My PS2 is no longer reading discs. It simply gives "disc read error"
when I put a game in. Does anyone have any troubleshooting tips? Is
the system broken, or do I have resources to call upon?


PS-2 consoles are prone to failure due to dust accumulation in the disc drive.

What I've been doing with these PS-2s is taking compressed air and blowing the
dust out of the entire console, although just blowing the dust out of the disc
drive will work just as well.

What you do is remove the bottom screw covers, take the screws off, cut the
warranty sticker on the rear corner of the console, and then take the cover
off.

The disc drive has a top on it. You take the four screws off of it and take
the entire top of the drive off.

Take a can of compressed air and blow off all the dust out of the disc drive.
Then, blow the air into the optical pickup. BE CAREFUL when you do this,
though. It's very easy to damage the pickup this way. Then you clean off the
lens with a swab lightly dampened with isopropyl alcohol.
Then, you relube the kicker mechanism. You relube the worm gear and the pickup
slider path with molytone grease. White lithium grease may also work. You
can't re-oil the disc spindle motor. It is a brushless type and the bearings
are sealed, but this part seldom goes wrong.

Reassemble the console and try it. - Reinhart