Disc 3 glitch/error: Pandemonium

Right, this is what is happening.

Ages ago, when FF9 first came out I was playing it, got to 3rd disc and the data got wiped. Later (a few months), after recovering I got to the absolute beginning of the fourth disc, came back the next day and found the memory card needed to be formatted or something. I must have been about 13 or so at this point and was devastated. This is when I actually got an official memory card, which I probably should have done in the first place.

Now, with that background, I started playing it again this year, and got past a couple of glitches in the disc by just leaving it on for ages (like overnight or longer). I remember one was when cid became human or something…been a while since that happened.

Recently, when coming back to it, I was levelling up nicely, doing lots of things, getting all the chocographs and everything. Essentially doing all the things I’d missed out on before. And now, I have come across a glitch that I can’t get past, no matter how long I leave the disc in for.

It’s very odd in that it is so specific when it occurs. It is in Pandemonium, soon after Garland knocked him out, and Zidane gets mixed up in 3 must-fight battles. On the third he faces a Shell Dragon. It is during this battle the glitch occurs. Also, it only happens when Shell Dragon uses Earth Shake, and no other move. Now, I suppose that it is possible that the entire battle could last without Shell Dragon using Earth Shake, however I must have repeated from the nearest save point (Eiko in that nearby weird blue town, about 15-20 mins gameplay away) about 10 times now, and only twice even managed to hold out for Dagger. The glitch manifests itself like so: the label showing the attack comes up ("Earth Shake"), the Shell Dragon does its preparation thing, flexing its muscles and so on, but then doesn’t carry out the actual attack. It just stays there doing its strange staying-still-but-with-a-slight-rocking-motion-to-show-its-not-dead that is so often used.

Two things I want to know
1) Is it possible, in anyone’s opinion, for the Shell Dragon to not use Earth Shake during the fight, or it is too major an attack for it

2) My disc doesn’t seem too scratched up, but the discs are selling for about �15 upwards, and that seems a ridiculous price to pay for a game that I own anyway. Is it worth maybe getting a cleaner/repairer thing and have the benefit of future use? I’ve tried downloading an .iso of the disc and burning it, but it didn’t recognise it. Maybe it’s because I used a CD-RW, but there was probably some info not included in the .iso.

Any help is appreciated beyond belief. I just want to finish this game that I started playing over half a decade ago. ARGH!!!!

Sorry for the length of the post, I just want to make as sure as can be that people have any clue what i’m on about, or even if I could have better luck posting this elsewhere.

this happens to me when i try to do ark it shows dagger doing the summon action over and over

Can’t really be of any help, ’cause, last time I played FFIX, I got the same kinda movement-glitch at the battle with that Silver Dragon in Pandemonium; and when I defeated that enemy, he does a special movement when it dies, not that it just vanishes or something, first it kinda floats around and breaks into pieces.

And the dragon’s movement is repeating at the floating around- part. >_- and, well,
just after a couple of times of just redoing the whole battle, it just continued without the glitch, so ._.

It happens to me in random battles, the diference is that it doesnt freeze but in some seconds the attack is done. Try to clean up ur cd, u nevr know, it may help