PSP - no power question

[_) (V) (-)]

Hey,
My son has a PSP, about 1 year old and it just stopped working recently.
As far as I can tell, the power supply is working (tested the voltage at the plug, seems OK) and the battery is charged (tested OK with DVOM) but the thing won't power up. 

Of course it's out of warranty and it's not real likely that he dropped it as it's in a clear plastic case and he keeps all of the relater paraphernalia in another foam lined case. Sony's only response is to 'send it in to us for repair' but I was hoping someone here might know a trick or something easy to check before forking over big bucks to them greedy savages.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!
_)

P.S. if nothing else, he'll have tons of accesories for sale soon.

[Hoagie_one]

did he run some homebrew software on it that might of bricked it?  And what accessories to youhave?

[_) (V) (-)]

Not that I am aware of. He only has factory produced games and move discs for it. He did have some files on a memory stick and was transfering pictures and mp3 files to it. Not sure if that would have done anything adverse tho.

I'll try and get him to make a decision on what he wants to do with it, and then a list of stuff if he decides to dump it. I'd bet he buys another one though.

[ChadTower]

I've never worked on one but an educated guess is that you'd get a voltage reading even on a bricked PSP.

[_) (V) (-)]

Have to show off my inexperience here.
What exactly do you guys mean by 'bricked' ?

The power supply is actually a seperate part, it's a wall transformer.
The reading was taken from the end of the plug that plugs into the psp.

[ChadTower]

Oh.  Well, in that case, you didn't test the PSP at all.  You tested the external power supply accessory.

"Bricked" is when people try to mess with the firmware that runs the PSP, get it wrong, and consequently turn their PSP into a useless brick because it no longer has a usable PSP "OS" on it.

[_) (V) (-)]

I thought that was the what you guys ment by that. 

No, he hasn't tinkered with it at all that way. The gene seems to have skipped a generation or something.

[ChadTower]

Maybe not him... but every kid has that friend who thinks he can do more than he can actually do.  That kid that bricks your PSP and then won't replace it.

[DYNAGOD]

it may just be as simple as a bad momentary switch.
i would think thats one of the cheapest and likely most abused culprits.
if your brave enough to open the psp, try shorting the two wires that lead to it and see if it boots up.

[ChadTower]

He won't be able to fix much beyond that anyway.  I've never opened a PSP but being that thin it can only be nearly all surface mount.  Tiny surface mount stuff, too.

I wonder what type of screws a PSP has.  Even getting the thing open could take a while.

[DYNAGOD]

well thens of thousands of people have opened theirs...
its his choice.
heres a guide, theres no much to it.
http://forum.lik-sang.com/showthread.php?t=6599

better to take a look and possibly wire in you own momentary switch if thats all it is than send it to sony and get it back with 2.82 firmware ..

[Fig]

CykoMF,
Most likely it is the momentary switch. Very easy to replace if you take your time opening up the PSP. I have a momentary switch board you can have that will make it even easier cause theres no soldering to do just replace boards  .
And if he or a friend did brick his system I have a working 2.6 motherboard I can sell ya cheap.
If you want the momentary switch just PM me w/ your address.

[Stingray]

send it to sony and get it back with 2.82 firmware ..

That would well and truly suck.

-S

[yalborap]

send it to sony and get it back with 2.82 firmware ..

That would well and truly suck.

-S

Assuming you're a homebrew guy, yes, yes it would. This is why I'm glad mine still works perfectly, AND it's a launch-model. I'm in the clear.

[boykster]

Check the switch IMHO.  It's only about 6-8 screws to get it open (use the RIGHT tool though...small screwdriver or you'll strip the heads). 

You CAN get just the small PCB that has the power switch on it

http://secure.llamma.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=66_59&products_id=392

should be a pretty easy swap

[_) (V) (-)]

Thanks for the link DYNAGOD, Excellent photos!
I'll get into the guts of this thing and see what I can see.
FIG, I will let you know about the switch / mobo stuff very soon. Thank you for the offer.

Anyone care to enlighten me about the '2.82 firmware' issues?
I'm not really into this thing

[DYNAGOD]

if your firmware is updated ot 2.8, you will not be able to run hoembrew software such as MAME and CPS1-2 emulators for example.
theres a pretty signifigant amount of great software you will be excluded from using quite indefinetly.
If your forced to send it in to sony, they will update it..

[_) (V) (-)]

Wait a minute, holdup!
You can run mame on a PSP?!?

Whoops, sorry kid . . . 

 

[yalborap]

Wait a minute, holdup!
You can run mame on a PSP?!?

Whoops, sorry kid . . . 

 

Aye.

pspupdates.qj.net

Depending on the firmware, it's either not hard at all, slightly hard, or 'hope you are good at reading directions' if you haven't done it before. Once you're on 1.50 or the modified 2.71 SE-B(This is what I'm on), it's basically just download emulator/homebrew game, stick <emulator> folder and <emulator%> folder into your game folder, and check the readme for where to stick anything else(ROMs, custom backgrounds for the menus, etc.). Pretty simple once you get into it, but you've got to watch for the immature asses that release programs that brick the PSP. Pretty much just waiting for it to go up on PSPupdates solves 90% of things, and waiting till someone else uses it catches any that manage to slip through.

[_) (V) (-)]

Thanks for the info Yalborap!

However, it looks like this one won't be playing much of anything anymore.
I tried the 'short the power switch connections' trick with no luck. There were 4 terminals and I tried all possiable combinations.

Then....

I found a tiny piece of a circuit board loose inside the case and I am not even sure where it came from. After looking for a possible source location, I think I've located it, but it dosen't seem like it would make sense to have had anything there.

I've included a  picture to help describe these insane ramblings of mine.
Could some of the experts here offer any advice?

[ChadTower]

If there are no traces on the broken piece, it doesn't matter.

[_) (V) (-)]

Looks like there are two traces, leading to 2 round points.
Very hard to see in this picture.  I am not sure it came from the point marked in the photo. I don't seen any other place where it would have come from either.   

[ChadTower]

If there are traces, you have a problem.

It should be easy to see if that's where it came from.  Put it back on... if it fits, that's where it came from.

To fix it you'll have to figure out what those traces were for and recreate that bit of the circuit, probably with jumpers.  Is there a component on that bit or just some traces?

[_) (V) (-)]

Yeah, see, that's the problem.
There is no way I can see this tiny little    thing.

I've been using a magnifying glass and it woudl appear that the mark on the circuit board is about the same size at the piece I found, but it dosen't really make sense to have had anything in that location. And there are no signs of traces going to that area on the big circuit board.

I was hoping someone with some experience with the 'innards' of these things can tell me if it looks broke or am I just 'nuckin futs'?

[ChadTower]

Clearly it's broken.  It doesn't work.

Could it be that those traces don't trace back to the main board, but to something else that used to be attached to that little notch, and since it is broken, no longer physically touches it?  A momentary contact button, maybe?  I could see a situation where a momentary contact button touches two tiny pads that are only connected to each other, momentarily closing a circuit that sends the power up signal to the main board.

[_) (V) (-)]

I'm going to have to check the thing over again, maybe it came from another piece or a different circuit board.  Whatever the case, it don't work.

Any idea of a price range to have it 'fixed' by Sony?

Is it better to just buy a new one and sell this for parts?
(Screen should still be good, and they don't look cheep either. )

[ChadTower]

Don't ask me, my advice would be something like "sell this for what you can get and buy something a hell of a lot less costly".

[yalborap]

Don't ask me, my advice would be something like "sell this for what you can get and buy something a hell of a lot less costly".

Always an option. Depending on whether you want the commercial or homebrew focused route, a DS or GP2X might be a wiser decision, though the DS DOES also offer some homebrew stuff.

Of course, the PSP has some nice things too, so I'D personally say look, see what appeals most, and go with that, no matter what it is.

[boykster]

Don't ask me, my advice would be something like "sell this for what you can get and buy something a hell of a lot less costly".

Like a couple of rocks?  Or pick up sticks?

Honestly $200 for a portable game console that not only has a bunch of native games for it, as well as a very strong home-brew (and I'm not talking bout piracy) community, ability to play movies (not just UMD's), wifi web browsing, etc it's not that expensive. 

My PSP is the most played game system I've probably owned since I bought my sega genesis back in the day

 

[pmc]

Why not ask Sony how much to fix it? They once fixed a VCR for me for a flat fee. I'm near a major metro area and there was a drop-off site so I didn't have to deal with or pay for shipping either.

If it were me, I'd explore that option before selling it as broken or for parts.

-pmc

[_) (V) (-)]

Traditionally I've always had problems with Sony equipment and try to avoid their stuff. (Not including the PSx and PS2's that I own of course)

The PSP is my sons, he did mention the free wifi internet option was working for him while at work. And he has a bunch of extra stuff for it, games, movies, etc so I'll have him look into getting a price to fix it and let him decide if it's worth it to him.

Was hoping it was something simple but after looking inside this thing  Woah!

If he get's it fixed, I'll be back, to get some tips on running MAME in there!

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions!
_)

[ChadTower]

Like a couple of rocks?  Or pick up sticks?

How many times do you expect the man to spend hundreds of dollars on a console that didn't last for him the first time?  Twice?  Three times?

[boykster]

Like a couple of rocks?  Or pick up sticks?

How many times do you expect the man to spend hundreds of dollars on a console that didn't last for him the first time?  Twice?  Three times?

Might as well not buy ANY technology stuff then I guess....it's all eventually going to break isn't it?

 

[shmokes]

...

[_) (V) (-)]

Oh yeah, I've tried all the connections and stuff. It was most likely because I was trying to hold things out of the way to get a picture.

Thanks for the keen eye tho! 

[ChadTower]

Might as well not buy ANY technology stuff then I guess....it's all eventually going to break isn't it?

So a PSP is already in the "everything breaks eventually" age range?

[_) (V) (-)]

Dam shame but I guess so.

Hey FWIW, I peeked inside another PSP and the place I thought this piece of circuit board cam from is not it. The spot is exactly the same in a working unit. (I watched as a guy had his cracked screen replaced)  It was suggested that the piece is actually a surface mount component that had popped off the board someplace. Wish me luck finding where it goes!

[ChadTower]

The best way to do that is unfortunately to open one that doesn't have that problem.  Or maybe to go to a PSP forum and see if you can find pics of the motherboard so you can find it that way.