I have an old-school Playstation 2 (not the slimline, about 5 years old) that no longer reads cd-based games (ie PSX games) nor movie DVDs, but it still reads PS2 games fine. Recently however it’s started consistently locking up in specific spots in GTA: San Andreas; specifically whenever I go to the Easter Basin Docks in San Fierro (the import/export crane) and whenever I try to fly a plane right after I take off; the radio keeps going if I have it on but nothing responds, even if I open up the tray. This has only started in the past week or so; I haven’t used any sort of cheat codes or cheating device, and the disc isn’t scratched or anything like that. No freezes in anything else so far (haven’t done extensive testing or anything, but We <3 Katamari works fine) but as I understand it, GTA:SA pushes the system to its limits.
Long story short: what’s wrong with my PS2? A hardware problem as I suspect (the lens getting too dusty or out of alignment or whatever the hell causes disc read errors) and is it anything I can fix?
Easy fix. You just need to have patience and a jewlers screwdriver. I’ve used this link before and it has fixed it. GTA does tax out the alignment, so the more you play, the more you will have to do this, so you may want to bookmark this link.
Good luck