psp mysteriously died, 3 months later has started to work

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yosaito
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Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2005 9:45 pm

psp mysteriously died, 3 months later has started to work

Post by yosaito »

Hi,
I apologise in advance if this is known/irrelevant but i thought i would share my experience with my "broken" psp just incase it gives some sort of insight to others.
About 5 months ago my psp died, it wouldnt switch on at all and pressing the on switch just made the power light flash for a quick second. I hadnt done anything to it to warrant it not working, my psp stays by my pc.
I left the battery out and several weeks later tried it again, this time it fired up but would last about a minute before it would just shut down again. Every time i switched it back on it prompted me to set the time and date. Eventually after trying repeatedly to switch it back on it reverted to the previous state of not switching on at all, no display and only getting a brief power light when the switch was flicked.
So again, disheartened i left my psp back on the shelf with the battery out. 3 months have passed and i was close to throwing it away and decided id try it once more before buying ditching it and getting a new one.
This time when i switched it on, it came up as before and prompted me for the time and date, only this time it still working :)
My theory is that something internal has had a chance to reset by leaving the battery out although im a little confused as to why it took quite so long!
Either way im happy, my 1.5 firmware psp is running again and i can tinker with code on such a neat system.

edit : For reference my psp was one of the original Japanese units purchased January 2005.

On a side note, a big thanks to all those involved in the psp toolchain development. It really is amazing and apparent as to how much hard work must have gone into it to get it where it is today thanks to all those involved! :)
Last edited by yosaito on Fri May 12, 2006 7:02 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Scubix
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri May 13, 2005 9:16 pm

Re: psp mysteriously died, 3 months later has started to wor

Post by Scubix »

yosaito wrote:Hi,
I apologise in advance if this is known/irrelevant but i thought i would share my experience with my "broken" psp just incase it gives some sort of insight to others.
About 5 months ago my psp died, it wouldnt switch on at all and pressing the on switch just made the power light flash for a quick second. I hadnt done anything to it to warrant it not working, my psp stays by my pc.
I left the battery out and several weeks later tried it again, this time it fired up but would last about a minute before it would just shut down again. Every time i switched it back on it prompted me to set the time and date.
So again, disheartened i left my psp back on the shelf with the battery out. 3 months have passed and i was close to throwing it away and decided id try it once more before buying ditching it and getting a new one.
This time when i switched it on, it came up as before and prompted me for the time and date, only this time it still working :)
My theory is that something internal has had a chance to reset by leaving the battery out although im a little confused as to why it took quite so long!
Either way im happy, my 1.5 firmware psp is running again and i can tinker with code on such a neat system.

On a side note, a big thanks to all those involved in the psp toolchain development. It really is amazing and apparent as to much hard work must have gone into it to get it where it is today thanks to all those involved! :)
Maybe it has something to do with the background picture ? Did you chance that before it stopped working ?
Waiting long enough, until a new month starts, makes the psp display a 'new' background.
yosaito
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2005 9:45 pm

Post by yosaito »

hi, Just to clarify I have never edited a single file in the flash memory.
The psp is used soley for original games and the odd bit of homebrew.
The psp was working fine in the weeks leading up to it dying, it was left off for a few weeks unplugged and when i went to switch it back on it was broken.
jockyw2001
Posts: 339
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2005 4:19 pm

Post by jockyw2001 »

so how did it break in the first place?
yosaito
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2005 9:45 pm

Post by yosaito »

so how did it break in the first place?
Good question!, I'd love to know. I did nothing to it other then play wipeout in the weeks leading up to its "hibernation".

Just a little bit more info, I tried swapping chargers and batterys. I got the same problem with and without the charger plugged in, and with the charger in and battery out.
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dot_blank
Posts: 498
Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2005 8:47 am
Location: Brasil

Post by dot_blank »

haha wow that is one crazy story
with probably not so crazy an explanation
i am guessing the contacts to your battery
were not catching right or misaligned or who knows
and psp wasnt getting a proper supply of power
if you would have tested months ago with AC
adapter and your problem fixed then we would
know it was indeed the battery not supplying
power to psp
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R7i!c3K
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Location: New Orleans, LA
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Post by R7i!c3K »

That's really odd... I'm having a similar, but not exact problem with one of my PSPs.

So, during Hurricane Katrina, my PSP fell and hit ground. Smashed the LCD. It still booted, but there were many spider cracks in the screen. Eventually, the LCD went out, but the sound still worked. So, I ordered a new LCD, charged up the PSP, and was going to install it.

I powered it up (broken LCD still installed), when I noticed that the sound wasn't working anymore. I figured it was since the PSP had been without a charge for 8 months (in safe storage), and went ahead and installed the new LCD. After installing it, I powered up to find that the PSP isn't booting.

So, I went through the usual steps and wrote down what I noticed. I removed the LCD and tried putting it in another unit, and I am 100% positive the LCD is fully working. The PSP in question has done (or not done) some things I've noticed:

* The power light is on. It switches between green and orange.
* There is no sound, whatsoever.
* There is no backlight, whatsoever.
* The MS light isn't blinking at boot-up, like it should.
* UMD is not spinning up.
* To power off the PSP, you must hold up the power button for 6 seconds. (6, not 10.)
* Flipping the power button up quickly does nothing.

I've tried everything I know to try. I've put in different batteries, cleaned contacts, tried different chargers, tried with and without MS or UMD. The unit was fine the last time I put it in standby, wrapped it up, and sat it in a closet for 8 months.

Unfortunately, since I installed the LCD myself, it's no longer covered by Sony. I normally wouldn't care, since they do a $150 out-of-warantee replacement, but I don't want a PSP with FW 2.7, so it looks like I'm fixing this one myself.

The only thing I can guess is the motherboard shorted out somehow, possibly from being powered with a bad LCD (maybe caused backfeed?). I was sure that was it, until I read a few posts online about users that were playing games, put it in standby, and their PSPs started doing the exact same thing.

I'm wondering if there was a bad batch of PSPs, because mine is doing the exact same thing about 100 other posts have indicated, just by putting the unit on standby... The worst part is, every one of them are saying Sony isn't being too helpful about it.

Oh, well... back to testing.
R7i!c3K
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Post by R7i!c3K »

Sorry for the double post.

I ordered a PSP motherboard from eBay... The guy said "I have PSP motherboards from 1.5 to 2.6, you don't get to choose." -- Ordered anyway for $80. Here's the listing. He has two left, but they're not guaranteed on the version number...

Today, the motherboard came in and I installed it. The PSP, which I said in my previous post, has been dead for some time now. It came on with no problems. I was shocked when I went to the system information and saw "Version 1.0", though.

I've read on a couple of sites that replacing the motherboard will render the UMD Drive useless. I am confirming that this is FALSE. The UMD drive is working perfectly.

So, here's my question: What's actually better? 1.0, 1.5, or 2.0? If I should upgrade to 1.5, what would be the best way of doing so? The only time I've ever upgraded was through the GTA UMD.
ooPo
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Post by ooPo »

You ended up with a 1.0 motherboard? That's very lucky.

Its the only version that doesn't require fancy tricks to run code.

Please don't upgrade it. Keep it, or sell it to someone else who would appreciate it.
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dot_blank
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Post by dot_blank »

he could have easily just use a version number changer to change to 1.0
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