what i meant to say (above) is that the screen goes black just before the ps2 logo usually pops up.
i have game backups which i bought from abroad which work, some of which didn't work before i replaced the existing chip (not sure what type, maybe apple?) and put it messiah 2 pro.
seems the ps2 doesn't recognise DVD-R. i looked at the details of one of the games (which does work) in DVD Decrypter and the current profile was DVD-ROM.
is this how the original would look?? might try to backup one of my jap games - turismo concept or summat..