making a 'new' PS2 from old
feeling pretty good about my work 
i had one non-working PS2 (SCPH-30001) that i picked up for free in Seattle, from a post on craigslist. the inside of the system was a total mess - most of the screws were removed (and in a separate plastic bag), drive bezel and all the ribbon cables were missing and internals had been tampered with and messed about. i put the whole thing in storage, as it wouldn't power on, due to the missing pieces.
a few months ago, i picked up another PS2 (also a SCPH-30001) from omaha in Minneapolis who had salvaged it from someone's garbage pickup - it had been just sitting there in the alley by the trashcan. this system wouldn't read PS2 games on DVD media (the 'silver' discs) but it would read CDs, PS1 games and 'blue' PS2 discs.
just today i tried to adjust the laser position on the second PS2, but no matter what i set the adjustment dial to, it would still display a disc read error for the DVD media. i then had an idea to take the drive out of the 'parts' PS2 and put it into the mostly-working system. i had no idea if the drive would actually work, as i had never tested it, but i figured the experience might be useful.
the disassembly process on a PS2 is a bit daunting when looking at the various sets of instructions online, but really, the only parts you have to be careful about are the ribbon cables (and static electricity). you don't want to have them pinched or broken when reassembling the system, and you want to make sure the ribbon cable 'snaps' actually hold the cables in place. removing the DVD drive itself was a bit of a pain and necessitated removing all the components from the bottom of the console in order to access it. in the end, if one can build their own PC, one would be able to handle working on a console. the original Xbox is even easier to work on, as the interior is much like the internals of a really cramped PC case.
so after hooking up the drive from the 'parts' system to the working system and powering it on, it can read DVD media games! how exciting! after trying a few games, my enthusiasm was dampened somewhat.. some games give the 'spin of confusion' sound when loaded and the PS2 drops to the browser-select screen before actually loading the game. this means the laser in this drive will soon die as well, but i'll hopefully be able to adjust the laser in this unit when that happens - i successfully fixed another PS2 with that method, recently. i have Culdcept running in 'attract' mode on the system right now and it's been running fine for the past 20 minutes.
the only casualty was when removing the bezel from the mostly-working DVD drive, i snapped one of the retaining pins. the plastic was really* weak.
oh, and i'm going to be in MPLS from this Wednesday through Jan 6. see ya there..
i had one non-working PS2 (SCPH-30001) that i picked up for free in Seattle, from a post on craigslist. the inside of the system was a total mess - most of the screws were removed (and in a separate plastic bag), drive bezel and all the ribbon cables were missing and internals had been tampered with and messed about. i put the whole thing in storage, as it wouldn't power on, due to the missing pieces.
a few months ago, i picked up another PS2 (also a SCPH-30001) from omaha in Minneapolis who had salvaged it from someone's garbage pickup - it had been just sitting there in the alley by the trashcan. this system wouldn't read PS2 games on DVD media (the 'silver' discs) but it would read CDs, PS1 games and 'blue' PS2 discs.
just today i tried to adjust the laser position on the second PS2, but no matter what i set the adjustment dial to, it would still display a disc read error for the DVD media. i then had an idea to take the drive out of the 'parts' PS2 and put it into the mostly-working system. i had no idea if the drive would actually work, as i had never tested it, but i figured the experience might be useful.
the disassembly process on a PS2 is a bit daunting when looking at the various sets of instructions online, but really, the only parts you have to be careful about are the ribbon cables (and static electricity). you don't want to have them pinched or broken when reassembling the system, and you want to make sure the ribbon cable 'snaps' actually hold the cables in place. removing the DVD drive itself was a bit of a pain and necessitated removing all the components from the bottom of the console in order to access it. in the end, if one can build their own PC, one would be able to handle working on a console. the original Xbox is even easier to work on, as the interior is much like the internals of a really cramped PC case.
so after hooking up the drive from the 'parts' system to the working system and powering it on, it can read DVD media games! how exciting! after trying a few games, my enthusiasm was dampened somewhat.. some games give the 'spin of confusion' sound when loaded and the PS2 drops to the browser-select screen before actually loading the game. this means the laser in this drive will soon die as well, but i'll hopefully be able to adjust the laser in this unit when that happens - i successfully fixed another PS2 with that method, recently. i have Culdcept running in 'attract' mode on the system right now and it's been running fine for the past 20 minutes.
the only casualty was when removing the bezel from the mostly-working DVD drive, i snapped one of the retaining pins. the plastic was really* weak.
oh, and i'm going to be in MPLS from this Wednesday through Jan 6. see ya there..