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| IMPORTANT PSP OWNERS INFORMATION |
PSP REPLACEMENT PARTS
I've been fixing PSP's since they came out and I've come across a lot of different types of PSP
problems. Most of the repairs I'm asked to do are the result of standard wear and tear or general
damage from the console getting dropped or wet. As time goes by though I've been seeing more and
more PSP's come in with non-Sony parts, either already installed by another PSP repair service or
sent along as an extra - and I also get a lot of stories as to what people were trying to do and where
everything went wrong. For instance somebody might install a new power switch PCB and all of a
sudden the PSP won't charge anymore, something that appears to be an entirely separate problem.
There's two main reasons at-home PSP repair's often don't work out - one is that the PSP
dis-assembly information you find around the Internet is often incomplete or just flat wrong at certain
points. The second reason though is the pitiful quality of the new parts they're trying to work with and
no amount of information or experience is going to help with this. After PSP's had been available for a
year or so companies in China started making very cheap after-market replacement parts for them.
Some of these parts are OK now, like LCD screens usually, and some are literally worthless, like
cheap analog assemblies which are everywhere unfortunately- but there's no way for the average Joe
to know the difference between a good part and a bad one which is why I've put this information here.
I completely understand a person wanting or needing to save a buck and for a person to look at my
PSP part prices and think they've found a great deal when they see what appears to be the same thing
on Ebay or around the Internet for a quarter of the price. I took some time myself to get on Ebay and
shop for PSP parts like a normal person would do and it's pretty clear to me now why so many people
are having such a problem with this. There was one single person on Ebay at the time that sold
genuine Sony PSP parts and even then it was only as a sideline. Every single vendor except him was a
company either physically in Hong Kong or China itself or selling the exact same parts in the USA
under a distribution company name.
I've been fixing PSP's since they came out and I've come across a lot of different types of PSP
problems. Most of the repairs I'm asked to do are the result of standard wear and tear or general
damage from the console getting dropped or wet. As time goes by though I've been seeing more and
more PSP's come in with non-Sony parts, either already installed by another PSP repair service or
sent along as an extra - and I also get a lot of stories as to what people were trying to do and where
everything went wrong. For instance somebody might install a new power switch PCB and all of a
sudden the PSP won't charge anymore, something that appears to be an entirely separate problem.
There's two main reasons at-home PSP repair's often don't work out - one is that the PSP
dis-assembly information you find around the Internet is often incomplete or just flat wrong at certain
points. The second reason though is the pitiful quality of the new parts they're trying to work with and
no amount of information or experience is going to help with this. After PSP's had been available for a
year or so companies in China started making very cheap after-market replacement parts for them.
Some of these parts are OK now, like LCD screens usually, and some are literally worthless, like
cheap analog assemblies which are everywhere unfortunately- but there's no way for the average Joe
to know the difference between a good part and a bad one which is why I've put this information here.
I completely understand a person wanting or needing to save a buck and for a person to look at my
PSP part prices and think they've found a great deal when they see what appears to be the same thing
on Ebay or around the Internet for a quarter of the price. I took some time myself to get on Ebay and
shop for PSP parts like a normal person would do and it's pretty clear to me now why so many people
are having such a problem with this. There was one single person on Ebay at the time that sold
genuine Sony PSP parts and even then it was only as a sideline. Every single vendor except him was a
company either physically in Hong Kong or China itself or selling the exact same parts in the USA
under a distribution company name.
| THIS IS THE REAL THING. A GENUINE FACTORY ORIGINAL SONY PSP-1001 POWER SWITCH PCB. NOTE THAT BOTH THE GREEN AND ORANGE LED LIGHTS ARE IN A SINGLE CASE. |
| AND THESE ARE THE COPIES - NOTE THE COLOR DIFFERENCE TOO, IF YOU SEE A BLUE OR BRIGHT FLUORESCENT GREEN PCB FOR SALE THIS IS WHAT YOU'RE LIKELY TO GET. I HAVEN'T COME ACROSS ANY CHEAP PSP-2001 OR PSP-3001 MODEL POWER SWITCH PCB'S YET BUT I'M SURE IT'S JUST A MATTER OF TIME. |
SEVERAL EBAY AND GENERAL INTERNET VENDORS HAD PICTURES OF A SONY PART
BUT WERE ACTUALLY SELLING COPIES. I WOULD CONSIDER ANYONE SELLING
LARGE AMOUNTS OF PSP PARTS TO BE SUSPECT AS REAL PSP PARTS COME OUT OF
DISASSEMBLED PSP'S ONLY. SONY ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT SELL OR PROVIDE ANY
PSP REPLACEMENT PARTS TO ANYBODY - INCLUDING PROFESSIONAL REPAIR
SHOPS LIKE ME. THE ACTUAL FACTORY MANUFACTURERS OF THESE PARTS ARE ON
CONTRACT TO SONY ALSO AND SELLING SONY'S TECHNOLOGY TO OTHER PEOPLE
IS NOT AN OPTION. ALL THESE COPIED PARTS ARE REVERSE-ENGINEERED WHICH
ISN'T A BAD THING IN ITSELF BUT I'VE YET TO SEE A SINGLE PART THAT KEPT TO
THE SAME HIGH QUALITY STANDARDS THAT SONY DEMANDED IN THE FIRST PLACE.
BUT WERE ACTUALLY SELLING COPIES. I WOULD CONSIDER ANYONE SELLING
LARGE AMOUNTS OF PSP PARTS TO BE SUSPECT AS REAL PSP PARTS COME OUT OF
DISASSEMBLED PSP'S ONLY. SONY ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT SELL OR PROVIDE ANY
PSP REPLACEMENT PARTS TO ANYBODY - INCLUDING PROFESSIONAL REPAIR
SHOPS LIKE ME. THE ACTUAL FACTORY MANUFACTURERS OF THESE PARTS ARE ON
CONTRACT TO SONY ALSO AND SELLING SONY'S TECHNOLOGY TO OTHER PEOPLE
IS NOT AN OPTION. ALL THESE COPIED PARTS ARE REVERSE-ENGINEERED WHICH
ISN'T A BAD THING IN ITSELF BUT I'VE YET TO SEE A SINGLE PART THAT KEPT TO
THE SAME HIGH QUALITY STANDARDS THAT SONY DEMANDED IN THE FIRST PLACE.
OTHER COMMON AFTER-MARKET PSP PARTS - THESE AREN'T AS OBVIOUSLY MESSED UP TO THE NAKED EYE BUT THE
PICTURE SETS BELOW SHOW THE MAIN PROBLEMS IN CLOSE UP. ALL THREE PARTS ARE LAYERED PLASTIC DATA CABLES
IN ONE FORM OR ANOTHER - THE DIRECTIONAL PAD, BUTTON BAR, AND MAIN CABLE. EACH ONE FITS INTO IT'S
RESPECTIVE CONNECTOR ON THE PSP MOTHERBOARD OR THE POWER SWITCH PCB. THESE CONNECTORS ARE ALL RATHER
FRAGILE AND TRYING TO CRAM SOMETHING INTO IT THAT DOESN'T FIT WILL ALMOST ALWAYS DAMAGE THE OTHER
COMPONENT TOO.
The top set of pictures is the end of a genuine Sony cable and below it is the copy. The brown part in the first two is a slightly
thicker piece of plastic glued to the end of the cable that makes it easier to insert into it's connector. The copy has the same
piece glued on except it's usually clear, crooked and/or too wide. The black lines are the data traces themselves, each one
performs a certain action, like up, down, left, right etc and when they're all glommed together it definitely causes a problem.
thicker piece of plastic glued to the end of the cable that makes it easier to insert into it's connector. The copy has the same
piece glued on except it's usually clear, crooked and/or too wide. The black lines are the data traces themselves, each one
performs a certain action, like up, down, left, right etc and when they're all glommed together it definitely causes a problem.
HERE ARE EXAMPLES OF ALL THREE SIDE-BY-SIDE AND IF YOU'VE MADE IT THIS FAR YOU KNOW WHICH ONE'S ARE THE
SONY'S. MOST ALL OF THE AFTER-MARKET DATA CABLES ARE GREEN TOO FOR SOME REASON, THERE ARE NO GREEN
ORIGINAL SONY CABLES SO IT'S EASY TO SPOT. ANOTHER CLUE IS THAT THE COPIES WILL ALWAYS COME AS A FLAT PIECE
OF PLASTIC WHICH OF COURSE SAVES ON POSTAGE. PEELING A SONY DATA CABLE OFF THE FRAME IS VERY LIKELY TO
CAUSE DAMAGE SO ANY PROFESSIONAL SELLING PROPER SONY PARTS WILL ALWAYS MAIL THE WHOLE THING.
SONY'S. MOST ALL OF THE AFTER-MARKET DATA CABLES ARE GREEN TOO FOR SOME REASON, THERE ARE NO GREEN
ORIGINAL SONY CABLES SO IT'S EASY TO SPOT. ANOTHER CLUE IS THAT THE COPIES WILL ALWAYS COME AS A FLAT PIECE
OF PLASTIC WHICH OF COURSE SAVES ON POSTAGE. PEELING A SONY DATA CABLE OFF THE FRAME IS VERY LIKELY TO
CAUSE DAMAGE SO ANY PROFESSIONAL SELLING PROPER SONY PARTS WILL ALWAYS MAIL THE WHOLE THING.
BUTTON BAR CABLE MAIN CABLE DIRECTIONAL PAD CABLE
Sony originally designed a PSP to do certain things like play games and music. Over time they've created better ways of doing
for the fact that if you don't do the updates exactly right you can completely ruin your console. Updating the firmware version
memory is called the firmware and Sony has set up a few different ways to update it. One method is to download the
information off of the Sony website through your computer and on to your PSP memory card, put the card in your PSP and
then run the update. This does get a bit complicated though and not everyone has the right computer equipment. The most
common updating method is the one that everybody has access to which is the UMD games and movies themselves. When new
games come out they're pre-loaded with the newest firmware version and you have to load this version before you can play
the new game. This is where all the trouble starts - especially for kids that have no clue what's going on.
Many people have bought PSP's for their younger kids which is fine when the kids are just playing their games. Sooner or
later though the kid's going to get a new game or borrow one from a friend and all this weird stuff will automatically come up
on the screen telling them what to press and "accept or reject" etc. They'll press a few buttons trying to get it to load the
game like normal and when they eventually give up and turn it off it'll never turn back on again. The green power light comes
on for about 15 seconds or so and goes off by itself - nothing else happens at all as the console's basically not a PSP anymore
- just a bunch of microchips and components with no "brain". Lot's of other things can cause a bad update though too so it's
not just a kid's problem. If the PSP accidentally gets dropped during an update, a power surge, the battery falls out, the UMD
disc skips, all this results in the same interrupted update and a bricked PSP.
The good news here is that the computer hackers who mess with video game firmware for fun have come up with a way to
"un-brick" many PSP's. Almost all PSP-1001's and probably just over half of the 2001's can be unbricked at this point, no
3001's and no PSP Go's (as of 4/26/11). I offer PSP un-bricking/firmware replacement for $49 which includes the other
PSP maintenance services and cleaning like I do with all the other repairs. This is on the "Repair Requests" page if you
already have a bricked PSP but that's not what this is about. All I want to achieve here is to pass on the information as to just
how important it is to understand PSP updating and to follow the instructions to the letter. It's all in your PSP owner's manual
if you still have it or you can get it at http://www.us.playstation.com/psp along with Sony's latest firmware download.
For those of you with small children awareness is key. Familiarize yourself with how this all works and whenever you buy a
new game just make sure someone familiar with the procedure loads the game first.
for the fact that if you don't do the updates exactly right you can completely ruin your console. Updating the firmware version
memory is called the firmware and Sony has set up a few different ways to update it. One method is to download the
information off of the Sony website through your computer and on to your PSP memory card, put the card in your PSP and
then run the update. This does get a bit complicated though and not everyone has the right computer equipment. The most
common updating method is the one that everybody has access to which is the UMD games and movies themselves. When new
games come out they're pre-loaded with the newest firmware version and you have to load this version before you can play
the new game. This is where all the trouble starts - especially for kids that have no clue what's going on.
Many people have bought PSP's for their younger kids which is fine when the kids are just playing their games. Sooner or
later though the kid's going to get a new game or borrow one from a friend and all this weird stuff will automatically come up
on the screen telling them what to press and "accept or reject" etc. They'll press a few buttons trying to get it to load the
game like normal and when they eventually give up and turn it off it'll never turn back on again. The green power light comes
on for about 15 seconds or so and goes off by itself - nothing else happens at all as the console's basically not a PSP anymore
- just a bunch of microchips and components with no "brain". Lot's of other things can cause a bad update though too so it's
not just a kid's problem. If the PSP accidentally gets dropped during an update, a power surge, the battery falls out, the UMD
disc skips, all this results in the same interrupted update and a bricked PSP.
The good news here is that the computer hackers who mess with video game firmware for fun have come up with a way to
"un-brick" many PSP's. Almost all PSP-1001's and probably just over half of the 2001's can be unbricked at this point, no
3001's and no PSP Go's (as of 4/26/11). I offer PSP un-bricking/firmware replacement for $49 which includes the other
PSP maintenance services and cleaning like I do with all the other repairs. This is on the "Repair Requests" page if you
already have a bricked PSP but that's not what this is about. All I want to achieve here is to pass on the information as to just
how important it is to understand PSP updating and to follow the instructions to the letter. It's all in your PSP owner's manual
if you still have it or you can get it at http://www.us.playstation.com/psp along with Sony's latest firmware download.
For those of you with small children awareness is key. Familiarize yourself with how this all works and whenever you buy a
new game just make sure someone familiar with the procedure loads the game first.
| PSP FIRMWARE VERSION UPDATES |
I was originally baffled by the high Ebay feedback ratings for the vendors that sell this sort of thing as I know for a fact how
often these parts cause operational or install problems. I see though now that most companies ask people to hurry up and
enter their feedback, immediately upon arrival of the new part preferably, and in return the seller gives good feedback.
Likewise - if you enter bad feedback they'll do the same to you and there's nothing you can do about it. Installing the new
part takes quite a while for a beginner so by the time the weekend rolls around and they have their new part installed it's a
major pain to go back and change their feedback, if they have the option to do so at all. For the folks that do wait until
afterwards almost all are beginners and will doubt their own work rather than the new part. There's proper good ethics in not
blaming someone else for what may be your own mistake but the outcome in this instance is a mass of inaccurate information
for the consumer - the exact opposite of what eBay meant to create in the first place I'd hope. eBay started off as a good
thing and in this instance anyway it's just de-volved into "you give me good feedback and I'll give you your's" .
often these parts cause operational or install problems. I see though now that most companies ask people to hurry up and
enter their feedback, immediately upon arrival of the new part preferably, and in return the seller gives good feedback.
Likewise - if you enter bad feedback they'll do the same to you and there's nothing you can do about it. Installing the new
part takes quite a while for a beginner so by the time the weekend rolls around and they have their new part installed it's a
major pain to go back and change their feedback, if they have the option to do so at all. For the folks that do wait until
afterwards almost all are beginners and will doubt their own work rather than the new part. There's proper good ethics in not
blaming someone else for what may be your own mistake but the outcome in this instance is a mass of inaccurate information
for the consumer - the exact opposite of what eBay meant to create in the first place I'd hope. eBay started off as a good
thing and in this instance anyway it's just de-volved into "you give me good feedback and I'll give you your's" .
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I understand this may sound like a bunch of sour grapes or a sales pitch but you can see for yourself below just what I'm
talking about. I'm here to make a buck myself of course and the existence of these crummy parts is actually good for my
business as people end up sending their broken consoles in for me to fix after their own failed attempt at home. I'm not a
youngster anymore though and as I've spent plenty of time and money on the receiving end of various rip-off's over the years I
really don't want to take advantage of other people's misfortunes or lack of information.
I put this page up as a good place for someone to start before spending a dime on any sort of PSP part or repair service. If you
do end up sending it to a professional for repair always find out first whether they use real Sony parts or not - the pictures
below give a good indication of the differences between the two.
talking about. I'm here to make a buck myself of course and the existence of these crummy parts is actually good for my
business as people end up sending their broken consoles in for me to fix after their own failed attempt at home. I'm not a
youngster anymore though and as I've spent plenty of time and money on the receiving end of various rip-off's over the years I
really don't want to take advantage of other people's misfortunes or lack of information.
I put this page up as a good place for someone to start before spending a dime on any sort of PSP part or repair service. If you
do end up sending it to a professional for repair always find out first whether they use real Sony parts or not - the pictures
below give a good indication of the differences between the two.