Alright, it’s happened 3 times already. I put the game in, I play for a little bit (hour) and when I take it out theres some scratches. The first time there was a giant gash in it, the second time there were a couple little gashes and the center of it was cracked, and the latest there are only light scatches. I think the game will still work but I don’t want to take the chance. Is there something in my PS2 thats scratching my game up? Is there anything I can do?
You really need to provide a lot more information if you want someone to diagnose these kind of problems via text. A lot. The biggest question is which way to the scratches run? Radially, circularly, …? And everything about that crack.
The most common reason in a “normal” CD drive that you get scratches is from the lens hitting the disc. The lens could be dirty, falling out of alignment, etc.
There also could be foreign object inside. You could be just plain using the drive wrong. (Tilting it, jamming something in, etc.) The CD itself could be faulty: e.g., warped, poorly made. (It definitely sounds to me that you aren’t taking good care of your discs. Just one mysterious flaw appearing and I go into debug mode.)
As to the crack thing: Could be caused by the loading system being off, trying to clamp the disc before it’s centered. Also too high of a motor speed (which can also make the lens go wacky trying to focus).
If you are good at tech repair, see Sam G.'s CD repair faq. Otherwise, replace it.
It would be really foolish to continue to use it in its present state.
The scratches run circularly. The crack a “U” shape from the center of the disk, up, and back down to the center, its very clean, so its basically just a “U” shaped crack. Its been the same game all three times ( SOCOM II). I’ve tried out other games and it seems that that game is the only one being scratched. I have my PS2 horizontal, not vertical.
If it’s specific to a disc, then there is something wrong with that disc. Problems such as warping, dirt, etc. can cause the lens to bounce around and hit the disc causing circular scratchs. If badly damaged enough, the disc might even be hitting the tray.
But the key here seems to be the crack. It is probably directly related to the problem, which sounds to me to be an unbalanced disc.*
Copy the disc if you can and throw it out. You are harming the drive as well.
*BTW, don’t ever put labels of any kind on CDs or DVDs. Even the official press on type easily damage discs and drives.
But I’ve returned the disk twice already and haven’t heard of anyone else having this problem. Is there anything I can buy to clean my disk tray, or am I going to have to buy a new PS2?