PS1 laser issue diagnosis and replacement

[awbacon]

When your laser starts giving you issues. Not if...when. I’ve yet to own a PS1 who’s laser didn’t die on me. Plus some “is it even worth fixing it” discussion

[Demitri1983]

Thanks for the video. My laser unit stopped spinning and the laser is not showing life either. It did it after trying to boot a JP game. I will say there were signs of problems as it only played 2 tracks of audio from the sound test menu. Looking into a replacement drive. Any suggestions?

[ggallegos1]

I had the same issue with a Saturn, and it turns out that the rails needed some lithium grease applied in order to properly move.

[Demitri1983]

I had the same issue with a Saturn, and it turns out that the rails needed some lithium grease applied in order to properly move.

Do I understand correctly that the drive motor, rail, and laser focus run independently? So if one goes the others should still work? Trying to narrow things down. Took it app and and the unit looks fine. Just no life from one day to the next. I feel it's my fault, could have stressed it to the point of failure.

[ggallegos1]

Do I understand correctly that the drive motor, rail, and laser focus run independently? So if one goes the others should still work? Trying to narrow things down. Took it app and and the unit looks fine. Just no life from one day to the next. I feel it's my fault, could have stressed it to the point of failure.

That's what happened to me, at least. The laser couldn't complete it's movements and checks because there was too much friction and resistance on the rails it rode on. It simply couldn't move up or down to read, and I had already bought a new laser assembly for it. Put some lube and now I have a spare laser lol

[Demitri1983]

Thanks for the input. Why cant we just have a legacy device? its 2020 for f sake...