I have adopted a new hobby, playing my old PlayStation 2 game system and buying and fixing/restoring old broken consoles.
The PS2 console was introduced 20 years ago and was the game system for a generation of players. Now it has become a retro system and popularity is/was increasing, particularly as a result of the pandemic. When the system was new I was too cautious to take the console apart to see all the internals and moving parts. Now that broken consoles can be found for $10-$30, I have been stripping them down doing deep cleaning and replacing lasers and internal power supplies.
The two most common failures are the power supply circuit board and the laser it self. Systems that won’t power on are almost always as simple as the power supply. A new complete power circuit board costs around $12-15. The laser indicates failure when it stops reading the blue disc games or PS1 games. This is another easy fix, a new laser is around $15. Sometimes the new laser has a solder bead that must be removed (solder for static shipping protection) and this is as easy as touching a solder iron tip to the bead to remove it.
Last night/this morning I found another issue that prevents the reading of blue discs, there is a gear that controls some part the the laser. I rotated the gear clockwise until it clicked and the laser drive body popped up. Then I rotated it clockwise until it reached its original alignment position. This fixed the reading issue after a new laser was installed. Perhaps this rotation would have fixed it without a new laser? I have four additional consoles coming in the mail this week which I will test the gear rotation theory.
The console in the photos was a totally broken spare parts donor that I got up and running last night and perfected adjusting just a short while ago.
The PS2 console was introduced 20 years ago and was the game system for a generation of players. Now it has become a retro system and popularity is/was increasing, particularly as a result of the pandemic. When the system was new I was too cautious to take the console apart to see all the internals and moving parts. Now that broken consoles can be found for $10-$30, I have been stripping them down doing deep cleaning and replacing lasers and internal power supplies.
The two most common failures are the power supply circuit board and the laser it self. Systems that won’t power on are almost always as simple as the power supply. A new complete power circuit board costs around $12-15. The laser indicates failure when it stops reading the blue disc games or PS1 games. This is another easy fix, a new laser is around $15. Sometimes the new laser has a solder bead that must be removed (solder for static shipping protection) and this is as easy as touching a solder iron tip to the bead to remove it.
Last night/this morning I found another issue that prevents the reading of blue discs, there is a gear that controls some part the the laser. I rotated the gear clockwise until it clicked and the laser drive body popped up. Then I rotated it clockwise until it reached its original alignment position. This fixed the reading issue after a new laser was installed. Perhaps this rotation would have fixed it without a new laser? I have four additional consoles coming in the mail this week which I will test the gear rotation theory.
The console in the photos was a totally broken spare parts donor that I got up and running last night and perfected adjusting just a short while ago.