Or you could do what I did when my ps2 broke, after cleaning it a couple of times and after making some adjustment.... punching the laser till it's dead. Yeah, I really did that, been working on that fucker for more than a week and I've had it.

Oh and btw, the swapping trick is easy, as long as you're FAST. Anyway, I got me a modchip online for something around 25$. The good thing is that you don't even need to solder it, you put it where a ribbon cable goes and plug that ribbon cable on the chip, no need to pay for an expensive installation.