Finding a CD/DVD copy that works.

[castletonsnob]

Have you ever had trouble finding a copy of an older CD/DVD game that worked? I'm on my third copy of Final Fantasy X. The copies keep having moments where they take me to the PS2 screen that shows up when the console can't read the disc.

[sworddude]

Have you ever had trouble finding a copy of an older CD/DVD game that worked? I'm on my third copy of Final Fantasy X. The copies keep having moments where they take me to the PS2 screen that shows up when the console can't read the disc.

I'm pretty sure FF X is one of those discs that's double layered dvd or something?

aka first disc that a ps2 console is going to fail to read. your ps2 console laser is starting to go bad I'd say

games like god of war or rogue galaxy have these kinda discs.

would defo fit for FF X considering it's one of the best looking games on the system to use such a disc

[castletonsnob]

Have you ever had trouble finding a copy of an older CD/DVD game that worked? I'm on my third copy of Final Fantasy X. The copies keep having moments where they take me to the PS2 screen that shows up when the console can't read the disc.

I'm pretty sure FF X is one of those discs that's double layered dvd or something?

aka first disc that a ps2 console is going to fail to read. your ps2 console laser is starting to go bad I'd say

games like god of war or rogue galaxy have these kinda discs.

would defo fit for FF X considering it's one of the best looking games on the system to use such a disc

It's pretty common for double-layered DVDs to fail?

All my other games work fine.

[marvelvscapcom2]

Not sure if you tried yet, but try hitting triangle at PS2 menu and adjusting texture mapping and disc speed. If the game discs look perfect. Then take a Q Tip gently with 70 percent isopropyl alcohol and dont soak it. But damp it. Let it air dry slightly than gently clean the eye of the ps2 optical drive. (If you have a slim. If you have a phat you may need to get one of those disc eye cleaners or take itnapart.  Its kind of a pain in the rump)


If a console fails to load 3 different discs. Its almost always the console sadly. But a good eye clean, disassembly and dusting can do wonders.

[castletonsnob]

Not sure if you tried yet, but try hitting triangle at PS2 menu and adjusting texture mapping and disc speed. If the game discs look perfect. Then take a Q Tip gently with 70 percent isopropyl alcohol and dont soak it. But damp it. Let it air dry slightly than gently clean the eye of the ps2 optical drive. (If you have a slim. If you have a phat you may need to get one of those disc eye cleaners)


If a console fails to load 3 different discs. Its almost always the console sadly. But a good eye clean, disassembly and dusting can do wonders.

You think it's the console? Like I said, my other games work fine.

[kashell]

It happened to me with Dirge of Cerberus, also on PS2. Took me like three or four copies to finish the game.

[bizzgeburt]

I knew of PS1 discs getting bad with time, had to exchange three beloveth Final Fantasy titles, including a few expensive ones.

Never heard of certain PS2-discs making problems, and never had such.
What I can say is, that I cleaned and internally dedusted the fatty I bought in 2003 exactly two times since then, and it runs for thousands of hours now, showing no signs of ever stopping 

Wish U best luck, maybe cleaning the lense of the laser does the trick.

Me, trying to finish all my PS1-RPGs before rotting away, terrified AF now ... !

[marvelvscapcom2]

Not sure if you tried yet, but try hitting triangle at PS2 menu and adjusting texture mapping and disc speed. If the game discs look perfect. Then take a Q Tip gently with 70 percent isopropyl alcohol and dont soak it. But damp it. Let it air dry slightly than gently clean the eye of the ps2 optical drive. (If you have a slim. If you have a phat you may need to get one of those disc eye cleaners)


If a console fails to load 3 different discs. Its almost always the console sadly. But a good eye clean, disassembly and dusting can do wonders.

You think it's the console? Like I said, my other games work fine.

I cant know for sure, but i'd assume 3 different discs wouldnt be faulty. PS2 games are usually fairly hardy   Must be the PS2 not handling that game. Like Sworddude said FFX uses double layer dvd, a few others do. When my original PS2 was letting go as a kid. It would not load any copy of Tekken Tag Tournament.  So I guess sometimes the eye refuses to read certain games.


PS2s are unique and even when they were new would sometimes load certain disc types more favorably. Be seemingly allergic to some games for no reason. Its bizzare.


If theirs no disc rot, major scratches or a lot of top layer peeling on the disc. Its probably a finicky PS2 thing. Hopefully you get it workimg. Good luck with it all!

[castletonsnob]

My copy of Beyond Good and Evil had moments where sounds would repeat, and 1 or 2 moments where a level wouldn't load, but I was still able to beat it.

[bikingjahuty]

It may not be the disc. PS2s have some of the most notoriously crap disc lasers of any console every created. I'm not exaggerating when I say I've been through about a dozen PS2 consoles since it came out, all of them stopped reading games gradually. I have a silver slim I've been using for about 4-years now that is starting to stop reading discs consistently. Even the same game, which worked fine the night before, suddenly can't read the game. It's beyond frustrating since the PS2 is otherwise an amazing console.


I know there are ODE substitutes out there, but I pray for the day that someone releasing a well working ODE like the Xstation or MODE for the PS2. It desperately needs one for people who don't want to go down the emulation rabbit hole, and also to give all those non-working PS2s unable to read discs a new lease on life. 

[telekill]

I have yet to run into the issue with my PS2 slim, but I don't play it often.

When my Game Gear ended up dead, I sent it away to be fixed by someone far more competent than me. They had to replace all the boards as the capacitors leaked, eating away the motherboard. Works like new now.

There has to be capable modders to fix our replace the parts to something as good if not better than the original piece. Probably won't be cheap, but there must be people out there.

[bikingjahuty]

I have yet to run into the issue with my PS2 slim, but I don't play it often.

When my Game Gear ended up dead, I sent it away to be fixed by someone far more competent than me. They had to replace all the boards as the capacitors leaked, eating away the motherboard. Works like new now.

There has to be capable modders to fix our replace the parts to something as good if not better than the original piece. Probably won't be cheap, but there must be people out there.

They sell replacement lasers which aren't super difficult to install, but the one and only time I did this the laser worked for less than 6 months before it needed to be replaced. I'm not one of those people who constantly fears the disc rot boogey man, but it's not unreasonable to assume most the disc lasers in our favorite CD consoles or the games themselves won't work in 50+ years, maybe even sooner. I've taken steps to address this by trying to future proof my consoles by backing games up, utilizing non-optical drive tech to place the old tech, and even HDMI modding consoles to where I can plug them directly into a modern TV without the need to use an upscaller (I have a few of those as well). There are few disc based retro consoles left that don't have an ODE available for them, but unfortunately the PS2 is one of them. There are ways of loading games directly off a specialized memory card or using an HDD if you have a fat model, but none of them are streamlined like the Xstation, MODE, or Fenrir.


Your Game Gear is another example of something that I've seen in more and more retro consoles, especially ones that utilized cheap caps. The Turbo Duo is another console that used low quality caps in their consoles. I had to rebuild about a dozen traces on one I restored a few years ago along with recapping the entire board. It was a pain, but in the end the console worked like new. Eventually all the caps in every retro console will need to be replaced since none of them last forever unfortunately.

[sworddude]

Not sure if you tried yet, but try hitting triangle at PS2 menu and adjusting texture mapping and disc speed. If the game discs look perfect. Then take a Q Tip gently with 70 percent isopropyl alcohol and dont soak it. But damp it. Let it air dry slightly than gently clean the eye of the ps2 optical drive. (If you have a slim. If you have a phat you may need to get one of those disc eye cleaners)


If a console fails to load 3 different discs. Its almost always the console sadly. But a good eye clean, disassembly and dusting can do wonders.

You think it's the console? Like I said, my other games work fine.

only very few games are dual layered dvd's. it's the first kinda game that's going to fail on a ps2 console.

also ps2 discs usually got to be very bad before they become unreadable. so if the condition of these discs where pretty nice, which ain't uncommon for rpg's on the ps2. it definitely ain't the game that's at fault.

still marvel's advice ain't bad, have seen people cleaning the laser with a cue tip in which they could play dual layered discs again. was dirty enough supposedly.

[castletonsnob]

My copy of Persona 4, which I didn't think would run at all because it's in worse shape than my copy of FFX, runs fine.

[sworddude]

My copy of Persona 4, which I didn't think would run at all because it's in worse shape than my copy of FFX, runs fine.

ps2 discs can work while in pretty poor shape. in your case it's probably just the type of disc. give the laser a clean and if your lucky you don't need to replace it while it will work fine

I have yet to run into the issue with my PS2 slim, but I don't play it often.

When my Game Gear ended up dead, I sent it away to be fixed by someone far more competent than me. They had to replace all the boards as the capacitors leaked, eating away the motherboard. Works like new now.

There has to be capable modders to fix our replace the parts to something as good if not better than the original piece. Probably won't be cheap, but there must be people out there.

Your Game Gear is another example of something that I've seen in more and more retro consoles, especially ones that utilized cheap caps. The Turbo Duo is another console that used low quality caps in their consoles. I had to rebuild about a dozen traces on one I restored a few years ago along with recapping the entire board. It was a pain, but in the end the console worked like new. Eventually all the caps in every retro console will need to be replaced since none of them last forever unfortunately.

the ones with shitty quality like game gear etc for sure. almost every game gear has shitty caps these days. and say og xbox in which most of them used trash caps

I could see it happening for the cd based sega consoles for sure. disc based sony ones aswell. it's really really uncommon though from what I've seen. it ain't gonna be anytime soon prior to ps3 era. ps3 xbox 360 era and later, ye those gonna die in the next 10 years if you don't replace stuff aside from the switch.

But I really can't see this happening for majority of card based systems that ain't named the jaguar. or stuff like the cube or wii. and or if it happens we ain't on this planet no more in other words gonna take a long ass time.

Snes N64, genesis, GBA gameboy classic, neo geo pocket I don't see it unless it's in a terrible abused shape. even less so for them cart based games that have some.