If you are having a problem with only one game, like Dynasty 3, it may only be scratched like you wrote. I do recommend this "3-in-1 CD Skip fixer" to keep your discs clean which helps to not scratch the laser. All my problems began and continue with EA Sports games, some straight from the shrink wrapped case!! At first I only needed to reset the console a couple times and at sometime it would boot. Having experience in software QA, I setup test scenarios. The only thing I did find, is that if I play a non-sports game for about an hour, the odds of an EASports game booting increases. As I\'ve said, ALL my EASports games have this problem, but I am getting the problem from other sports games from Acclaim (High Heat for example). Thank God, Grand Theft Auto 3 boots BUT again, I\'ve had to cross my fingers on the PS2 screen which displays the memory cards and hope that a CD icon displays. Thankfully, it has. I am certain that the problem is twofold: First the PS2 has a problem somewhere on disc boots. Contrary to other posts here, it does not have to od with user care. (A vendor near my house says he has two renatl units with the same problem). The second problem is that EASports packs a lot of data (those cool live action scenes) that needs to be loaded on startup. I am convinced that if your console has a problem reading a disc, at some point the unit times out and then it\'s Jim Beam time. Good Luck!