Well..This answer works for my Slim PS2. Maybe you should give it a try In system configurations,go to the 'Digital Optical(out)', there you should select "OFF' instead of 'ON'. Give it atry, and let me know if it succeed. You might have to try to play The DVD over and over again for it to work.

My Playstation was doing the same exact thing. My wife and I just happened upon a solution by accident by following the directions to open the console in the link below. www.answerbag.com/q_view.php/1838 (use the instructions in answer #2 by Krystiana- GREAT step by step instructions) When following the instuctions to open the console, be careful to move slowly and follow them closely as you don't want to mess anything up; especially when taking off the top cover be careful not to damage the silver stripping- it controls your "reset" and "eject" button. We followed the instructions, adjusted the gear disc as suggested. It didn't fix it when I turned it in one direction so we repeated the instructions in the other. When we turned it the other direction it still didn't work so I decided to clean the felt on the wheel that spins the discs. After that I replaced the black plastic cover (the one with the 4 tiny screws) and put a disc in. As the disc tried to turn I helped it along by turning the white circle visible through the top of the plastic cover. The disc then started turning on it's own and it recognized the disc. We followed all the instructions but believe the problem was that the felt on the wheel was dusty.