Chosen Solution
I’ve installed a new laser in my PS2 Slim, but it hits a hard stop point halfway when traveling on the rail and won’t read discs. I have removed the solder blob, so the disc spins but the laser can only travel on the inner or outer portion of the rail and hits a hard stop when trying to move further. I’ve replaced two lasers before with no issue, this is a first for me seeing this issue. Update (11/12/2020)
Here’s an image of the bottom of the defective unit for reference. The new working laser I received didn’t have these.
I looked more closely at the issue and found that on the return sensor for the new laser I received there were two metal tabs extending from the bottom. They weren’t very long but long enough to hit the ribbon when traveling out or back to center. I took and filed them down, but had other issues with the laser so I had the seller send another. Sure enough the new unit arrived the next day and didn’t have these two metal contacts. It’s like the new laser was from a completely different batch and just works great (without stopping halfway along the rail).
