Aboutgameusurper Expertise TOPICS I can answer questions about:
Game Strategy, Recommendations (based on age or genre preference), History of a game, Recalling a game you played, Game music, Company or Creator info, and System troubleshooting
GENRES:
My specialties are Adventure, RPG, Survival Horror, Action, and a small amount of Strategy and Puzzle. I avoid sports games like the plague, and have little interest in any racing games save for a few, F-Zero, Mario Kart and Wipeout being the main ones. Nor do I know many fighting games, mainly Bushido Blade and a few others. I am not much of a fan of First Person Shooters either. I am especially well versed in RPGs, particularly Final Fantasy and most of SquareEnix's other titles.
GAMES:
Not limited to the following. These games are series, and I know them all. There are MANY other individual ones. Feel free to ask and I will let you know if I can help you.
Actraiser, Alundra, Breath of Fire, Bushido Blade, Castlevania, Chrono Trigger/Cross, Donkey Kong, Dragon Warrior/Quest, Drakkhen/Dragon View, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, King's Field, Legacy of Kain/Soul Reaver, Mana, Mario, Mega Man, Metal Gear Solid, Ninja Gaiden, Metroid, Parasite Eve, Resident Evil, Rygar, Silent Hill, Spyro, Star Fox, Suikoden, Tomb Raider, TMNT, Wild Arms, Xenogears/Xenosaga, Zelda, and Zone of the Enders
SYSTEMS:
I have recently added the Wii and PSP to my collection. NES, Super NES, N64, Gamecube, Wii, Gameboy Color, GBA, DS, PS1, PS2 and PSP plus computer, but I'm not really a big computer gamer.
Systems I plan on getting in the future are XBOX 360 and eventually PS3 (When the price goes down...a lot) I am also a big fan of emulators on the PC. I have many of the old 8-bit and 16-bit systems and ROMS for my computer and know a lot about them. These include NES, Super NES, Genesis, Turbografx, MSX, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, and GBA.
Experience I have been a video gamer for nearly 20 years. I started with the original NES way back in 1988 and have owned or played nearly every popular console since then. I have completed hundreds of games and played thousands. I have a large file cabinet filled with hundreds of hand-made maps, lists, and various stategies for many of the games I have conquered in the past two decades. I subscribe to 5 different game magazines to keep up to date on the newest stuff out there. I would officially call myself an expert on the subject of videogames. And if I don't know the answer, I can find out about it and direct you to someplace that does.
Publications Nintendo Power magazine, and I am thinking of writing for Gamegrene and GameFAQs in the future.
Education/Credentials Experience with games baby, and lots of it. Nothing formal if that's what you're wondering. Just good old playing and reading.
My son's PS2 was working fine until the other night when it failed to read any disc put in it. The message "Reading Disc" appears and hangs...for ever! Can a DVD cleaning kit be used on a PS2? Is this likely to help? Any advice as to what the problem might be would be very gratefully received.
Kind regards
Gaz
Answer I have two questions to ask concerning your PS2. Is it the older, larger model or the slimline version that was released a few years ago? The difference is very apparent. And also what is the model number and serial number? They are on the back label of the console.
Not surprisingly, Sony does not recommend any use of a cleaning kit on the console other than to lightly clean the discs themselves with a light cloth or special disc cleaning pad. Nor have I ever used one on my system either.
Although I, as well as two of my friends, experienced the exact same thing you have. Our PS2s' went out and have not worked since. When this happened my warranty had long since expired, so I called Sony. The only course of action they recommended was to send in the system to either get repaired or replaced. This would cost $65 or $45 respectively. This also was what I was told when I called them concerning your system. The only thing I have used on my system was a can of compressed air to clean the vents and attempt to clean the laser. This did not help fix the malfunction.
My system began to have intermittent disc read errors as well as the 'hanging' you experienced, where the system would attempt to read the disc without success. It began with a single game and over a period of about two months got to the point where the planets needed to be aligned properly for anything to play in it. I also noticed that when I pressed the power button, instead of the system simply resetting like it should; it would shut off. This is not normally supposed to happen unless you hold the button down for several seconds. Needless to say, this became very annoying.
I still have the system as I also own an HDD that I use to store all my save games on. I actually suspect that installing this may have been one of the causes of the PS2 going tits up, as it was shortly after installation the symptoms began. I cannot confirm this, however, so don't take this to mean if you have an HDD that it is the problem. Sony actually told me that the laser more than likely was going out, as this can happen.
Anyway, I then purchased a slimline PS2 and use it exclusively, switching between the two when I need to access my archived save games, as the slimline does not support the HDD. If you do not own an HDD and do not plan to purchase one for the few games that it is necessary to have one for, (FFXI being the main one) I would actually recommend you go the same route and just get yourself a slimline model. I have not encountered any issues since I got it and my other friends that bought one haven't either. The only thing I do know is that there are a few models that have AC adapter issues that Sony is voluntarily replacing.
Unfortunately, I would say that you are experiencing the symptoms of your system going tits up. If you are lucky, you may get a game to work from time to time, but as you can imagine, this is not very fun. I would suggest calling Sony at 1-800-345-7669 if you choose to go either the repair or replacement route. Otherwise, you could do what I did and drop $130 to get a slimline model. Of course, you can always try to clean it, but I can't say for sure what will happen or if it will help at all.
I know this is not the answer you probably were hoping for. But as I have experienced the same problem with my system as you have, the remedies I considered or used are the only thing I can offer. Your issue is most likely internal and cannot simply be solved by cleaning.
