Disc Read Errors? DVD's not running? Frustration setting in?
You know, Sony was really starting to get on my nerves for a while. Here they were acting all arogant and stuff, claiming there was nothing wrong with the PS1 when there clearly was, and then acting the same way with the PS2 when rumours started to circulate that maybe just maybe they had released another product that was faulty.
I didn't put much stock in it at the time because I had been lucky with my Playstation, and things seemed to be going ok with my PS2. I still thought it was wrong of Sony to act all aloof about the whole thing, but I had better things to do then hate Sony.
I continued on my merry way with the PS2, enjoying the summer of love that was last year, and all was well. Almost. Every now and then a disc wouldn't read. I didnt think much of it. Dirty disc maybe. I'd take it out and see nothing at all on the disc, except it's nice shiny blueness. Later as the year progressed I began to notice that this was happening to some games far more often than I'd like. Still, it was now just an annoyance, I could still run the games, and most of the ones that I was buying didn't have a blue back, they were silver. Still, I was ignorant, or maybe I was fooling myself into thinking it was a faulty disc. I actually went back and got a new copy of Maximo, due to this thought. And it seemed to work for a little while. But then the new disc started to act the same way.
I got a little pissed that day, and gathered up all of my PS2 games (about 12 at the time). They were evenly split between blue and silver backed discs (or CDs and DVDs, if you will). I tested each game to see what ran and what didn't. Lo and behold all the silver discs ran (though GTA3 did scare the crap out of me by choosing to not read, that was just a dirty disc happily) and all the blue discs came up with a read error. I had a PS2 which was screwed. I had been bitten by the Sony bug. I lived with the fact that all of my blue PS2 games were essentially useless to me for awhile, and actually began asking game store employees what color the disc was before buying the game.
Finally I asked the right person what color the disc was, because he immediately asked me if I was having disc read problems. I said yes, and he said I should give Sony a call. He gave me the number and I went home skeptical about Sony doing anything about it but impressed with my local EBoutique store. I don't care what some of you guys say, its not the store it's the people in it, and I'm glad to shop at my store.
Anyhoo, as this is becoming a novel, and if you've read this far I thank you, I phoned Sony, they asked me a few questions about what the problem was, had I tried to open it, was I using a DVD remote, was it Sony, was I using a Sony Memory Card, all of the things that would void their warranty. (Here's a hint, don't say you use anything but Sony). They got my email address and sent me directions on where to send the system, where they would repair it and ship it back to me free of charge. The guy on the phone mentioned 15-20 business days (What a LONG time to be without my PS2, I was sweating that one let me tell you) I dropped the system off on Saturday, and it just got delivered to me today. How's that for fast service? And sure enough, it reads all my games. Oh happy day! I guess somebody at Sony knows they have a problem.
So the moral of the story is if you have a PS2 that's not doing what it should, don't wait, give them a call and see what happens. You might just be pleasantly surprised.
