Service Manual Playstation

Disk Read Errors (DRE)When you get the dreaded Disk Read Error, there are a few possible remedies that you can try. These are the
steps for those procedures.

• Cleaning the laser lens

1) Remove the 4 tiny screws from the cd tray cover, and lift the cover off (you will feel some resistance, but this is just the magnetic disc holding on to the disc hub).

 

2) Using a Q tip with a small amount of isopropyl alcohol, gently rub the laser lens, and then use the dry end to remove excess alcohol.
3) Replace just the tray cover, then try playing some discs, you do not need to screw the cover on each time, the magnet will hold it on.

• Adjusting the laser angle

If the disc read error still occurs, you may be able to rectify it by adjusting the laser angle; this is done by turning the white cog at the rear of the cd tray, this cog adjusts the angle of the laser to the disc.

(this may differ on various versions), first, using a permanent marker, make a mark on the cog so that you know the original position of the cog, adjust this cog onenotch at a time, and try playing a DVD game, cd game, DVD film and music cd until the ps2 reads them all, again; you do not need to screw the cover on each time, the magnet will hold it on, this is a time consuming job but it needs to be done this way, to ensure best results.

Whilst you have the unit open it's a good idea to perform some routine cleaning, preferably using a can of air,
and check for areas such as the worm drive, and guide arms that may need re-greasing, as these parts can affect the operation of the console if they are dry.
 You can try adjusting the tiny black screw on the laser arm

This should be adjusted just a fraction at a time, being careful not to over tighten, there has to be some slack to allow the laser to move along the guide arm. Again each time you adjust, you should test with each disc.

• Adjusting the voltage

For this adjustment you must remove the laser from the unit, follow the steps above to gain access to the laser, once you are able to get at the laser, remove the screw from the end of the guide arm on the worm drive side.

1 ) Lift the guide arm at the fixing point, and slide it out of the laser arm and its resting point.
2 ) Tilt the laser backwards so that you can remove the ribbon cable
3 ) Unclip the cable from the point indicated, BE CAREFUL NOT TO DAMAGE THE CLIP, the clip pulls out, but does not come off completely, I cannot stress enough the importance of being very careful with it, if it breaks off you will have great difficulty in getting the ribbon cable to stay in place when you put it back together.

Once you have the laser free of the cable, you can adjust the pots (potentiometers). You will need to use a multi meter to measure the resistance, measure the 2 top terminals of each pot.
They should both read about 1 K, and should not go below 600 ohms, you need only adjust the pots according to the type of disc your laser is having trouble with, i.e. read errors on DVD only, adjust DVD pot, if you are having trouble with DVD and cd adjust the pots one at a time.

Turning the screw clockwise increases the voltage, counter-clockwise decreases the voltage, make adjustments of about 50 ohms at a time, try decreasing the voltage first.
After each turn try loading a troublesome disc, if you still get disk read errors after going through this process, return the screw to its original position and try increasing the voltage. Increasing voltage to much can cause serious damage to the laser, so this is only recommended as a last ditch attempt, and pots should be turned only a fraction.