[charlie_ps2]

The ring might be due to gunk on the disk tray? Guessing. There can't be enough laser power to actually burn the disK? Nah.

But if it's a NEO2.2 there should be a capacitor installed at pin 2 to avoid overburn. Don't ask me for details because I've never had NEO2.2.

Yet the common factor is that DVD-Rs won't boot in your PS2.

The burn needs to be with firmware 1.65 or later otherwise it's unreliable especially on cheap media.

Most likely though it's a laser problem. Like the laser is shot.

Don't know what else to suggest.