Clean the Inside

Since you're going to clean the laser lens last, it's probably a good idea to clean all the junk out of the case while it's disassembled. You'll probably find some hair if you have pets, lint, fuzz, and lots of dust inside, depending on the console's age.

Using compressed air preferably, clean out the following areas:

• Cooling fan (at back of the console)
• Controller and memory card slots
• Area around the battery, to the right side of the tray if looking at the front (*** If you remove the battery, you must reset all system settings. If your system is not saving such settings, clean the terminals to the battery with alcohol and scrape them clean. If that fails, replace the battery).
• Under and on all heatsinks
• Top cover of the console on the inside
• Under and over the disc tray

Clean the Laser Lens

Use a clean Q-tip or cotton swab to clean the laser lens. Dip it in rubbing alcohol (the less water/higher alcohol %, the better) and gently dab it onto the lens. Do this a couple times, or even *very* gently move the swab across the lens. Let it dry for a few minutes before you power on the PS2.

You do not need to open the tray to clean the laser.

Adjust the Angle of the Disc/Laser

Most Disc Read Errors can be fixed by adjusting the angle between the laser and the disc. This step is essential to the repair but can only be performed on older PS2s.

To adjust this angle, we'll use the white gear at the rear of the disc tray. You can barely see it with the disc tray closed, so plug in the Playstation 2's power connector and eject the disc tray. Turn off the Playstation 2 from the rear power switch once it's been opened.

Using a felt-tipped pen or marker, put a line on the gear where it meets the metal notch, so you can always return to this spot if you have problems later.

The plastic gear, found at the rear of the tray, can fix most DREs.

Since the base angle is already recorded, you can now freely spin the gear and observe how the angle of the disc changes to and from about a 10º offset. Set it back to the base point where you marked it. Rotate the disc about 20º or 1/16 of a turn clockwise. You should then test the setting as mentioned before reassembling the console.