I hope this information is useful to others. I've seen them online they look just like brown Q-tips. In the future it would be nice to get some foam swabs instead. I have replaced many lasers in all models of PS2 over the years, as most of the its cheaper and quicker than pissing around with getting the current to work properly. * Q-tips worked for me but it did look they were leaving little cotton fibers behind. Use a grease based lub for the rails, yet 99 of these issues is the laser that's on its way out or needs a pot tweak. * I'd be careful if buying a bottle of 'rubbing alcohol.' Often rubbing alcohol is 30% water and contains lanolin, a fatty additive that should not be put on optical lasers. The store didn't have any so I would have needed to order it online. This can be fairly difficult and time consuming, so you should probably be confident in your repair skills. If youre feeling especially brave, you can always try disassembling the PS2 and cleaning the laser manually. Be careful not to turn the can upside down or get the straw lodged in the console. * 91% alcohol was adequate, but 99% would have been ideal. Open the DVD drive, and spray the air inside. My final thoughts after scouring the internet and talking to pharmacist at my drugstore where I bought the alcohol. To clean I used Isopropyl alcohol 91%, cotton Q-tips, and compressed air. It would not load blue backed discs but I didn't feel that was enough of a problem to justify bothering with adjusting the potentiometer. Now it reads silver backed games, PS1 games, and DVDs. I disassembled and cleaned my Playstation 2 laser today.

Clean ps2 laser