Possible PS1 laser problem?

[Spike Danton]

I do have back-ups but wanted to see if this was a common problem before I decided to throw it away.

 

I have a PS1 that suddenly stopped reading discs, but not entirely! The game won't load up, but when I go to the CD Player option tracks from the game do show. So it is READING the discs, but I have no idea why it won't load up the game.

 

Anyone have any experience with this and know any fixes?

Edited September 13, 2018 by Spike Danton

[Osgeld]

in order to load a game the machine scans the disc for a region code then kicks into 2x speed to start loading data. so if you do not see the playstation logo screen and after the sony computer entertainment splash its kicking you into the cd player its not reading the region / unlock code

 

that code is located in is normally inaccessible though other CD players (I forget if its on the extreme inside or extreme outside) there may be some excess gunk or debris preventing the laser from reaching that spot or the rails the laser rides on are wearing out and as it goes along it gets further from the disc

 

replica replacement lasers are fairly cheap, but if you go that route you may want to open the machine up and look at the tag to see what model it is, almost all of them on the usual places are BAM models, which are for PS-ONE's, electrical they are all identical but the BAM's usually require a little cutting on the playstation to get them to fit in a PS1

[Spike Danton]

Thanks a lot! There seems to be some PS1 BAMs for sale online. But since I already have back-up PS1's, I'm debating whether to get it. With shipping, they seem to be around $20+ for the ones I see on Ebay.