PS2 noise and disc read errors

[OG Viking]

Beginning a week ago when I played San Andreas, the optical drive made more noise than usual. The type of sounds it made was normal, it's the sounds of the read head/lens being shifted around the tracks, but it was a lot more of this noise than normal, as if it was searching.

 

Today before I started the PS2, I used a can of pressurized air to blow away dust in the drive. I then played San Andreas again, and I believe the drive made a bit less noise.

 

A bit later today (still playing San Andreas), there was a few times than the screen went black and I got the "disc error" message, and sometimes also the "loading" message while driving city streets.

 

When I think back, it have annoyed me several times how slow the graphics is being drawn on PS2, sometimes the city environment is more or less empty when driving at moderate speeds. I have flown a helicopter and crashed into invisible radio towers, and when I stopped it took a minute for the PS2 to draw the tower (they're often the last object to be drawn).

Slow drawing have been an issue for as long as I remember, and now I wonder if perhaps the PS2 was reading the disc at reduced speed already years back. However, the noise problem is new.

 

 

 

I think the most likely reason for the noise problem is dust, but I'm not so keen on opening the console because I've not done it before. What is the normal way of cleaning a disc read lens (or whatever it's called)? Is pressurized air effective without dismantling the thing?

 

This is an old big PS2, is it likely that it needs more maintenance than cleaning? I'm thinking about adjusting/calibrating the read lens. I might need to find a shop that does service on PS2, but here's none nearby.

 

Thanks in advance for advice.

Edited April 29, 2014 by OG Viking