If you've had a Playstation 2 for any extended length of time, you know about, and probably hate the disc read error. You favorite game or movie, which will play on other PS2s or DVD players, is now useless inside your machine. It's annoying, and you probably want to hurl your Playstation off the nearest pier or cliff.

Well, before you do that, you can fix your PS2 so that it can read all your games and movies clearly. However, this involves taking apart your Playstation 2 and cleaning the lens that reads all the datum (Computron's favorite word, if you watched Transformers, you'll get my drift). The lens is probably dirty or covered with dust, so a quick cleaning should get it working properly.

If your Playstation 2 is not under warranty, then go ahead and perform the surgery yourself. After all, if you mess up too bad, just send it back to the manufacturer and let them deal with it, since you have nothing to lose and would be paying for the repairs anyway. But, if your machine is still under warranty, then you might not want to do this yourself and let the pros have at it from the start.

So, here's the dummies guide to cleaning the lens and getting rid of evil disc read errors. This isn't gospel, mind you - it is just a rough guide.

1. Turn it off and unplug any and all cords (duh!)

2. Flip your PS2 upside down. See those 4 square pads? Remove them from the main  console, but do this carefully.

3. Then, there will be 4 hard pads underneath & the vented parts also have 2 pads. Remove these bad boys.

4. Since you're in there, might as well get rid of the Playstation warranty voiding tape.

5. If you have a net adapter in there, remove it now. This thing is very delicate and fragile, so BE CAREFUL! If you don't have an adapter, move along to step 6.

6. Remove the cover of the DVD, CD, game drive.

7. If there's a bunch of dirt and dust in there, clean it up with a cotton swab or Q-tip. Make sure that the swab is dry and try to clean every crevice you can reach.

8. Put the disc cover back on and reassemble the PS2.

9. Try it now and see what happens. If this works, you can save yourself a bunch of time and money, and have your PS2 working properly in just a few minutes. If it doesn't work, well, then at least you tried!