PS2 Reads CDs but not DVDs?

You could also try to adjust the potentiometers that set the current strength flowing thru the lens coils. If you make the resistance of the potentiometer 5-10% lower than what it currently is it will probably be more than enough to read your DVD discs. You have to take apart the PS2 then unscrew the 4 screws on top of the disc drive (fat models only). Take heed of ejecting the tray before unscrewing the 4 top screws off of the drive. Then take the rails out (the laser head rests on them) and turn the laser head over. You will see 2 small pots in there. Maybe they have a cd / dvd text written near them or maybe not - the thing is one of them adjusts the current for reading cd discs the other is for dvd discs. If you want to make sure all is good then measure their current values with a multimeter and take note of it. Then subtract 5% first from both of them, adjust, measure and put everything all together. I think the screw needs to be turned anti-clockwise to lower the value. It should work; but if it does not then repeat and subtract an other 5%. You should not lower the value by more than 15-20% as that would almost immediately kill the laser very .

I had this problem with Playstation 2 Slim. Your advice to clean the optical disk drive lens worked great. One note: on the slim the cleaning is easy as you do not have to take it apart. On the PS2 Slim they switched from a DVD tray drive to a flip top DVD drive. So all I had to do was press the button to open it, reach in with an alcohol moistened Q-tip (not too wet) and give it a few wipes, let it dry and it started reading DVDs again.

Thanks much!

I just bought a PS2 Fat console with this same problem for repair, and like somebody else commented: adjust the resistance of the potentiometers by just a little bit, it should work fine with dvds. Since the laser works fine with CDs, then obviously just adjust the DVD screw. It’s on the bottom of the laser assembly, it should be labeled DVD and CD under 2 screws which are used to adjust it. All you need is a Philips head screwdriver. If you want to be accurate with how you’re adjusting it, get a voltmeter and change it to the ohms setting. Sony sets it to 1100 by default, but you can make it lower to help the laser read the dvd better. Don’t go under 800 ohms though, or it could damage the lens permanently. Hopefully this helps, this is what fixed mine when I started tinkering. It’s obviously not the lens that needs to be cleaned if it can read CDs and not DVDs (since some of these people who answered obviously didn’t read your question thoroughly).