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Released December 3, 1994 in Japan and September 9, 1995 in North America. Models SCPH-100x, SCPH-3000, SCPH-3500, SCPH-500x, SCPH-550x, SCPH-700x, SCPH-750x, and SCPH-900x.

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Spinner Hub Making Grinding Noises and Not Reading

Hi, well I have a SCPH-5501 Playstation and for some odd reason the Spinner Hub wont read my disks (therefor going to the menu after the SONY logo appears) and makes a grinding like noise. Also, when I try touching the spinner it doesn't make complete spins as a normal playstaion would. Plus, I did put some Vaseline underneath the Hub were it looks like a small corkscrew and still nothing.Though, I'll be happy if anyone could help me with this situation.

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This is a very common failure on the grey PS1. This is either caused by a all plastic laser, or a faulty optical block. The die cast ones fail from optical block failure and the plastic ones wear unevenly. Adjustment can help, but it doesn't last forever and it's not a super reliable way to fix the problem. It works, but it's only recommended if you have nothing left to lose.

My recommendation is to get a SCPH-10x unit. It isn't prone to this problem, but the Parallel/Serial ports are no longer on these units. Most people do not need them, but if you do get one of the early 700x models.

If you choose to adjust it, there's a point on the motherboard and the laser assembly. You will need an oscilloscope to adjust the board trimpot, and for the laser trimpot do it in small doses until you get a near 100% hit rate.

Messing with the board one is NOT RECOMMENDED. You do not have to adjust it so leave it alone. You want to adjust the one on the laser. It isn't as effective but it's a lot safer to adjust then the motherboard point is.

Now if you are brave and are willing to risk it, mess with the one on the motherboard. You will risk burning your games but it does work a lot better then the one on the laser assembly. You can follow this guide on how to adjust the laser, which explains how to do it.

PlayStation Optical Drive Replacement

PlayStation Optical Drive Image

Guide

PlayStation Optical Drive Replacement

Difficulty:

Moderate

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10 - 20 minutes
PlayStation Image

Guide

PlayStation SCPH-5501 Motor Speed Adjustment (KSM-440ADM/AEM+)

Difficulty:

Difficult

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1 - 3 hours

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Get the optical drive for/from SCPH-101 and install into SCPH-5501 using a ribbon cable extension.

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you can buy a new spinner and thake the old one and it may work

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It sounds like they were talking about the gear on the optical drive. But yes, the spindle hub, and spindle motor can be replaced. A better dealer of hubs will sell you a spacer tool.

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sorry new here, but I'm having a similar issue with a psx that I recently bought at a second hand shop, does the exact same thing and and nothing shows up on screen, no PlayStation logo, no menu, nothing at all. could it be that I still need to replace the entire optical assembly?

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More info needed.

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see, i had the same thing happen to me tonight. the lasar reader wouldn't move so it kept taking me back to the main menu. Weird thing was, it worked only a few months earlier! I was able to play a cd in it just fine! Could the lasar reader just be stuck?

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alright I got another question: I already bought a new laser pickup and replaced the old one, however I'm still having the same issue, any idea what the issue might be at?

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Hi there,

I'm having the same issue, and bought a new optical drive to replace the original: same issue. This doesn't seem to come from a faulty optical drive.

Any ideas ?

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Replace the spindle hub. All you need to do is dig up an old portable cd player(or make a trip to a thrift store),CAREFULLY pry the spindle hub off of the cd drive, and slide it onto the metal post on the psx cd drive after you remove the old spindle hub. I had that problem and now the cds dont skid.

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The SCPH-5501 models have this problem, that is why they redone the PlayStation three different times. The later PlayStation models doesn’t have this problem. You can find a later model on Ebay or Amazon for a reasonable price.

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Nah, my SCPH-5501 works best, but I installed the optical drive from a SCPH- 101 using a ribbon cable extension.

Many possible issues. Semiconductors, ICs, power...

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