"Geoffrey S. Mendelson" wrote in message
...
Eric Cire wrote:
I'm thinking of opening up my old Playstation 2 console as I get constant
"disc read error" and so been looking at this repair guide video and
noticed
on top of the Ps2 DVD drive it says a warning "Laser radiation when open"
so
my question is:

Is there any laser radiation risk when the console/drive is turned off
and
unplugged?

Probably not. Before you open it up, go buy a laser disk lens cleaner,
the kind that look like a CD with a little brush on it and use it.
DO NOT!!! touch the brush with your finger. This will transfer
skin oil to the lens.

Geoff.


Sorry to be at odds with you on this one, Geoff, but I would STRONGLY
recommend NOT doing this. These cleaner discs are generally of little use in
terms of actually cleaning lenses, and on several occasions, notably with
Panasonic DVD drives, I have seen them cause additional damage, when the
little bristles get caught in the lens suspension wires, and then tear the
top off the optical block.

With the power off, there is absolutely NO danger at all of any laser
radiation. With the power on and the drive idling i.e. no disc in the drive,
or the disc not spinning, the laser will not be active. If you open and
close the drawer, the laser will burn briefly whilst it checks for a disc.
This represents absolutely no danger to your eyesight, as long as you don't
stick your eye 1cm above the lens, and look straight in. Observing a burning
CD / DVD read laser from an oblique angle is quite safe. I would not,
however, recommend getting your eyes anywhere near a disc burning laser.

The lens in your PS2 needs cleaning manually with a cotton bud (Q-Tip) and
isopropyl alcohol, but I doubt that this wil restore it. Unless you are a
heavy smoker and do not use the console very often, it is unlikely that the
lens is dirty, as drives that rotate the discs at high speed, such as DVD
drives, tend to self-clean due to the layer of high velocity air that the
rotating disc drags round under itself. Most likely, the laser needs
replacing. There used to be a number of places that supplied them at very
reasonable cost, and they are quite easy to fit. Whether they are still
readily available, I'm not sure, as I haven't replaced one for some time.
There was a couple of versions, as I recall, so if you do go down that
route, make sure you get the right one.

Arfa