Not able to read disks, system lagging severely with closed disc tray.

My PS2 slimline has very recently stopped being able to read disks. When the disc tray is closed, the entire system lags severely, both in loading UI elements and responding to controller inputs. Moreover, the system won’t even respond to an attempt to shut off the system unless the disc tray is opened first.

The system doesn’t display any disc reading errors, and I have tried several different games both brand new and older that have previously worked with no issues at all. It simply gets stuck at the “reading disc…” stage in the browser and doesn’t advance at all. I’ve tried changing the RCA connector and that works fine, and the disk is still spinning (albeit less audibly than usual, which leads me to believe there’s an issue there). Has anyone experienced this before and/or have any tips? I’d rather not have to go through and disassemble my entire console if there’s an easier fix. Thanks!