Handy woman strikes again

kasper — Sat, 10 May 2008 03:23:31 +0000

It’s only been a couple of days with the new (okay used, but new to us) Playstation 2 and we’ve already had problems with it. It’s been freezing in Guitar Hero II and grinding like a mf in Guitar Hero III. In fact yesterday Guitar Hero III pretty much shut down all together and I couldn’t even get the thing to load. Then I started feeling like a total sucker, and I can’t stand that feeling. So when I need to know something, it’s off to my computer to Google It. I was pleasantly surprised to quickly find an answer to my problem. And not only an answer, but a video of how to fix the problem! Apparently the grinding stems from the rails inside not having enough lubrication. So for anyone out there who’s having issues with Playstation 2 (the old original system mind you) making a ton of noise then here’s how I fixed it.

Unplug all the cables and cords. Turn the system upside down and remove the rubber and plastic pads covering the screws, there should be eight. Remove all screws and turn the unit back right side up. Starting from the back wiggle the casing off the system passing over the dvd tray and taking care not to dislodge the ribbon cable that is taped to the lid just over the drive bay. There is enough slack so that you can set the lid down beside it without ripping the tape off or unconnecting the ribbon cable. Once you’ve got the lid off, you’ll see a black cover over the DVD drive. Using a mini screw driver remove the 4 screws holding it in place. Now that the lid is off you should be able to see the rails in question. To make access easier, I plugged the system back in long enough to eject the DVD tray and then powered it off again. In my particular case I found that the metal rods (rails) were dusty and found a rogue hair stuck to one too. Clean off the rails and then use a lubricant to coat the rails. I used my hubby’s electric razor lube. Once done reverse the process: power on and get the DVD tray back in, power off, replace the black lid over the DVD bay and screw into place, replace system lid, turn over and put screws back in, then replace plastic and rubber covers. That’s it.

It was a really simple job and made me feel very competent. Damn but my hubby’s lucky to have me around!

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kasper — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:45:53 +0000

Hubby’s birthday isn’t until June 5, but since I always try to get him something really great I tend to start early on the gift. He’s been going on and on about getting a PS3, but frankly we just can’t afford it. I mean, first of all we used to have a Super Nintendo and the original Playstation. Where are they now? Exactly. We eventually got sick of them and they (I believe) are currently sitting out in the garage waiting for a yard sale. Then looking at the cost of the system and then the games on top of that…not bloody likely. I figured the only reason he even wants a system is to play Gran Turismo again. You’d think that when he drives for a living that he wouldn’t want to play games that involve driving. Like I don’t think it would be much fun to play a game that involved answering phones or typing. Just me though.

So I checked out ebay and found an auction that had 23 games, 3 controllers, 2 guitars plus the PS2 with a high bid of $280.00. I tried to see if it was a good deal by checking the cost of the new system with the important games that hubby would’ve wanted from the 23: Gran Turismo 4, Grand Theft Auto (x4), Guitar Hero II, III and Encore: Rocks the 80′s. I couldn’t even find all the games for sale, but suffice to say that the system, GT4, GHIII plus 2 guitars was already over $300.00. So I put in a big of $300.00 max and won the auction for $290.00.

Since the guy listed that shipping would be from Toronto I asked if I could pick it up instead of paying the $30.00 for shipping. Unfortunately Toronto is a big city and he was clear on the other side of it from me. He offered to take $10.00 off if I’d still make the trip, which I did. That was Monday. When I got home I hinted that I had a really great gift for him and maybe he wanted it early. After all it was exactly 1 month to the day before his actual birthday. (I’m so horrible) I just couldn’t wait to give it to him. Besides he has Mondays off and we weren’t doing anything that afternoon. I couldn’t seem to convince him to totally give in, but he he’d think about it and maybe the following day I could give it to him. He was started complaining that he was feeling dizzy by dinnertime and ended up staying home from work yesterday.

Laying it on thick at lunch, I asked him if he wanted a piece of cake for dessert. He said he did, so I asked if he wanted “birthday cake”. He laughed and said ‘fine’. So I got the candle in the piece of cake and sang Happy Birthday for effect. When I got home on Monday with all the stuff I had it stashed downstairs at my Dad’s since he’s out of the country at the moment, so we agreed that he would change baby D and I’d get the gift ready. I made him close his eyes when he got downstairs and I had the games fanned out across the floor and was holding the guitar. When he opened his eyes it took him a minute to figure out what he was looking at and then he asked ‘you got me a PS3?’. “Nope sorry, just a PS2″. At which point he realized how many games there were and he was shocked.

So we played Guitar Hero III a bit downstairs while trying to keep one eye on baby D who was loving crawling around new surroundings. Then we managed to get the very heavy tv (which my Dad gave us since he bought an HDTV, but hadn’t bothered to move yet) up 2 levels to our bedroom, where I got everything rearranged and hooked up. We’ve managed to spend an exorbitant amount of time playing games over the last 2 days (yes he called in ‘sick’ again today).

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Handy woman strikes again

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