Good news for me. I finally bit the bullet and performed the surgery. I didn't have any compressed air so I just used manpower and blew cool air into the insides repeatedly.
First of all, it was quite a pain trying to loosen those 4 tiny little screws on the lens cover with a knife. After adjusting the white little gear, I turned on the PS2. I didn't get a reaction until about 3 seconds later, from which the screen went black. However, the whole sequence of the PS2 going to the main menu never appeared, and the screen went back blue (The color when the VCR is on the "linear" channel and the game is off.) after about 4 seconds of being black, as if I had turned the PS2 off. At this point I figured to myself: "Great. Just my luck. Now its broke forever." Then I started toying around with the A/V connector in the back of the PS2 to make sure it was in all the way. Doing this produced a fuzzy screen, akin to an old TV not being able to get reception. I discovered that if I played around with it enough I could get the main menu to appear, albeit amidst all the fuzziness and discolored.
So I popped in GT3 and, after playing with the A/V connector some more, saw the words "Playstation 2 disc." Then I paused, took a deep breath, and popped in GT4.
"Playstation 2 disc!!!" I immediately cut off the PS2 and re-inserted all the screws, hopeful that the fuzzy screen was just a result of everything not being securely in place (I was however skeptical because there was no mention of this in the guide). Then I turned the PS2 back on, but to my disappointment received the same result. Still hopeful, I unhooked everything and took the PS2 downstairs to the TV I usually play on. Voila! Its working like a charm. No fuzzy screen, no infinite black screen, no DRE. I guess the VCR in my room is messed up. Anyway, much thanks go out to the guy who put up that guide. My network adapter is still broke but I don't really care seeing that GT4 is not online.
