3 ms·

I love things like this. In my old Dreamcast, I found after I'd packed it up and moved it a few too many times that it wouldn't start, but would show signs of

I love things like this. In my old Dreamcast, I found after I'd packed it up and moved it a few too many times that it wouldn't start, but would show signs of life when the lid would open and close. I found that there was a position you could put the lid in at which it would boot, and that position could be reliably reached if a SweeTart was placed in the tray near the edge of the disc. I licked the flat side of the SweeTart a few times and it stayed where it was, and it's there to this day. Of course, the lock doesn't engage so I have to keep something heavy on top of it. And on my PS2, I'd fiddled around with it too much trying to mod it, and messed up something in there, but not bad enough that it wouldn't boot and play a game. But about 3/4 of the way through Resident Evil 4, I found it would skip and eventually reset if you didn't tilt it up by 20 degrees or so. As I progressed in the game, the angle at which it had to be set increased, until eventually not only did it have to be tilted in a second direction as well. Believe it or not, it finally reached the point where no tilt could save it in the middle of the final boss, with my friend moving it this way and that like we were trying to get reception with bunny ears on an old TV. I never beat the game.

mikeryan 12y ago
Way back in the day I did EA Technical Support (on DOS games!) Anyway the PS2 had a known issue where turning it on its side or over would put the CD closer to the reading laser and "fix it" it was really the only tangible fix the guys in the PlayStation queue had.
david-given 12y ago
I've just carried a second hand mixer deck home on the bus. While waiting for my stop, I noticed that if I moved my hand near the left VU meter, the needle would swing. Not much, but a little. It only worked on the left one. I didn't have to touch the case. And no, it wasn't plugged into anything. I'd just ruled out random motion caused by me joggling the deck as I moved my hand when I had to get off. It doesn't do it any more.
- Johnythree 12y ago
  Static Electricity. The meter movement is very delicately balanced, plus the plastic window can become charged. Waving your hand around affects the charge. You've just invented the Electroscope.
- cocoablazing 12y ago
  Some nuclear reactor instruments will respond in funny ways if you rub them. I never understood it, but some don't find it very funny.
smellf 12y ago
I had an ancient hardcard[0] that was obsolete when I got it in the 90s, but it was the first HDD I owned so it made me very happy. Unfortunately, to get it to spin up, you had to shake the thing vigorously for about 10 minutes, which wasn't such a big deal because there was no case - it was an open benchtop computer. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardcard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardcard
- scoot 12y ago
  Funnily enough we had one of those (or something like it) in the college I went to, also in an open bench top computer. The HD had no cover, and you had to give the disk a spin to get it moving after power-up. Oddly it never suffered ill-erects from environmental contamination of the head / platter. I guess the densities were low enough not to matter so much.
semi-extrinsic 12y ago
A friend of mine, working on his PhD in a European university which shall not be named, is using a really old 15 watt ruby laser for some experiments. One day last year it would not turn on, and he and his labmates spent hours trying to diagnose the problem. Finally one of them, exasperated, put his elbow on top of the laser cabinet with a deep sigh, whereupon the laser promptly started working. Excited, they found a big piece of steel and duct-taped it to the top of the cabinet in that very place, with a big "DO NOT MOVE"-note, and the laser has been working fine ever since.
- agumonkey 12y ago
  Pragmatic but sad, I expected some nice collective eureka moment after a mental struggle.
  - ProAm 12y ago
    Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. (and never invest money in something that eats while you sleep)
- snissn 12y ago
  Out of curiosity, why does someone studying European history need a 15 watt laser?
  - andars 12y ago
    European universities teach things other than European history.
jimminy 12y ago
The original Playstation had a similar switch on the lid mechanism. I think it was a safety feature to prevent the discs from spinning up, without the enclosure. When I was about 8-9, I found the mechanism, and ended up dismantling the system. I then wedged a little Wolverine action-figure's foot into the space to keep his foot down on the switch and ran the system without the cover, because it looked pretty badass to have the discs spin out in the open. [In retrospect: All of this was probably a horribly unsafe thing to do, considering what would happen if the disc cracked or broke while spinning.]
- vilhelm_s 12y ago
  I think it's also to protect your eyes from the CD-reading laser if you were to power it up with no disk in it.
  - jimminy 12y ago
    Good point, I actually spent some time staring at that when I was younger. Also found out I needed glasses when I was 10, and my prescription hasn't changed since.
- infamousblah 12y ago
  This could also be used to run out-of-region discs on the US market version of the Playstation. It refused to start with a out-of-region disc, but you could start with a US disc and then swap in the out-of-region disc while running, provided it never detected the lid opening.
  - robin_reala 12y ago
    I had a little spring for mine that clipped over the prong in the lid at one end, and pressed the switch down at the other. You could still open/close the lid, but the Playstation wouldn’t recognise it.
- T-hawk 12y ago
  You were fine. The Playstation 1's CD drive spins at only 2x regular audio speed which is no more than 16 Hz rotational speed. It's nothing like the 48x fighter jet turbines of desktop computers. It's only 2x as much as a handheld Discman that has no safety interlocks at all. All consoles from the PS2 onwards have an enclosed (tray or slot) drive mechanism because they do spin the disc fast enough for safety to be an issue, but the early disc media systems up to the Dreamcast didn't need to worry about it.
devindotcom 12y ago
Noticing grammatical errors well after the fact here but I'm glad you guys like the story and have some of your own. That's what I love about electronics that stick with us!
secstate 12y ago
Haha, I remember having to turn the original PlayStation upside down to play RE2 because the design placed the motor for the disc tray right under the laser and the heat would cause distortions in the beam ... or so I was lead to believe. Either way, it made the PS play games for another few years. A "magic" button, indeed.

mikeryan 12y ago

Way back in the day I did EA Technical Support (on DOS games!) Anyway the PS2 had a known issue where turning it on its side or over would put the CD closer to the reading laser and "fix it" it was really the only tangible fix the guys in the PlayStation queue had.

david-given 12y ago

I've just carried a second hand mixer deck home on the bus. While waiting for my stop, I noticed that if I moved my hand near the left VU meter, the needle would swing. Not much, but a little. It only worked on the left one. I didn't have to touch the case. And no, it wasn't plugged into anything. I'd just ruled out random motion caused by me joggling the deck as I moved my hand when I had to get off. It doesn't do it any more.

Johnythree 12y ago
Static Electricity. The meter movement is very delicately balanced, plus the plastic window can become charged. Waving your hand around affects the charge. You've just invented the Electroscope.
cocoablazing 12y ago
Some nuclear reactor instruments will respond in funny ways if you rub them. I never understood it, but some don't find it very funny.

smellf 12y ago

I had an ancient hardcard[0] that was obsolete when I got it in the 90s, but it was the first HDD I owned so it made me very happy. Unfortunately, to get it to spin up, you had to shake the thing vigorously for about 10 minutes, which wasn't such a big deal because there was no case - it was an open benchtop computer. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardcard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardcard

scoot 12y ago
Funnily enough we had one of those (or something like it) in the college I went to, also in an open bench top computer. The HD had no cover, and you had to give the disk a spin to get it moving after power-up. Oddly it never suffered ill-erects from environmental contamination of the head / platter. I guess the densities were low enough not to matter so much.

semi-extrinsic 12y ago

A friend of mine, working on his PhD in a European university which shall not be named, is using a really old 15 watt ruby laser for some experiments. One day last year it would not turn on, and he and his labmates spent hours trying to diagnose the problem. Finally one of them, exasperated, put his elbow on top of the laser cabinet with a deep sigh, whereupon the laser promptly started working. Excited, they found a big piece of steel and duct-taped it to the top of the cabinet in that very place, with a big "DO NOT MOVE"-note, and the laser has been working fine ever since.

agumonkey 12y ago
Pragmatic but sad, I expected some nice collective eureka moment after a mental struggle.
- ProAm 12y ago
  Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. (and never invest money in something that eats while you sleep)
snissn 12y ago
Out of curiosity, why does someone studying European history need a 15 watt laser?
- andars 12y ago
  European universities teach things other than European history.

jimminy 12y ago

The original Playstation had a similar switch on the lid mechanism. I think it was a safety feature to prevent the discs from spinning up, without the enclosure. When I was about 8-9, I found the mechanism, and ended up dismantling the system. I then wedged a little Wolverine action-figure's foot into the space to keep his foot down on the switch and ran the system without the cover, because it looked pretty badass to have the discs spin out in the open. [In retrospect: All of this was probably a horribly unsafe thing to do, considering what would happen if the disc cracked or broke while spinning.]

vilhelm_s 12y ago
I think it's also to protect your eyes from the CD-reading laser if you were to power it up with no disk in it.
- jimminy 12y ago
  Good point, I actually spent some time staring at that when I was younger. Also found out I needed glasses when I was 10, and my prescription hasn't changed since.
infamousblah 12y ago
This could also be used to run out-of-region discs on the US market version of the Playstation. It refused to start with a out-of-region disc, but you could start with a US disc and then swap in the out-of-region disc while running, provided it never detected the lid opening.
- robin_reala 12y ago
  I had a little spring for mine that clipped over the prong in the lid at one end, and pressed the switch down at the other. You could still open/close the lid, but the Playstation wouldn’t recognise it.
T-hawk 12y ago
You were fine. The Playstation 1's CD drive spins at only 2x regular audio speed which is no more than 16 Hz rotational speed. It's nothing like the 48x fighter jet turbines of desktop computers. It's only 2x as much as a handheld Discman that has no safety interlocks at all. All consoles from the PS2 onwards have an enclosed (tray or slot) drive mechanism because they do spin the disc fast enough for safety to be an issue, but the early disc media systems up to the Dreamcast didn't need to worry about it.

devindotcom 12y ago

Noticing grammatical errors well after the fact here but I'm glad you guys like the story and have some of your own. That's what I love about electronics that stick with us!

secstate 12y ago

Haha, I remember having to turn the original PlayStation upside down to play RE2 because the design placed the motor for the disc tray right under the laser and the heat would cause distortions in the beam ... or so I was lead to believe. Either way, it made the PS play games for another few years. A "magic" button, indeed.