Counting my electronic blessings
Our PlayStation 2 doubles as our family DVD player. When the old player died, I decided the PS2 was all we needed, as it had an optical audio output and could decode DTS and the other stuff we wanted our player to do. It's worked out pretty well, though in recent days it's been giving us fits, failing to recognize some discs as being in the drive at all, and failing to read some discs it recognizes. Oddly, with some movies it'll work just great, and with games, it seems to do okay -- so the problems it's having are selective at best.
Anyway, after doing a cursory examination of the outside of the unit, I decided it might be a good idea to clean it thoroughly inside and out, as every ventilation port, nook and cranny on the outside of the PS2 is choked with dust. That meant at least a partial disassembly of the system to get the cover off so I can clean the parts especially around the DVD player that might be obscured with dust or pet hair.
I've complained a lot over the years about some Apple systems' lack of serviceability. Most recently, taking apart my PowerBook G4 gave me problems, and I haven't even attempted a thorough diassembly of James' iBook -- iBooks are an absolute nuisance.
But compared to the PS2, iBooks are a joy. You have to pull eight screws just to get the cover off, then you have to pry it apart while being careful not to tear a delicate ribbon cable that connects the power button to the power supply itself.
Getting at the underside of the case, which I won't even attempt, requires considerably more effort and work, and getting the DVD drive out of the mainboard assembly requires the removal of several screws and ribbon cables.
So I'm settingly for a top-down approach. I've gotten the PS2's case apart, and have taken the lid off the DVD player (and found the hardware underneath to be caked with a thick layer of dark dust). I've got to run off to the store and buy some cans of compressed air so I can at least get some or most of this dust out of here without damaging the PS2's sensitive electronics. I'll let you know how it goes.