The worst nightmare for most is when they go to turn on their PS2 system and nothing happens. No red/green/blue lights at all. Worse yet, all lights appear to work but the system occasionally will boot a game or hit the system menu. These are harder problems to troubleshoot and can vary in where the problems are. I don't plan to go into extreme detail here. This is more of a troubleshooting list.

For those who can't even get the power to register I highly suggest checking the powerboard. The boards might vary so I put 3 shots of power boards I have. One of them is from a US PS2 and features a Ceramic fuse and a regular one as well. These things can blow and if they do then things are going to come to a halt until they're replaced. I suggest checking Radioshack or another parts retailer to see if they have the model in stock. Otherwise you can search ebay, lik-sang or richspsxparts as places to start and find the right one for your model. If the large transistor on the board is black or smells burnt then chances are you'll need to replace the whole thing.

For those that checked these fuses and are still wondering what they can investigate I suggest finding digging out the multimeter or if one isn't around, finding someone with a multimeter that knows how to use it. The bottom half is going to have to come off. I suggest taking off the power unit right now to save the trouble of doing it later. Disassembly is pretty quick. Flip the system over. Screw the top back on and then remove the screws off of the bottom that remain. Keep the long screws out still as well. Once the bottom is off remove the screws holding the heat shield on. carefully remove it and if the thermal pads are still on the chips memorize where they rest at and then remove them so they don't fall onto the ground and collect debris. Next take off the small screws around the board these fasten the board to the massive heatsink and I believe in some spots onto the upper case as well. Once they're all out unplug all cables including the tiny fan cable in the back. Be very careful not to damage these things! For those stuck on the large ribbon cable the two tabs on the side must be pulled out so that it will release the drive cable. On a related note, if the ribbon cable was pulled out when fiddling with the DVD Drive then you'll need to push the slack upwards and reconnect it to the DVD Drive again then pull it down and snap it into the slot.

Pull carefully on the board so that it can unlodge itself from the rest of the system. if you get a tug check to make sure it's not a wire still plugged in. For those who didn't take out the old power board I suggest the removal of it before something breaks. Anyway after some gentle shifting the board should come out. From here it's a game of soft wiggling to remove the heatsink off the top of the mainboard. Be careful when doing this. Some people have methods on how they do it but I don't know anything that's really consistent to pull the thing off without damaging it. By no means at all should any tools be wedged in to pry it off. At this point the Processors should be viewable. Bask in the glory that you made it this far and then search the board for white fuses and the voltages printed onto the board around them. These are the last resort for repair. If one of these is broken then you can count on the system not booting until it's replaced. Lik-sang carries some of these on their site. Be sure you get the right voltage fuse when you search. Don't get something close to being the voltage. If it's under the required rating it's going up in smoke most likely.

Hopefully this guide has helped some with their PS2 problems. It's a troublesome console to work with due to the numerous variations but it's not totally impossible to fix. Good luck and if you have questions feel free to post in the commentary thread so myself or the forum visitors can hopefully get you through the problems.