What is my PS2 doing???

[dc42]

I have an older PS2 not the slim one. I was playing a game today and it sounded like it was having a hard time reading the DVD...all the sudden it locked up on me and would not start back up.

I took it apart and when I power it on the laser blinks on and off and the disk does not spin.

Do I need a new laser??? Are they hard to replace?