they were merged into a single tool, but the basic functionality remained the same. While ELECT and MECHA provided feedback on the jitter level while reading the various types of discs (CD-ROM, DVD-SL and DVD-DL), the right way was to connect proper measurement equipment (i.e. jitter meter) to the PlayStation 2 console (I guess, through the jig again?). But yes, we can probably do adjustments without it. As for what we're probably supposed to do (from my memory): Start on mechanism adjustment: Run auto-gain adjustment from this tool (not elect), so that the best gain parameters can be used with mechanism adjustment. Actual adjustment of gain is done within the electric-circuit adjustment part. Adjust the radial and tangential skew (adjust the screw and the white cog), until the lowest-possible jitter is obtained. Only the screw needs to be adjusted on the SCPH-30001 (GH-004/GH-005), as the auto-tilt motor adjusts the white gear on this model. Repeat for CD-ROM, DVD-SL and DVD-DL. Start on electric-circuit adjustment: Run auto-gain adjustment from this tool, for CD-ROM, DVD-SL and DVD-DL. Verify that the jitter is minimal for all 3 types of discs. Now, regarding the jig: we (outside of Sony) do not have access to one. So you have to solder a RS232-compliant transceiver (i.e. MAX3323) to the RxD, TxD and GND points of the MECHACON, as well as to connect RMC to ground. As for where these points are, you need to refer to the service manual for your mainboard (or the closest one). Unfortunately, the service tools run from a PC. If we could service the drive from the PlayStation 2 itself, it would have made things much easier. IMO it is better if you do this, only if you must. Sony probably made the diagnosis option for people to solve this on a per-run basis, so it is not like you totally have no choices either.
Well, Tekken Tag Tournament is the only game where it's really necessary. Having to enable the diagnosis option just for that one game isn't such a big deal. However, I have noticed that even with the diagnosis option enabled, there are certain parts of the game where the drive makes a subtle, much quieter sound than what it normally makes. I've noticed this in some other games as well. Do you think I should be concerned about the quieter version of the sound? It doesn't seem to be causing any damage to discs. As far as I can tell, it seems to only affect CD games. I haven't tried yet, but I'm guessing that if I enabled diagnosis mode in those games, it would eliminate the sound completely. Also, do you think this problem is likely to get worse over time?
I can't tell, sorry. Those who know how this mechanism works, may be able to tell you what the sounds mean (i.e. what is actually making the sound and why). Since diagnosis helped, it can probably be said that less jitter resulted in less problems. Honestly, I don't know. If it is really due to wear and tear of the optical block, I guess it should because this device is something that is expandable (you hear of people replacing it in older consoles). Somebody else who deals with this should be answering your questions.
