Sony PS2 repair

Fancy white PS2 Image © SCEA

When Luke went back to Japan, he left me his semi-dead PS2 figuring that I could take it to the Pacific Mall or something to get it fixed.

It turns out that if you get constant Disc Read Error messages when starting a game/movie, Sony will offer to repair your PS2 and waive the fee. The only cost is shipping it to the repair center.

However, that isn't the whole story. According to the Disc Read Error Sony Repair FAQ by Toby Bankson on GameFAQs:

Some would like to believe that Sony is repairing DRE infected systems for free just because they're such a great company and want to do it out of the kindness of their heart. Not true. Sony got slapped with a class-action lawsuit due to the frequent nature of these Disc Read Error breakdowns. So it was either pay a heap of money or repair systems for free. I'm sure you can figure out which one they chose.

So.. You don't have to be too grateful to Sony, but be polite and just answer their questions. For the phone number and procedures to follow, please see the Disc Read Error Sony Repair FAQ. If you have further questions, Toby has kept this thread on the GameFAQs message board for support.

Update:
I decided to do a little digging. According to Galex, Tortoreti & Tomes, they filed a class-action lawsuit on July 16, 2002 in the California Supreme Court. But I can find no evidence that such a lawsuit has ever been resolved or settled.. So it could be that Sony's "waiving of the repair fee" is a stopgap measure until the outcome of the suit has been determined.

This Geocities site is also a source for information on the lawsuit and DREs.